By Martin Banks - 15th December 2011
I cannot cope with it
Liz Lynne
Veteran Liberal MEP Liz Lynne has blamed the so-called 'travelling circus' for her decision to quit parliament.
Lynne, a deputy for 12 years, will step down as an MEP in February.
She told this website on Thursday that one of the main reasons for her decision to quit was parliament's "nightmare" split site arrangement which sees it holding monthly sessions in Strasbourg.
She said, "It has become a total nightmare. The whole hassle of it all has got me down."
In order to get to Strasbourg, she currently leaves her constituency home in the west Midlands at 4pm on Sunday, stays overnight in London, then travels to the Alsace city, via a change of train at Paris the following day.
She does not get there until 5pm on Monday, just in time for the start of the plenary.
She said, "I have to stay in London because they are no direct flights from Birmingham to Strasbourg. There used to be direct flights from Gatwick in London but these were cancelled."
She added, "Getting to Brussels is ok, but I admit I find the travelling to and from Strasbourg quite exhausting. If it was easier to get to the monthly sessions I would be happy to continue because I love my work as an MEP. It is very rewarding but I just cannot go on with this. I cannot cope with it," she said.
The Briton becomes the latest deputy to quit parliament because of Strasbourg.
In 2004, Simon Murphy, who had been leader of the 28-strong UK Labour group since January 2000, stepped down from the job in order to "spend more time with his family".
He said at the time, "I felt that my 21-month-old son, Jonathan, was growing up largely not in front of my eyes, and it was the travelling that was making a normal family life impossible."
His predecessor, Alan Donnelly, resigned in 1999 citing the same reasons while yet another Socialist leader, Gary Titley, cited the monthly trek as a reason for his decision to step down as an MEP.
MEPs are becoming increasingly angry because they have to move between their homes, where they do constituency work, Brussels, where their main offices are and Strasbourg, where they have to attend sessions that last just three-and-a-half days each month.
The MEPs' monthly shuttle run from Brussels to Strasbourg has long been controversial. Critics have dubbed it a "travelling circus".
The total annual cost of the Strasbourg shuttle is estimated to be €203m with the Green Party saying that the monthly trips also produce about 20,268 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
Under an EU agreement, MEPs were for years required to hold 12 sessions annually in Strasbourg, but this will be reduced to 11 from next year.
A campaign launched by Lynne's party colleague, Edward McMillan-Scott, has focused attention on the travelling circus.
But French resistance to any change continues to be the biggest obstacle to calls for parliament to have a single seat in Brussels.
