Budget debate

MEPs from across the political spectrum have repeated calls for the European Parliament to have just one location, during a debate on the parliament's administrative budget for 2013.

The Budgets Committee has recommended that the administrative budget - covering the Parliament's internal costs - should not exceed the EU-wide inflation rate of 1.9%, which means a real terms freeze.

Debating the committee's report on 28 March 2012, German centre-right MEP Monica Hohlmeier said being located in one place would save millions of euros a year.

The parliament's work is currently split between Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg. A Brussels-only base is strongly opposed by France.

The committee's report says there needs to be a €8.5m contingency fund to deal with Croatia's accession to the EU in 2013 and the accompanying rise in MEPs, interpreters and support staff.

British Labour MEP Derek Vaughan, the author of the report, said there needed to be more co-operation between the EU institutions, such as sharing human resources, building costs and interpretation costs.

Calls by some MEPs to refuse funding for "anti-democratic" political parties was opposed by Bruno Gollnisch from the French National Front, a group that may be affected.

He said "we respect freedom of expression and the rule of law" and questioned why similar rules were not applied to the communist group.

The draft budget was voted on during the daily voting session on 29 March 2012.

The specific paragraph on calling for a single seat for the European Parliament was backed by 429 votes to 184.

Useful links:

Democracy Live's guide to how the plenary sessions work.

A disclaimer on the use of simultaneous interpretations, on the European Parliament's website.