Sakharov Prize and Polish election This WEEK

However, Tusk's Civic Platform might capitalise on a recent corruption scandal involving allegations of the sale of thousands of visas in exchange for bribes.

The former European Council president has also promised to support same-sex marriage, supported by a growing majority of Poles, and to introduce the option to terminate a pregnancy in the first trimester, if he wins.

Meanwhile, EU ministers responsible for employment and social policy will meet in Luxembourg on Monday (9 October) to discuss the impact of new technologies on labour, mental health and gender violence laws.

And MEPs will reconvene their task at the committee level ahead of the second October plenary session.

Also on Monday, MEPs in the home affairs committee will discuss the 2023 commission's annual report on the rule of law with EU justice commissioner Didier Reynders on the same day.

They are also expected to hold a debate with the Spanish minister of home affairs Fernando Grande-Marlaska, whose country currently holds the EU Council presidency, and with the Dutch minister for migration Eric van der Burg.

Sakharov Prize

MEPs in various committees will on Thursday (12 Ocotber) vote on the shortlist of three candidates for this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the special prize the parliament gives out each year to a person or an organisation.

The nominees this year include Jina Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian-Kurdish woman who was killed for ignoring Iran's veiling laws, Afghan education activists, the pro-European people of Georgia and Nino Lomjaria, former public defender of Georgia, Vanessa Nakate, Uganda's climate activist, women fighting for free, safe and legal abortion, and business magnate Elon Musk.

The winner is expected to be announced later this month.

Also on Thursday, the parliament's environment committee will vote on new emission rules for cars and trucks (so-called Euro 7 standards) — after EU member states agreed on a watered-down version of the text in September.

MEPs from the constitutional affairs committee will discuss the same day the European Parliament's proposal to change the treaties — as citizens demanded during the Conference on the Future of Europe.

EU budget

On Monday (9 October), MEPs in the budget committee will adopt their position on the EU budget for 2024. Once adopted, it will be voted in plenary to enter into inter-institutional negotiations with EU countries.

On the same day, the budget committee is also expected to adopt a report on the revision of the system of own resources of the EU, which includes revenues generated from the extended Emissions Trade Scheme (EU ETS) and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM).

New resources are expected to help repay the debt of NextGenerationEU, avoiding controversial increases from member states' contributions or cuts to key EU programmes.

Also on Monday, MEPs in the committee on industry and the committee on budgets will vote on the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) proposal, previously known as the EU Sovereignty Fund, which includes financial support for key technologies.

In the revision of the EU budget, the commission proposed to allocate an additional €10bn for the platform — while MEPs have called for an additional €3bn on top of that commission proposal.

However, the parliament's budgetary aspirations are likely to be opposed by EU member states, who have shown an appetite only to increase funding of the EU budget to keep supporting Ukraine.

Meanwhile, MEPs in the budget committee will also have an exchange of views with Olaf's director-general Ville Itälä on the agency's 2022 annual report on Thursday — including Olaf's efforts to protect the EU budget from over €600m of fraud.

Demography toolbox

EU commission vice-president Věra Jourová will participate in the UN Internet Governance Forum in Kyoto on Monday — where the impact on society of disinformation, AI and other emerging technologies will be discussed.

For her part, EU commissioner for cohesion and reforms Elisa Ferreira will kick off the 21st edition of the European Week of Regions and Cities, which will run this entire week.

And the commission will present the so-called demography toolbox on Wednesday (11 October), following a request by EU member states and MEPs. The toolbox aims to address demographic trends and challenges facing the EU.

Additionally, a meeting of Nato defence ministers is scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.