The European Parliament will hold its first October plenary session from Monday 5 to Thursday 8 October.
Despite the European Parliament's declared willingness to resume sessions in Strasbourg (see EUROPE 12570/23) and France's insistent calls for this (see EUROPE 12569/18), MEPs will once again sit in Brussels.
In particular, they are expected to decide on the appointment of the Commissioner-designate for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets, Mairead McGuinness, and on the allocation of the Trade portfolio to the Commission's Executive Vice-President, Valdis Dombrovskis (see EUROPE 12567/19).
Both were heard this Friday by the relevant parliamentary committees (see other articles). The Conference of Committee Chairs will assess the results of the two hearings on Monday, while the European Parliament Conference of Presidents will decide on Tuesday whether or not to close the hearings. If this is the case, the plenary will vote on Wednesday.
Rule of law. A number of dossiers relating to the Rule of law are also on the agenda. On Monday MEPs will debate the report by Michal Šimečka (Renew Europe) aimed at creating a permanent mechanism for monitoring the Rule of law, fundamental rights and democracy in the EU.
The report (see EUROPE 12565/17) will be put to a vote on Wednesday: it calls for a mechanism merging some of the existing tools, such as the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism, with specific recommendations. It also proposes to extend surveillance to all the values of Article 2 of the Treaty.
A debate on the introduction of Rule of law conditionality in the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027 will also be held on Monday, in the presence of the EU Council and the Commission.
On this point, MEPs are expected to recall that they will only accept a long-term budget if it includes a concrete mechanism to reduce or suspend funding in the event of a breach of the Rule of law.
A resolution on the Rule of law in Bulgaria, narrowly adopted by the Committee on Civil Liberties (see EUROPE 15572/2), will also be put to a vote in plenary on Thursday, after a debate on Monday.
Climate neutrality. MEPs will debate on Tuesday and then vote on Wednesday on the Commission's proposal for a binding framework to achieve climate neutrality by 2050.
While the Commission has recently proposed to raise its 2030 emission reduction target to “at least 55%” (see EUROPE 12561/5), the draft report to be put to a vote by MEPs calls for a 60% reduction in emissions.
The Greens/EFA Group, for its part, is calling for a 65% cut in emissions and the GUE/NGL for a 70% cut.
The EPP, while admitting that it “fully supports the move towards a climate-neutral Europe by 2050”, says it wants to “do so in a way that creates new job opportunities”.
Foreign Affairs. A debate on the EU's response to the recent clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan will be held on Wednesday, in the presence of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.
On Tuesday morning, MEPs will also discuss the outcome of the Extraordinary European Summit on Thursday 1 and Friday 2 October with EU Council President Charles Michel. The escalation of tensions between Turkey and the EU's neighbourhood, the poisoning of Alexei Navalny and the situation in Belarus, among others, are expected to be addressed.
On this last point, it cannot be ruled out that Mr Michel may be accused of the absence of the Belarusian President, Alexander Lukashenko, on the list of sanctions adopted by the EU27 (see EUROPE 12572/2), which was pointed out by the President of the EPP, Manfred Weber.
Financial monitoring. In separate debates on Wednesday and Thursday, MEPs will discuss with the EU Council and Commission the accounting scandal involving the German supplier Wirecard (see EUROPE 12535/15) and the recent revelations about the “FinCEN Files” (see EUROPE 12564/11).
The Commission and the EU Council are expected to be questioned about the shortcomings of German and European financial supervisory bodies.
Gender equality. In a debate on Monday, MEPs will reiterate their call for progress on the Directive on better gender balance in boards of directors (see EUROPE 12564/17), backed by the Parliament in 2013 and blocked in the EU Council since then due to reservations from several Member States.
“We, as the European Parliament, know that we have to put pressure on this issue again and again”, assured EUROPE Socialist MEP Evelyn Regner, Chair of the Parliament’s Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality.
“Where there are no binding measures, we see no progress. And there are no legal reasons to justify invoking an argument of subsidiarity”, she added, denouncing the EU Council's lack of will.
Employment. While youth unemployment in the EU has risen significantly since the start of the pandemic (17% in July 2020, compared to 14.9% before the Covid-19 crisis), on Monday MEPs will question the Commission on how the youth guarantee is being implemented in Member States. A non-legislative resolution will be voted on Thursday.
Resolutions. This session is expected to adopt various other resolutions: a resolution in favour of a strong European framework for crypto-assets (see EUROPE 12567/2), cyber-resilience, data sharing and online customer security; a non-legislative resolution calling for the accelerated development of the capital markets union (see EUROPE 12562/9); a resolution detailing MEPs' priorities for the post-2020 European forest strategy (see EUROPE 12485/8), which is due to be presented by the Commission in early 2021.
Cross-Channel link. Finally, to note, that the vote which should have taken place last September on the post-Brexit operation of the Channel Tunnel (see EUROPE 12560/10) will be held on Monday 5 October under the urgent procedure. (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki, with Solenn Paulic)