mr president especially at a time of economic crisis public opinion in many of our member states cannot understand how we spend nearly eur two hundred million a year coming here to strasbourg especially after we have just had a quarter of a year of not doing so very successfully having our sessions in brussels
furthermore it is parliament that gets the blame very often although it is of course the member states the national governments who have the power to rectify this situation
since the french presidency is here may i invite the governments to reconsider this issue and since we all know we will have to have a solution acceptable to france and to strasbourg may i suggest that in exchange for the parliament sessions going to brussels maybe the european council could meet in strasbourg
that would have a certain institutional logic
the commission the parliament and the ordinary council of ministers which interact daily should be in the same town brussels
the european council which is a strategic body should have a certain distance from the day-to-day activities
that could meet in strasbourg which could confer upon strasbourg just as much prestige as the sessions of the european parliament
