Britain is to demand the end of the European Parliament sitting in both Brussels and Strasbourg during landmark talks on a new EU treaty.
As a budget summit started in Brussels today, Cabinet Office spokesman Lord Wallace said a single site for the European Parliament will be a British demand during crunch negotiations ahead of a reshaped EU.
“When the time comes to consider broader proposals for reform, tackling the waste that the two seats of the European Parliament leads to should be considered,” he told the Lords.
The British position will be fiercely fought by France whose ambassador to London, Bernard Emie, today flatly rejected the idea that the parliament should not be partly located in Strasbourg. “We would mind. It’s completely unacceptable. Strasbourg is a symbol of the European wars and reconciliation,” he said.
He stressed the arrangements were laid down in an international treaty, adding: “So there is no point in thinking that we could renounce... Strasbourg as the headquarters of the European Parliament.”
