MEPs are expected to elect their President on Wednesday 3 July in Strasbourg, rather than on Tuesday 2 July, as originally planned.
This one-day postponement, which will be officially confirmed on Sunday 30 June by the Conference of Presidents of the Political Groups, is intended to give the political groups more negotiating time.
It will enable them to analyse the results of the extraordinary European summit convened for 30 June (see EUROPE 12279/1, 12280/2), expected to result in a package decision on the senior European posts to be filled by the autumn, namely: the Presidencies of the European Commission, the European Council, the ECB and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
This decision should also include the Presidency of the European Parliament as an element of negotiation between European political families. But MEPs, who organise themselves independently, should not give the impression that they are taking inspiration from the results of the Twenty-Eight's negotiations to establish their representative.
On Wednesday, 3 July, Parliament will also elect its fourteen Vice-Presidents and decide on the numerical composition of the standing parliamentary committees and subcommittees. The following day, it will elect five Quaestors after the plenary debate on the results of the last European summits in the presence of the Presidents of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the European Council, Donald Tusk.
Intense, but laborious negotiations on the strategic agenda
The four main political groups in the European Parliament are continuing their work on drawing up a strategic agenda in order to put pressure, by 30 June, on the choice of person suggested by the European Council to be President of the Commission, which must be approved by an absolute majority of the Parliament (see EUROPE 12273/17).
These discussions are proving to be laborious, with some even describing the results as "catastrophic" in some working groups.
The Chairmen of the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe and Greens/EFA groups were invited to get to the bottom of the outstanding issues at a dinner on Tuesday evening. But the work could last all week.
On the contribution of the working group on digital issues, the main surprise - as indicated by a unique source speaking anonymously - comes from the inability of the groups to agree on a reference to the completion of the single market. The source said the social democrats and environmentalists were opposing it. On the other hand, the S&D group were insisting on introducing references to workers' rights into the text. The Greens/EFA Group is calling for a relatively detailed text, while the Liberals of Renew Europe are opposed to it.
What degree of detail was finally chosen? According to this source, the text does not contain a specific recommendation, for example with regard to the reopening of the copyright directive. Instead it tends to use general terms such as the potential of the digital economy.
On economic issues, the text under preparation still contained 35 elements to be decided, according to a second source. The Social Democrats, supported by the ecologists, are calling for the inclusion of effective minimum taxation as one of the strategic priorities, something that the Christian Democrats refuse to do (see EUROPE 12221/14). They're making it a red line.
The question of the creation of a parliamentary committee dedicated to the fight against tax fraud and evasion and money laundering, requested by the TAX3 inquiry committee of the previous legislature (see EUROPE 12222/12), will not be included. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and Sophie Petitjean, with Marion Fontana)