European Parliament President Roberta Metsola opened the June 15-19 plenary session in Strasbourg by announcing a series of procedural changes that will be tested during the sitting to improve the conduct of plenary debates.
Metsola told MEPs that, as agreed by the Conference of Presidents on May 21, several innovative measures would be trialled with the aim of bringing greater flexibility, enhanced accessibility to debates and better organisation of parliamentary work.
Among the measures being tested are fixed start and end times for each debate to improve predictability for Members and the public, and earlier finishing times for sittings. Under the trial, sittings will end at 8.30 p.m. on Mondays, 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 4 p.m. on Thursdays to allow Members to attend other parliamentary meetings.
The new arrangements also provide opportunities for the European Commission to respond to Members during debates, an increase in “blue-card” interventions allowing spontaneous questions or reactions, and the possibility for MEPs to make short personal statements to rebut remarks made about them.
In addition, a scrutiny session with the Commission will be held on Tuesdays at 3 p.m., while key debates will continue to use a format without a pre-determined order of speakers.
Metsola also announced that a final draft agenda showing the start and end time of every debate will, from now on, be published on the Friday before each plenary session.
The President also announced changes to the agenda for Tuesday’s sitting.
The title of a Commission statement on digital sovereignty has been amended to “Achieving digital sovereignty and resilience for Europe, in light of recent developments affecting access to advanced AI technologies”.
The title of a statement by the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative on the Middle East has also been changed to “The role of the EU in efforts for peace and stability throughout the Middle East after the announced deal between the US and Iran”.
Metsola further announced requests from the Parliament’s Committees on the Environment and Food Safety and on Agriculture and Rural Development to fast-track two legislative files under Rule 170(6). The files concern exports of mixed municipal waste for recovery to Switzerland and temporary support and advance payments related to increased fertiliser prices due to the Middle East crisis. Votes on both requests are scheduled for the following day.
The President also informed Parliament that the authorities of Poland, Spain and Italy had requested the waiver of the parliamentary immunity of Daniel Obajtek, Alvise Pérez and Matteo Ricci respectively. The requests have been referred to the Legal Affairs Committee.
Metsola added that Poland had withdrawn its request to waive the parliamentary immunity of Borys Budka and that the file had therefore been closed.
