Media
The two-Seat issue is regularly reported and commented on in the media. This is a synoptic selection and will be updated regularly.
12.07.11 Vaggi.de: 'Majority of MEPs' want to axe trips to Strasbourg
The majority of MEPs are in favour of a single seat for the European Parliament, according to statistics released today by a group campaigning to stop the monthly commute to Strasbourg.
03.07.11 Canada.com: Finger-wagging EU faces own criticism over expenses
PARIS — The European Union, now wagging its finger at debt-plagued Greece to embrace austerity and combat corruption, is facing unwelcome attention on one of the most galling examples of wasteful extravagance in its own backyard — or make that, backyards.
28.06.11 New York Times: A Parliament on the Move Grows Costly
BRUSSELS — Moving day had arrived. On a recent Friday evening, the color-coded crates were ready, some 2,500 of them stacked outside virtually every office door along the vast halls of the European Parliament complex here.
16.06.11 Public Service Europe: Strasbourg seat faces 'death by a thousand cuts'
Even French MEPs are voting to get rid of the European Parliament's Strasbourg seat, writes Justin Stares. "I would send you the photo you are after," said the helpful technician from his office in Strasbourg, "but it is on a disk with the rest of my things, which the removal people have left in Brussels". Beyond the well documented cost – more than €200m a year – and life-threatening greenhouse gas emissions, the equivalent of a small island, the monthly migration of the European Parliament from Brussels to Strasbourg is above all else a hassle.
14.06.11 Public Service Europe: Hope for a single European Parliament seat
June's plenary session in Strasbourg saw what a year ago would have been a momentous event, MEPs voted to support a single seat of the European Parliament. Specifically, they voted for paragraph 127 of the Garriga Report - Multi-Annual Financial Framework - which "points to the significant savings that could be made if the EP were to have a single seat" and was supported by 353 votes, 282 against and 38 abstentions.
07.06.11 Brussels Strasbourg Seat Study Group: MEPs vow to take on France over Strasbourg seat: top law firm offers pro bono support
A cross-party group of MEPs campaigning to end the European Parliament's controversial two-seat arrangement has said it will oppose attempts by the French government to overturn the Parliament's recent decision to reduce the number of times Members and officials have to travel to Strasbourg every year and a major international law firm has offered them its professional support.
07.06.11 L'Alsace: Entre Strasbourg et Bruxelles, il n'y aura pas de siège unique
Les eurodéputés veulent travailler en un seul endroit. Les Français plaident pour regrouper les activités du Parlement européen à Strasbourg, où se tiennent les sessions plénières, comme cette semaine. Mais le siège unique a peu de chance de voir le jour.
20.05.11 BBC News: France-UK row over Strasbourg parliament escalates
British Euro MPs want the UK government to back them in a dispute with France over the number of European Parliament sessions held in Strasbourg.
14.05.11 The New York Times: France Chides Britain for Support of Parliament Move
France’s European affairs minister scolded the British government for an “unfriendly and aggressive gesture” on Friday, after Prime Minister David Cameron and his deputy, Nick Clegg, backed a move to phase out the French city of Strasbourg as the seat of the European Parliament.
10.05.11 Europolitics: Strasbourg Seat - France announces counter-offensive
Laurent Wauquiez, French minister for European affairs, convened some 40 elected officials from his country, on 10 May at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, to mark a late but real French reaction to challenges to Strasbourg's role.
14.04.11 Luxemburger Wort: Tagungskalender 2012: Paris klagt
For the French media reaction to the Seat issue please click here
18.04.11 European Business Review: A Capital of Europe? Strasbourg versus Brussels
“Capital of Europe: how the EU is shaping Brussels – and vice versa?” That was the question raised at a recent conference organized by weekly newspaper European Voice debating the place, infrastructure and architecture for the European scene in Brussels.
15.04.11 The Parliament Magazine: Cross-party MEPs in new move over Strasbourg seat
An EU-wide debate on alternative uses for parliament's buildings in Strasbourg has been launched by a cross-party group of MEPs. The move comes after a vote in March to cut parliament's meetings in the Alsatian city. The French government has contested the vote as the split site arrangement was in the EU treaty. The French position was reinforced this week by Luxembourg premier Jean-Claude Juncker who also said the arrangement is "fixed in the treaty".
