| Author (Corporate) | Deutsche Welle |
|---|---|
| Series Title | Article |
| Series Details | 10.2.11 |
| Publication Date | 10/02/2011 |
| Content Type | News |
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Brussels to Strasbourg commute under pressure As lawmakers and their staff came streaming out of the European Parliament in Brussels at the end of a busy week, Mike O’Brien and his crew were just starting work. Mr O’Brien, 45, supervises one of the more eccentric rituals in any government capital: the European Parliament’s monthly move from its Brussels base to its second home in the French city of Strasbourg. About 40 movers fanned out through the parliament’s empty hallways to collect some 2,500 plastic trunks full of documents. In all, the cases weigh about 350 tonnes and they must be awaiting MEPs at their office doors when they arrive in Strasbourg on Monday for a week-long plenary session. “They haven’t a clue,” Mr O’Brien says of the finely co-ordinated logistical ballet that his crew performs each month. But, if a growing number of MEPs have their way, it would cease. Armed with studies about the trips’ enormous financial and environmental costs, a cross-party group of parliamentarians recently conducted a poll that found 91 per cent of MEPs and their staffs would prefer to stay in Brussels full time. Last month, the parliament voted to reduce the number of Strasbourg trips from 12 to 11 a year. In a sign of how serious the threat has become, the French government last month filed a suit against the parliament to overturn the vote in the European Court of Justice, the European Union’s highest legal authority. Nonetheless, Strasbourg foes hope the vote marks the beginning of the end for the monthly trek. “The Strasbourg-Brussels commute is a waste of money and it is one of the first things that people associate with the European Parliament,” says Britain’s Edward McMillan-Scott, a Liberal Democrat who leads a cross-party group of MEPs campaigning to make Brussels the parliament’s permanent home. To keep MEPs returning to Strasbourg, which benefits from the estimated 4,000 EU officials who fill the city’s hotels and restaurants each month, Laurent Wauquiez, France’s Europe minister, is promising tougher tactics, if necessary. “If one starts attacking the seat of the parliament, we will put the seat of other institutions on the table,” he threatens. “Why not question the location of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt?” Roland Ries, the city’s mayor, has his own solution. “Put everything in Strasbourg,” he suggests. The EU’s fathers awarded the parliament to the Alsatian city in recognition of its historic significance as the site of the Franco-German reconciliation that lies at the heart of the European project. In so doing, they touched off a long tradition of griping about Strasbourg. For all its charm, the city lacks the infrastructure to handle so many visitors. The train from Brussels takes about five hours, when it is not delayed. Such opposition has arisen before, but France has always held a legal trump card: Strasbourg’s role is enshrined in European treaties. Changing them requires the support of all 27 EU members. “The European treaties are clear,” Mr Wauquiez says. “Strasbourg is the home of the European Parliament.” In spite of that outward confidence, there are reasons why the current campaign is making the city’s defenders nervous. Strasbourg’s symbolic value diminished after the EU added 12 new eastern European member states beginning in 2004. MEPs have also cleverly begun casting about for a replacement tenant. Perhaps more importantly, the historic economic crisis that has necessitated savage budget cuts across Europe has made it ever more difficult to justify a trip that costs taxpayers €180m a year, according to Mr McMillan-Scott’s study. For many MEPs, though, the Strasbourg debate is part of a broader coming-of-age struggle. Long regarded as the ugly sibling of the European institutions, the parliament gained vast new powers with the passage of the Lisbon treaty a little more than a year ago. Now, they argue, they should be able to determine where they work. From his unique vantage point, Mr O’Brien says he has witnessed the chamber’s development. There are many more MEPs these days, and they no longer send empty boxes to Strasbourg so that they can return them full of Alsatian wine. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011.Most European Parliament members want an end to the practice of meeting in both Brussels and Strasbourg, a survey indicates in February 2011. Opponents of the two-city system want Belgium's capital to be the legislature's sole venue. |
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| Source Link | http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14834879,00.html |
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| Subject Categories | Politics and International Relations |
| Countries / Regions | Belgium, Europe, France |
