Strasbourg – In the Alsatian capital, the climate is calm. Rare posters on the streets and next to the polling stations, almost no electoral rallies scheduled. Only François Bayrou, the centrist candidate, came here last March, speaking to an audience of less than a hundred people. In short, flat calm. Few seem to realize that next Sunday we will vote for the presidential elections here too. The city is immersed in an aura of calm mixed with disinterest, almost as if the presence of European institutions imposed detachment and neutrality on the inhabitants and street furniture as well. On the other hand, Alsace has always been little French, a crossroads region between Paris and Berlin, theater of many war clashes of the past and today seat of the European Parliament and of the Council of Europe, the international organization that brings together 47 states of the continent.
And it is precisely on the second seat of Parliament that part of the local electoral campaign took place. For some time, there has been talk in community circles of divesting the luxurious and expensive headquarters in Strasbourg, which is open just four days a month. Plenary sessions usually take place in Brussels, but, even today, the regulation stipulates that once a month the army of MEPs pack their bags and move en masse to Strasbourg. To the delight of hoteliers. It's almost impossible to find a free hotel room these days. The positive externality to the city's economy is evident. That is why Nicolas Sarkozy has chosen to send a leaflet to all Alsatians, in which, in addition to promising to protect the region's farmers and jobs at the Fessenheim nuclear power plant, undertakes "to defend the European dimension of Strasbourg, guaranteeing the presence of the European Parliament". A promise that costs around 200 million euros a year and 20.000 tons of CO2, according to a report presented last year by the ELDR parliamentary group, among the few in favor of closing the futuristic oval building. Not to mention the costs relating to personnel – around 300 people – and maintenance. The battle to defend the French seat of Parliament actually unites UMP and PS, conservatives and socialists. The mayor of Strasbourg (PS) and the President of the Alsace Region (UMP) have always been inveterate sponsors of the Strasbourg office, a veritable goose that lays golden eggs for the city's coffers. Nothing compared to the non-negligible contribution of the Council of Europe, which employs almost 2000 people and has a budget of 240 million euros.
Meanwhile, a few kilometers away, across the border, the wait for Sunday's result mounts. In fact, the German suspense corresponds to the Alsatian disinterest. Just take the car, cross the bridge that separates Strasbourg from Kehl am Rhein and enter a newsstand. For a few days the Teutonic press has been dedicating concerned comments on future relations between Mrs Merkel and the likely new tenant of the Elysée, François Hollande. In a table published the day before yesterday in the business newspaper Handelsblatt, all the points of disagreement between the two were read. Hollande, who also promised not to give up the tradition and therefore to make his first official visit to Berlin, rejects the hypothesis of inserting a balanced budget into the constitution; he questions the French approval of the Fiscal Compact if new and unspecified provisions for growth and employment are not added; proposes project-bonds, a sort of Eurobond aimed at the construction of infrastructures and public works of strategic importance, which Olli Rehn also spoke about on Wednesday in front of the European Parliament. Hollande also calls for a massive intervention by the ECB to combat speculation on the financial markets and intends to achieve an economic union by strengthening the coordination of economic and budgetary policies. A difficult ally for the Chancellor, whose chameleon skills, as is well known, are inexhaustible…
