Poettering around the issue

I’m a bit slow on the uptake – I had not until today really noticed the inaugural speech that was made by new European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering. See the EP’s News Service about it here. That’s probably because his speech was notable for the things he did say, rather than what he did not say. The German EPP MEP explained at some length how the Parliament needs to put its house in order, streamline its business etc., but of course completely failed to mention the main issue that blights the Parliament’s work – the ludicrous Strasbourg seat of the European Parliament. Monica Frassoni mentioned the issue for the Greens, but that was about it. So Hans-Gert can carry on Poettering around, but until he gets to grip with the OneSeat issue, nothing is really going to change.