Following on from Xavier Bettel in May (see EUROPE 12030), the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, will on Wednesday 13 June be the seventh European leader to debate the future of Europe with the MEPs, at the plenary session of the European Parliament be held in Strasbourg between 11 and 14 June.
The next on the list will be the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki. However, the MEPs will not wait for the July plenary session to discuss legal reform in Poland. A round table discussion of the political groups has been added at the last minute to Wednesday’s agenda to take stock of the situation with the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans (see article).
The initiative came from the Greens/EFA group, one of its spokespersons confirmed, explaining that the aim is to ensure that Parliament continues to be a place where the rule of law is defended. This follows the resolution voted through Parliament in March supporting the move to trigger article 7 of the Treaty and confirming the existence of a clear risk of a breach of the European rule of law rules (see EUROPE 11972).
On Tuesday 12 June, MEPs will set out their priorities for the meeting of the heads of state or government to be held in Brussels on 28 and 29 June. This forthcoming European Council will be decisive, according to several of Parliament's political groups, who expect the leaders to overcome their differences to move forward as a bloc of 28 on the reform of the European asylum system (see EUROPE 12034) and as a bloc of 19 on the reforms of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).
On the latter point, the MEPs will be looking for answers from the Commission on the same day, by means of an oral question followed by a debate. In particular, they will be asking about the member states' position on the idea of a European Monetary Fund and areas for work to guarantee democratic control in any deepening of the EMU.
Composition of Parliament. On the legislative side of things, this plenary session will be marked by a vote on the redistribution of British seats in Parliament following Brexit.
Readers may recall that the compromise on the table suggests reducing the number of MEPs from 751 to 705 (see EUROPE 11945). The redistribution would keep 46 of the 73 British seats left vacant after Brexit in reserve, some or all of which could then be allocated to future countries joining the EU, or simply left empty to reduce the size of the institution.
As for the other 27 former British seats, they would be reallocated to the 14 countries currently slightly underrepresented in the hemicycle – a proposal rejected by the ECR group, which puts the savings that would be made if the seats were scrapped at several million euro.
Wednesday’s vote will be the final confirmation of the redistribution of the seats, which will also require the approval of the EU leaders at the European summit to be held in Brussels on 28 and 29 June. It is worth noting that the committee on constitutional affairs of the Parliament must first adopt this new composition ahead of the plenary, at a vote in committee scheduled for Monday 11 June.
Parliament will also be called upon to confirm several inter-institutional agreements between itself and the Council, particularly on: - the system of monitoring, verification and declaration of CO2 emissions and data on the fuel consumption of heavy goods vehicles newly registered in the EU (see EUROPE 11990); - common rules in the field of civil aviation, which will lay down the key principles concerning drones in the EU (see EUROPE 11916).
Foreign affairs. During a debate on Tuesday afternoon, MEPs will exchange views with the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, on the consequences of the decision of US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear agreement (see EUROPE 12024) and the EU’s response to the decision.
MEPs will also attempt to find out whether the reintroduction of US sanctions could affect agreements between Iran and certain European companies, such as Total and Airbus.
They will then debate security in the Georgian occupied territories, nearly ten years after the Russian invasion, at a session also to be attended by Mogherini. The debate will be followed by a resolution to be put to a vote on Thursday.
On Wednesday, Parliament will take a position on the proposed financial support of €1 billion in loans to Ukraine, to help the country cover some of its external financing needs for 2018-2019. Readers may recall that during the committee on international trade’s vote (see EUROPE 12022), the MEPs laid down strict conditions, for instance making the aid conditional on progress in the fight against corruption.
MEPs are also expected to ask the Commission and Council about the best way of renewing the EU’s partnership with the countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP), which is due to end in 2020. With negotiations for a renewed partnership expected to launch in August 2018 (see EUROPE 12033), MEPs will discuss priorities for the future partnership agreement, such as migration, political dialogue, human rights and governance, ahead of the vote scheduled for Thursday.
Striking interpreters. As reported by EUROPE (see EUROPE 12034), the interpreters of the European Parliament, both permanent staff and freelancers, began an unprecedented strike movement on Tuesday 5 June.
If the conflict has not been resolved by then, strikers will continue the action. They have received the support of the S&D, GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA and EFDD groups. The EPP group, to which the President of Parliament, Antonio Tajani, belongs, is more reserved.
As well as distributing flyers, making announcements over the microphone at the start of each working session and a refusal to work beyond the agreed hours in the booth, the interpreters will down tools on Tuesday 12, Wednesday 13 and Thursday 14 June for periods of up to 2 hours.
The aim of the strikers is to make their action as high-profile as possible. They are challenging the administration’s contention that their notice was not submitted in proper form (period of five days, exceptional circumstances). They argue that the addendum to the union agreement does not concern them, as it was not signed by their representatives, although they state that they adhered to the spirit of it.
In another point specific to the “Brussels bubble”, the Bureau of Parliament will take a position on Monday on a decision to stop the use of plastic within the institution after 2019. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana with Mathieu Bion)