French defend Strasbourg sessions

Date: 20/03/03

By Martin Banks

CIVIC leaders in Strasbourg have launched a major charm offensive in a bid to counter criticism of the cost of hosting the European Parliament in the city for just 48 days a year.

MEPs and their staff are currently compelled to make a monthly trek from Brussels to the Alsatian city, but many have condemned this as a 'travelling circus' and a waste of money.

The total cost of holding plenary sessions in Strasbourg is put at €169 million per year; the figure will rise to €203 million when the Union expands next year to take in ten new members.

But the mayor of Strasbourg, Fabienne Keller, has defended the cost, saying that it would be wrong to base all the EU's main institutions in Brussels. "Strasbourg is an important symbol of European unity and, as everyone knows, symbolism is important," she said.

The Strasbourg authorities plan to launch a publicity drive promoting the city's suitability as a site for the Parliament and other institutions.

One of the MEPs' regular complaints about the current split-site arrangement is the relatively poor transport links to Strasbourg, which is also home to the Council of Europe, the European Court of Human Rights and the headquarters for 12 French banks.

However, Keller says "strenuous" efforts are being made to improve air and rail links, promising that a new, daily Brussels-Strasbourg air shuttle service would be launched by the end of the year.

She said it was also hoped that the five-hour journey time by rail between the two cities would be substantially reduced "in the near future", adding the French rail operator TGV also plans to launch a Strasbourg-Budapest route.

Her comments were echoed by Robert Grossman, president of Greater Strasbourg, who said the city scores over Brussels on several fronts. He said: "While more and more MEPs are complaining of a crime increase in Brussels, in Strasbourg it is quite the opposite with crime falling last year by 7.2."

While accepting that facilities needed to be improved, he added: "With its exceptionally rich heritage, Strasbourg is European by birth and ditching it as a site for the European Parliament would be a backward step."

Figures released by Parliament Secretary-General Julian Priestley have shown that each monthly session in Strasbourg costs €1 million more than it would if MEPs stayed in Brussels.

Civic leaders in Strasbourg have launched a major charm offensive in a bid to counter criticism of the cost of hosting the European Parliament in the city for just 48 days a year.