*Apologies for the latest of this recent post. The past few weeks have been incredibly hectic and I hope that the length of this one will make up for any withdrawal symptoms my many readers have been experiencing...!*
Last Monday I boarded a six hour train far too early in the morning for my first ever work trip. Every month, the radio sends two interns to the European Parliament in Strasbourg along with the permanent journalists and now it was my turn. My two colleagues immediately got out their laptops and began preparing their debates. I, however, decided that I wasn't important enough to have to work at 7am and spent most of the journey asleep, or staring soulfully out of the window as we crossed from the West to the East of l'Hexagone.
My first impressions of Strasbourg were just that it was incredibly Germanic. Everything from the place names - 'Wacken' being one delightful tram stop, how beautiful the German language is - to the bretzels hanging in bakery windows made me aware of just how close to Deutschland we were. However, I spent almost the entirety of my three days in the city ensconced in the behemoth that is the European Parliament so I was unable to discover any more about the city. Schade (that's shame in German, Herr Tiger, you should be proud).
The first day at the Parliament was a confusing and stressful blur as I tried to work out who I could find to interview, where the press cafe with the apparently delicious pastries was and why there were so many different passerelles (bridges) in the Louise Weiss building. My first interview was with a German Green MEP, Gerald Hafner. He's co-author of the Single Seat report, which argues that the Parliament should only have one location instead of shuffling back and forth between Brussels and Strasbourg every month.This migration causes enormous financial and environmental waste, and over a third of MEPs voted in favour of the proposal, because clearly it is a slightly ridiculous system. But guess who didn't? The French...
My evening meal gave me a better idea of why some MEPs are pretty happy to keep coming back to Strasbourg every month. With the joy of expenses, they can certainly enjoy the many restaurants proffering Alsacian cuisine, which is essentially composed of cheese, meat and cream. We took full advantage of our food allowance to try out this healthy concoction. My tartiflette (just a plate of bacon, potatoes, cheese and cream) was pretty good. The Spanish intern wasn't too taken with her choucroute though.
The next day was more successful - I had invited Denis Macshane, an ex Labour MEP, to take part in a debate about the far right run by the radio. It was pretty interesting - there was also a member of the Vlaams Belang, the Flemish far right party - who the other speakers attacked throughout the debate. We saw him later on sitting in the Parliament in the 'far right corner' (MEPs are seated according to their political affiliation)along with Marine and Jean-Marie Le Pen, a fairly unpleasant looking pair. The BNP even put little British flags on their desks, which I suppose is just in case anyone in the vicinity is unaware of their stance. Malala Yousafzai was at the Parliament to receive the Sakharov Prize and it was a privilege to be able to watch her acceptance speech.
The other highlight of the trip to Strasbourg was interviewing so many interesting MEPs. They represent huge swathes of Europe and really do have a lot more power than our local MPs, yet almost no one in the UK at least is aware of what they really do or who they are. I had the pleasure of meeting Claude Moraes, a Labour MEP for London. He is heading of a European Parliament enquiry into surveillance and the NSA, trying to understand what we can do to better protect the data of European citizens.
You can listen to the interview here if you so wish.
I also met Andrew Duff, Lib Dem MEP for the East of England and President of the Union of European Federalists. Surrounded by UKIP and Conservative MEPs berating Brussels, he represents many of things that are good about European cooperation that many people in the UK unfortunately ignore.
I also interviewed Mary Honeyball, another Labour MEP for London and accidentally found myself being videoed to promote her work on regulating prostitution in the European Union. Apparently Sweden has the best prostitution laws which she is seeking to implement on a European scale. This doesn't surprise me, given that it is a country which also recently opened an LGBT retirement home. They're doing pretty well as a nation.
Last Monday I boarded a six hour train far too early in the morning for my first ever work trip. Every month, the radio sends two interns to the European Parliament in Strasbourg along with the permanent journalists and now it was my turn. My two colleagues immediately got out their laptops and began preparing their debates. I, however, decided that I wasn't important enough to have to work at 7am and spent most of the journey asleep, or staring soulfully out of the window as we crossed from the West to the East of l'Hexagone.
My first impressions of Strasbourg were just that it was incredibly Germanic. Everything from the place names - 'Wacken' being one delightful tram stop, how beautiful the German language is - to the bretzels hanging in bakery windows made me aware of just how close to Deutschland we were. However, I spent almost the entirety of my three days in the city ensconced in the behemoth that is the European Parliament so I was unable to discover any more about the city. Schade (that's shame in German, Herr Tiger, you should be proud).
Hallo Strasbourg
The first day at the Parliament was a confusing and stressful blur as I tried to work out who I could find to interview, where the press cafe with the apparently delicious pastries was and why there were so many different passerelles (bridges) in the Louise Weiss building. My first interview was with a German Green MEP, Gerald Hafner. He's co-author of the Single Seat report, which argues that the Parliament should only have one location instead of shuffling back and forth between Brussels and Strasbourg every month.This migration causes enormous financial and environmental waste, and over a third of MEPs voted in favour of the proposal, because clearly it is a slightly ridiculous system. But guess who didn't? The French...
My evening meal gave me a better idea of why some MEPs are pretty happy to keep coming back to Strasbourg every month. With the joy of expenses, they can certainly enjoy the many restaurants proffering Alsacian cuisine, which is essentially composed of cheese, meat and cream. We took full advantage of our food allowance to try out this healthy concoction. My tartiflette (just a plate of bacon, potatoes, cheese and cream) was pretty good. The Spanish intern wasn't too taken with her choucroute though.
A light snack.
The next day was more successful - I had invited Denis Macshane, an ex Labour MEP, to take part in a debate about the far right run by the radio. It was pretty interesting - there was also a member of the Vlaams Belang, the Flemish far right party - who the other speakers attacked throughout the debate. We saw him later on sitting in the Parliament in the 'far right corner' (MEPs are seated according to their political affiliation)along with Marine and Jean-Marie Le Pen, a fairly unpleasant looking pair. The BNP even put little British flags on their desks, which I suppose is just in case anyone in the vicinity is unaware of their stance. Malala Yousafzai was at the Parliament to receive the Sakharov Prize and it was a privilege to be able to watch her acceptance speech.
I'm up there in the corner somewhere.
You can listen to the interview here if you so wish.
I also met Andrew Duff, Lib Dem MEP for the East of England and President of the Union of European Federalists. Surrounded by UKIP and Conservative MEPs berating Brussels, he represents many of things that are good about European cooperation that many people in the UK unfortunately ignore.
I also interviewed Mary Honeyball, another Labour MEP for London and accidentally found myself being videoed to promote her work on regulating prostitution in the European Union. Apparently Sweden has the best prostitution laws which she is seeking to implement on a European scale. This doesn't surprise me, given that it is a country which also recently opened an LGBT retirement home. They're doing pretty well as a nation.
Me and Mary
The Parliament in Strasbourg may be underused and full of paper shipped unnecessarily across Europe, but it has a certain charm that makes me see why some MEPs are reluctant to relocate back to Brussels. It was a hectic and stressful experience but definitely an unforgettable one. If nothing else I managed to find my way around a building with over 800 offices. Even though I did have to sprint across the building to retrieve a lost memory card, it was totally a graceful sprint. Like a stressed giraffe.
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