Brussels, 11/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - Next Tuesday, at 17pm, President Prodi will present, before to the European Parliament gathered in plenary session, a Communication on the Commission strategy on sustainable development, which will be one of the major themes of the Gothenburg Summit.
Moreover, during the votes on Wednesday, the Parliament should adopt the timetable for the plenary sessions in 2002: let us recall that one of the surprises of last year's vote on the 2001 sessions was the ending, following the adoption of certain amendments, of the Friday morning sessions in Strasbourg. For 2002, 12 sessions in Strasbourg and 6 in Brussels are proposed, as well as the return of the Friday morning session: the Liberals, in particular, have already announced amendments aiming to remove this session.
The agenda of the plenary (see detailed agenda in EUROPE of 9 May, pages 14 and 15) has been slightly modified to introduce:
Wednesday, at 15pm, declarations from the Commission and Council on the situation in Macedonia and in Turkish prisons (see EUROPE of 9 may, p.15).
Thursday, a declaration from the European Commission on the recent wave of redundancies in Europe and the role of the European works councils, and an oral questions to the Commission over the liberalisation of the gas sector, following recent French decision (see EUROPE of 9 May, p.11).
Furthermore, the Schleicher report on the status and financing of political parties was placed higher in the agenda on Wednesday, after the declaration on Turkish prisons (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.4).
Wednesday, it is the Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs Anna Lindh who will make declarations on: - the situation in the Middle East. The EP President Nicole Fontaine should announce, for her part, an invitation from the Parliament to the Israeli Minister for Foreign Affairs Shimon Peres and to the Palestinian Minister Nabil Sha'at; - the progress of the transatlantic dialogue. The EP will adopt a declaration in which it should notably raise the problems of the Kyoto Protocol and antimissile defence (in this context the Echelon case could also be raised: see below).
Let us recall that among the important themes in this session are: - the last two parts of the Erika II package on maritime safety. The Watts and Ortuondo Larrea reports are discussed on Tuesday; - the use of dangerous substances in electrical and electronic equipment and the waste from this equipment. The Florenz reports are discussed on Tuesday; the co-president of the Greens/ALE group, Heidi Haulata, said she was dismayed in the way in which the lobbyists have managed to dilute the restrictions proposed for the use of dangerous substances (…) there where there exist more "green" viable alternatives. The Greens underline that the waste from electrical and electronic equipment amounts to 6 million tones in 1998, and that this figure would rise from 3 to 5% per year.
As for the themes of the topical debates on Thursday afternoon, they will be the situation in Algeria and in Bosnia (notably in Banja Luka: see declaration by the Swedish Presidency in EUROPE of 10 May, p.7), human rights in Ethiopia and Guatemala, freedom of the press, forced work by African children and the illegal use of natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Mr Zoellick in Strasbourg - Talks over Berlusconi case on Monday evening?
Let us point out that, on the sidelines of the plenary:
The American Special Representative for Trade, Robert Zoellick, will meet on Monday afternoon in Strasbourg the EP Industry Committee;
The Environment Committee will vote on Monday (as of 22pm) on its report on the Community "environment" action programme for the 2001-2010 period, over which more than 300 amendments have been presented.
It is not excluded that the Legal Committee raise the call for the lifting of the parliamentary immunity of Mr Berlusconi and Mr Dell'Utri. A spokesperson from the Green group warned that, according to a very interesting confidential document, the parliamentarian Marie-Francoise Garaud, selected as emissary by Mrs Fontaine to Madrid in this case, the Legal Committee has already been informally informed of this demand. El Pais indicates on Friday that, during the vote in the Spanish State Council on this issue (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.3), sixteen members of the Council voted for the opinion of the former Justice Minister Mr Lavilla according to which the Ministry of Justice is competent for the passing on of requests to the EP for the lifting of immunity, while five voted against, feeling that this task fell unto the supreme court.