The European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents decided during a brief remote meeting the morning of Thursday, 24 February, to hold an extraordinary plenary session the afternoon of Tuesday, 1 March, to adopt a resolution on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
During the meeting (which lasted between 30 and 45 minutes), political group leaders unanimously condemned the Russian intervention, which constitutes not only an attack on Ukrainian sovereignty but also an attack on the international order and the foundations of the EU in their opinion.
According to a statement issued immediately after, it was decided that an extraordinary plenary session would be held on Tuesday, 1 March. Based on our information, a resolution will be adopted at the end of this plenary session.
The plenary session will start at noon on Tuesday. According to the agenda seen by EUROPE, there will be an initial vote on amendments to the resolution between 12:00 pm and 12:45 pm. Then, at 1:00 pm, the Council of the EU and the European Commission will make a statement, which will be followed by a debate. Around 2:30 pm (or later depending on the duration of the debates), the results of the first round of voting will be announced. The final results will be known around 5 pm.
The negotiation modalities are not yet clear. During the meeting, it was reportedly decided, according to several sources, that the text of the resolution would be negotiated in the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE).
However, for efficiency reasons, it was reportedly decided that the resolution would be negotiated by political group presidents or by representatives appointed by the political groups. These representatives would very likely be from the AFET committee, a source revealed to us.
During the meeting of the Conference of Presidents, a consensus was reached to focus on the unity of the European Union, solidarity not only with Ukraine and neighbouring countries but also with the most exposed EU Member States, and the adoption of strong sanctions against Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government.
Late afternoon that same day, an extraordinary session of the AFET and SEDE committees was held remotely in the presence of High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)