EU Parliament plenary to stay out of Strasbourg next week

BRUSSELS – The European Parliament will keep its plenary sessions in Brussels next week because travelling to Strasbourg would pose too many dangers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Parliament President David Sassoli said legislators “have done everything to resume the normal course of our plenary sessions in Strasbourg” but noted it was just too dangerous to move there.

Staff and parliamentarians are mostly based in Brussels but almost all plenary sessions need to be held 450 kilometres (280 miles) away in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, much to the chagrin of many legislators.

“The resurgence of the pandemic in many member states, and the decisions taken by the French authorities to classify the entire Lower Rhine department as a red zone, obliges us to reconsider the move to Strasbourg,” said Sassoli.

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