Yes it's great that the Director of the ESA is proposing we work on a Moon Colony as per the BBC link. My first thought was why hasn't this been done already?

Mars may have water that we can theoretically use. However in the early stages I would argue that until that water extraction process is refined, any colony on Mars would start out for a long time having to use Water supplies that are not of a Martian origin. What better place to perfect long term survival with an external supply of water than the Moon?

Perhaps create an artificial biosphere on the moon which its own ecosystem that generates water for the Lunar lab?

Due to distance I think any journey to Mars and a subsequent settlement is substantially more expensive, risky and difficult vs the Moon.
Launching a rescue mission for Luminauts in trouble is much more possible on a 9hr (hello Atlas V) to 3 day (hello Saturn V) trip than on the untested Orion that would take 6 months.

Paul - I suspect the reason may be the government organizations involved to date have been very academic in their focus - i.e lets do something that was formally impossible, get some interesting scientific info-get a badge of honor and now move on to the next cool destination to add. A Lunar lab would have to be justified for more than just a science cool factor-It would likely need to show commercial benefits... Hence the first lunar lab will likely be sponsored by a country or countries interested in mining it.

Be under no illusions Fozia...A MOONBASE will happen...sooner or later (so long as we don't blow ourselves up or kill everyone!)

A moon base for all the reasons you have given makes sense to me.

If some are to be believed (and who's to say?) we already have a moonbase
It's been said by some that those later Apollo missions that were supposedly cancelled actually took place, some say for scouting missions with a Russian co-op group, others say because something was found on the dark-side of the moon...who knows? i'll believe it when I see it but for now I'm in the there's no such base camp (that's not to say they couldn't have done so in the 1970's had the will been there to do so)

As a kid I watched a fun Tv series called 'Space 1999' (you may have seen? or heard of it?) and I honestly thought that by the year 1999 (it was 1976 when I watched) we would have had a moonbase.

Maybe we have and it's 'Black Ops' but I would certainly like to see one up there before I depart this Earth, maybe Lunar Missions One is the first step up the ladder with this group to do so...WHY NOT?

Those new craft as you say could get us there in hours rather than days very soon....they provide the equipment and Lunar Missions the rest?
I'm still hoping Lunar Missions are thinking 'BIG'