Brussels, 05/02/2015 (Agence Europe) - The political groups in the European Parliament called on Wednesday 4 February for the decision of the Conference of the Presidents of the Parliamentary groups on drafting a new report on one seat for the Parliament to be postponed.
The Conference of the Presidents was due to debate the matter on Thursday 5 February, before the date was revised to 12 February. A source in the European Parliament told EUROPE that the groups had not given any reason for seeking a delay. The conference of the chairs of the Parliamentary committees gave its agreement to a new report on 13 January. If it ever sees the light of day, this report will be drafted by Morten Messerschmidt (ECR, Denmark). The report will start the debate on changing the treaties to allow MEPs to select the seat of the European Parliament, under the terms of Article 48 of the Lisbon Treaty. The Messerschmidt report will follow on from that of Ashley Fox (ECR, UK) and Gerald Häfner (Greens/EFA, Germany) which was adopted by the previous Parliament on 20 November 2013 (see EUROPE 10967). This earlier report proposed that a procedure be launched to revise the treaty so that the Parliament itself - and not the member states by unanimity - determine where it should meet. (CG)