11.04.11 The Financial Times: 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
24.03.11 The Parliament Magazine: MEPs play down campaign to relocate EU parliament to Strasbourg
MEPs have been swift to respond to a new campaign for parliament to relocate permanently to Strasbourg. The move, initiated by the mayor of Strasbourg, Roland Ries, comes amid a new debate about the institution's split seat arrangement.
23.03.11 EU Observer: MEPs tell Buzek to seek end to Strasbourg seat
MEPs have called for a meeting with EU leaders to discuss the scrapping of the European Parliament's Strasbourg and Luxembourg seats, also opting to delay their approval of the Council of Ministers' 2009 budget until later this year.
17.03.11 The Parliament Magazine: Dutch government backs calls to scrap Strasbourg seat
Dutch European affairs minister Ben Knapen has said the Dutch government backs a single seat for parliament. He has also pledged to raise the issue during the ongoing debate about the EU's future budget and said the Dutch government would work with its EU partners to build support for a change to the treaty to give parliament a single seat.
16.03.11 European Voice: Parliament's place is in Strasbourg
By voting to reduce the number of plenary sessions in Strasbourg, MEPs are reinforcing a harmful image of the European Union. Some MEPs have chosen to adopt an amendment on the European Parliamentary calendar for 2012 and 2013. This means reducing the number of sessions of the Parliament in Strasbourg.
15.03.11 Europolitics: France takes EP to court over Strasbourg schedule squeeze
French European Affairs Minister Laurent Wauquiez announced, on 15 March, his country’s intention to take the European Parliament to the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) over the EP’s recent vote to squeeze the plenary schedule in Strasbourg in 2012 and 2013 (1). Wauquiez said in a press release that the MEPs’ decision “misunderstands” the treaties. However, when asked by Europoliticsto explain the grounds for Paris’ decision to take the case before the ECJ, Wauquiez’s advisors were unable to do so.
15.03.11 Euractiv: France takes Parliament to court over Strasbourg sessions
France announced today (15 March) that it will take the European Parliament to the European Court of Justice over a recent decision by MEPs to merge plenary sessions as a means of reducing travelling time, costs and carbon emissions.
15.03.11 Wall Street Journal: France Takes Parliament to Court
EU watchers, and readers of this real estate, know that France is practically ready to go to war to defend the prolongation of Strasbourg’s status as second home of the European Parliament, no matter the costs or annoyances of sending thousands of legislators and staff down to eastern France from Brussels, for a week, 12 times a year.
11.03.11 EUobserver: The EU's Strasbourg taboo has finally been broken
This week MEPs made sure that this Strasbourg session was one to remember. Having backed an EU Financial Transaction Tax on Tuesday, MEPs voted the following day to open up one of the EU's biggest political taboos – whether or not to abolish the Strasbourg sessions.
10.03.11 European Voice: Sleepless in Strasbourg?
Securing a hotel room – at a reasonable price – is a growing problem for the thousands of people who attend European Parliament sessions in Strasbourg. It is not just MEPs and Parliament staff who have to travel to the city every month. Their battle for accommodation is shared with officials from other EU institutions, diplomats from the member states and beyond, visiting dignitaries, lobbyists, and media. Nowadays, a plenary session routinely sees more than 4,000 people arrive in the city.
10.03.11 L'Anglophone: MEPs Vote to Reduce Strasbourg "Circus"
In a secret ballot, the European Parliament voted 357-253-40 yesterday to reduce the number of round trips it must make between the hemicycles of Brussels and Strasbourg. Led by Britain’s Edward McMillan-Scott (ALDE), MEPs voted with their feet to express their continued frustration with the maintenance two offices for a single purpose.
09.03.11 European Voice: Defiant MEPs approve ploy to axe trips to Strasbourg
Members of the European Parliament have decided to cut the number of times a year that they have to travel to Strasbourg for plenary sessions.
