Brussels, 12/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 10 May, the European Parliament called for it to have a single workplace, but did not say where this single workplace should be located. Adopting a report by Ville Itälä (EPP, Finland) giving discharge to the president of the EP for implementation of the EP's 2009 budget, the EP says that in the light of budget constraints, it “takes note of the budgetary constraints many member states face as a result of the financial and economic crisis////stresses that real savings could be achieved if Parliament only had one workplace in a single location.”
MEPs criticise the huge waste of money caused by operating in three cities - Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg. The cost of keeping all three locations going is estimated at around €180 million a year. The mayor of Strasbourg, Roland Ries, obviously wants all the EP to move to Strasbourg
London opposes Strasbourg. The British government has lent its support to opponents of the idea of the European Parliament being based in Strasbourg, explained British MEP Edward McMillan-Scott in a press release on Wednesday (see EUROPE 10314). In a letter to the heads of the delegations of the British Liberal and Conservative parties at the European Parliament, the British prime minister, David Cameron, and deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, promised to raise the question among EU27 heads of state, he explained. In the letter, the two leaders congratulate the MEPs for their success in reducing the number of meetings held in Strasbourg in 2011 and 2012 and the combining of two EP sittings into a single week. McMillan-Scott says the leaders promised to discuss the issue with other member states. The anti-Strasbourg MEPs have been fighting to get all the EP moved to Brussels and on 9 March, they won agreement in a vote to remove one of the weeks when the EP works in Strasbourg in 2012 and 2013. France will appeal against the decision at the European Court of Justice this month, arguing that it breaches the EU Treaties. In April 2011, Luxembourg announced that it would be backing France's appeal.
On the broader front, the EP calls “for a long-term review of the Parliament's budget; asks for future potential savings to be identified in order to reduce costs and create resources for the long-term running of the Parliament as part of the legislative authority.”
EuroparlTV. The EP “deplores the fact that EuroparlTV cannot be considered to be a success story in view of its very low number of direct individual users (18) (excluding viewers through partnership agreements with regional TVs) in spite of the considerable annual appropriations that it receives, amounting to some EUR 9,000,000; and therefore, calls for a cost-benefit evaluation of EuroparlTV with a view to making savings in this area.” (L.C./transl.fl)