Monthly relocations of the European Parliament between Brussels and Strasbourg are wasteful and if elected I will lobby for their abolition, although I concede that this will be difficult in view of France's immovable stand on the matter.

With a split site in Brussels and Strasbourg, the European Parliament is contributing greatly to stoking further greenhouse emissions that are causing climate change. The EP in fact meets once a month for four days in Strasbourg in France, only to return for its run of the mill operations in Brussels in Belgium. At a cost of more than €200 million and 20,268 metric tons of additional carbon dioxide emissions every year - more than some countries - such practice is damaging the environment and undermining EU efforts to cut CO2 emissions by 20 percent by 2020.

As a result of such a practice, some have branded the EP as a "travelling circus", that sees 2,000 parliamentary staff and interpreters, nearly 1,000 assistants, journalists and lobbyists, 785 MEPs and 15 truckloads of trunks and documents relocated every month.

A study, researched by Professor of Sustainable Transport John Whitelegg of the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York, has quantified the extra carbon emissions generated every month by MEPs, staff, journalists and visitors travelling from Brussels to Strasbourg and back, the carbon costs of freight between the two sites, and the energy needed to maintain the two Parliament buildings.

The study reports that ending the Strasbourg parliamentary sessions would cut the need at a stroke for 2,650 offices, a debating chamber and nearly 50 conference rooms, most with full translation facilities. That could cut emissions by 3,928 tonnes of CO2 just in electricity and gas alone.