I'd like to positively mention Jean Quatremer (with whom I've been having a little dispute in the past about value of linking and blogosphere interaction) for his reactiveness.
In a blog post from Monday he informed readers that only some one hundred MEPs had shown up for the opening session of the plenary week of the European Parliament. On Tuesday, I read at @mvandenbroeke from the EP press unit that 408 MEPs had made it to Strasbourg.
I then wrote a little tweet mentioning the discrepancy to which Jean reacted quickly on Twitter explaining that his figure was from the opening of the session, the 408 was only reached at midnight.
Soon afterwards, he also updated his blog post mentioning both figures, (rightfully) adding that this doesn't undermine his argumentation regarding the ridiculousness of having a plenary meeting in Strasbourg under these conditions.
Update: The latest figure is 444 for Tuesday.
Moskaus (letzte?) Warnung an Washington
16 hours ago
4 comments:
The attendance lists can be found here http://tiny.cc/4eyy6 (Tuesday) and here http://tinyurl.com/yyr4cwz (Monday)
How come only so few made it there? According to the Parliament's Calendar, last week was committee & group week, i.e. Brussels week. I know the MEPs usually take the airplane, letting their minions take the train (or car), but in these circumstances why didn't they simply travel over land like normal people? If last week had been a constituency week, it would have been a different story, but it wasn't. Or do MEPs spend their weekends in their home countries, Ashton-style?
Wednesday only 416 signed the attendance register...that is 28 less than Tuesday.
I suppose that the trams might not have worked in Strasbourg due to the ashes.
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