Many want EU Parliament out of Strasbourg

BRUSSELS, Sept. 19 (UPI) -- An online petition to move the European Parliament from Strasbourg, France, to Brussels now has 1 million names, a report says.

The Web site was set up by a group of members of the Parliament spearheaded by Cecelia Malmstrom of Sweden, the EU Observer said. Malmstrom said that to win the respect of the millions of Europeans the union needs to get rid of money-wasting "anomalies."

"To be forced to travel to a second Parliament 12 times a year for an extra cost of hundreds of millions of euros a year, is not defensible," she said, pointing out that the Parliament Building is empty 307 days out of the year.

Margot Wallstrom, a Swedish member of the European Commission, said that having the Parliament sit in Strasbourg once had great symbolic importance, marking the end of hostilities between France and Germany. But she said that is no longer true.

Because the Strasbourg locale is part of the EU treaty, all member countries would have to approve moving Parliament out. No one expects France to agree.