Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/1999-09-17-Speech-5-010"
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"en.19990917.2.5-010"2
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"The next item is an announcement and, more particularly, a discussion on the state of the Louise Weiss building.
There are still improvements to be carried out as regards access for disabled visitors, which has not been adequately provided. We have already made contact with specialist disabled associations who will be able to advise us on the best improvements to be scheduled. Between now and the October part-session we will have been able to consult these contacts and have modifications under way by next year.
Regarding signposting, improvements have been made, and you can shortly tell me whether they are adequate. I must point out at this juncture that the “info help” system is going to be continued. We plan, with the agreement of the Mayor of Strasbourg, to retain the services of the charming hostesses whose presence, I believe, you have greatly appreciated, both for their welcome and for their kindness.
I hope they can hear you. They are to be kept on, not permanently, this is not foreseeable, but at least until the end of the year.
Now I come to the second important area, Member’s offices. These offices are very constricted. I am not going to pretend that they can be made bigger, but we are going to try all the same to improve matters. The problem with the blinds which were jammed and which were shutting out the light will certainly be sorted out in time for the second October part-session, at the very latest. As regards the furnishing of our offices, our Quaestors – may I greet the ones here today – held a meeting on Wednesday and decided that all the offices will be equipped with file cabinets on castors with three lockable drawers. This was a request that had been made by a number of Members. This decision was therefore taken.
Next, the problem of the lifts, and their safety. Here we noted, I hardly need to repeat it, a number of quite serious malfunctions. I have, of course, taken all legal precautions, as you might expect, concerning liability. The firm manufacturing the lifts was informed immediately, in accordance with legal requirements, of what had happened. The firm carried out some improvements, clearly indicating that it was indeed necessary to improve the opening of the doors so that we do not become trapped for as long. However, it seems that numerous problems still remain.
On the other hand, the ventilation seems to have been improved. This presented problems, not just in the lifts, but just about everywhere. My impression here, tell me if I’m wrong, is that the regulation of the ventilation is now just right. There is also the problem of the lift décor. As you have been able to see, a prototype of light wood panelling has been installed. I have received very favourable responses to this and, as it seems to have found general approval, we shall ensure that all six lifts are fitted out with the same décor, giving them an appearance which is a little less harrowing, a little less anxiety-provoking.
I would ask the Members who are still getting trapped for long periods in the lifts to notify me shortly. We thought that was what happened with Mr Prodi, but it transpired that it was something else. That would really have capped it all. However, I must get a clear picture on this matter, because, as you can well imagine, I shall have to refer it back to Otis, as this is an extremely serious area which goes far beyond the standard improvement of our working conditions.
Regarding the media, you know that the press made many complaints about the press room and its working conditions. Here also, we have made a few improvements concerning the overheating and the installation of the blinds. The media are luckier than the Members of Parliament. It has been possible to sort out the problem of their blinds but not, as yet, those in the Members’ offices, as I have just mentioned. Their portable equipment which was previously inoperative can now work in the press room.
Ladies and gentlemen, very quickly, the background in brief. I assure you, it will be brief.
We also modified the positioning of documentation to comply with the wishes of the media. There are still a number of things to be done, especially with regard to the offices of the press agencies which are really not very pleasant, to say the least. We also plan to equip the former documentation room, which is very bright, with open plan offices. The costs would be quite low as we would not be installing partitions. There would simply be desks where the press agencies can work. Apparently – we naturally made this proposal in consultation with the journalists – they like this idea.
For the remainder, the television vehicles, access to the car park, here too I hope you have noticed some improvements. We have worked hard in this area although we still have some improvements to make.
Finally, and this is all for the moment, the problem of decoration. Our Quaestors are going to ascertain as quickly as possible what can be done that is not too costly and which respects the artistic copyright of the building designers, so that the rather miserable areas can be brightened up. Often, it does not take much to change the appearance of an area, without going to extravagant expense. Sometimes just a change of colour. I am convinced that our team of Quaestors will be particularly creative in this area.
Ladies and gentlemen, let us now open the debate. We shall be taking very careful note of all you say. You should know that I will have to leave at ten o’clock, as I must attend the swearing in of the Commissioners in Luxembourg which is due to take place at noon. Mr Provan will then take my place and you may continue until there are no further questions.
You will recall that when we entered the building on 19 July, we were, unanimously it must be said, disappointed by the contrast we could observe between the truly extraordinary external appearance of the building – I think it is important to say that too, because it is a building which does our institution credit, seen from the outside – and, unfortunately, all the things we noted on the inside, such as malfunctions, problems with comfort and security, and problems of a general nature, such as those affecting our normal working conditions, either for ourselves, our assistants, officials, visitors or, of course, the media.
I promised you, as of the day after my election, to do everything in my power to ensure that improvements were made, and as you have been able to see, we have – I am deliberately using we to indicate all of us, because in this undertaking I have had the active assistance of our Secretary-General, Mr Priestley, and all the team in charge of the buildings – we, then, have done all that we could to get these improvements underway at a far from easy time of the year since, in the event, it coincided with the holiday period.
Mr Priestley set up a working party and we immediately made an inventory of everything we could observe in the short-term and sent this document out to you. Many of you wrote to me and I answered you. Indeed I hope you received these letters. You received an initial letter from Mr Rieffel, our director, but I felt it necessary to answer you personally myself, and so all the Members who wrote to me received a reply. Then, on Monday, you received a letter accompanied by a short document summarising the situation we have today.
Last week, we came to Strasbourg from Brussels for a day, together with the Quaestors, Mr Colom i Naval, the Vice-President responsible for the premises, and all the officials in charge of the matter of the buildings. We carried out a thorough inspection. I do not know if any of us saw anything of this in the media, but we looked at everything, recorded everything, and made note of both what had been done and what was still outstanding.
Today, you have just completed your second week of plenary session in this building, and you have accepted my proposal for this discussion in a very constructive spirit. The problem is not to express regrets; my goal is rather to ascertain which problems are of legitimate concern to you in order to then see how we can add further improvements to those we have already scheduled.
To organise our discussion, we take note of all the Members who have signed in. I shall take a number of points which have been identified as sensitive areas, so that you can make comments on these points or, of course, on other points.
First of all there was the problem of disabled access. On this subject, with regard to the legitimate request made by our colleague, Brian Crawley, I have the impression – I do not know if he is present today – that the necessary modifications were made immediately, in consultation with him, affecting both his seat in the chamber to enable him to be with his group and the arrangements for his office. We have made provision for the position of disabled Members throughout the chamber to be taken into consideration."@en1
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