To follow Alexis Tsipras in September (see EUROPE 12093), the Estonian Prime Minister, Jüri Ratas, will be the 10th European leader to debate the future of Europe with the MEPs, on Wednesday 3 October, at the plenary session of the European Parliament to be held in Strasbourg from 1 to 4 October.
The next on the list is the Romanian President, Klaus Werner Iohannis. However, the MEPs are not expecting the second October plenary session to discuss the independence of the judiciary in Romania, as a debate on the rule of law situation and corruption in the country is included on Wednesday's agenda.
The MEPs will discuss the impact of the judicial reform adopted by the Romanian parliament on the separation of powers in Romania, at a session to be attended by the country's Prime Minister, Viorica Dăncilă (see EUROPE 11968). By way of follow-up, a resolution will be put to the vote at the November plenary session.
The initiative comes from the Greens/EFA group. “We think that we should debate that in the Parliament also to avoid having another country with an article 7 procedure, so we think the EU should monitor these countries early enough to avoid it”, a spokesperson confirmed on Friday 28 September.
It is worth noting that on Monday evening, the subject will be debated at the civil liberties committee of the Parliament, in the presence of the First Vice-President of the Commission, Frans Timmermans, by request of the EPP group.
On Tuesday 2 October, the MEPs will outline their priorities for the meeting of the heads of state or government to be held in Brussels on 18 and 19 October, which is unsurprisingly expected to focus on Brexit, with just over six months to go.
On Wednesday 3 October, they will discuss the risks of money laundering in the EU, in light of the recent Danske Bank scandal (see EUROPE 12100), alongside representatives of the European Central Bank.
Climate. In terms of legislating, this plenary session will include a vote on Wednesday on the proposed European regulation to reduce emissions from the European fleet of private cars and new vans from 2021 (see other article).
Readers may recall that the compromise text on the table recommends reducing emissions by 20% by 2025 for both cars and vans and by 45% by 2030 compared to 2021 figures, with zero emissions by 2040 (see EUROPE 12093). The text lays down far more ambitious objectives than the initial proposal (30% by 2030 and 15% up to 2025), which are not supported by the EPP and ECR groups (see other article).
The European Parliament will also be invited to confirm several inter-institutional agreements between the Council and the European Parliament, including: - new rules applicable from 2020 to govern audiovisual content (see EUROPE 12010); - the regulation on the free movement of non-personal data (see EUROPE 12045); - the draft regulation on a mutual recognition mechanism for decisions to freeze and confiscate assets of criminal origin (see EUROPE 12041), and; - the reform of the governance model of Eurojust (see EUROPE 12044).
Foreign affairs. On Tuesday morning, the President of Montenegro, Milo Đukanović, will address the MEPs in the hemicycle for the first time. The progress his country has made in its EU accession negotiations, cooperation in security matters and election interference by foreign powers will be among the subjects discussed.
On the same day, the Parliament will decide to cancel €70 million in pre-accession funds for Turkey, as the conditions set out on compliance with the rule of law in the country have not been met (see EUROPE 12104). The MEPs are expected to agree to reallocate this money to measures connected to the central Mediterranean migration route and part of the EU's commitment in favour of Syria.
It will also discuss the decision of the Trump administration to stop any American financing for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees and how the EU should react to the announcement. On Thursday 27 September, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, announced additional EU support (see article).
It is worth noting that the MEPs will also question the Council, Commission and the High Representative on Tuesday about the EU's contribution to the binding UN instrument for transnational enterprises with regard to human rights. The vote on a resolution on the subject has been withdrawn from the agenda by the conference of the Presidents of the political groups, prompting the GUE/NGL group to announce that it will try to have it put back on the agenda at the start of Monday's session.
On Thursday 4 October, the Parliament will also debate the evolution of the conflict in Yemen (see EUROPE 12082) - by request of the S&D group - before putting a resolution to the vote on the same day, which the group hopes will be “strong enough to put pressure on those responsible for this conflict”.
Debates on cases of violations of human rights will include the deteriorating freedom of the media in Belarus, the situation of human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor in the United Arab Emirates and mass arbitrary arrests in China.
Voting rights. On Tuesday, the MEPs will question the Commission and the Council about protecting the voting rights of EU nationals living in a different member state, following an oral question tabled by Cecilia Wikström (ALDE, Sweden), the chair of the petitions committee of the European Parliament.
Six member states - Germany, Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland, Malta and the United Kingdom - do not allow their nationals to vote in national elections if they live abroad, on the basis of the principle that expatriates are not concerned by political decisions made in their country of origin, the MEP explains. These countries also prohibit them from voting in European elections if they live permanently in a third country, and two of them - Ireland and the UK - do so even for their own nationals living elsewhere in the EU.
Given the impact that these practices could have on the forthcoming European elections of May 2019, the MEPs will ask the Commission and the Council whether they plan to propose measures to guarantee the right of all European citizens to choose to vote either in their member state of origin, or in their host member state.
Spitzenkandidat. As anticipated (see EUROPE 12103), the former Finnish Prime Minister and ex-MEP, Alexander Stubb, may throw his hat into the ring to become the President of the European Commission on behalf of the Christian Democrat family, in Strasbourg on Tuesday.
One of the spokespersons of the EPP group announced on Friday that a press conference of the Finnish delegation of the group was to be held, that may have “important news” to impart. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)