European Parliament seat

The European Court of Justice's Advocate General today delivered an opinion (1) recommending that the court find against the decision by MEPs to travel only 11 times per year to Strasbourg for plenary sessions instead of 12 (2). The Greens expressed regret at the decision but pointed out that it underlines the need for EU governments to finally bring an end to the costly and ineffective multi-seat operation of the EP. Commenting on the situation, Greens/EFA co-president Rebecca Harms said:

“While today's opinion is regrettable, the Advocate General's legal advice is at odds with legal advice given to MEPs at the time of the decision on the EP calendar, so there is hope that the ECJ will not follow today's recommendation. Regardless, the opinion underlines the need to find a permanent and sensible solution for ending the EP travelling circus.

"The taboo on the EP's senseless seat arrangement must be ended. For the EP's part, this means finally holding a debate on situation to ensure it is on the EU agenda and to put pressure on Council to finally act to end the multi-seat operation. The practise of shifting thousands of people and resources from place to place is not only costly, inefficient, wasteful and environmentally-damaging (3), it also seriously damages the public perception of the EU. It is high time this outdated system was ended."

(1) The Advocate General upheld a complaint by France and Luxembourg that the EP's decision to make its calendar more efficient was incompatible with the EU treaties. The European Court of Justice will decide on the case in the coming weeks.

(2) The decision was taken in a vote on the European Parliament's calendars for 2012 and 2013. See the Green press release at the time: http://www.greens-efa.eu/european-parliament-in-strasbourg-3362.html

(3) See the study commissioned by the Greens/EFA group on the environmental impact of the multi-seat operation, which leads to an excess 20,000 tonnes of CO2 per year being emitted: /legacy/fileadmin/dam/Documents/Studies/EP%20two-seat%20operation%20-%20Environmental%20costs%20Transport%20and%20Energy.pdf