One million people from across the European Union have signed a petition seeking to end the bloc's "travelling circus" that sees the EU parliament sit in Brussels and Strasbourg at a cost of €200 million per year.
"The dispersion of parliament's activities has . . . a negative impact on time and cost effectiveness and the overall image of the European Union," the Campaign for Parliament Reform (CPR) group, which gathered the signatures, said in a statement.
"Strasbourg has come to be seen as the symbol of the EU's gravy train image," said the CPR, which contains more than 100 European deputies from 14 countries.
EU governments, which are resisting the change of parliament's site, with France ruling out the move out of Strasbourg.
The decision to move out of the city would require a unanimous decision of the bloc's 25 governments. France and Germany see Strasbourg, located near their borders, as a symbol of post war-European unity.
Under a 1992 EU treaty, the assembly must hold at least 12 four-day plenary sessions a year in Strasbourg. The assembly holds shorter sessions and most committee meetings in Brussels.
The sensitive issue of ending the monthly trip to Strasbourg came to the boil again earlier this month when vice-president of the European Commission, the EU executive, Margot Wallstrom, described it as "insanity".
Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson has also voiced concern.
European Parliament President Josep Borrell asked EU leaders in June to consider ending the travelling, but his appeal failed and instead he decided to propose buying the three Strasbourg buildings rather than to continue renting them.