The MEPs took the train to Disneyland

It’s a good tradition in the European Union: every month, workers pack mountains of documents into boxes and put them on the train where hundreds of EU parliamentarians board to commute from Brussels to Strasbourg – from one seat of the EU Parliament to the other.

Wrongly forwarded
As usual, we first left Brussels on Monday for Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris. Instead of going from there to Strasbourg, the train was accidentally diverted and went to Marne la Vallee Chessy station, just outside Disneyland Paris.

The incident is unlikely to change the minds of those “who deride the institution as a Mickey Mouse parliament,” said “Politico” magazine with a pointed pen. Members and staff of the EU Parliament took the incident with humor. “If magic comes to life, will Disney’s slogan soon also become that of the European Parliament?” asked a parliamentary press worker on the X platform.

“Unfortunately we couldn’t get out”
“Team Disneyland,” a Dutch MP wrote with a photo of her and a colleague in the train restaurant while waiting for the journey to continue. “Unfortunately we couldn’t get out,” an EU official told Politico. But at least he was able to catch a glimpse of the Star Wars roller coaster.

Monthly “traveling circus”
According to Politico, the unplanned detour caused a 45-minute delay, but the monthly commute tradition consumes much more valuable work time and costs millions of dollars annually. The commute between Brussels and Strasbourg is regularly criticized as a traveling circus. There are also regular attempts to make Brussels the sole workplace for Parliament and to change regulations enshrined in EU law. But France opposes it. After all, the EU Parliament in Strasbourg attracts crowds of tourists every year – just like Disneyland Paris…