By Martin Banks - 29th September 2008
“We’re getting to the point where the parliament will have to issue a health warning before people enter the building
Ian Hudghton
Parliament’s bosses insist next month’s Strasbourg plenary will go ahead despite fresh safety concerns about the building.
The pledge follows calls from two MEPs who say the building in the French city is unfit to house the monthly session of MEPs.
The last two plenary sessions have been transferred to Brussels after part of the hemicycle roof in Strasbourg collapsed during the summer.
Scottish Nationalist Party MEP Ian Hudghton says the so-called ‘travelling circus’ should be indefinitely suspended over concerns about the alleged presence of asbestos and the air conditioning system which, he says, has left the site resembling a "death trap."
He also says there are concerns about the structural condition of the foot bridges linking the main buildings and that the building “fails to comply” with fire safety regulations.
“We’re getting to the point where the parliament will have to issue a health warning before people enter the building,” he said. “This is an appalling way for a democratic institution to conduct its business.”
Hudghton’s comments come in the wake of claims by a Cypriot member, Marios Matsakis, a trained pathologist, who also says the building should be closed down, decontaminated of asbestos and not reused until given the all-clear by experts.
Writing in the latest issue of Parliament magazine, Scottish deputy Catherine Stihler adds to the debate, saying that, irrespective of any new safety concerns, the “overwhelming argument” of having a single seat - located in Brussels - remains.
Further reaction has come from another Scottish MEP, Alyn Smith, who said, “My heart sinks at the prospect of returning to Srasbourg.”
Despite the latest furore, parliament’s spokesman Jaume Duch Guillot said there would be a final safety inspection of the building on 8 October but insisted the October session would return to Strasbourg.
“The building has been given the all-clear so there is no reason not to return,” he said.
Earlier this month, Strasbourg Mayor Roland Ries suggested that those, like the Scottish MEPs, who have campaigning for a single seat for parliament should consider moving the assembly permanently to his city.
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