Sign the Petition to End the Strasbourg EU Seat

5.49.32pm BST (GMT +0100) Sun 14th May 2006

German MEP Jorgo Chatzimarkakis has suggested that Angela Merkel may try to reach a deal with the next French President over the scrapping of the Strasbourg "travelling circus". Once a month, MEPs and their staff have to travel between the two official seats of the EU (Brussels and Strasbourg) at great expense to European taxpayers.

A deal to abolish the Strasbourg seat could only happen if Sarkozy is elected as the next president of France, which will happen just 6 weeks before the end of Germany's presidency of the EU, and even then its not clear that Sarkozy would give up Strasbourg easily. But 'Chatzi' believes that a deal could be reached. All member states would have to agree to the change, as the 2 seat status of the EU is written into existing treaties.

12 times-a-year, 732 MEPs with 2000 assistants and many hundreds more parliament staff take to the road from Brussels to Strasbourg - a 500 mile round-trip journey. They are followed by huge lorries that carry 3500 trunks packed full of folders and papers necessary for a week's work. The costs total more than 200 million Euros per year, and also carries an environmental cost.

A friend of mine who works for Chatzi's party - the FDP (German Liberal Party) - has sent me a link to a petition which has accumulated thousands of signatures calling for a one-seat EU.

You can sign it at: http://www.oneseat.eu/