The plenary session of the European Parliament, to be held from 26 to 29 February in Strasbourg, will focus on foreign affairs and defence. In addition to the visit of the widow of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, Yulia Navalnaya, and debates on Gaza, the MEPs will also be voting over the course of the week on a series of interinstitutional agreements, in particular the one on the revision of the budget, and on the restoration of nature.
Foreign Affairs. The highlight of the session will be a speech by Yulia Navalnaya at noon on Wednesday, to which the leaders of the political groups will react. This formal sitting will be followed by a debate on the “murder” of Mr Navalny and the need for EU action in support of political prisoners and oppressed civil society in Russia. A resolution on this subject will be put to the vote on Thursday. Also on Thursday, a vote will be held on the resolution: ‘The need for unwavering EU support for Ukraine after 2 years of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine’.
On Tuesday, MEPs will debate the war in the Gaza Strip, including developments relating to the International Court of Justice, UNRWA and the region. A resolution requested by The Left was rejected by the Conference of Presidents. MEPs will then discuss the 2023 annual report by Nacho Sánchez Amor (S&D, Spanish) on human rights and democracy in the world and European policy in this area. The ‘close ties’ between the EU and Armenia and the need for a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan will also be debated, as will the report by Nathalie Loiseau (Renew Europe, French) on the situation in Syria, which will be voted on Wednesday evening.
MEPs will also be debating and voting on a resolution on the situation in Cuba, described as ‘critical’, on Thursday. In addition, the European Parliament will discuss the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They will vote as well, on Thursday, on Joachim Schuster’s report on the implementation of the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the EU and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Also on Thursday, MEPs will vote on Cornelia Ernst’s report on the ongoing negotiations for an agreement on the status of the operational activities carried out by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in Senegal.
Defence. On Wednesday morning, MEPs will debate European defence and security, both on ‘Strengthening European defence in an unstable geopolitical landscape’ and on the reports by David McAllister (EPP, German) and Sven Mikser (S&D, Estonian) on the 2023 annual reports on the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy. These two reports will be put to the vote at the end of the day on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, the European Parliament will debate the draft Auštrevičius/Pereira report on streamlining EU integration procedures and internal institutional reform with a view to future enlargement. It will be adopted on Thursday.
Budget. On Monday 26 and Tuesday 27, MEPs will debate and vote on the provisional agreement recently reached on the mid-term revision of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) (see EUROPE 13345/21). Although the amounts set out in the agreement are still lower than those the MEPs had requested last October (see EUROPE 13263/7), they are expected to give the text a broad endorsement, especially as it includes financial support for Ukraine worth €50 billion up through 2027. However, a non-legislative motion for a resolution containing additional recommendations on the revision of the MFF was adopted by the Budget Committee on Thursday 22 February. This resolution will be put to the vote in Parliament at noon on Tuesday, at the same time as the text of the budget revision and that of the ‘Ukraine Facility’. MEPs will vote on the regulation that will implement ‘STEP’, the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (see EUROPE 13345/16).
Environment. Tuesday will see nature restoration legislation come to a conclusion at the European Parliament, when the political agreement between the European Parliament and the EU Council will be put to the vote (see EUROPE 13303/30). The political agreement on this text, which deeply divided the European Parliament (see EUROPE 13221/1), was validated by the MEPs of the Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) on 29 November 2023.
Also on Tuesday, the European Parliament will vote on the Interinstitutional Agreement reached by the EU Council and the European Parliament on the revision of the Waste Shipment Regulation. MEPs on the ENVI Committee had approved the agreement on 11 January (see EUROPE 13326/7).
Justice/Environment. Following a debate on Monday afternoon, MEPs are expected to give the green light on Tuesday to the revision of the Directive on the protection of the environment through criminal law. The text, on which a provisional Interinstitutional Agreement had been reached in November 2023 (see EUROPE 13294/4), extends and updates the list of environmental crimes. New offences include illegal timber trade, overexploitation of water resources and breaches of EU regulations on chemical substances. More severe penalties are provided for so-called ‘qualifying’ offences.
Energy. On Wednesday evening and at midday on Thursday, MEPs will debate and vote on the provisional agreement reached with the EU Council on 16 November on the revision of the REMIT Regulation (see EUROPE 13294/5) aimed at improving the Union’s protection against manipulation of the wholesale energy market, as part of the reform of the European electricity market. The vote on the part devoted to the Electricity Market Design (EMD) (see EUROPE 13329/5) will take place at the mini-plenary meeting on 10 and 11 April.
