It is not unusual for the European Parliament’s press service to call a plenary session agenda “packed”, as deputy spokesperson Delphine Colard did again at the customary Friday press briefing.
But for the second October Strasbourg session, the agenda is not only packed with key issues pursued by the assembly coming to fruition, but also comes with quite a few possible moments of reckoning and could therefore turn out to be action packed, too.
After the ruling of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (CT) challenging the primacy of EU law, officially published last week, the Rule of Law crisis looks likely to take centre stage in the Strasbourg hemicycle.
All eyes will be on the key debate on Tuesday morning which features the top protagonists; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
The centre-right EPP’s spokesperson Pedro López de Pablo expressed his group’s position at Friday’s plenary press briefing saying, “We are very pleased that the Polish prime minister is coming to plenary to explain the legal situation in his country”.
An explanation is urgently needed, he added arguing, “After the [Polish] court’s ruling, we doubt whether any company, for example, that wanted to hire Polish workers would do this. If it cannot accept the legal regime of the EU, where does Poland stand? Are they in the EU or not?”
"After the ruling of the Polish Constitutional Tribunal (CT) challenging the primacy of EU law, officially published last week, the Rule of Law crisis looks likely to take centre stage in the Strasbourg hemicycle. All eyes will be on the key debate on Tuesday morning which features the top protagonists; European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki"
He concluded, “It’s even worse than Brexit. Poland has been taken out of the EU without even having consulted its citizens.”
The Parliament’s ECR Group, which includes the delegation of the Polish government party PiS, naturally welcomed the Polish Prime Minister’s presence, but also displayed confidence that he could explain the stand-off all as no legal crisis at all. The group’s spokesperson Michael Strauss, in a statement, said, “As Co-Chairman of the ECR Group, Ryszard Legutko has emphasised that the Polish CT did not hold that the EU Treaty provisions themselves are unconstitutional”.
“The judgment merely indicates that certain provisions of the EU Treaties are not consistent with the provisions of the Polish Constitution when they are broadly interpreted and go beyond the competences that are explicitly indicated in the Treaties”, he argued.
Given the ongoing non-compliance of the CT regarding rulings of the European Court of Justice (CJEU), and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) verdict of the CT being an illegal court, it looks unlikely that most MEPs will follow those arguments.
When the extreme right ID Group Deputy Secretary-General Tobias Teuscher asked for the EU institutions to stop provoking Member States like Poland and Hungary and, “just let them get on with it”, at Friday’s briefing, the new spokesperson of The Left Group, Sonja Giese responded to her fellow countryman, “we in Germany have made very unfortunate experiences with letting undemocratic governments to just go on with it.”
Starting the plenary session off on Monday evening, however, are debates on key issues around environmental, social and cultural policies.
The own initiative Report drafted jointly by the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) committees, “on a farm to fork strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system” is Parliament’s initial contribution to this important and sometimes divisive aspect of the European Green Deal.
"The Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) Committee is presenting two reports, one on this year’s employment and social policies in the Eurozone, and the other, coming with recommendations to the Commission, on protecting workers from asbestos, which is still “the number one cause of work-related cancers in Europe” S&D shadow Johan Danielsson explained in a press release"
Clara Aguilera, S&D shadow AGRI rapporteur explained in a press release: “We want to ensure healthier and more sustainable food production in Europe, giving at the same time the instruments and financial means to all farmers to adapt and facilitate change. Farmers are a major key to change and to meeting the Green Deal’s goals”.
ENVI vice-chair and rapporteur Anja Hazekamp (NL, The Left) retweeted a video message from European consumer rights lobby group BEUC addressing MEPs directly and asking them to vote for the report “as it is” on Tuesday, to “help get the EU on the right track”, because “we all need healthy food on a healthy planet”.
The Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) Committee is presenting two reports, one on this year’s employment and social policies in the Eurozone, and the other, coming with recommendations to the Commission, on protecting workers from asbestos, which is still “the number one cause of work-related cancers in Europe” S&D shadow Johan Danielsson explained in a press release.
According to the Swedish Social Democrat, the report will be asking the Commission to prove their seriousness “about their commitment to the Vision Zero approach to work-related death by setting a strict exposure limit of 0,001 asbestos fibres/cm3”.
Rapporteur Nikolaj Villumsen (DK, The Left) and EPP shadow Cindy Franssen (BE) both wrote in the latest edition of the Parliament Magazine on the issue.
Then, plenary will discuss the Culture and Education (CULT) Committee INI report on “the situation of artists and the cultural recovery in the EU”. Rapporteur Monica Semedo (LU, Renew) called on Europe to do more to help its cultural and creative sector industries get back on their feet after the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, also in the latest edition of the Parliament Magazine.
"Wednesday's second debate will cover preparations for the COP26 climate summit early next month in Glasgow. Over the weekend, UK daily The Guardian reported that most of the big corporate sponsors, led by UK broadcaster Sky, had sent a letter to the British government complaining about mismanagement by the organisers. MEPs will vote on the European Parliament’s Cop 26 resolution at Thursday’s first voting session"
The impact of the pandemic on Europe in general will come into focus at Tuesday afternoon’s debate about the EU budget 2022.
“The investment in recovery has no alternative. This is the expectation of our citizens. We must convince our colleagues in the Council. The task is not finalised”, co-rapporteur Karlo Ressler (EPP, CR) said in a statement.
In his press release, Victor Negrescu, S&D shadow rapporteur (RO), concurred, adding, “We should not forget we live in a competitive world and if we want to succeed in it, the EU should not lag behind in funding research and innovations, health, digital, smart, sustainable and affordable transport and agriculture”.
After Wednesday's vote, a three-week conciliation period starts during which 27 MEPs will aim to reach a deal with the European Council on the EU budget for 2022.
The Council will have dominated the first of Wednesday morning’s debates already, dedicated to the preparation of Parliament’s position towards this week’s European summit meeting.
The second debate will cover preparations for the COP26 climate summit early next month in Glasgow. Over the weekend, UK daily The Guardian reported that most of the big corporate sponsors, led by UK broadcaster Sky, had sent a letter to the British government complaining about mismanagement by the organisers.
According to the report, the sponsors, among them some of Britain’s biggest companies as well as tech giant Microsoft, are citing “very inexperienced” civil servants, delayed decisions, poor communication and a breakdown in relations between the organisers and companies as their main grievances.
MEPs will vote on the European Parliament’s Cop 26 resolution at Thursday’s first voting session.