The Week ahead

On Wednesday during the mini-plenary, MEPs will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in the presence of Wolfgang Schäuble, President of the German Bundestag. "The atmosphere was electrifying! We felt that history was happening. And the most beautiful thing was to see people’s eyes shining. The happiness of experiencing freedom was wonderful to observe! We all felt that a new era was beginning - freedom, democracy and the rule of law had won!", Manfred Weber recalled.

On Thursday next week, MEPs will hold hearings for the new three Commissioners-designate to assess if they have the relevant competences and if they are suitable for the job. The EPP Group will fulfil its role responsibly and seriously, without prejudging the outcome. All candidates will be given a fair chance, but nominees must convince us that they are qualified for the job and that their integrity is beyond reproach.

On the initiative of the EPP Group, the Plenary will discuss Turkey’s illegal activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, particularly the drilling operations west of Cyprus and the launch of a second drilling operation northeast of Cyprus within Cypriot territorial water, on Wednesday. The EPP Group stands firmly behind the Republic of Cyprus and calls on Ankara to end these illegal activities in the exclusive economic zone of Cyprus.

The increased arrivals on the Greek islands since the summer have again underlined the need for action, most obviously in terms of improving reception conditions on the Greek islands, and substantially increasing the pace of returns from Greece under the EU-Turkey Statement. The EPP Group stresses the need to show solidarity not only with Greece and its people but also with refugees in need of humanitarian aid. The Plenary debate on the situation in the hotspots on the Greek islands takes place next Thursday.

Next Friday, the European Parliament and the Council will hold the last conciliation meeting where they will attempt to bridge their differences regarding next year’s EU budget. The current three-week conciliation process has witnessed little to no progress in the negotiations, where the Council aims at a budget of €166.8 billion in commitments and €153.1 billion in payments whereas the European Parliament aims at €171.0 billion in commitments and €159.1 billion in payments. If no deal is reached by the end of the conciliation period, the European Commission has to present a new draft budget for 2020.

MEPs will vote on Thursday on a Resolution warning against potential threats that may result from the amendment to the Polish criminal code, proposed by the organisation 'Stop Pedophilia', which de facto seeks to criminalise the dissemination of sex education to minors and whose scope threatens all persons and in particular sex educators, including teachers, healthcare providers, authors, publishers, civil society organisations, journalists and parents or legal guardians, with up to 3 years in prison for teaching about human sexuality, health and intimate life. The EPP Group is deeply concerned by the extremely vague and disproportionate provisions in the proposed bill.

Monday @ 11.00 Briefing on the parliamentary agenda