The European Parliament has two different seats; one in Brussels and one in Strasbourg. The location of the parliament is a thing over which politicians have fought for decades, but why does the parliament have two locations, and why are politicians so at odds about where the parliament should have its seat?

It is generally said, that the headquarters of the European Union is in Brussels, but the parliament has two meeting places, and the main one is not the one in Brussels, but rather the one in Strasbourg. The secretariat of the European Parliament is however located in Luxembourg, which means that the staff of the parliament (not the political groups) are housed there. The political part of the parliament with all the members and staffers move every month between Brussels and Strasbourg in order to attend the different meetings taking place at the different locations.

What is happening in Brussels?

Most of the other EU-institutions have their headquarters in Brussels, and most of their work also takes places there. Therefore, most of the members of parliament have chosen to organize their work regarding committees and parties in Brussels.

Although parliament has had its seat in Strasbourg since the start, the parliamentarians have attempted to move more of their work to Brussels as most of the other EU-institutions have their seat there. In 1983 parliament held a symbolic plenary session in the basement of a congress centre in Brussels. Despite the session being largely unsuccessful, it was a step in the direction of gaining a plenary chamber in Brussels. This half-move was later challenged by France at the Court of Justice, as they were convinced that it was against the TEU. The Court of Justice ruled in favour of the parliament, which led to parliament building full facilities in Brussels.

In 1992 with the adoption of the Edinburgh Agreement, the EU finally came to an agreement on the location of the institutions. This meant that parliament was allowed to convene more sessions in Brussels.

Strasbourg, the main seat of parliament

As later mentioned, the official seat of the European Parliament remains in Strasbourg, which is stipulated in the TEU. In practice, this means that parliament has to convene 12 times in Strasbourg, but they have tried getting around this. In 2011, they voted to combine two sessions, so they would only have to go to Strasbourg six times a year, and therefore be able to stay closer to the powerful institutions in Brussels. France, however, sued them, as they were of the opinion that “monthly” also meant monthly. The European Court of Justice ruled in favour of France, and parliament now has to convene in Strasbourg monthly.

Parliament also has to meet in Strasbourg, when the budgetary session is taking place, concentrating more of the influential sessions in Strasbourg. There has however been many attempt to move more of the sessions to Strasbourg, like the aforementioned, but also excuses like the Corona pandemic or the energy crisis stemming from the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Why does the parliament have two seats?

Even though parliament is allowed to conduct more sessions in Brussels, it is still required to conduct a certain amount of sessions in Strasbourg and also certain types of sessions. The 1992 adoption of Edinburgh Agreement required parliament to hold 12 sessions in Strasbourg, including the budgetary session, as mentioned before.

Even though the members of the European Parliament may be able to gather a majority in favour of moving all of parliament’s activities to Brussels, they do not have the power to do so. The placement of the institutions is stipulated in the TEU (Treaty on European Union), which the European Parliament cannot change, but only propose changes to. In practice this means, that if parliament proposes it, the European Council would have to unanimously adopt the proposal to change the treaty. This would, however, in practice not be possible, as France would most likely not be open to such a proposal.