Honourable President,
By this letter, we wish to bring to your attention certain issues concerning the sponsored groups of visitors to the European Parliament, arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
We all agree that visitors groups are of great importance. They lead to more transparency and are instrument to communicate the European project into member states. They make the EU institutions tangible and link the European project with personal stories.
Almost 80,000 people are visiting the Parliament in Brussels or Strasbourg each year through the MEPs’ contingents. In total, around 450,000 people visit the institution each year.
Since the Corona shutdown in March, visitors were no longer allowed. Although it has not yet been communicated, it can be assumed that visitor groups will still not be admitted after the parliamentary summer recess.
That is why we, the undersigned MEPs, believe that the right signal would be to carry over the quotas from 2020 to 2021 and make next year a year of extraordinary transparency.
Yours sincerely,
The undersigned Members of the European Parliament
