The French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Clément Beaune, is keeping up the pressure on the European Parliament to return MEPs to Strasbourg “as soon as possible”, even though they have not set foot in Strasbourg since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020.
In an open letter addressed to European Parliament President David Sassoli, on Wednesday 25 November, he said he even hopes that “consideration will be given to the relocation of other European Parliament services to Strasbourg”, potentially to the future ‘Osmose’ building, which is due to be delivered shortly. And he reiterated the French request that the absence of the European Parliament in Strasbourg should be the subject of “compensation mechanisms”, such as the start in Alsace of the Conference on the Future of Europe (see other news).
Expressing France’s “great concern“ about the planned investment to renovate the Parliament’s hemicycle in Brussels, Mr Beaune called for “urgent consultation” between the Belgian and French authorities and the Parliament (see EUROPE 12608/15).
See Mr Beaune’s letter in French: https://bit.ly/3q1VcLR (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)