EU leaders meet This WEEK amid EU-Poland clash

They will mull over an EU Commission 'toolbox' to mitigate the impact of skyrocketing energy prices on businesses and vulnerable households.

They will also discuss irregular migration from Belarus to Poland and Lithuania, in what the two EU states have called a "hybrid war" against Europe.

And climate diplomacy will be high on the agenda ahead of a global 'COP26' summit in the UK on CO2-cuts, as well as recent UN talks on biodiversity.

Rule-of-law saga

The EU leaders' meeting takes place amid bad will on Hungary and Poland's alleged abuse of rule of law.

EU affairs ministers will discuss the issue on Tuesday.

Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will also slug it out in a debate in the EU Parliament's plenary chamber in Strasbourg on Tuesday over Poland's recent court decision denigrating the primacy of EU treaties.

MEPs are preparing to urge EU leaders to impose voting-sanctions in the EU Council on Budapest and Warsaw.

They are also planning to urge the EU Commission to freeze their money in a rule-of-law 'conditionality mechanism', worth tens of billions of euros.

And EU deputies will put the spotlight on EU values on Wednesday, in a debate on Poland's recent near-total abortion ban.

Good food

Despite delay tactics by agri-food lobbyists, MEPs will also debate the 'Farm to Fork' strategy on sustainable food on Monday (18 October), with a resolution put to vote on Tuesday.

The EU Parliament wants a ban on the export of pesticides which are illegal in the EU and the phase-out of cage-farming by 2027.

In other day-to-day affairs, MEPs are to discuss the EU's budget for 2022 on Tuesday, with a vote on Wednesday.

They will discuss the 'Pandora Papers' scandal on tax evasion and prospects for a global minimum-tax agreement also on Wednesday.

And they will name the winner of the 2021 EU 'Sakharov Prize' for human rights, with Afghan women, Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, and Bolivia's former interim president Jeanine Áñez among finalists.

Ethiopia

Meanwhile, EU diplomacy in the Gulf region and the humanitarian crisis in Ethiopia will be on the agenda when EU foreign ministers meet in Luxembourg on Monday

They will prepare an upcoming summit with 'Eastern Partnership' countries - Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The Slovenian presidency will also inform ministers about the Conference on the Future of Europe after a recent round of consultations with citizens' panels.

A Europe-conference plenary session will take place on Saturday and Sunday, with citizens' spokesmen, EU officials, and national MPs.