MEPs will be meeting in plenary session in Strasbourg from Monday 16 to Thursday 19 October. The session will logically be marked by the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel - and Israel’s military response - the €50 billion macro-financial assistance to Ukraine for the period 2024-2027 and the general EU budget for 2024. The winner of the Sakharov Prize will also be announced during this week’s parliamentary session.
Foreign affairs. On the morning of Wednesday 18 October, Parliament will debate with representatives of the EU Council and the European Commission the Hamas attacks on Israel, which have left more than a thousand people dead and many hostages and missing (see EUROPE 13267/1). They will be voting on a resolution on the subject on Thursday. On Wednesday afternoon, they will meet again for a debate entitled ‘A True Geopolitical Europe Now’.
Parliament will then welcome the Armenian Prime Minister, Nikol Pashinyan, for a formal address. In the space of a few days, Armenia welcomed more than 100,000 Armenians who fled Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan seized the enclave, and fears for its own territorial integrity.
On Thursday 19 October, MEPs will vote on a resolution concerning recent developments in the Serbia-Kosovo dialogue, including the situation in the municipalities in the north of the country. They debated this issue at the last European Parliament plenary session (see EUROPE 13264/7). Some of them had called for a tougher stance towards Belgrade after a Kosovar policeman was killed on 24 September by a group of Serbian gunmen in the north of the country (see EUROPE 13257/21).
On the final day of the plenary session, when the votes are taken, the President of Parliament, Roberta Metsola, will announce the winner of the 2023 Sakharov Prize from among the three finalists: Jina Mahsa Amini and the ‘Women, Life, Freedom’ Movement in Iran, the Nicaraguans Vilma Núñez de Escorcia and Monsignor Rolando José Álvarez Lagos, and three women fighting for free, safe and legal abortion - the Polish Justyna Wydrzyńska, the Salvadoran Morena Herrera and the American Colleen McNicholas (see EUROPE 13270/20).
Ukraine. On Monday, at the start of the plenary session, MEPs will debate macro-financial assistance to Ukraine totalling €50 billion over the period 2024-2027. The following day, they are expected to endorse the position of the relevant parliamentary committees, adopted at the beginning of October, which calls for maximum transparency in the use of funds and the mobilisation of Russian public assets frozen in the EU (see EUROPE 13265/4).
On Tuesday morning, MEPs will debate the effectiveness of the sanctions adopted against Russia. Despite the adoption of 11 packages of sanctions, Moscow is continuing its attack on Ukraine, taking advantage in particular of loopholes in trade restrictions and aid from third countries. Parliament will vote on a resolution on the subject at its mini-session on 8 and 9 November.
Fundamental rights. On the same day, the Council of the EU and the European Commission will be discussing the situation of women refugees from Ukraine. In particular, they will discuss their access to sexual and reproductive health.
On Wednesday, the two institutions will be invited to debate with MEPs respect for the Rule of law in Malta and the protection of journalists, 6 years after the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia (see EUROPE 13045/25). The House will vote on a resolution on the subject on Thursday.
Fight against disinformation and illegal content online. At the end of the day on Wednesday, the EU Council and the Commission will update MEPs on the fight against disinformation and the dissemination of illegal content online in the context of the Digital Services Act (DSA) (see EUROPE 13262/9). This issue arises against the backdrop of an explosion in the volume of illegal content online since the Hamas attacks on Israel and the latter’s military response. Letters have been sent by the Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton, to the CEOs or owners of social networks X (formerly Twitter), Meta and TikTok, asking them to curb the spread of this type of content and disinformation (see EUROPE 13269/8) (see EUROPE 13270/7).
Legislative Programme 2024. On Tuesday afternoon, the European Commission will present its work programme for 2024, following on from President von der Leyen’s State of the Union address and her letter of intent (see EUROPE 13241/1).
