Monday

4th Dec 2023

Agenda

New EU Parliament chief elected This WEEK

  • MEPs will pay tribute to the late David Sassoli on Monday, before almost certainly picking Malta's Roberta Metsola (pictured) as his successor as EU Parliament president (Photo: European Parliament)
Listen to article

The European Parliament will kick off its first plenary of the year in Strasbourg on a sombre note on Monday (17 January), holding a tribute to the late parliament president David Sassoli, who died last week.

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, European Council president Charles Michel, French president Emmanuel Macron, whose country holds the EU council's rotating presidency, and former Italian prime minister Enrico Letta will make speeches in memory of Sassoli, who was Italian and from the Socialists & Democrats group.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Italy's current prime minister Mario Draghi, Luxembourg's Xavier Bettel and Greek premier Kyriakos Mitsotakis will also attend the ceremony which will start at 6pm.

On Tuesday, attention will turn to who will success Sassoli.

The lead candidate is the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), Maltese MEP Roberta Metsola - who has been outspoke against corruption and rule of law issues among others.

However, some MEPs are concerned over her anti-abortion voting record, which some interpret as a regression of women's rights.

Metsola has told hesitant MEPs that, if she is elected, she will represent the "majority voice" on abortion of the parliament.

Three other candidates from smaller groups have also put their name in the race.

Swedish MEP Alice Bah Kuhnke, representing the Greens, Polish MEP Kosma Złotowski from the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), and Spanish MEP Sira Rego, from the far-left are all eying the top spot.

The liberal Renew Europe, and the Socialist & Democrats (S&D) are in negotiations with the EPP to back Metsola.

The S&D have suggested they want to clinch the parliament's powerful top administrative position, the secretary-general, which has been held by the German centre-right Klaus Welle for over a decade.

The vote will take place online, which a first for choosing the president of the house. Whoever gets an absolute majority will win. If no winner is chosen by the third round, the two top candidates will go head-to-head.

Down to business

On Wednesday (19 January), MEPs will debate the new rules for online services, the Digital Services Act (DSA) in the plenary, and the vote will take place on Thursday (20 January).

On Wednesday, Macron will present the priorities of the French presidency and debate them with MEPs.

The parliament on the same day will also confirm a new law giving new powers to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to better prepare Europe for future health crises.

The plenary will debate and vote on Thursday (20 January) on a report on the rules for the protection of animals during transportation.

In the council, on Monday, eurozone finance ministers will discuss the euro area fiscal framework and the reform of the economic governance.

The next day EU finance ministers will talks about the proposed global minimum tax for multinational companies, and progress of the Covid-19 recovery fund's rollout.

On Thursday, an informal meeting of environment ministers will be held on the green deal, with commission vice-president Frans Timmermans, energy commissioner Kadri Simson and environment commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius.

Tributes for EU Parliament's Sassoli after sudden death

The unexpected death of David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, on Tuesday shocked the EU institutions, whose leaders spoke of a "passionate European, a sincere democrat and a good man".

EU tables hate-crime rules to protect women

The initiative is particularly aimed at protecting women and the LGBTIQ community as EU member states are already required to criminalise crimes committed with a racist or xenophobic motivation.

Opinion

The EP presidency: why support the right?

This election is marked by the untimely passing of David Sassoli, who steered the parliament through an extremely complex and challenging period. He showed that it was possible to reach agreements through much-needed dialogue, and away from dogmas.

EU-China summit and migration files in focus This WEEK

This week, EU and Chinese leaders will meet in Beijing to discuss how to cooperate in the international area despite their rivalry. Meanwhile, a marathon trilogue on the five migration files takes place on Thursday.

UN climate talks and passengers' right in focus This WEEK

The two-week UN climate talks (#COP28) will kick off on Thursday. Earlier this week, the EU Commission will unveil a proposal to improve passengers' rights and Nato foreign affairs ministers will meet in Brussels.

Opinion

Why EU's €18m for Israel undermines peace

The optics of a nine-fold increase of annual funding for Israel, in the middle of its devastating military campaign in Gaza, stands in contrast with the attempted suspension, delaying and constraining of EU development aid for the Palestinians.

Latest News

  1. EU-China summit and migration files in focus This WEEK
  2. COP28 debates climate finance amid inflated accounting 'mess'
  3. Why EU's €18m for Israel undermines peace
  4. Israel's EU ambassador: 'No clean way to do this operation'
  5. Brussels denies having no 'concern' on Spain's amnesty law
  6. Dubai's COP28 — a view from the ground
  7. Germany moves to criminalise NGO search-and-rescue missions
  8. Israel recalls ambassador to Spain in new diplomatic spat

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us