Strasbourg, 25/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - MEPs in favour of keeping the activities of the European Parliament in Strasbourg are becoming increasingly isolated, according to Edward McMillan-Scott from Britain.
Supporters of a single seat for the European Parliament launched a new offensive on Wednesday 24 October between two plenary sessions in Strasbourg this week, in support of transferring all Parliament work to Brussels. A seminar organised on Wednesday afternoon by the Liberals Edward McMillan-Scott (Britain) and Alexander Alvaro (Germany), who are vice-presidents of the ALDE group, allowed them to get ready for the fray.
The previous day, during the plenary vote on the 2013 budget, around one hundred single seat supporters had placed a paper origami in the form of an armchair on their desks in front of them in the Chamber to symbolise the single seat. Several amendments to the La Via and Vaughan reports on the 2013 budget and regarding the question of keeping the European Parliament in Strasbourg were adopted. Thus, 615 MEPs called on member states to tackle the question of the Parliament's seat and work places, and 518 MEPs called on the Council to develop a roadmap towards a single seat and more effective use of the places of work by 30 June 2013. Having long argued and worked for a single seat, McMillan-Scott told the press, on Wednesday, of his surprise at the massive backing received for their ideas. Never before, he said, have their proposals received such an echo in Parliament. He feels France will be increasingly isolated in its defence of a shared seat between Brussels and Strasbourg. Only the French and German EPP members and the French S&D members voted against the amendments.
The supporters of a single seat now want to cash in on these figures and step up mobilisation in order to obtain a single seat after the European elections of 2014. At a press conference alongside McMillan-Scott, about ten MEPS of every political leaning - including Anna Maria Corazza Bildt (EPP, Sweden), Dan Jorgensen (S&D, Denmark), Göran Färm (S&D, Sweden), Ulrike Lunacek (Greens/EFA, Austria), and Diane Dodds (NA, Northern Ireland) - set out their main arguments, especially the question of how much it costs to make the monthly transhumance from Brussels to Strasbourg of 750 MEPs and 3,000 officials, estimated at €180 million annually including Luxembourg, not to mention the carbon footprint that this represents each year being estimated at 19,000 tonnes of CO2. These figures are challenged by those who defend sharing a seat between Brussels and Strasbourg, saying that the annual cost is €51.5 million.
Supporters of the single seat are nonetheless aware of the fact that a solution will only be found if Strasbourg is offered effective alternatives, Färm admitted. Ideas are therefore on the table, such as transferring the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, or making Strasbourg the town of Justice. (EH/transl.jl)