Brussels, 31/08/2007 (Agence Europe) - After the conference of presidents of the political groups at the European Parliament, several points were added to the agenda of the plenary session to be held in Strasbourg from 3 to 6 September. MEPs will, on Monday, look at the events of the summer and in particular at the natural disasters that have affected Europe - forest fires in Greece, floods in Great Britain. The Commission will issue a statement on the fires, their consequences and the conclusions to be drawn to establish prevention and early warning measures. A resolution on national disasters will be submitted to vote on Tuesday in plenary. A Commission declaration is also expected on Tuesday on the threatened partial closure of the famous Gdansk shipyards, the place where the Solidarnosc movement was born. In the American real estate crisis context that has shaken up the international financial markets for the past few weeks, MEPs will discuss with the Council and Commission on Wednesday to determine whether European operators - including the European Central Bank (ECB) - reacted correctly, and in order to envisage improvements to the financial surveillance system. It is to be noted that the ECB will be setting out its new interest rates the next day.
On the fringe of the plenary, a meeting of the constitutional affairs committee will be held on Monday at 19h00 for an exchange of views on preparing the report by MEPs Alain Lamassoure (EPP-ED, France) and Adrian Severin (PES, Romania) on the composition of the European Parliament, which should be presented with a view to the European Council to unfold in Lisbon in October. EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering (EPP-ED, Germany) will be meeting Lebanese General Michel Aoun on Thursday. The latter will also attend the meeting of the EP delegation for EU-Mashrek relations. (bc)