STRASBOURG, France—European Union lawmakers, facing delays on their commute home from Strasbourg, demanded Wednesday that the French government ensure their work is not disrupted by transport strikes.
"France does nothing to make our life easier. It's almost impossible," Scottish conservative Struan Stevenson told a plenary meeting of the European Parliament, to thunderous applause.
A rail strike was due to start Wednesday night, making it more difficult for MEPs currently meeting in Strasbourg to get to airports or back to Brussels when their session in Strasbourg ends on Thursday.
The EU assembly meets in Strasbourg, the capital of France's eastern Alsace region, 12 times a year as stipulated by the EU treaties. The arrangement is defended by France but disliked by many lawmakers. Train and airline strikes have disrupted sittings in the past.
Stevenson, vice-chairman of the assembly's largest political grouping, said that since France forces the 785 EU lawmakers and thousands of staff to travel from their headquarters in Brussels to Strasbourg once a month it should also ensure services are not disrupted by strikes.
But a senior German Green lawmaker retorted that the right to strike is part of to fundamental liberties in the EU.
"It is just incredible that someone should ask a country to draw up a calendar of strikes," Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-chairman of the parliament's Greens, said before the assembly voted on its agenda for 2009.
A Swedish member of the Council of Europe, a human rights watchdog based in Strasbourg, has also called on France to ensure the city is accessible and urged the council to consider moving if strikes continue to disrupt business.
Transit, postal, utility and other public sector workers across France are staging strikes starting Wednesday night over government plans to extend the retirement age by one year. The plan would require workers to put in 41 years of full-time work instead of 40 to receive full state pensions.
The SNCF rail authority said only two out of every three trains nationwide would be functioning normally during the 24-hour stoppage, with regional routes more severely affected. International routes were expected to operate normally. The strike was expected to cause disruption in commuter traffic around Paris and other major cities.
