(BRUSSELS) - The European Parliament opened an extraordinary session in Brussels on Monday as it awaits repairs to its hemicycle in Strasbourg, which partly collapsed over the summer.

Safety concerns prompted the decision for Euro MPs to convene in Brussels, where they were to debate the Georgia conflict in parallel to an emergency EU summit on the crisis.

"It's safety that goes before everything else," said the parliament's conservative German president, Hans-Gert Poettering, as work continued apace in Strasbourg to fix the false roof damaged on August 7.

The European Parliament -- the only directly elected European Union institution -- meets most months in Strasbourg, with part-sessions also taking place in Brussels, where the 27-nation bloc is headquartered.

This week's extraordinary four-day session was a prime opportunity for critics of the "Strasbourg shuttle" to call for the parliament to stay permanently in Brussels.

Besides the cost and inconvenience, German Green Euro MP Cem Ozdemir said the monthly return trip by 785 legislators, plus 3,000 aides and officials, was responsible for 20,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

"So long as we have to travel to Strasbourg, people will be right to say that the EU is wasting money," said British Labour Euro MP Richard Corbett.

Only a unanimous agreement by the 27 EU member states can change the EU treaty that requires the parliament to sit in Strasbourg -- an idea, political analysts say, that France would never agree to.

Briefing - 1-4 September 2008 - Brussels

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