BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European Union lawmakers canceled their session at Parliament’s seat in Strasbourg next week, despite a legal obligation to do so, due to the coronavirus, the President of the Assembly said on Tuesday.

EU law stipulates that parliament must hold a four-day session once a month in Strasbourg, a right defended by France, despite regular lobbying by lawmakers to change the rules and meet in Brussels, the second seat of the European Union. Assembly.

The Strasbourg authorities had urged lawmakers to come. Next week’s session has added prestige as the President of the European Commission, the EU executive, will deliver an annual speech to parliament.

“The resurgence of the pandemic in many member states and the decisions taken by the French authorities to classify the entire Lower Rhine department in a red zone are forcing us to reconsider the move to Strasbourg,” said European Parliament President David Sassoli in a press release.

“The plenary session of the European Parliament (…) will take place in Brussels,” he said, referring to the Assembly building more regularly used in the Belgian capital, where EU lawmakers work when not are not in Strasbourg.

The French Minister for Europe Clément Beaune and the Mayor of Strasbourg, Jeanne Barseghian, expressed their regret in a press release, calling for a “rapid return to plenary sessions in Strasbourg”.

Many European lawmakers feared that the movement of the 705 members of the European Parliament, their staff and their interpreters – more than 1,500 people – from Belgium to the city in eastern France would constitute an unnecessary health risk.

French Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Tuesday the COVID-19 situation in the country was concerning, with new cases daily at record levels, although he said a second wave of infections was preventable.