Brussels, 10/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - Recent problems with the city of Strasbourg over the purchase and rent charged for two buildings used to house European Parliament plenary sessions are playing into the hands of people who want there to be a single headquarters for the EP and for it to be based in Brussels (see EUROPE 9181). A new website aimed at European citizens by the Campaign for Parliament Reform (CPR) launched by MEPs of several political parties, (http://www.oneseat.eu ), aims to publicise the campaign to put an end to MEPs shuttling every month between Brussels and Strasbourg to carry out their business. The constitutional treaty is nowhere near being adopted but the MEPs in the CPR hope the European Commission will agree to recognise in advance the right to petition included in Article 47 of the draft constitution and will be open to this citizen initiative, interesting both democratically and institutionally but controversial politically. The MEPs say that if they get a million EU citizens to sign up, the European Commission will have to include the matter on its agenda. They explain that Margot Wallström, EU Commissioner for Institutional Relations and Communications Strategy, has suggested on several occasions that she would back the idea of a citizens' initiative even without ratification of the constitutional treaty. There are already 6000 signatures on the recently launched website, explained the person behind the website, Cecilia Malmström (ADLE, Sweden), at a press conference on Wednesday, hoping a million signatures would be reached before the end of the year.
The question of the European Parliament having a headquarters in Strasbourg, guaranteed by the treaties, regularly comes up but has never been resolved. Malmstrom said it was a question that had been shaming the EU for a long time, with all the lorry-loads of boxes belonging to MEPs and the huge travelling expenses involved in moving from Brussels to Strasbourg. Highlighting the citizen initiative nature of the movement, CPR member Piia-Noora Kauppi (EPP-ED, Finland), said it was good for citizens to share their thoughts and views - they want an efficient, responsible institution and this is not possible if the farcical and expensive monthly travelling circus continued. She recognised, however, that the question was a strategic institutional power struggle between the EP and the Council. Echoing her, the President of the CPR, Alexander Alvaro (ADLE, Germany), said that tax payers money was being squandered because of a secret compromise deal among the Member States and the campaign had to do all it could to get governments to understand that this is not the kind of European Union wanted in the future. Malmstrom said she had huge respect for EP being based in Strasbourg as a symbol of peace, adding that the issue was controversial. She said there were not yet any tangible suggestions to make to the French government in exchange for losing Strasbourg but it would be necessary to provide something permanent and big to replace the European Parliament, like a technology institute or a university in the buildings the EP used to occupy (an idea mooted by Alvaro months ago).