09.03.11 New Europe: Strasbourg squeezed
MEPs voted to reduce the number of trips to Strasbourg in 2012 and 1013, in a secret ballot, by 357 to 253, with 40 abstentions, in favour of scrapping one week in Strasbourg in both 2012 and 2013. Two separate weeks of plenary meetings planned for October of each year will now be held during a single week. Campaigners for the resolution say this will lead to millions of euros in savings and a substantial reduction in the EP's carbon footprint, while respecting the Treaty requirement of holding 12 plenary sessions in Strasbourg every year.
09.03.11 The Parliament: MEPs vote to reduce number of Strasbourg sessions
MEPs have voted overwhelmingly to cut one of the European parliament's unpopular October Strasbourg sessions. Following a campaign headed up UK deputy Edward McMillan-Scott, the parliament voted on Wednesday to combine the two October plenary sessions into a single week. Some 357 voted in favour of the move, with 253 against and 40 abstentions.
20.02.11 Libération: Strasbourg, une histoire sans fin?
Strasbourg, une histoire sans fin ?La semaine dernière, la ville de Strasbourg a dépêché trois de ses fonctionnaires au Parlement européen, lors de la session plénière, afin de vanter auprès des députés, assistants, fonctionnaires et journalistes les charmes et les avantages à leurs yeux uniques de leur cité.
17.02.11 DNA: Haro sur "Stressbourg"
Même au sein d’institutions créées pour préserver la paix, on peut mener des batailles pendant plus de cinquante ans. Celle menée contre le siège du Parlement européen vit un nouvel épisode, avec la publication d’une étude demandant que Bruxelles l’accueille à temps plein. Et, dans l’ombre, le soutien inédit d’un gouvernement.
10.02.11 Financial Times Blogs: MEPs to Strasbourg: ‘We’ll take Brussels, thanks’
There are plenty of things to like about Strasbourg – the Christmas market, the soaring cathedral and the ambient spirit of Franco-German reconciliation. But you might not want to visit the place 12 times a year.
10.02.11 Euronews: Nine out of 10 MEPs anti-Strasbourg
A survey of European Parliament members has shown that nine out of ten of them think it is time to stop using Strasbourg as their common work base one week per month, and concentrate on Brussels. The shuttling between these cities has long been criticised as a waste of time and money.
10.02.11 The Parliament: New report brands EU parliament's Strasbourg seat as 'bad for health'
A major new report has condemned parliament's single seat arrangement, calling it "wasteful and bad" for the environment and health of staff. The 50-page report, published in parliament on Thursday, says the monthly commute to Strasbourg, the so-called "travelling circus", calls for MEPs to mobilise support for a treaty change. This, it says, would enable the 30-year arrangement to be scrapped so that parliament has just one seat, Brussels.
15.11.10 The Daily Mail: New EU building planned to replace existing one condemned as a 'pointless extravagance'
The EU is spending £850million of taxpayers' money constructing a new HQ for translators and lawyers that has been condemned as a 'pointless extravagance'. The enormous building in Luxembourg will house support staff for the European Commission and European Parliament, which are based in Brussels and Strasbourg.
14.11.10 The Sunday Times: EU to spend £850m on ‘pointless extravagance’ with new HQ
Giant new office complex in Luxembourg will extend to 3.1m sq ft and be inhabited by lawyers, translators and other European support staff. The European Union is spending almost £850m to replace one of its three headquarters in a project that has been condemned as “pointless extravagance”.
04.11.10 European Voice: Strasbourg Scorn
Roland Ries, the mayor of Strasbourg, and Catherine Trautmann, a former mayor of Strasbourg, now a Socialist MEP, have taken offence at the creation of a ‘study group' looking into whether the Parliament's sessions in Strasbourg are viable.
29.10.10 Le Parisien: Strasbourg défend son statut de siège du Parlement
Le maire de Strasbourg Roland Ries a défendu vendredi le choix de sa ville comme siège du Parlement européen au nom du droit et de l'Histoire, après la création d'un groupe de réflexion pour relancer le débat sur le siège de l'institution.