Brussels, 11/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - The final plenary sitting of the European Parliament in 2015 will focus on preparing for the December European Summit on the refugee crisis, the eurozone and relations with the United Kingdom. The MEPs will also hold the formal prize-giving ceremony for the Sakharov Prize.
On Wednesday 16 December, ahead of the European Summit, the MEPs will discuss measures taken or feasible to tackle terrorism more effectively and ensure better management of the refugee crisis facing the EU. On 15 December, they will be briefed by the European Commission about its plans to enhance the border-control role of the Frontex agency by eventually setting up a European border guard (see related article).
The EPP group backs the new proposals to secure the EU's external borders and ALDE feels they should have been unveiled a long time ago. The Social Democrats say the terrorist attacks in Paris should not be used as a reason for rejecting people fleeing from the atrocities being carried out in Syria. The GUE/NGL group says the measures being prepared will make the refugee situation even more complicated and calls for a European refugee rescue operation.
In the field of domestic affairs, the EP will vote on the short-term visa exemption for nine countries, mostly small islands, along with the United Arab Emirates.
On Wednesday, the European Parliament will award the Sakharov Prize to Ensaf Haidar, wife of the 2015 Sakharov Prize-winner, Raif Badawi, a Saudi blogger arrested and held in prison since 2012, accused of insulting religious figureheads.
The results of the Paris climate talks will be discussed on Tuesday 15 December in the presidency of the European Commission and the delegation representing the EP (see related article). In the same vein, the MEPs will hold a common debate about progress in the planned Energy Union.
President of Eurogroup to address the plenary for the very first time. For the firs time, the president of Eurogroup will address the European Parliament plenary as part of a debate on the future of economic and monetary union (EMU) on Tuesday. MEPs are critical of the Commission's plans to boost EMU by creating national competitiveness agencies and rationalising eurozone representation at the IMF (see EUROPE 11443).
At the plenary, MEPs will pass a resolution on the fundamental rights situation in Hungary. The S&D group says it is time to remind the Hungarian president, Viktor Orban, that the EU is based on fundamental rights such as equal rights. The Social Democrats will call for activation of the mechanism under Article 7 of the European Treaty, which can go as far as suspending a country's voting rights in the event of serious and repeated violation of fundamental rights (see EUROPE 11445). The ENF group is very hostile to this, calling for a country's right to affirm its sovereignty.
On the fringes of the plenary, the EP's Environment Committee will vote on emissions testing for motor vehicles. The Greens/EFA group hopes that the Conference of Presidents of the political groups will be able on Tuesday to endorse the mandate of the investigative committee that will be looking into the failings in the national controls that led to the Volkswagen scandal. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)