EU lawmakers drop call to scrap Strasbourg seat

By Staff
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BRUSSELS, June 15 (Reuters) The European Parliament today abandoned an attempt to scrap its costly commute to Strasbourg after European Union leaders made clear they would not consider basing the assembly only in Brussels.

Under a 1992 treaty arrangement, the assembly must hold at least 12 four-day plenary sessions a year in the eastern French city, a cause of inefficiency and public derision of a ''travelling circus''.

The assembly also holds shorter plenary sessions and most committee meetings in Brussels, spending more than 200 million euros of taxpayers' money on commuting each year.

Parliament President Josep Borrell told reporters he had asked EU president Austria in writing whether the leaders would be prepared to discuss giving parliament a single seat.

Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel had replied there was no appetite for changing the treaty, since Strasbourg was a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation.

''The Council does not wish to change in any way the situation established by the treaties and that was all the answer I needed,'' Borrell told a news conference after meeting the leaders at a summit in Brussels.

''It was not necessary for me to raise the issue again.'' Leaders of political parties in the legislature have pressed for the change and a parliamentary committee is investigating allegations that Strasbourg city council overcharged the EU assembly for years for rent on its buildings.

Quizzed by reporters about the failure to even have the matter discussed by EU leaders, Borrell played down the importance of the question.

''I think that if you look at the issues faced by the European Union and the world we live in ... I think Strasbourg would be relatively low down on the list,'' he said.

British and Swedish deputies have been among the most active in fighting to move the legislature permanently to Brussels. A Swedish MEP says she has collected more than 150,000 signatures on a petition calling for a single seat.

REUTERS SY BD2344

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