Migration plans and UK top the bill this WEEK

The plan, which is based on an EU treaty article allowing the bloc to adopt emergency provisions if countries face a sudden increase in migration, will require the support of a majority of EU governments to become legally binding.

However, a number of governments appear unwilling to accept any formal burden sharing agreement, while the numbers involved are still tiny compared to the 600,000 asylum claims made in Europe in 2014.

The commission is also set to recommend that member states resettle 20,000 refugees from outside the EU in the next two years - the distribution will also be based on criteria such as a country's wealth.

Lawmakers also hope to strike a deal on the Commission’s flagship investment fund, with the bloc’s investment commissioner Jyrki Katainen leading negotiations with MEPs and the Latvian presidency.

The “European fund for strategic investments” was tabled by the Juncker commission last November and is meant to raise €315 billion from pension funds and other private sector investors to fund infrastructure projects across the bloc as the way to revitalise the EU's economy.

On Monday, UK prime minister David Cameron will begin a week-long charm offensive with EU leaders by hosting Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker at his country residence, as he begins his bid to renegotiate the UK’s membership of bloc.

Cameron will then journey to Paris and Berlin for meetings with French president Francois Hollande and his German counterpart Angela Merkel later in the week.

Cameron is poised to publish an EU referendum bill on Thursday, having indicated that he would like to hold a referendum in autumn 2016 if possible.

Commitments to reduce the number of EU migrants moving to the UK, and their access to welfare benefits, are expected to be the main aims of Cameron, alongside more cosmetic changes to references in the EU treaties to “ever close Union” and to the EU as a “single currency” bloc.

MEPs, meanwhile, will gather in Brussels for two days of committee meetings and then a ‘mini-plenary’ session. On Thursday deputies will adopt a set of recommendations based on the first two years of negotiations on the free trade agreement with the US.

G7 finance ministers, including ministers from Germany, France and the UK, will meet in Dresden at the end of the week. The ongoing Greek debt crisis will inevitably dominate discussions, as Athens edges closer to default on its debt repayments.