European Parliament’s Strasbourg return hangs in balance

Right now, the monthly traveling circus to Strasbourg is back on. But don’t book your tickets just yet.

This time around, the prospect of hopping on a crowded train, working for a few days in the French city and munching choucroute in local restaurants has sparked unease among many MEPs and European Parliament officials, who believe it’s too soon, too risky and largely unnecessary to return after a break stretching back to March due to the coronavirus.

The switch from Brussels to Strasbourg means traveling from a city designated as a coronavirus red zone by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to a region deemed an orange zone by Belgian authorities, meaning people returning from there are asked to undergo testing and go into quarantine.

According to multiple Parliament officials, France has pushed for the session to go ahead. But as the September 14-17 gathering draws closer, concern is growing about whether that is a wise move.

“As long as Brussels is a red zone, I would not move a whole bunch of people from there to another place,” said Katarina Barley, a vice president of the Parliament from Germany’s Social Democrats. “I think we have to assess that immediately.”

Many fear that travel to Strasbourg for MEPs and staff who come from 27 different countries that have applied different coronavirus rules will generate chaos and confusion.

The entire German Social Democrat delegation issued a statement Wednesday declaring that they want the Parliament to continue to sit in Brussels and work digitally until further notice.

“European politicians should also avoid trips that are not absolutely necessary. In addition, the different quarantine and testing rules in the EU member states are an obstacle to all MEPs traveling to Strasbourg,” the delegation’s leader Jens Geier said.

The annual State of the Union address by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is scheduled to be the centerpiece of this month’s Strasbourg session. MEPs are also due to vote on important texts, including one on resources for the EU budget — a key step in creating the bloc’s coronavirus recovery fund.

In a normal month, 705 MEPs and some 2,500 parliamentary workers converge on Strasbourg for a plenary session. If this month’s session goes ahead, it would be a scaled-down version of the usual setup.

In an internal note sent to MEPs in July, the Parliament administration said the session will be held under a “hybrid model,” with debates held “with physical presence only” and votes “using the remote system.”

The note added that “physical presence” would be reduced to its “minimum,” with MEPs allowed to bring only one assistant, while political groups are invited to send only a skeleton staff. Even the Parliament’s catering outlets in Strasbourg will be limited to one-third of their usual capacity, the note said.

Measures currently in place at the Parliament in Brussels, including mandatory mask-wearing, body temperature checks at the entrances, and “special cleaning of rooms and surfaces” will be applied in Strasbourg, the note said.

President defends plan

A spokesperson for David Sassoli, the Parliament’s president, said returning to Strasbourg is indispensable to “respect European Treaties, and because Strasbourg is the official seat of the Parliament and the place where plenary sessions are held according to the treaties.”

But a significant number of MEPs and officials are unconvinced.

First of all, France has recorded the third-highest number of coronavirus cases in Europe — a total of more than 286,000 so far. And the region that includes Strasbourg has been particularly hard hit.

Secondly, many fear that travel to Strasbourg for MEPs and staff who come from 27 different countries that have applied different coronavirus rules will generate chaos and confusion — and raise the prospect of many of them having to undergo self-isolation and testing upon their return home.

Some countries like Denmark advise against traveling to France, while Hungarian citizens returning from abroad need to self-quarantine for 14 days, “or until they produce two negative tests taken two days apart,” according to the European Commission’s Re-open EU website.

“Most people don’t want to go to Strasbourg,” an official from the center-right European People’s Party group said. “But the French are insisting very much.”

The city of Strasbourg gains a lot economically from the monthly arrival of European lawmakers and officials. Taxi drivers, restaurants and hotels are among those who benefit the most.

In addition, French governments of various political stripes have long defended keeping Strasbourg as the official seat of the Parliament in the face of criticism that it is a waste of resources for the legislature to shuttle between two homes. Scrapping more Strasbourg sessions could “set a dangerous precedent,” another group official said.

Some MEPs said they were looking to France for guidance.

After meeting Sassoli last week, France’s European affairs minister Clément Beaune tweeted that their discussions  involved “defending the role of Strasbourg, the seat of the Parliament.”

The EPP official regretted that he was going to go to Strasbourg “only to be sitting at my desk.”

“Why spend money on travel if the plenary week is organized in Strasbourg exactly like it is in Brussels?” the official asked.

A final decision on whether to go ahead with this month’s session will be made by Sassoli and leaders of the Parliament’s political groups.

But some MEPs said they were looking to France for guidance. French authorities are set to give a fresh assessment on the health situation in Strasbourg imminently, according to senior Parliament officials.

“It would be for the French government … to request that we do not go to Strasbourg,” said Dita Charanzová, a Czech MEP and Parliament vice president. “Currently they say it is safe.”