oneseat campaign

4.36.52pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 16th Jun 2006

Colin Ross at the European Parliament

I have signed up to the citizens initiative petition to end the European Parliament's costly monthly trips to Strasbourg. Each month the European Parliament packs up its offices in Brussels and heads to Strasbourg for just four days - a move that is costing EU taxpayers €200 million a year! Have you signed? You can at www.oneseat.eu

It is truly absurd that all 732 MEPs, their staff and all their paperwork have to make the trip from Brussels to Strasbourg. It is a total waste of taxpayers' money not to mention the environmental impact of the carbon emissions from an extra 600 miles each month.

The petition is looking for 1 million signatories before being forwarded to the European Commission, it has over 550,000 at the moment. The proposed European Constitutional Treaty states that one million EU citizens can call for legal action from the Commission with Article 47 on participatory democracy stating "4. Not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of Member States may take the initiative of inviting the Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the Constitution."

Related Link:

Sign the oneseat petition online