Pressure mounts for end to EU parliament 'travelling circus'

Pressure is mounting for parliament to put the brakes on its expensive ‘travelling circus’ to Strasbourg.

MEPs say the decision to hold this week’s plenary in Brussels because of damage to parliament’s Strasbourg building highlights the waste of the monthly commute.

SNP deputy Alyn Smith has written to parliament’s president Hans Gert Pöttering suggesting that the hemicycle in Brussels be renamed “Strasbourg” in order to satisfy EU law demanding the parliament meets there12 times a year.
 
He said, "My proposal is light hearted but makes a serious point.  It demeans the dignity of this house that we have to trek down to Strasbourg once a month with all our papers, along with a travelling caravan of journalists, lobbyists, commission officials and assistants.  You could not make it up.

"However, the law is the law and the law says that the parliament must meet 12 times a year in Strasbourg.

“My idea is that we rename the chamber in Brussels as "Strasbourg" and thereby remain within the letter of that law.  Clearly it would be a blatant attempt to subvert the law, but that frankly is my point.

“Let the member state governments take parliament to the European Court of Justice and let them justify the expense, upheaval and carbon emissions and if we lose the case so be it, but there is no rational person who would organise the working of the parliament in this fashion so why should we stand for it?"

His comments are echoed by other MEPs, including UK Socialist deputy Richard Corbett, who said: "Strasbourg costs €200 million a year and leaves a massive carbon footprint. The monthly move from Brussels to Strasbourg is producing 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide a year, equivalent to the greenhouse gases produced by 13,000 round-trip flights from London to New York.

“As long as we have to travel to Strasbourg, people will rightly say that the EU is wasting money - Strasbourg is a waste of taxpayers money."

"Labour MEPs are opposed to the Strasbourg travelling circus. It is time for national governments to bite the bullet and end the wasteful monthly commute and to give the parliament a long overdue permanent home in Brussels."

Philip Bushill-Matthews, leader of the UK Tory delegation, has called for UK premier Gordon Brown to “show some leadership” by pressing the issue with member states.

He said, “This week, we are avoiding Strasbourg for the first time ever, but we all hope it will not be the last time we are spared the unnecessary and profligate charade.

"The final decision regarding the parliament's locations must be made by national governments, and to date none of the big players in the Council of Ministers has come down strongly enough against the monthly move.

"Gordon Brown's inability to demonstrate leadership in the EU has allowed this situation to continue for far too long, and it is high time he sent a clear message to his counterparts that the parliament should have one home.

"The two-seat parliament is a symbol of all that must change in the EU. If Europe's leaders are sincere about reform, they could find far worse places to start than by scrapping Strasbourg. It's time for Brown to make use of Britain's new-found 'entente formidable' with France and demand President Sarkozy finally scraps the travelling circus."

Some 1.2 million Europeans have signed a "one seat" petition to get rid of the Strasbourg seat.

A poll conducted by the Campaign for Parliament Reform (CPR) has revealed an overwhelming majority, 89 per cent of MEPs, not only want one permanent seat for the parliament but also that 81 per cent want the seat to be in Brussels. 84 per cent also believed the parliament should be able to decide on the location of its seat.

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