On Monday 1 July, the European Parliament said goodbye to outgoing MEPs (see EUROPE 12285/1). After the flag-raising ceremony, they returned to their seats in the Chamber for the last time to attend the medal ceremony.
"The European Parliament is the only institution elected by European citizens, and for me it is very important to reduce the distance between the European citizens and EU institutions, it is our job to do it. It is our job to protect, to defend the European citizens", said the current President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, congratulating MEPs on their commitment over the last five years.
Mr Tajani also paid tribute to the MEPs who died during the legislature, including the Italian Gianluca Buonanno (NI) and the French Édouard Ferrand (NI), whose families were awarded a medal.
The European Parliament is also separating from its first Quaestor, Elisabeth Morin-Chartier (EPP, French), its Vice-President Pavel Telička (ALDE, Czech), the former President of the GUE/NGL Group, Germany's Gabriele Zimmer, and the former ENF Group's Co-President, Dutchman Marcel De Graaf.
An eventful start. And it is in an institutional setting disrupted by the failure of the Twenty-Eight to agree on appointments (see other news), that the 751 MEPs will return to the Chamber on Tuesday 2 July.
The leaders of the political groups in the European Parliament were to take stock of the situation on Monday evening. If the objective remains, as Antonio Tajani said on Sunday, to elect his replacement on Wednesday 3 July, all scenarios had to be discussed by the group chairmen.
This could include the possibility of postponing this election to the next European Parliament plenary session in mid-July, which would require some legal guarantees, given the exceptional nature of the measure.
But the preferred scenario was still to vote on 3 July, otherwise the European Parliament's activities would be completely blocked, as it can only work with an elected President. Additional flexibility could therefore be given to the deadline for submitting applications to the perch until Tuesday evening at midnight. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana and Solenn Paulic)