French President Emmanuel Macron has raised the pressure on the European Parliament to return to Strasbourg by writing personally to the legislature’s president to demand a swift return to “institutional normality.”
Due to concerns and restrictions linked to the coronavirus, the Parliament has not made its usual monthly trip to the French city for plenary sessions since February. Instead, it has held sessions in Brussels, where most of its other work is done.
But in his letter to Parliament President David Sassoli, Macron argued that health reasons could no longer be used to justify staying away from Strasbourg.
“The health situation is certainly difficult, but it is as difficult in Strasbourg as it is in Brussels,” Macron wrote in the letter, dated September 23 and obtained by POLITICO and other news organizations on Monday. “In those conditions, it is your duty to implement without delay a return to institutional normality and to resume plenary sessions in Strasbourg from October on.”
The Parliament had been due to return to Strasbourg last month, but canceled that plan after the Alsatian city and the surrounding area were designated as a coronavirus red zone by French authorities.
French officials criticized that decision and argued they had put in place plans to protect MEPs and European Parliament staff from coronavirus risks. But a personal intervention by the French head of state significantly raises the stakes in the battle over when to return to Strasbourg.
Parliament is already poised to cancel its next planned Strasbourg session, due to run from October 5 to October 8, after Belgian authorities designated the city as a red zone due to the number of cases of coronavirus. That designation means that if Parliament staff travel from Brussels to Strasbourg, they would have to self-isolate on their return, officials noted.
Sassoli will discuss the issue with officials and senior MEPs and a final decision is expected in the coming days.
A second Strasbourg session scheduled for next month, to begin on October 19, is also in doubt.
In his letter, Macron said France “won’t let political pretexts fuelled by concerns over the pandemic” undermine the role of Strasbourg, which is widely seen as a symbol of Franco-German and wider European reconciliation.
Macron added that he also wanted the upcoming Conference on the Future of Europe, which will be established “in the weeks to come,” to be inaugurated in the Parliament premises in Strasbourg.