Strasbourg, 06/04/2006 (Agence Europe) - Wednesday's Parliamentary vote on next year's plenary sessions gave rise to the usual confrontations between supporters of Strasbourg and Brussels. To the point where British Conservative MEP Timothy Kirkhope said he would write to Prime Minister Tony Blair to ask him to strive for “a single seat Parliament so that taxpayers' money can be put to far better use than propping up the Alsacien economy”. It costs the taxpayer £150 million, he complained. More moderate in his approach, German Liberal MEP Alexander Alvaro insisted on the need to ensure more efficiency in the work of the Parliament and considered it was time to end this “mad travelling circus”.
Parliament voted by 310 for to 257 against, with 39 abstentions to hold twelve four-day plenary sessions in Strasbourg (as usual) and five two-day plenaries in Brussels on the following dates: 15-18 January; 31 January-1st February; 12-15 March; 28-29 March (Brussels); 23-26 April; 9-10 May (Brussels); 21-24 May; 6-7 June (Brussels); 18-21 June; 9-12 July; 3-6 September; 24-27 September; 10-11 October (Brussels); 22-25 October; 12-15 November; 28-29 November (Brussels); 10-13 December.