Activities of Catherine TRAUTMANN related to 2012/2308(INI)
Plenary speeches (2)
Location of the seats of the European Union's institutions (debate)
Location of the seats of the European Union's institutions (debate)
Amendments (29)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas Parliament’s estimates for 2014 put the overall budget at EUR 1 808 144 206,; with costs directly related to the 1 Texts adopted, P7_TA(2012)0359. 2 Texts adopted, P7_TA(2013)0048. 3 Texts adopted, P7_TA(2012)0155. dispersion estimated at EUR 180 000 000hereas Parliament has no up-to-date figures for the costs incurred by each of its places of work;
Amendment 10 #
Motion for a resolution
Citation 10
Citation 10
Amendment 13 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the time incurred in 2011 due to the monthly travel to the four-day plenary part-sessionbetween Parliament’s Seat and its other places of work was 69 562 days for officials and other agents and 31 316 days for accredited parliamentary assistants, costing € 16 652 490 for officials and other agents and € 5 944 724 for accredited parliamentary assistants;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas these figures do not show the cost of travel by political group staff (estimated to be at least an extra EUR 5 million) or by staff from the other EU institutions attending part-sessions, nor do they take into account other dispersion-related costs, such as loss of working time, related overtime payments, extra costs incurred by staff, e.g. for babysitters, and the potential differences in MEPs’ travel costs (which totalled EUR 72 103 309 in 2012) arising from the different means of transport and routes that need to be used to get to either place of workinclude travel by political group staff;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas Article 341 TFEU and Protocol 6 annexed to the Treaties establish that the seat of the institutions of the Union shall be determined by common accord of the governments of the Member States, that Parliament shall have its seat in Strasbourg where 12 periods of monthly plenary sessions, including the budget session, shall be held, that the periods of additional plenary sessions shall be held in Brussels, that its committees shall meet in Brussels, and that its General Secretariat and its departments shall remain in Luxembourg;
Amendment 20 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas Article 341 TFEU and Protocol 6 annexed to the Treaties establish that the seats of the Union’s institutions shall be determined unanimously by the Member States, that Parliament shall have its seat in Strasbourg where 12 periods of monthly plenary sessions, including the budget session, shall be held, that the periods of additional plenary sessions shall be held in Brussels, that its committees shall meet in Brussels, and that its General Secretariat and its departments shall remain in Luxembourg;
Amendment 29 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Asks the Administration for an objective analysis of the savings that could be made if Parliament had only one pcosts generated by each place of work, including Parliament’s Seat; this analysis should relacte of work; asks that, in order to identify savings for greater efficiency, this should include not only structural coststo the structural costs both for the current period and for that of the forthcoming multiannual financial framework (buildings, maintenance and repair, security, insurance, energy, environmental impact, travel, logistics, restaurants, etc.) but also ancillary costs;travel, logistics, etc.):
Amendment 33 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the ECJ has stated that the location of the seat is not to hinder the well-functioning of Parliament; whereas it has further stated that there are disadvantages and costs engendered by the plurality of working locations, but also that any improvement of the current situation requires a Treaty change and, thus, the consent ofresponsibility for making any change lies neither with Parliament nor with the Court, but, rather, by exercising their exclusive power to determine the seats of the institutions, with the Member States;
Amendment 35 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph C
Paragraph C
Amendment 38 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Agrees that Parliament would be more effective and cost-efficient if it were located in a single place; resolves, theConsiders that the way in which the European Parliament is organised forms part of a historical process and reflects a desire fore, to propose Treaty changes under Article 48 of the TEU. polycentrism between the seats of the European Union’s institutions and agencies;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Recognises that, since Parliament has no power to choose its seat, this matter was determined by a unanimous decision of the Member States, as with the seats of the other institutions; recommends that any proposal for a change to Parliament’s seat should be subject to the same conditions of unanimity and should be discussed together with the seats of the institutions and agencies which were determined as a result of that agreement.
