Brussels, 04/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - The problem of migration and the snowballing of human tragedies will dominate the agenda of the European Parliament's first plenary after the summer break (in Strasbourg on 7-10 September), which will also, on Wednesday 9 September, see the first State of the Union speech by the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, since he came to office.
In his speech, Juncker will present the European Commission's new proposals for managing the flood of people seeking asylum in the EU, focusing more on the question of refugees than surveillance of the EU's external borders (see related article and EUROPE 11381).
During a debate in plenary on Wednesday, the S&D and Greens/EFA groups will stress the need to accept more asylum-seekers fleeing conflict and call for changes to the Dublin system to make it fairer. The ALDE group will call for the development of humanitarian corridors and the option of lodging asylum applications in the countries the asylum-seekers set off from. Alongside the duty to accept people fleeing from war, the EPP and ECR groups are expected to call for abuse of the asylum system to be tackled (EPP) and for rejection of quotas for asylum-seekers (CRE). James Holtum, ECR spokesman, said the focus should be on what each country can offer rather than imposing anything.
On Tuesday, the EU will discuss the Keller report (Greens/EFA, Germany) on the emergency rehousing of 40,000 people, as proposed by the European Commission at the end of May. The report will be voted on on Wednesday. In it, MEPs recommend compulsory sharing out of asylum-seekers (see EUROPE 11361). On Thursday 10 September, the EP will pass a draft resolution on the immigration situation, particularly events since the summer.
The State of the Union speech will unveil the direction of the European Commission's work programme for 2016 and the end of 2015. Juncker may set out the Commission's plans in the domain of strengthening economic and monetary union by announcing economic convergence measures for the eurozone and completion of Banking Union. He is also expected to discuss completion of the Single Market and combatting climate change.
Animal cloning. On Thursday, the EP will give its opinion of a report by Giulia Moi (EFDD, Italy) and Renate Sommer (S&D, Germany) recommending a ban on the cloning of farm animals for food purposes, along with a ban on their offspring and derivatives, including imports of such products into the EU. The environment and agriculture committees have considerably tightened up the European Commission's proposal of a ban on cloning and a ban on the sale of food products made from cloned animals without labelling food made from the offspring of cloned animals - the only such products that can be legally exported to the EU (see EUROPE 11337).
The MEPs will reduce the number of exemptions to the ban on the sale of seal products in the EU. Inuits will continue to be allowed to export seal products under certain conditions (see the recent European Court of Justice ruling, see EUROPE 11381), but the derogation that authorised trading in seal products derived from hunts conducted to protect fishing stocks will be removed. The MEPs will urge the Commission to follow up on the 'Right2Water' Citizens' Initiative that water be recognised as a common good (see EUROPE 11344).
The MEPs will debate and vote on Wednesday 9 September on a report on the urban dimension of European Union policies drafted by Kerstin Westphal (S&D, Germany) to deal with urban policy issues and set guidelines for a future European sustainable development policy.
On the same day, MEPs will vote on implementation of the 2011 White Paper on Transport, whose rapporteur is Wim van de Camp (EPP, the Netherlands). The White Paper covers all forms of transport (road, rail, river, sea and air) and sets targets for 2030 and 2050 to make the sector competitive and reduce consumption of resources.
At the Conference of Presidents of the EP's political groups on Tuesday, Juncker will discuss the role that the EP could play in financial bailout programmes (see EUROPE 11381). (Solenn Paulic with AN, MB and PH)