Three Strasbourg-based citizens’ associations, claiming to be “democratic and European but non-political,” presented, on 14 March, the appeal they have submitted to the candidates in the French presidential race. The appeal asks the candidates to make a commitment on the controversial matter of the seat of the EU institutions. Démocratie Européenne, the Association européenne des jeunes entrepreneurs and SPE – Strasbourg pour l’Europe, which claim to have 750 members, wish to hear how the candidates will “defend the spirit and the letter of the treaties” that make Strasbourg the seat of the European Parliament. The initiative follows on from the publication, on 14 February (see Europolitics 4364), of a report on the EP seat, ‘Le siège dans tous ses Etats’, in which a European association representing young business leaders presented a list of 22 recommendations to strengthen Strasbourg’s claim to the seat of the EP.