EURO MP PRESSES SARKOZY ABOUT STRASBOURG 'TRAVELLING CIRCUS'

5.27.00pm GMT Tue 13th Nov 2007

West Midlands MEP Liz Lynne today signed a letter calling on French President Nicholas Sarkozy to review the position of Strasbourg as the second seat of the European Parliament. The letter comes as the President visits the parliament today to outline his vision for the future of Europe.

Speaking today from Strasbourg, Liz said:

"Over £130 million each year is spent purely on moving 785 MEPs, their staff and trunks of documents between Strasbourg and Brussels and I took the opportunity to remind the President of this.

"It is ludicrous that we have two separate places to meet when we have a perfectly good parliament building in Brussels at the heart of the European institutions. Not only is it a total waste of taxpayers' money, but the travelling involved cause's large amounts of unnecessary carbon emissions.

"The Strasbourg buck stops with national governments who should have done more in the past to amend this anomaly. They bear ultimate responsibility for this needless cost and waste. I hope that the French government will take notice of Europe's elected representatives and negotiate a reform process acceptable to all member-states."