Brussels, 27/09/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 26 September, MEPs who want to see all their activities based in Brussels lambasted the cost of regular displacements to Strasbourg which they estimated at €180 million per year.
On the initiative of Alexander Alvaro (ALDE, Germany) the European Parliament budgets committee adopted an opinion for the constitutional affairs committee, the competent committee on this issue, which proposes amending the European treaties which state that the seat of the European Parliament is in Strasbourg.
The opinion states that the cost of moving every month for the plenary session held in Strasbourg represents over €180 million per year. To this must be added other costs, such as the loss of working time, additional costs for staff and additional travelling expenses for MEPs. MEPs therefore ask the Parliament's administration to conduct an assessment of the savings that could be made if Parliament had only one workplace or, at least, stopped the monthly move. It would be more efficient and more rational in terms of costs if Parliament had a single seat, Alvaro argued. Having a single workplace is “in the interest of taxpayers and citizens”, he added.
On 17 September, British Eurosceptic Ashley Fox and Gerald Häfner (Greens/EFA), both supporters of a single seat in Brussels, brought forward a draft report calling for the right of the Parliament to decide where and when it meets. Amendments noting that, in accordance with the European treaties, the seat of the Parliament is in Strasbourg were rejected. (LC/transl.fl)