European Parliament seat
ECJ ruling puts impetus on EP to finally address its flawed operating arrangement
The European Court of Justice today delivered a ruling against the decision by MEPs to travel only 11 times per year to Strasbourg for plenary sessions instead of 12 (1). The Greens expressed regret at the ruling but stressed that European Parliament needs to now address the issue more coherently and welcomed a forthcoming EP report on the seat to this end. Commenting on the situation, Greens/EFA co-presidents Dany Cohn-Bendit and Rebecca Harms said:
“Today's expected ruling puts the impetus on the EU Parliament to finally take matters into its own hands and formally raise the question of the EP's flawed operating arrangement.
"With the EP set to draft and debate an initiative report on the multi-seat operation, it looks as if the taboo on the issue will finally be ended and the omerta of the two biggest political groups broken. Given the growing sense of frustration among MEPs at being denied a say on their own place of operation, this development will be most welcome. While EU governments retain sole decision-making power, the EP must finally start to apply pressure to ensure action to address the outdated multi-seat operation can no longer be avoided.
"The practise of shifting thousands of people and resources from place to place is not only costly, inefficient, wasteful and environmentally-damaging (2), it also seriously damages the public perception of the EU. The EP operating arrangement has sadly become a symbol of waste in the EU. It is time for MEPs to stop packing their trunks and for us to say goodbye to the travelling circus."
(1) 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
(2) 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 (pdf):
