Brussels, 07/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - Some additional issues have been added to the agenda of next week's European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg (see EUROPE of 6 June, page 14). Thus, Tuesday, the session will begin with a Statement by the Commission on the visit by the EU Troika to Algeria (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.4) and the signing of the EU/Algeria Agreement, and Wednesday, in their statements on the Seville Summit, the Commission and Council will also raise the crisis between India and Pakistan. Also on Wednesday, Parliament will vote on the dates of the plenary sessions for 2003: speaking to the press, the spokesperson for the Liberal Group regretted that, at the initiative of Francis Wurtz, the Conference of Presidents should have included in its proposed agenda the reinsertion of the Friday morning session in Strasbourg, contrary to the past two years (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.10). According to the Liberals, they should have voted on the status quo, said the spokesperson. Still on Wednesday, Parliament should vote on the Gianfranco Dell'alba report on the reshaping of the financial regulation (see EUROPE of 5 June, p.8). As for the Tuesday evening's European Commission Communication, it will be a question of the presentation by Commissioner Byrne of the Commission's Green Paper on consumer protection. Thursday, during the debate on topical issues, MEPs will discuss the following problems: child labour in the manufacture of sports equipment, the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, human rights, foot-and-mouth disease and the world cup in South Korea, and the situation in Nepal.
You may also recall that the Liberal Group, chaired by Graham Watson will hold a meeting on the fringe of Wednesday's session with parliamentarians from candidate countries, on the occasion of the debate in plenary on the Union's enlargement.