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Giving up the Strasbourg junket

• Mark Mardell
• 4 Dec 07, 12:01 AM

, won't be standing in the next round of Euro elections… and he's partly blaming the monthly trip to Strasbourg.

One of the things that's struck me since doing this job is that many people in the UK think that holding the main Parliamentary session every month in is a money-wasting junket hugely enjoyed by journalists, MEPs and researchers.

In fact it's a money-wasting junket loathed by journalists, and researchers.

Miserable journey

"The constant travelling inevitably takes its toll," says Mr Titley. "I can no longer tolerate the shifting of the Parliament lock, stock and barrel to Strasbourg one week a month.

"It's a miserable journey and it's always a problem," he told me.

"Monday is a day where people exchange stories about where their luggage went astray and what else went wrong."

He says it actually undermines the European Parliament real strength: "The plenary sessions in Strasbourg are a bit like a local authority's council meeting. All the deals have been done: this is for public display.

"We're condemned to these visits whether they are needed or not and they're often padded out with debates saying we are against sin. The real work is in committees which don't have enough time to do their really important job properly, undermined by journeys we don't actually need. We can't do the job properly while we go on this circus."

And he says that it undermines one of the European Union's latest values: "This is not only a colossal waste of time and money, but also undermines the EU's hard work to tackle climate change, as the monthly move is producing 20,000 tons of carbon dioxide, the equivalent of 13.000 transatlantic round-trip flights."

But , and the travelling road show such an important source of income for the city, that it's unlikely there will be any change in the near future.

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