Agriculture. On Monday 26 February, MEPs will debate with the Commission the causes of rising food prices and how to tackle the social consequences. In addition, after a debate the previous day, on Wednesday 28 February MEPs are due to ratify the new regulation on geographical indications for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products (see EUROPE 13279/14) by adopting a report by Paolo De Castro (S&D, Italian) on this dossier. An interinstitutional Agreement on this text was reached on 24 October 2023.
Transport. On Tuesday morning, the European Parliament will debate the directive on driving licences. Initially, the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) was due to vote in December 2023 on the decision to start discussions with the Member States without going through the validation process in plenary, but the rapporteur, Karima Delli (Greens/EFA, French), preferred to cancel this vote (see EUROPE 13310/13), thus preventing any negotiations with the Council of the EU before the end of the legislative mandate. Members of the ECR and EPP groups opposed certain provisions. The text will be put to the vote on Wednesday.
Digital. Parliament plans to adopt two provisional agreements reached by the European co-legislators in November and December 2023 respectively: the first concerns the collection and sharing of data on short-term rentals (see EUROPE 13294/8) and the second relates to the European Digital Identity (‘EiD’) Wallet (see EUROPE 13288/12). The two debates are scheduled for early evening on Wednesday, and the votes will take place on Thursday. The two final compromises should be adopted without difficulty.
Democracy. On Monday, MEPs will discuss the targeting and transparency of political advertising, a subject on which the European Parliament and the EU Council reached an Interinstitutional Agreement on 6 November (see EUROPE 13287/1). They will vote on the final text the following day, after the agreement had already been approved by the MEPs on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection on 23 January (see EUROPE 13336/37).
Rule of law. On Wednesday 28 February MEPs will debate the report by Sophie in 't Veld (Renew Europe, Dutch) on the state of the Rule of law in the Member States in 2023 (see EUROPE 13334/28). This report, adopted by the parliamentary committee at the end of January, reported worrying trends in Greece, Slovakia, Malta and France.
On Tuesday, MEPs will vote on the provisional political agreement reached by the EU Council and the European Parliament on the anti- SLAPP directive. This agreement was validated by MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Legal Affairs on 24 January (see EUROPE 13336/38).
Internal Market. The ‘patents’ package proposed by the Commission in April 2023 will see five of its texts put to the vote on Wednesday, following debates the day before: the regulation on patents essential to standards and the four relating to supplementary certificates (see EUROPE 13335/7). The sixth text of the package (compulsory licences) should only be voted on in March (see EUROPE 13349/10). On a proposal from the Renew Europe group, MEPs will debate the EU’s competitiveness on Wednesday.
Social. On Monday evening, MEPs will debate the text regarding digital platform workers. While the European Parliament has adopted its position on the text, the EU Council has yet to do so (see EUROPE 13355/19).
Trade. MEPs will ratify two trade agreements on Thursday: the Economic Partnership Agreement with Kenya (see EUROPE 13316/22) and the Interim Trade Agreement with Chile. More broadly, the revision of the Association Agreement with Santiago will also be put to the vote (see EUROPE 13307/24).
Finances. On Thursday, MEPs will hold a topical debate on the EU’s competitiveness: ‘A prosperous EU in a fragmented global economy’. They will then debate David Cormand’s annual report on the financial activities of the European Investment Bank, in the presence of Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank.
Banks. In the banking sector, MEPs will endorse the ‘Daisy Chain’ proposal for a targeted revision of EU law governing bank resolution (‘BRRD’ Directive, ‘SRM’ Regulation) (see EUROPE 13309/28).
Taxation. The European Parliament opinion on the new ‘FASTER’ withholding tax procedure on cross-border financial income will be put to the vote on Thursday (see EUROPE 13334/23).
ECB. On Monday 26 February, MEPs will debate the draft 2023 annual report on the European Central Bank presented by Johan Van Overtveldt (ECR, Belgian), in the presence of ECB President Christine Lagarde. Voting will take place on Tuesday 27 February.
Research. After a short presentation on Monday 26, MEPs will vote on Tuesday 27 February on the draft report by Paolo Borchia (ID, Italian) on the European Partnership for the Mediterranean, PRIMA, supported under Horizon Europe (see EUROPE 13270/8). (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant and Thomas Mangin, with the editorial staff)