Brussels, 10/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - The conference of presidents of the political groups of the European Parliament has altered the agenda of next week's plenary session in Strasbourg, notably to take account of the availability and desires of the Council and Commission. The definitive agenda will be adopted Monday evening at the opening of the session.
Other than the address by Mexican President Vicente Fox (Wednesday lunchtime), Parliament should hear several statements by the Council and Commission. The first is scheduled for Tuesday at 15.00 hrs. with Spanish Home Affairs Minister Mariano Rajoy who will talk about progress in and prospects for immigration and asylum policy. This will be followed by a statement on the forthcoming EU/Russia Summit and a debate on the Hoff report on Kaliningrad. At 17.30 hrs., Commissioner Pedro Solbes will present a Commission communication on preparations for the EU/Latin America Summit, followed by a debate on transatlantic relations, with, here too, two statements on the recent EU/United States Summit and the Elles report. At the Council's request, the statement that was initially scheduled on miniature nuclear weapons has been taken off the agenda, but the conference of presidents has asked Commissioner Chris Patten to raise the issue in the framework of the debate on transatlantic relations. Still on Wednesday, at 15.00 hrs., it will be Javier Solana who will brief them on the situation in the Middle East. This statement will be followed by another on the reform of the Council. On Thursday, one last Commission statement will be on World Food Summit. The topical debate will be shortened and begin at 16.00 hrs., with three topics: Madagascar, Indonesia (Moluccas/Aceh), India. For the remainder, the draft agenda (see EUROPE of 4 May, p.15) practically remains unchanged, but the reports by Cappato on the protection of private life in electronic communication, and Novelli on the coal industry have been withdrawn.
The conference of presidents also had a debate on the postponement of the adoption of the draft review of the common fisheries policy, and several political groups wanted Commissioner Fischler to speak out on the subject. Among the issues broached during this discussion launched by the co-president of the Greens/EFA group, Daniel Cohn-Bendit was the decision to replace the Director General for Fisheries in the Commission and the instructions given by several governments (see EUROPE of 1 May, p.8). The case of Ms. de Palacio was also raised. EUROPE has reason to believe that Jose Ignacio Salafranca, who was representing the EPP-ED group, considered that no conclusions could be drawn from the statement of a minister and no Commissioner would agree to change a director general under the pressure of a government. Vice-President Giorgios Dimiytrakopoulos put an end to that discussion by saying that it was up to the Fisheries Committee to hear Commissioner Fischler, at its meeting of 20 May. In addition, the conference of presidents also decided to extend to Libya the brief of the delegation for relations with the Maghreb, chaired by Gerardo Galeote.