Agenda plenary session from 12th-15th January 2015, Strasbourg

Parliament will hold its first debate with newly-elected European Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday. Mr Tusk will present the results of the December 2014 European Council, which backed plans to mobilise €315 billion for growth and jobs. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker is expected to attend the debate.

The Prime Minister of Latvia, Laimdota Straujuma, will debate the incoming Latvian EU presidency’s priorities with MEPs at 9.00 on Wednesday morning. The House will review the outgoing presidency with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of Italy and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday morning.

The liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration and extermination camp in January 1945 will be commemorated in a statement by President Martin Schulz on Tuesday morning.

MEPs will state their views on the European Commission’s 2015 work programme in a resolution to be voted on Thursday.

New legislation to allow EU member states to restrict or ban the cultivation of crops containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on their own territory, even if this is allowed at EU level, will be put to a vote on Tuesday. The plans, informally agreed by Parliament and Council in December, were originally tabled in 2010 but were then deadlocked for four years due to disagreement between pro and anti-GMO member states.

Parliament votes on Thursday on a resolution on freedom of the press and media in Turkey following the arrests of journalists at the end of last year. In their debate in December, MEPs unanimously condemned the breaches of freedom of expression and said the attacks on the rule of law and fundamental rights must be tackled.

MEPs will debate the recent smuggling of migrants in cargo ships from Turkey to Italy and other incidents in the Mediterranean with Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos on Tuesday afternoon. The European Parliament called on EU member states to take action against human trafficking and smuggling, both into and across the EU, in a resolution voted on 17 December.

Parliament holds its annual debate on the main lines of the EU’s foreign, security and defence policies with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Wednesday afternoon. This is the first strategic review since last year’s political and security upheavals on the Union’s eastern border.