Let’s have a European parliament in Warsaw….!

James Gubb, 3 October 2006

Last Thursday a signature ceremony was held to celebrate the European parliament’s purchase of its own buildings in Strasbourg. The cost of the buildings? Just 136 million euros, of which approximately £10 million will come from British taxpayers held in escrow for such a noble purpose. Worth celebrating? On the plus side I guess 136 million euros is not bad as the cost of parliaments go, given that the Scottish one, for example, cost along the lines of £431m. Heh, we could buy a few more! At least then we could have a proper ‘travelling circus’; I’m sure MEPs must get incredibly bored of visiting just two parliaments.

Enough of the sarcasm. Why exactly does the European parliament sit in two places? At Amsterdam in 1992, EU leaders in their infinite wisdom agreed that MEPs should hold 12 plenary sessions each year in Strasbourg, and the rest in Brussels. The result: that not only more than 700 MEPs, but also their aides and numerous documents, have to travel 280 miles back and forth from Brussels to Strasbourg. The cost: a mere £135m per year. And Strasbourg is empty for 307 days of it. The reason that is given for this craziness is that the parliament sitting in Strasbourg for 58 days a year is ‘a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation’ and European Unity.
Strasbourg is an important city, and perhaps in some way symbolises peace between France and Germany. But this does not mean we need a second European parliament there (if we need one at all) – the logic is just flawed. Why not build another parliament in Berlin, Amsterdam or Warsaw? All these cities were ripped apart by German – Allied conflict in World War II but now vibrant, multi-national centres within the EU. And Berlin and Warsaw also suffered the front-line tension of the Cold War to boot. This aside, the fact is better representations of Franco-German reconciliation can be found even within the EU than Strasbourg; they now have the same currency and the same supreme court (ECJ) to name but two.
So why is no-one making a fuss about this ridiculous waste? The fact is they are. At the latest count 1,036,457 million people have signed an online petition launched in June this year by Swedish MEP Cecilia Malmstrom to get rid of the European parliament’s twelve plenary sessions in Strasbourg. As yet, the powers that be in the EU have chosen not to listen. All apart from the European Parliament’s president, Josep Borrell, who suggested yesterday that ‘some Nordic country’ did not suffer enough during WWII to understand the true meaning of the Strasbourg seat. That ‘Nordic country’ happens to be the Finns who have floated the idea as part of their Presidency of the European Council; because they didn’t take much collateral damage at the hands of Russia. Listening to European citizens as always then.