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital I
Recital I
I. whereas the structure of Parliament’s calendar (fixed during the Edinburgh Summit in 1992) predates all changes to its role arising from the adoption of the Treaties of Maastricht, Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon; whereas, under the Edinburgh compromise, it was determined that Parliament’s seat is Strasbourg - a decision subsequently incorporated into the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997 and the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph C a (new)
Paragraph C a (new)
Ca. whereas Article 341 TFEU lays down that the seats of the institutions of the European Union are ‘determined by common accord of the governments of the Member States’.
Amendment 48 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L
Recital L
L. whereas the fact of geographical distance between the official seats of the co- legislative bodies – 435 km – isolates Parliament not only fromreflects a multi- centre approach to the question of the European Union’s seats; whereas media coverage of parliamentary business during part-sessions in Strasbourg is far greater than during Brussels mini- sessions, since the attention of one of the world’s largest international journalistic communities - and of the Council and, the Commission, but also fromand other stakeholders, such as NGOs, civil society organisations and Member State representations, and from one of the world’s largest international journalistic communities - is focused on a single institution;
Amendment 51 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph C b (new)
Paragraph C b (new)
Cb. whereas the issue of the European Parliament’s seat can only be considered in the context of a debate on the seats of all the European institutions;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M
Recital M
M. whereas, according to figures acknowledged by Parliament’s Secretariat, the additional annual costs resulting from the geographic dispersion of Parliament have conservatively been estimated to range betweenbeen estimated at EUR 5169 million and EUR 204 million4, which is equivalent to between 15 % and 20 % of Parliament0.04% of the EU’s annual budget, while the environmental impact is also significant, with the CO2 emissions associated with the transfers to and from the three working locations estimated to amount to at least 19 000put at 4 199 tonnes5;
Amendment 57 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M – footnote 4
Recital M – footnote 4
Amendment 60 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital M – footnote 5
Recital M – footnote 5
5 ‘European Parliament two-seat operation: Environmental costs, transport & energy’, report prepared by Eco-Logica Ltd. for the Greens/EFA, November 2007Figures provided by Parliament’s Secretary-General, ‘Replies and follow-up to the discharge for 2010’ (paragraph 28). .
Amendment 63 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital N
Recital N
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. WelcomNotes the decision by the Committee on Constitutional Affairs to draw up a report on the location of the seats of the European Union’s institutions;
Amendment 78 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital Q
Recital Q
Q. whereas citizens of the EU – including the 1.27 million citizens whohave signed an on-line petition asking for a single seat – have repeatedly expressed their discontent with, which does not fulfil the criteria for the admissibility of signatures as laid down in the Rules of Procedure of the cEurrent arrangeopean Parliaments;
Amendment 89 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Believes that Parliament should have the right to determine it, without prejudice to Parliament’s pown working arrangements, including the righters of internal organisation, it is for the Member States to decidtermine where and when it the European institutions shoulds its meeting have their seats;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
Amendment 112 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)
Paragraph 3 a (new)
3a. Calls for the figures on the cost of the European Parliament’s three places of work to be perfectly objectively and transparently researched on the basis of verifiable data supplied by Parliament's Secretariat;
Amendment 114 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Acknowledges that any future decision by Parliament on its working arrangeTakes the view that the issue of the European Parliament’s must allow sufficient time for debate and reflection, as well as for an orderly transiseat can only be considered in the context of a debate on the seats of all the European institutions;
Amendment 117 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Respects the historic reasons for the location of its plenary sessions in Strasbourg and the Treaty requirements that necessitate the two-seat system; nevertheless insists that such an arrangement cannot continue in perpetuity and that Parliament itself must be able to state a preference for its future; single seat of the European Parliament to be established there within a system of three places of work; points out that polycentrism is the prime driver behind this arrangement, with EU agencies having been allocated to other Member States;
Amendment 144 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
Amendment 156 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4a. Reminds the Committee on Constitutional Affairs that there is no restriction on Parliament’s right to organise its own work but that the matter of its seat remains fixed by the Treaties;
Amendment 159 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)
Paragraph 4 b (new)
4b. Asks that the figures cited in the report on the cost of Parliament’s places of work, and in particular the annual costs and the carbon footprint figures, should not be lifted directly from hostile campaign information but should be properly researched on the basis of verifiable data supplied by Parliament's Secretariat.