MEPs tell parliament to end EU ‘travelling circus’

MEPs stepped up their campaign to scrap parliament’s current two-seat arrangement by presenting a petition to parliament on Tuesday.

With over a million signatures, the petition was launched by former Swedish MEP Cecilia Malmström in 2006 as a citizens’ initiative.

Under article 8 of the Lisbon treaty, initiatives that receive at least one million signatures can provoke the EU into action.

Welsh MEP and member of the campaign for parliament reform (CPR), Jill Evans, supports the move.

“As politicians we are working to combat climate change. It's been estimated that in one year the moving back and forth to Strasbourg emits around 20,000 tonnes of CO2 and costs more than £150m.”

Although the Lisbon treaty has not yet been fully ratified by all member states, communications commissioner Margot Wallström has encouraged the use of citizens’ initiatives to show the commission’s ‘citizen’s agenda’.

However, a written question put to the commission by German MEP and president of CPR Alexander Alvaro was, he says, “answered with glib references to the officially lacking legal basis and the responsibility of member states to perform any treaty change”.

Evans says that although it is up to member states to vote on any institutional changes, parliament will keep the pressure on.

“As it was a condition written into the treaty, only member state governments can change this and we will keep lobbying them until they do.”

French president Nicolas Sarkozy has previously called the two-seat parliament part of Europe’s founding balance and non-negotiable.

The online petition, OneSeat, is organised by the campaign for parliament reform, and is also supported by Dutch Socialist Edith Mastenbroek, UK Tory Chris Heaton-Harris, Finnish centre-right deputy Piia-Noora Kauppi and Scottish MEP Catherine Stihler.

Although most MEPs, staff and offices are based in Brussels, parliament also meets in Strasbourg for four days a month.

All 785 MEPs also have individual offices in Strasbourg. Additionally, some administrative offices of the European parliament are located in Luxembourg.

• Previous article
• Next article