Strasbourg, 03/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - A call to order from British Conservative, Edward McMillan-Scott on the difficulties he encountered on Monday in Strasbourg led to a debate on Tuesday just after voting. The debate was improvised and focuses on the Rhine land town and seat of the European Parliament.
Mr McMillan-Scott explained that following a delay in the arrival at the airport of the Paris CDG and given that he still had time for his connection to Strasbourg, the Air France company prevented him, together with a number of other MEPs from taking this plane and put him on a plane that left five hours later. Underlining the numerous problems of the airline desert of Strasbourg, he stated that if problems continued, Parliament would be unable to continue meeting in this city. The same opinion was shared by British labour Party member, John Hume, who "thanks to Air France" has experienced the same problem. He pointed out that, "I left home at 7 o'clock and arrived at 9 o'clock. I could have made a round trip to the USA". British Labour Party member, Richard Corbett said that the ICG would have to find a solution to the problem of Parliament's location or give Parliament the right to decide. He indicated that his proposal for compensating Strasbourg, if Parliament was transferred to Brussels would include the Alsation city playing host to four annual meetings of the Council of Europe. After having pointed out that she had always voted for Strasbourg in the past, the British Liberal Democrat, Elizabeth Lynne, who was on the same flight as Mr McMillan-Scott, announced that she would change her opinion in the future. Visibly affected, she added that this did not constitute an anti French attitude but rather an anti Air France attitude. French UMP MEP, Dominique Vlasto admitted that she had experienced difficulties getting to Strasbourg due to the strike at SNCB. Francesco Speroni (Lega Nord) defended Air France, putting down these problems to the liberalisation of air transport as sought by Parliament and that Alitalia or other companies could take over these flights. Thanking he colleague, French Socialist, Pervenche Bérès, criticised those who "mixed everything up": liberalisation of transport, problems of the airline desert and the Parliamentary HQ. French National Front MEP, Bruno Gollnisch appealed for respecting treaties and the symbolic choice of Strasbourg. UDF MEP, Jean-Louis Bourlangues criticised the "extravagance" of an institution itself deciding on its location. He exclaimed that he wanted this "stupidity" to cease. Highlighting the arrival of the new MEPs from future Member States, which would complicate the situation further, British Conservative, Christopher Heaton-Harris thought that these transport problems could influence voting.