The chamber was packed, with the MEPs - including Robert Kilroy-Silk making a very rare appearance, sitting in the non-aligned section with Jean Marie le Pen et al - parked behind their computer screens in semi-circular rows.
Speaking from Bamako, Mali, on Europe 1 radio, Jean-Yves Le Drian said he'd toured the "sanctuary of al Qaeda in Mali" and saw the radical Islamists' arsenal sitting in caves.