SingleSeat.eu, a campaign for a Single Seat for the European Parliament

www.SingleSeat.eu - a campaign for a Single Seat for the European Parliament

Why a Single Seat for the European Parliament?

The European Parliament has two working places, Brussels and Strasbourg. This is a campaign to let its Members (MEPs) choose where and how they meet. Most MEPs want only to meet in Brussels.

The home of the European Parliament is in Brussels (Belgium), where the other key EU bodies - the European Commission and the European Council - are also based.

However, the official 'seat' of the European Parliament is in Strasbourg (France), for historic reasons, and the entire European Parliament is obliged by the EU governments to trek there for 12 four-day sessions a year, at an extra cost of €180 million and 19,000 tonnes of CO₂   each year.

 Most MEPs want a Single Seat in Brussels - what about you?       

News: 

MEPs show strong support for Single Seat ahead of ECJ hearing, 10 May 

Single Seat campaign continues to gather momentum, 29 March 

MEPs vote overwhelmingly for a Single Seat, 29 March 2012

European Parliament President favours permanent base, 24 March 2012

Pamphlet launched! 'The Case for a Single Seat' December 2011

Who are we?

  Single Seat is an initiative that brings together the aims of the Brussels-Strasbourg Seat Study Group and OneSeat, and is co-chaired by their respective chairmen (Edward McMillan-Scott MEP and Alexander Alvaro MEP). Both groups share the same objective: to give the European Parliament the right to decide its own working arrangements.

OneSeat has succeeded in getting more than 1.2 million European citizens to sign a petition, but it has so far been ignored by the EU. Single Seat aims to use all means to force change. In the meantime, MEPs intend to ask the EU governments to give them the right to decide where and how they work. 

On 29 March MEPs voted 429 -184 in favour of a Single Seat for the European Parliament - the biggest majority the House has ever seen. This followed a vote on the EU's multi-annual budget on 8 June 2011, where an Absolute Majority of MEPs (373-285) supported  "the significant savings that could be made if the European Parliament were to have a Single Seat". 

MEPs attempted to demonstrate their right to choose on 9 March 2011 when in a secret ballot they voted by 357-253 to put two Strasbourg sessions into one week in the autumn parliamentary programmes of 2012 and 2013.

The French government announced on 18 May that it had filed a complaint at the European Court of Justice against the decision by the European Parliament. However, the judgment may take up to 18 month (see Q&A page). 

We believe the European Parliament should have the right to decide its own working arrangements (see Autonomy paper).

Brussels-Strasbourg Seat Study Group formed 21 October 2010 

All the issues surrounding the controversial two-seat arrangement, in which the European Parliament - 736 MEPs, and some 5,000 assistants and staff - move monthly from their home in Brussels en masse to Strasbourg, are being examined by a cross-party Brussels-Strasbourg Study Group.

The cross-party Group of senior MEPs was set up after there was an attempt in October 2010 to reduce the time MEPs have to spend in Strasbourg. The Group published a comprehensive report - A Tale of Two Cities - in February 2010 which found an overwhelming majority of MEPs and staff wanted to meet only in Brussels.

An attitude survey by Zurich University's psychology department found 'Stressbourg' caused high anxiety. The following month, in a secret ballot, MEPs amended  their parliamentary calendars for 2012 and 2013 by putting two Strasbourg sessions into a single week.

The Study Group is chaired by Edward McMillan-Scott (right), who was elected as the European Parliament's first independent vice-president in 2009 and is responsible for Human Rights and Democracy, as well as Transatlantic relations.  Legal advice is provided to the Group pro bono by international law firm Sidley Austin LLP, and communications specialists Burson-Marsteller provide campaigning advice. 

OneSeat Campaign

OneSeat is chaired by fellow ALDE Vice-President Alexander Alvaro (below, left) who is a Substitute on the Parliament's Budget and Civil Liberties committee.

OneSeat launched a petition in 2006 which said: "The European Parliament should be located in Brussels. It costs European taxpayers approximately 200 million euros a year to move the Parliament between Brussels in Belgium and Strasbourg in France. As a citizen of the European Union, I want the European Parliament to be located only in Brussels."

During the first term of José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, the European Citizens' Initiative was introduced into the then-draft constitutional Treaty. OneSeat began after the announcement of ex-Commissioner Margot Wallström that she would treat all Citizens' Initiatives launched as valid, even before the Initiative had any legal basis. Commissioner Cecilia Malmström - then an MEP - started the OneSeat.eu website which was taken public by Alexander Alvaro; the first million signatures were received by the Commission in September 2006.

Despite repeated questions on behalf of the signatories, there has been no reaction. An official written question by Alexander Alvaro on how and when the Commission was going to act was answered with glib references to the officially lacking legal basis and the responsibility of member states to perform any treaty change.

The campaign currently has over 1.2 million signatures.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT: all the activities of the Single Seat campaign, the Brussels-Strasbourg Seat Study Group or the OneSeat campaign are financed from allowances according to the rules of the European Parliament, or by the MEPs themselves.