A single seat for the European Parliament

Due to historic reasons, the European Parliament has three different working places. Its main home is in Brussels (Belgium), where the other key EU bodies (the European Commission and the European Council) are based. However, the Parliament’s administration mostly works from Luxembourg and for twelve sessions a year, the entire European Parliament (MEPs, their assistants, administrative staff, etc.) is obliged to meet in Strasbourg (France) at a cost of  €180 million and 19,000 tonnes of CO2 each year.

Edward McMillan-Scott MEP is co-chairman of the Single Seat campaign group leading the fight against Member State governments to give the European Parliament the right to decide where and when it meets. Most MEPs want a Single Seat in Brussels

The French Government has taken the European Parliament to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) against the decision by MEPs to put two Strasbourg sessions into one week, thus reducing the number of times the European Parliament has to travel to Strasbourg in 2012 and 2013 from 12 times to 11 times.

For more information, please contact edward.mcmillanscott@europarl.europa.eu or visit www.singleseat.eu