By Anne-France White - 24th April 2007
STRASBOURG – A new report commissioned by green MEPs says the European parliament’s monthly commute to Strasbourg generates 20,000 tonnes of CO2 per year.
The survey, written by British academic John Whitelegg, assesses the energy cost of the monthly trek to Strasbourg by the 785 MEPs plus 3000 parliament staff, assistants and translators, along with the energy costs of running the Strasbourg building.
The report concludes that keeping parliament’s second seat in Strasbourg produces 18,901 tonnes of CO2 per year – the equivalent of 13,000 transatlantic return flights or the entire CO2 emissions of a small island state like Turks and Caicos, according to MEP Caroline Lucas.
“This is a large figure, an avoidable figure, and it risk undermining parliament’s leadership on climate change,” Lucas said.
The report urges the parliament to drop its Strasbourg seat and stick to its headquarters in Brussels.
“Not to change historical operational practice sends a very clear message to millions of citizens and thousands of businesses that they need not try very hard to change behaviour if this change is inconvenient,” the paper concludes.
Commenting on the report, MEP Claude Turmes argued that “business as usual is over if we are to save this planet from climate change”.
“It is an issue of credibility. Empty words are exactly what citizens hate about politicians,” he said.
The report is part of the green MEPs’ push to put the controversial issue of parliament’s two seats back on the agenda.
Last year, one million people signed the “one seat campaign” - instigated by former Swedish MEP Cecilia Malmström – which called for parliament to drop the Strasbourg seat.
But the contentious issue has yet to be debated in plenary, and Frassoni argued on 25 April that the Strasbourg question “must no longer be taboo”.
The decision, however, is entirely in the hands of the EU’s member states – and France has made it clear it will oppose any shift away from the Strasbourg seat.
The report, describe by Lucas as “the first robust evidence-based analysis of the environmental cost of the European parliament’s operations”, comes as the EU institutions are trying to become global leaders in the fight against climate change.
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