During the summer break, part of the ceiling of the Strasbourg hemicycle collapsed. Obviously, such an event has brought about renewed calls to abandon the Strasbourg seat. Most of the work of the European Parliament is done in Brussels but according to the Treaties the European Parliament must hold 12 annual plenary sessions in Strasbourg.
All MEPs, their staff, EU officials and documents must endure a monthly travel from Brussels to Strasbourg. Moreover, the costs of the “travel circus” costs taxpayers around €200 million a year.
Due to the reconstruction work, the first two plenary sessions after the summer recess took place in Brussels rather than Strasbourg. Obviously, such news has been welcomed by the majority of the MEPs, assistants and parliamentary officials. This was an excellent opportunity to realise how much money could be saved if the European Parliament seat was located just in Brussels. In fact, it has been estimated that the European Parliament has already saved around €4 million by having two plenary sessions in Brussels. This should not be the exception but the rule.
According to the experts’ assessment, the Strasbourg hemicycle is, now, safe. Hence, Hans-Gert Poettering has decided that the MEPs will return to Strasbourg in the next plenary session in October. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the MEPs did not welcome the news.
In fact, members of the Campaign for Parliament Reform have, recently, launched a written declaration for one seat of the European Parliament in Brussels, asking MEPs to declare Brussels as the official seat of the European Parliament. The written declaration was promoted using a big poster for MEPs to sign in front of the Brussels plenary chamber. However, the European Parliament provided yet another example of failing to respect freedom of speech and opinion – the poster was taken away by security guards.
Alexander Alvaro, MEP, who is leading the oneseat campaign, has said “My colleagues and I are astonished that somebody in the Parliament’s administration felt it necessary to remove a large poster promoting written declaration 75.” He added, “Contrary to the written permission received from the quaestor responsible and without informing the members who tabled this written declaration, this poster was taken away. This not only undermines members’ right of freedom of expression (…) but also proves incoherent with regard to other members freely and publicly promoting their written declarations in various ways.”
In the meantime, according to the European Parliament Bulletins, two MEPs have raised concerns over the safety of the Strasbourg building such as the presence of asbestos in the building, problems with the air conditioning system, structural condition of foot bridges linking main buildings and failure to comply with fire safety regulations. Ian Hudghton, MEP, has said “… The failure to produce independent certification declaring the building safe for use is inexcusable. This situation could and should be avoided by indefinitely suspending the costly and wasteful practice of moving the European Parliament to Strasbourg for one week each month.” Marios Matsakis, MEP, has also called for the closure of the building and decontamination of asbestos. Even so, Jaume Duch Guillot, European Parliament spokesman, has said “The building has been given the all-clear so there is no reason not to return.”
According to the Treaties, the main seat of the European Parliament is in Strasbourg and to change that would require a unanimous agreement by all EU Member States – France would never commit itself to that. According to Europolitics, the French Secretary of State for European Affairs Jean-Pierre Jouyet has said “There is a treaty. It will be respected. It is not negotiable.” Everybody else knows that the Strasbourg seat is there just to please France but the other Member States have been showing no interest in the issue. The concern could have been brought up at the last IGC but no Member State bothered to do it, ignoring the 1.2 million signatures gathered on a petition to scrap the Strasbourg seat.
