The plenary session of the European Parliament from 17 to 20 January will be characterised not only by the election of the future President of the European Parliament, but also and above all by the tribute to President David Maria Sassoli, who died on 11 January (see EUROPE 12865/27). His funeral took place in Rome on Friday 14 January, in the presence of many European personalities.
MEPs will pay tribute to the Socialist, who had presided over the European Parliament since 2019, at the opening of the session at 6pm. Former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta will address the House.
The proceedings will resume immediately after this ceremony with the announcement of the official candidates for the Presidency of the European Parliament. This election was scheduled under the rules of procedure which provide for a two and a half year mandate for the President of the European Parliament.
The latter is elected by an absolute majority of the votes cast, i.e. 50% plus one. The procedure consists of a maximum of four rounds of voting. If the third round still does not produce an absolute majority, the two candidates who received the most votes in the third round are the only candidates in the fourth round and the one who receives the most votes is finally declared the winner of the election.
This procedure will start on Tuesday 18 January at 9.30am, after a short presentation of each candidate.
Three of them are already known for this election. The EPP group chose Roberta Metsola from Malta, the current acting President of the European Parliament since the death of David Sassoli. However, the latter does not enjoy unanimous support in the hemicycle because of her position against voluntary termination of pregnancy.
The Left group presented the Spaniard, Sira Rego, as a candidate, the Greens/EFA group the Swede, Alice Kuhnke (see EUROPE 12866/27), and the Conservatives and Reformists group, the Pole, Kosma Złotowski (see EUROPE 12848/28). The Renew Europe and ID groups decided not to present a candidate. The S&D group will announce whether or not it will put forward a candidate after the deadline of 5pm on Monday. According to the group’s French MEP, Sylvie Guillaume, “it is not the trend in the group so far [to present a candidate, editor’s note], but it remains possible”.
Depending on the number of rounds needed to elect the President, the election of Vice-Presidents and Quaestors will continue until Wednesday or Thursday.
French Presidency of the EU
Other topics will be on the agenda of this session. On Wednesday morning, French President Emmanuel Macron will present in plenary the programme of the French Presidency of the EU Council (FPEU), which began on 1 January. It is based on the motto ‘Recovery, Power and Belonging’ and on three ambitions: a new European growth model, a humane Europe and a more sovereign Europe (see EUROPE 12864/1).
The debate that will follow this presentation promises to raise the question of the timetable for this EUFP. For the French MEP from The Left, Manon Aubry, who will be speaking in front of Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday, the latter should have asked for the postponement of the EUFP because of the presidential elections in France in April. Sylvie Guillaume shared this opinion as well in front of the press on 14 January.
Court of Auditors
The Parliament will also vote on Wednesday on the EU Council’s proposals for the appointment of four members of the EU Court of Auditors (see EUROPE 12866/22).
European Medicines Agency
Later, MEPs will vote on the agreement reached in trilogue on the European Medicines Agency (EMA) regulation (see EUROPE 12822/1). The aim is to update the EMA’s mandate and strengthen its role, particularly in crisis preparedness and management.
Results of the European Council
MEPs will then analyse the outcome of the December European Council, which focused on soaring energy prices, the health situation in Europe, Ukraine, European defence and the external dimension of migration (see EUROPE 12855/1).
DSA
In the evening, MEPs will debate the text tabled by Christel Schaldemose (S&D, Denmark) on the Digital Services Act (DSA) (see EUROPE 12853/3). The final vote will take place the following day. The text was adopted on 14 December last, in the margins of the plenary session, by the members of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO).
Human Rights
Wednesday will close with debates on three motions for resolutions on human rights. The first concerns violations of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong, following the forced closure of the Apple Daily newspaper, representative of the pro-democracy movement (see EUROPE 12747/24). The second resolution deals with the situation in Kazakhstan (see EUROPE 12865/20) and the third with Sudan, where deadly violence against peaceful demonstrators has increased since the military coup of 25 October (see EUROPE 12862/2).
Women
On Thursday, MEPs will debate sexual and reproductive rights, at the request of the S&D group. This is a way for the Social Democrats to put pressure on the Christian Democrat candidate, Roberta Metsola, so that if she is elected, she will clearly state her commitment to defend the Parliament’s position on women’s rights.
In June 2021, the Parliament had adopted the ‘Matić’ report, which, among other things, calls on Member States to decriminalise abortion and remove the obstacles and difficulties that many women in the EU still face in accessing it (see EUROPE 12748/12). This position was opposed by Ms Metsola at the time of the vote, in particular because Malta still criminalises abortion.
Animal health.
The European Parliament will then vote on recommendations to strengthen the protection of farm animals during transport (see EUROPE 12868/9). The Greens/EFA and The Left groups have tabled different amendments aimed at limiting the transport time of livestock as much as possible and avoiding the export of live animals to third countries. The debate on the recommendations of the Committee of Inquiry into the protection of animals during transport will also take place on Thursday (see EUROPE 12846/4). The Greens/EFA want an 8 hour limit for the transport of animals (The Left wants a maximum of 2 hours).
Social impact of the pandemic on young people
Finally, on Thursday mid-afternoon, there will be a debate on empowering Europe’s youth, on employment recovery and on social recovery after the pandemic. A series of oral questions were put jointly by all European Parliament groups (including the far right) on Thursday 13 January, notably on the reinforced youth guarantee and the proper use of the European Social Fund plus.
The plenary session will be held in a hybrid format, with the possibility of remote voting. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal with the editors)