Budget. On Tuesday, MEPs will debate the European Union’s general budget for 2024, led by rapporteurs Siegfried Mureșan (EPP, Romanian) for Section III - Commission - and Nils Ušakovs (S&D, Latvian) for the budget’s other sections (see EUROPE 13267/18). This debate will be followed by a vote the next day, which will formalise Parliament’s position. Negotiations - which depend in part on the revision of the 2021-2024 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) (see EUROPE 13263/7) - can then begin with the Council of the EU, with the aim of reaching an agreement in November.
On Wednesday, MEPs will also vote on the report by Fabienne Keller (Renew Europe, French) on the draft amending budget for 2023 concerning the updating of revenue (own resources) and other technical adjustments, including the establishment and funding for 2023 of the new Defence Industry Reinforcement instrument and the European Chips Act.
ECB. Members of the European Parliament will vote on Tuesday on Irene Tinagli’s report (see EUROPE 13267/7) on the EU Council recommendation in favour of the appointment of Piero Cipollone as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), to replace his compatriot Fabio Panetta (see EUROPE 13239/18). MEPs from the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs had given their overwhelming support to this candidacy.
Internal market and competitiveness. On Monday and Tuesday, MEPs will examine the ‘STEP’ regulation, the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform. The text, amended by MEPs, received a favourable vote on Monday 9 October in the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) (see EUROPE 13276/9). It will be debated in the House on Monday before being put to the vote the following day.
Poverty. The Commission will be speaking on the eradication of poverty on Tuesday morning, to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. A round of political group leaders will follow the Commission’s statement.
Visas. On Tuesday afternoon, MEPs will debate the digitalisation of visa procedures and the amendment of the visa sticker regulation (see EUROPE 13212/25).
Spyware. On Tuesday evening, the MEPs will discuss spyware in the EU and the lessons learned from the PEGA Committee (see EUROPE 13202/14) with the Commission and the EU Council.
Mental health at work. On Wednesday afternoon, MEPs will question the Commission on psychosocial risks in the workplace.
Social economy. On Thursday afternoon, MEPs will debate the Commission’s recommendation on the development of the social economy in the EU (see EUROPE 13267/5).
Civil protection/wildfires. On Tuesday, MEPs will vote on the European Commission’s proposal to extend until 31 December 2027 the transitional period for the RescEU permanent reserve of airborne fire-fighting resources under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (rapporteur: Sara Cerdas, S&D, Portuguese) (see EUROPE 13251/21). The vote was originally scheduled for the previous plenary session.
Environment. On Tuesday afternoon, MEPs will discuss with the EU Council and Commission water scarcity and the coordinated measures to be taken under EU water policy to prevent and adapt to this challenge and its implications for agriculture, energy and water management (see EUROPE 13270/12).
UN/Sustainable Development. On Wednesday, the European Commission and the EU Council will make statements on the outcome of the United Nations Summit on Sustainable Development (18-19 September, New York), which put the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) back on the agenda to accelerate action for 2030 and beyond.
Fisheries. On Monday, before the final vote on Tuesday, MEPs will debate the reform of the rules on monitoring fishing activities, following the Interinstitutional Agreement reached on this dossier last May (see EUROPE 13191/13). The new rules (https://aeur.eu/f/91v ) set out in the report by Clara Aguilera (S&D, Spanish) provide for the monitoring of all fishing vessels (with the exception of small coastal vessels under nine metres). Boats of 18 metres or more, which present a high risk of non-compliance with the rules, will have to carry remote electronic monitoring systems, including video surveillance cameras, to ensure compliance with the rules on the end of discards (of fish) at sea.
On Tuesday, Parliament will also vote on the report by Pierre Karleskind (Renew Europe, French) on the measures the EU could take in response to illegal fishing by the Chinese fleet (see EUROPE 13254/12).
Agriculture. On Thursday 19 October, Parliament will vote on the report on the European protein strategy (see EUROPE 13253/13) and the report on generational renewal in EU farms (see EUROPE 13253/11).
To see the agenda: https://aeur.eu/f/91w (Original version in French by Thomas Mangin with the editorial staff)