Yesterday, the president of the European Parliament David Sassoli inaugurated the plenary session that is going on until Friday 18 December with a speech in the classroom in Strasbourg, France. However, his was a purely symbolic gesture: the work of the next few days will be held at the headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, which since the beginning of the pandemic has hosted almost all the plenary sessions – which belong to the Strasbourg office, according to the treaties – to prevent thousands of people from being forced to move from one location to another every month, multiplying the chances of contagion.
“Sassoli arrived directly from Rome without the head of his staff”, he told Politico, “And gave his speech in front of a handful of MEPs who could neither participate in a debate nor vote due to the restrictions on the pandemic. The bars and restaurants of the Parliament were closed, and the staff present was reduced to the essentials ». After the end of his speech, which lasted about half an hour, Sassoli returned to Brussels where some debates and the first votes of the session were held in the evening.
President Sassoli kicks off the plenary in Strasbourg before an eerily empty European Parliament. MEPs will continue the work online. A strange image befitting a strange year. #EPlenary pic.twitter.com/6NyCwbEweO
– Jorge Liboreiro (@JorgeLiboreiro) December 14, 2020
Opening this afternoon of the plenary session of the European Parliament ????????, in #Strasbourg, speak @EP_President David Sassoli.
The Minister @ClementBeaune came to recall the commitment and determination of the government for a rapid return of the sessions to the Strasbourg headquarters. pic.twitter.com/0FvZkbDFE8
– Fabienne Keller (@fabienne_keller) December 14, 2020
Sassoli’s speech was interpreted as a form of courtesy to French President Emmanuel Macron and French MEPs. For months in fact they ask that the Strasbourg office – which feeds a notable inducement – will return to host the plenary sessions, despite the ongoing health emergency. “We will return to Strasbourg soon: this is our home, as written in the treaties,” Sassoli promised during his speech.
I am in our hemicycle in Strasbourg today to open the plenary session of the @Europarl_FR with a message of solidarity with French citizens and to pay tribute to Valéry Giscard d’Estaing https://t.co/vYoWxbEq1Q
— David Sassoli (@EP_President) December 14, 2020
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