The ECR Group has been a leading voice for putting an end to the European Parliament’s wasteful and environmentally damaging monthly shuttle between Brussels and Strasbourg.
Moving the work of the entire European Parliament for 4 days of every month from Brussels to Strasbourg sees 750 MEPs, 3000 staff, and a number of lobbyists and other officials relocate at a huge expense to the European taxpayer. Estimates of the relocation costs are between 102 million and 180 million Euros per year. The move causes the unnecessary release of 20, 000 tons of C02 into the atmosphere.
As the arrangement is enshrined in the EU’s treaties, changing it requires unanimous agreement of the EU’s leaders. The ECR Group is doing all it can to engage with France to enter into discussions to end the European Parliament’s costly trek to Strasbourg and ensure that all-important unanimity.
In the meantime, the ECR Group has built unprecedented levels of support across all political groups and nationalities to change this arrangement, and we will continue to highlight the extreme budgetary and environmental costs involved, in the hope that one day this will change.
The ECR Group also continues to influence this issue through its work within the European Parliament’s cross-party Single Seat Group which campaigns for the European Parliament to be based in one location.
Through a campaign initiated by the cross party group, the ECR Group has helped to secure the overwhelming majority of European Parliament Members support stopping this practice, and consequently passed a Parliamentary resolution backing this position.
The ECR Group also campaigned to help get more than a million citizens signed a petition calling for an end to what is known as the “Strasbourg circus”.
Whilst France still wields a veto and still refuses to reconsider ending this practice, the ECR Group will continue to keep the pressure on, and will continue to campaign to ensure that the wasteful spending of your money is put to a stop.
