European Parliament back in business

1.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 13th Jul 2009

Lib Dem MEP for the North East Fiona Hall continues to fight for a more efficient use of time and money at the European Parliament, by campaigning to replace the monthly sessions held in Strasbourg with sessions in Brussels where the rest of the Parliament's work is done.

A North East MEP has renewed her vow to fight to end the wasteful monthly trip between the two European Parliament buildings in Brussels and Strasbourg as the newly-elected European Parliament convenes for its first plenary session in Strasbourg this week after June's Euro elections.

Commenting on reports that the European Parliament building in Strasbourg was deemed unsafe by French authorities for a second year in a row, freshly re-elected Lib Dem MEP Fiona Hall said:

"This 10 year-old building is a real health and safety hazard. Last year, the ceiling collapsed and now defects have been found in the fire retardant coating of the metal structure supporting it. It is really outrageous that firemen will now have to be positioned in the building to 'intervene and effectuate any evacuation in good time' until the problem is sorted. A better solution would be to stop using the Strasbourg Parliament altogether and establish Brussels as the single seat for the European Parliament."

"I will continue to support the ONESEAT campaign (www.oneseat.eu) and to lobby for a single seat for the European Parliament in Brussels. Hopefully, this new incident will finally encourage national governments to make a stand against this travelling circus between Strasbourg and Brussels and end the waste of money, time and energy."

The Oneseat campaign estimates that it costs European taxpayers an estimated 200 million euros a year to move the European Parliament back and forth between Brussels and Strasbourg.

This week, the European Parliament comes together for its first plenary session after the Euro elections in June. On Tuesday, the House will elect a new president, widely expected to be Polish centre-right MEP Jerzy Buzek. MEPs will also use this week to establish committee chair and membership positions and to decide when to vote for the President of the new EU Commission.