Petition to end trek to Strasbourg

8.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 1st Jun 2006

A new cross-party campaign has been launched to end the European Parliament's monthly trek to Strasbourg. I am working with Richard Corbett MEP (Labour) and Edward McMillan-Scott MEP (Conservative) to endorse the www.oneseat.eu campaign, which gives the public a chance to have their say. The aim of the campaign is to gather one million signatures on a petition addressed to EU leaders.

The obligation on the European Parliament to sit in Strasbourg twelve times a year is enshrined in the EU Treaties. Only a unanimous decision of the heads of government, followed by national ratification, can give Parliament discretion as to where it should meet.

Its visits to Strasbourg cost the Parliament € 200 million a year. To make savings, the French authorities have suggested that MEPs should leave Brussels behind and settle entirely in Strasbourg. But this would cut MEPs off from the other institutions with which daily contact in indispensable, as well as the media, diplomats, lobbyists and NGOs. Besides, Strasbourg is too small for a pan-continental parliament, with bad air and rail links.

We propose that, in exchange for the loss of the Parliament, Strasbourg hosts the equally prestigious, but smaller and less frequent summit meetings of the European Council. The heads of government would be paying the homage they clearly feel to be due to Strasbourg as the symbol of Franco-German reconciliation. And the city would also remain the home of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights.

The on-line petition is gathering strength across the Union. Please sign up to www.oneseat.eu now.