Strasbourg, 14/04/2000 (Agence Europe) - After adoption of the Dimitrakopoulos/Leinen report on revision of the EU Treaty, which comprised the vote on over 220 amendments (see yesterday's EUROPE, pages 5 to 7), several MEPs welcomed the fact that the plenary had proposed the following phrase be added to the Treaty: "The European Parliament should decide, by absolute majority of its members, on the place of its seat and of all its meetings". The passage was approved by 401 in favour, 77 against and 9 abstentions.
British Liberal Democrat Andrew Duff noted that the heads of state and government of the EU are also invited to accept this change during their summit to be held in December in Nice. He added: "MEPs have done their bit by stating that we want this arrangement changed. It is now up to Tony Blair to insist that the European Treaties are changed". This would allow taxpayers money to be saved and to have a more effective Parliament since we could "stop having to pack our bags every three weeks in this ridiculous way", commented Mr Duff, who added that, in such conditions, the new buildings in Strasbourg could be "handed back to the French authorities". British Conservative Roy Perry, who was one of those initiating the campaign for concentrating work of the Parliament in Brussels, affirmed that, according to the Conservatives, "the colossal £90 million annual cost of shuttling MEPs, staff and documentation to and from Strasbourg each month is an absurd waste of European taxpayers' money". He said "the European Parliament has today sent a clear message to Blair and the other 14 Prime Ministers". He feels "Strasbourg projects a deeply negative message that the Parliament is prepared to waste time and money. (…) There is simply no justification for European taxpayers to pay for a needless travelling circus".
Regarding the other aspects of the resolution, Green member Monica Frassoni express "moderate satisfaction". In her view, the EP has not won its bet of setting up a milestone, as the Spinelli Treaty had done (Ed.: The Treaty on Union approved by the EP on 14 February 1984 at the intitiative of Altiero Spinelli), showing the way "where we want to go and with whom" but it was the only resolution "possible at the time". This text comprises areas of grey and of light, considers the MEP, who regrets the lack of "clear reference to the constituional process", which alone could "rally citizens". Elected member of ÖVP Reinhard Rack on the other hand, sees this resolution as a "federalist approach" which, in his view, will be to the detriment of the small and medium-sized Union countries. The Austrian MEP, who states that the other ÖVP parliamentarians have voted against the resolution, deplores above all the fact that there is no guarantee these States will continue to be able to designate a Commissioner (Ed.: but the radical solution of a top limit of 20 Commissioners plus one was withdrawn), and that the smallest countries should be penalised proportionally more than the others by a ceiling on the number of MEPs.