Seats

European Parliament in Brussels (Photo: European Parliament)

The EU Commission has its main offices in Brussels, but it is also legally bound to maintain offices in Luxembourg.

The EU Parliament must meet for 12 sessions a year in Strasbourg, otherwise in Brussels, and maintain its secretariat in Luxembourg according to a protocol attached to the Treaty. Most employees of the parliament are, however, placed in Brussels, where the European Parliament has a building worth more than 2 billion euros.

Six times a year two-day "mini-sessions" are held in Brussels in a special plenary room. Meetings of the political groups and of the Committees of the Parliament, for most part, also take place in Brussels.

The Council meets in Brussels for nine months a year and in Luxembourg in April, June and October. (The ten-rule, because April is the fourth month and June the sixth = October the 10th.)

Most EU civil servants now work in Brussels, where the European  Parliament has its main buildings and committee meetings.

The number of seats can only be amended unanimously. The question of whether this should be altered was raised in the Convention on the Future of Europe, but it remained unchanged.

It costs European taxpayers more than 250 million euros a year to move the Parliament between Brussels/Belgium and Strasbourg/France. You can protest against this at http://www.oneseat.eu/.  More than 1 million citizens have protested with no effect. The majority in the European Parliament even refused a debate in the plenary with the argument that the seats are a matter for the governments.

Future

The Lisbon Treaty include Protocol no 6 of the seats of the European institutions allowing the "travelling circus" to continue between Brussels and Strasbourg

Notes