Et alors, Captain Save-the-Planet?
President Macron could start saving the planet by ending Strasbourg plenary circus
French President Emmanuel Macron vowed to save the planet and make it great again when his American counterpart Donald Trump decided to leave the Paris Agreement on climate change. It was a hilarious political move to position himself as young Captain Save-the-Planet who understands the challenges of the modern world and ready to sacrifice a part of the economic growth for the sake of future generations. This archetype of the modern and sensible political leader was just lovely, adorable, and attractive. Whatever you want. He won us over completely.
But the time has finally come to actually do something beyond shooting another sexy video. President Macron could start saving the planet in his own backyard and put an end to the travelling circus of the European Parliament.
Who has ever traveled from Brussels to Strasbourg, knows very well what a waste of time it is. And here I don’t only talk about the psychological stress that MEP assistants/advisors have to handle because of leaving the borders of their sacred district Ixelles. It is clearly insane to travel each month for three and half day to a town 350 kilometers away from yours, just to do the work that could have been perfectly carried out at home as well.
It takes around four hours by train, where you don’t have Wi-Fi. Or five hours by car when you can only entertain yourself by counting the other cars filled with your colleagues. Or, one hour by plane with far higher CO2 emission. However, it is exclusively reserved for the big bosses, so thank god, the pageboys and -girls are at least saved from the temptation of being comfy at the expense of ecofriendliness.
But besides consuming time and fresh air, commuting also costs money. About 114 million euros per year. Yes, it is only a small fraction of EU’s 150 billion budget. But 114 million euros spent on nothing, apart from driving a couple of thousand eurocrats crazy each month and causing serious harm to the environment, is a bit too much, especially in a Europe that will hardly meet its 2020 environment protection targets.
After all, why do we do this? According to the official narrative, it is for remembering the importance of the European unity, by sending politicians representing the European people to gather around each month on the soil of Alsace, a territory that been a battleground for the French and the German for centuries. We, determined pro-Europeans, wipe a tear from the corner of our eyes, and may recall that Belgium has also been trampled on a couple of times during the history. So, what?
I am really sorry for being so politically incorrect, but the only purpose of carrying on with this madness, is to make the French happy. Whoever has been to Strasbourg outside a plenary week, knows that the grass isn’t growing either on those days. It is a lovely university town with decent inflow of tourists. But even if the EU imposed a compulsory pilgrimage to Alsace once in a lifetime for every European citizen, restaurants and hotels couldn’t get back the loss of double or triple prices guaranteed by each plenary week. But apparently, the town must settle for the European Medicines Agency moved from London after Brexit. And it is nothing.
In a funny way, brave defenders of the Strasbourg seat, the French MEPs have shown very little interest for their beloved plenary session this week when the Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat came to evaluate the ending Council’s presidency. The only French MEP who was present at the debate happened to be from the Front National who would like to make an end to the EU circus all in all.
Obviously, it has already been a huge step that the plenary debated for the first time in its history the question of the Parliament’s seats the day after this incident. But the representatives of the European citizens cannot freely determine where they want to gather because the European Parliament’s sieges are written in the Treaty. Therefore, it is up to the heads of governments and states to change, however there is only one among them who wouldn’t vote the MEPs’ will. Guess who?
But will he ever do? I don’t think so. The fate of the planet is one thing. And dominance in French politics is another.