Solving the Strasbourg seat dilemma

A couple of weeks ago I circulated a tongue-in-cheek suggestion by email to parliamentary colleagues; that the Parliament rename the building in which its parliamentary chamber in Brussels in located. Instead of calling it the "Paul Henri Spaak" building, it could, I proposed, be called "Strasbourg", and Parliament could then hold all its sessions in Strasbourg.

I was, however, somewhat surprised to hear from the BBC that the Scottish Nationalist Party has this week taken up this idea in a press release, claiming it as their own. Plagiarism is, of course, common in politics, but usually not on such a specific matter - although they always say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Joking aside, it is high time the national governments (whose power it is) revise their 1992 decision (at the Edinburgh Council chaired by John Major) obliging Parliament to shift twelve weeks a year to Strasbourg. The recent interruption of the monthly migration, due to the collapse of ceiling in the building that France built for us in Strasbourg, has been widely welcomed and shown how operating in Brussels is easier for all concerned, not just MEPs, but ministers, commissioners, journalists, staff, embassies and all.