Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will be in Strasbourg from Monday 16 to Thursday 19 June for a plenary session with a busy agenda, particularly on foreign affairs issues. The week will also be marked by the subject of the Rule of law in Hungary and Spain. First, however, MEPs will open the session on Monday 16 June with a statement by European Parliament President, Roberta Metsola, on the 40th anniversary of the Schengen area of free movement. This issue was the subject of a declaration adopted on 12 June by the home affairs ministers of the area’s member countries (see other news).
Rule of law in Hungary. On Wednesday, at the request of the S&D political group, the European Parliament will discuss freedom of assembly in Hungary and the need for the Commission to take action. The Parliament is calling on the Commission to join the Budapest ‘Pride March’ at the end of the month, which the Hungarian government has undertaken to ban.
Following this, a debate will be held on the need to safeguard the Rule of law in Spain, this time at the request of the EPP. According to the title, it will be about “ensuring an independent and autonomous prosecutor's office to fight crime and corruption”.
Democracy. On Tuesday, MEPs will adopt the draft report by Sven Simon (EPP, German) on the electoral rights of mobile citizens in the EU, particularly in the light of the experience of the European elections in June 2024.
Spyware. On Monday evening, together with the EU Council and the Commission, MEPs will take stock of the situation and follow up the recommendations of the Parliament’s special ‘PEGA’ Committee on the illegal use of spyware, two years after their adoption (see EUROPE 13202/14, 13274/14). Scandals regularly erupt around this spyware, such as PARAGON in Italy recently.
Sexual abuse of children. On the morning of Tuesday 17, the Parliament will debate the report by Jeroen Lenaers (EPP, Dutch) on combating the sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children and child sexual abuse material (see EUROPE 13639/17). The Parliament’s negotiating mandate will be put to the vote on the same day.
Foreign affairs. On Monday, MEPs will discuss the “human cost” of Russia’s war against Ukraine and the urgent need to end Russian aggression. MEPs want to highlight the situation of civilians and prisoners of war held illegally and the ongoing bombardment of civilians.
In connection with enlargement, the reports for 2023 and 2024 on Montenegro and Moldova will be discussed on Tuesday afternoon, before being put to the vote on Wednesday.
On Tuesday lunchtime, the King of Jordan, Abdullah II, will address a formal session of MEPs. He could discuss relations between the EU and his country, as well as the situation in the Middle East.
In the afternoon, MEPs will debate with EU Council and Commission representatives the review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. On Wednesday, they will return to this subject in a debate entitled ‘Stopping the genocide in Gaza: time for EU sanctions’.
On Wednesday afternoon, the European Commission will comment on the rise in violence and the deepening humanitarian crisis in South Sudan.
On Tuesday, MEPs are expected to adopt a resolution calling on the Commission to terminate the EU-Cameroon Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) on sustainable timber (see EUROPE 13642/20).
Finally, on Tuesday evening, they will also discuss the political situation in Colombia following the attempted assassination in early June of Senator Miguel Uribe of the right-wing Democratic Centre party, a declared candidate in the 2026 Colombian presidential election.
Development. On Tuesday at lunchtime, the draft report by Charles Goerens MEP (Renew Europe, Luxembourg) on financing for development will be put to the vote (see EUROPE 13644/31). The text has been prepared ahead of the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4), which will take place in Seville from 30 June to 4 July.
Human rights around the world. On Wednesday afternoon, the European Parliament will consider: - media freedom in Georgia, particularly the case of imprisoned journalist Mzia Amaglobeli; - the situation of the Swedish-Iranian academic Ahmadreza Jalali, sentenced to death in Iran in 2017 for “espionage”; - the dissolution of political parties and the crackdown on the political opposition in Mali. Resolutions on these three subjects will be put to the vote on Thursday.
Defence. On Wednesday morning, MEPs will be discussing the NATO summit to be held on 24 and 25 June in The Hague with the European Commission. At this summit, the Allies are expected to agree on a new defence spending target representing 5% of their GDP.
Economy. On Wednesday, the Parliament is expected to endorse the position of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) and the Committee on Budgets (BUDG), which advocate an 18-month extension, from August 2026, of the ‘Recovery and Resilience Facility’ (RRF), the budgetary instrument of the recovery plan NextGenerationEU. This is to allow the finalisation of projects considered to be mature (see EUROPE 13644/23).
MEPs will also approve the political agreement reached with the EU Council on macroeconomic assistance to Egypt worth €4 billion over the period 2025-2027 (see EUROPE 13644/24).
Energy. On Wednesday, they will vote on the report by Anna Cavazzini (Greens/EFA, German) and Borys Budka (EPP, Polish) on the adoption by the EU of the interpretation of the ‘inter se’ agreement in the context of the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). This interpretation is intended to recognise that Article 26 of the Treaty – concerning the resolution of disputes between an investor and a contracting party to the Treaty – should not be applicable to intra-EU disputes (see EUROPE 13568/14, 13644/17).
At the same time, the report led by Mr Budka on the EU-Euratom agreement to recognise this same interpretation will be put to a separate vote.
A debate on the own-initiative report by Anna Stürgkh (Renew Europe, Austrian) in favour of speeding up the development of electricity grids in the EU will be held in the afternoon (see EUROPE 13639/16). The report will be put to the vote on Thursday at lunchtime.
MEPs will also be asked to vote on the resolution by Tom Berendsen (EPP, Dutch), which sets out their expectations of the ‘Clean Industrial Deal’ (see EUROPE 13652/9).
Transport. On Tuesday, MEPs will vote on extending the agreement between the EU and Ukraine on the carriage of freight by road until the end of 2025, which was approved in committee two weeks earlier (see EUROPE 13652/41).
The Parliament will then debate the EU framework conditions for competitive, efficient and sustainable public transport services at all levels (see EUROPE 13652/41).
Finally, MEPs will revisit the Council’s political agreement on the revision of air passenger rights, reached on Thursday 5 June in Luxembourg (see EUROPE 13654/1). This agreement, criticised by several MEPs (see EUROPE 13655/7), comes 12 years after negotiations began and 21 years after the text was last updated.
See the full agenda for the plenary session: https://aeur.eu/f/hbm (Original version in French by the editorial staff)