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Former MEP suggests converting parliament building into reception center for refugees

Xinhua, September 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

The former French-German Member of European Parliament (MEP) for the ecologists Daniel Cohn-Bendit, known for his provocations, claimed on Wednesday that politicians in the Greens were in favour of using the Strasbourg building of the European Parliament (EP) as an "emergency reception center" for refugees.

In his column for the broadcast channel Europe1, the former leader of May '68 protests declared: "The group of parliamentarians of the European Greens support the idea that the European Parliament should only meet in Brussels and use the building in Strasbourg" as an "emergency reception center, for example to give a roof to refugees coming to Calais."

The former MEP recalled that the European Parliamentary Assembly met in two sites, that of Brussels, and also of Strasbourg, where it holds a plenary session once per month for a period of slightly less than four days. The seat of the European Parliament is nevertheless based in the Alsatian capital for historical reasons.

The buildings of the Strasbourg seat could house "the permanent office which manages the quotas in Europe," advanced Daniel Cohn-Bendit, arguing that "all of this parliament is empty three weeks per month," that "the site is empty in summer, that there are almost 1,000 offices, each equipped with showers and bathrooms, cafeterias, restaurants, meeting rooms, and cafes."

"It is necessary to know that the monthly transfer from Brussels to Strasbourg costs between 100 and 120 million euros per year. These savings would naturally be invested in the reception of refugees," the former elected official insisted.

It is not the first time that Daniel Cohn-Bendit has preached for the Parliament to anchor itself completely in Brussels. He had already called for the installation of a university in the Strasbourg buildings.

The declarations of the former MEP were coldly received within the Parliamentary walls.

While certain people denounce such proposals as indecent or stupid in the context of the gravity of the migration crisis, others joke and put in doubt their seriousness.

For the time being, it was not possible to obtain further information or clarifications from the European Greens in regard to Daniel Cohn-Bendit's claims, which risk nevertheless putting the party in hot water with Strasbourg. Endit