One million sign online petition to ditch Strasbourg

AN internet campaign to swing support behind withdrawing the European Parliament from Strasbourg and relocating it permanently in Brussels has attracted more than one million signatures.

For more than 25 years, MEPs have been obliged to commute between the two — adding at least €220 million a year to the EU taxpayers’ bill for operating the parliament in two centres nearly 300 miles apart.

Only a unanimous decision of EU leaders can end the arrangement — and France has jealously guarded the prestige and profit of hosting the parliament plenary sessions in Strasbourg for 12 meetings a year.