must not be sent documents in The Container with the documents and work on the travel, hotel reservations can be cancelled. President of the European Parliament David Sassoli has cancelled the plenary session next week in Strasbourg. 3000 at the Parliament, members of Parliament, lobbyists and journalists do not have to move on Monday in the Alsatian metropolis. David Sassoli justified the decision with the spread of the Coronavirus .

The European Parliament has two seats. In Strasbourg, the twelve plenary part-sessions must take place in the year, while in the Brussels Dependance normally, only the committees. It is enshrined in the EU treaties, and France has resisted so far, always successful, however, to dispense with the seat in Strasbourg. The Coronavirus is now, what Europe's parliamentarians, have been fighting for years. Europe's largest "traveling circus", the monthly shift in the EU Jargon means is, at least for a time.

Crowded TGV

"I have received from the medical service of the Parliament a detailed report on the development of Covid-19, after which the health risks are considered to be significantly higher, if the next plenary session takes place in Strasbourg," said David Sassoli. It is important to avoid unnecessary travel in the crowded TGV. And the prospect might end up in a French hotel room, under quarantine, has made some people Worry.

Now the plenary meeting is to be held in the Brussels branch. There is, however, in front of largely empty stands. Because the undisputed capital of Europe, the Virus paralyzes slowly, but surely, the policy operation. Visit groups and lobbyists may been building since Monday, not to the Parliament. That on Wednesday for the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, an exception was made, has met with some incomprehension. "How will I explain this to my groups of visitors?", a Deputy protested in a letter to the President of Parliament.

for the time being, the caution effect of measures already still quite uncoordinated. Many of the members of soft for Meetings with visitors and lobbyists in the cafes and Bars in the European quarter of Brussels, so full like never. So seriously you don't seem to take the Virus. In the case of the EU-Commission or in the Council of Ministers, the house of the member States, other rules apply than in the EU-Parliament. The usual cacophony of so. In the Council of Ministers this week was even high with two special: on Wednesday, the Minister of the interior, including the Swiss state Secretary Mario Gattiker, the crisis on the Turkish-Greek border, on Friday, the Minister of health for the Coronavirus.

Only urgent travel

however, There are signs that the next week could change that. Hardly a place that lives so much of Come and Go. Officials, secretaries of state, or Europe, tourists on trips, sometimes only for a few hours. Every day, in the European quarter, countless conferences, Committee meetings, or meetings of experts. Ideal places to contract the Virus. More and more Meetings and events are now cancelled. Alone in the Parliament this week have been 130 Events with 6000 to 7000 participants. The Brussels hotel sector has complained already, a decline in the amount of ten million euros. However, this should only be the beginning.

Swiss officials, the statement to only urgent trips to Brussels from Bern. Meanwhile, the sense of Alarm grows. An employee of the EU defence Agency is after the return from the winter holiday, which took place in Belgium at the weekend to end, been positively tested and has since been isolated. In the Council of Ministers, two cases of infected officials are now known, of which one has participated in meetings with the Croatian Ambassador, currently Chairman of the so-called Committee of Permanent representatives (COREPER).

In the powerful body of the EU ambassadors prepare the business for the Minister. Now the Croatian Ambassador, for two weeks in quarantine, and a Meeting of the COREPER was cancelled on Friday. In the case of the EU-Commission currently, the computers are driven capacity high. Possibly around 30 000 EU civil servants have to work next week from home. Brussels is heading slowly but surely to the "Shutdown".

Created: 06.03.2020, 22:39 PM