EP-zetel in Straatsburg op agenda voor Europese Raad in juni (en) - Hoofdinhoud

European Parliament president Josep Borrell is to ask EU leaders to reconsider the parliament's second seat in Strasbourg at their June summit, after political group leaders in the parliament backed the move on Thursday (11 May).

The two-seat parliamentary arrangement has been brought up several times in past member states' negotiations, last time in 2000 during the Nice treaty talks.

The initiative was taken by the head of the socialists in the parliament, Martin Schultz, last week and on Thursday it emerged that Mr Schulz gained support from five out of the seven political group leaders at a meeting in Brussels.

In a letter to Mr Borrell, Mr Schulz referred to the "practical difficulties" of the system, which sees MEPs, their assistants and lorry loads of documents decamp to the Alsatian capital for a monthly plenary session, an arrangement often scathingly referred to as "a travelling circus".

The two-parliament system can however only be changed by unanimous agreement among EU member states - including France, which considers the Strasbourg seat a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation and a matter of national prestige.

The costs of the seat in Strasbourg is estimated to be at least €200 million a year - the latest numbers are from before the union was enlarged with ten new member states in May 2004.

Recent turbulence over rent costs has brought the discussion to the foreground once again.

Last month, allegations of inflated costs for the Strasbourg seat came to a head when it emerged that the Alsatian capital may have overcharged for rent to the tune of €2.7 million a year for the last 25 years.

French leader of the Leftist GUE/NGL group, Francis Wurtz, one of two leaders who voted against the German initiative, criticised the "implicit but obvious" attempt to use the Strasbourg real estate transaction rumble to question the seat.

"As much as it is seems indispensable to put the real estate transactions between the European parliament and the city of Strasbourg under scrutiny, it also seems completely ill-timed to intermingle this affair and the general question of the seat, Mr Wurtz, said.

Irish group leader Brian Crowley from the Union for Europe of Nations (UEN) party also voted against the initiative.

Despite repeated complaints from travel-tired MEPs, national governments have been reluctant to bring up the sensitive issue with France, with MEPs earlier this week accusing governments of tip-toeing around France.

"Governments try to keep Paris happy on this matter so they can get their support in other matters, for instance the services directive," German Liberal MEP Alexander Alvaro said.

The official seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg has been enshrined in the EU treaty since 1992, and removing the clause could at worst require a full revision of the content in the treaty, legal experts told EUobserver.

Furthermore, if the location of the institutions were to be revised, it could also spark calls for justification of having EU offices in Luxembourg, as well as explanations for why ministers meet in Luxembourg three months a year and why the European Court of Justice is based there.

French Green MEP Gerard Onesta told EUobserver "We should put all the EU seats into question."