Snipers patrol the roof outside my office in camouflage, looking hot and not very well hidden on the reflective metallic roof. They're here for the visit of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and were on the roof earlier in the week for the visit of Bolivian President Evo Morales. Both these men have difficult jobs in volatile countries. However, whether it is the difficulties of helping Palestinians without supporting the activities of Hamas, or finding out how Bolivia plans to nationalise its natural resources without harming foreign investment, these leaders understand the role of the European Parliament in foreign policy.
No one wants the EU to tell Britain what our relations with other countries should be but on my way down to Strasbourg this month I stopped at Verdun. This was the longest battle in World War I and cost hundreds of thousands of lives. The average age of fallen soldiers was just 20. Looking out across rows of crosses stretching to the horizon it seemed to me that the EU is important in ensuring that horrors like Verdun don't happen again. At the same time the European Parliament and EU can't keep harping on about the fact that we have helped to make war in Western Europe impossible as an excuse for the many things that are being done wrong. As a MEP I criticise the EU whenever it is necessary but we must make sure that the tremendous achievement of stopping war between countries which have fought each other for thousands of years is built on. And we must never forget.
Nor must we allow Tony Blair to forget that making the whole Parliament come to Strasbourg each month is a massive waste of money: €209 million each year. That statistic makes me, and almost every other MEP, feel sick. The difficulty is that MEPs can't choose to stop coming here, only our Governments can and up until now agricultural reform or accepting Eastern European countries into the EU have been bigger priorities than scrapping Strasbourg. It may only be wishful thinking but there is a real sense at the moment that it might happen soon. News that the city of Strasbourg has been overcharging the Parliament to the tune of €29 million is stoking up the pressure. It seems that the city of Strasbourg has not done anything illegal but it has certainly acted in bad faith and put the ridiculous anomaly of the Parliament coming here under the spotlight. A website petition has been set up aiming to get 1 million people to show their opposition to Strasbourg and I urge you all to sign: www.oneseat.eu
