JD: You know I was reading an article about Strasbourg, they say that will be the capital of the EU the future of Europe in fact, the entire continent itself. You lived for many years in Brussels as I understand it that’s the headquarters for the European Union. What’s the connection between Brussels and Strasbourg?
JR: This actually is a prefect example of the inherence divisions in the European Union. Brussels’s is the defacto capital of the EU. The main institutions are there. Actually, there is a clause in one of the treaties that the European Parliament needs to be on French soil. So there is the European Parliament that is official is in Strasbourg. But then again we have another European Parliament which is much larger, takes the vast majority of the sessions which is in Brussels. So people might be astounded to learn that there’s actually 2 European Parliament buildings. The Parliamentarians they don’t actually like to travel back and fourth so really there’s only I believe 12 days a year that the European Parliament would actually be in session in Strasbourg. But basically stressing that Strasbourg is the capital of the EU is really stretching it. From a French prospective the European Parliament must be in that territory.
