By Rajnish Singh - 3rd September 2010
The first session of the Strasbourg plenary after the summer holidays will be dominated by the 'state of the union' debate on Tuesday morning.
Commission president José Manuel Barroso will address parliament in what the institution's spokesman said he hoped would give "some political points" and be not just a general overview.
Addressing plenary from the central lectern - normally reserved for visiting heads of state - Barroso will outline what he considers were the future challenges for the EU.
The recent deportations of Roma people by the French government will also be high on the agenda, with French president Nicolas Sarkozy coming under strong criticism for his policy of expatriating Roma people and demolishing informal camps.
The Socialist spokesman criticised the commission's inaction in not standing up for the Roma people, and called for EU executive to put legislation in place to help integrate the Roma people, while the ALDE group said the deportations were not in the spirit of EU.
GUE group described Sarkozy's policy as "xenophobic and racist", and the Greens said it was unacceptable and that the country should do more to uphold European values.
Another debate that will prove to quite heated will be the Elisabeth Jeggle report on animal testing.
It is thought the bigger groups will back the report. ALDE felt it was not ideal, but it did strengthen previous legislation by setting maximum pain levels. However the Greens will be voting against the report because they say it does not include adequate protection for primates and apes.
For the EPP and the ECR groups, Pablo Zalba Bidegain's report on safeguard clauses within the free trade agreement (FTA) with South Korea was very important. The debate will take place on Monday.
The South Korean FTA will have important implications for European car manufactures and will also be the first trade agreement under the Lisbon treaty where the parliament will be allowed to give its consent.
The ECR group will be looking to ensure that protectionism does not start to creep into EU trade policy.
The economy will also be discussed on Wednesday, the day after the European council finance ministers' meeting, with supervision and reform of the financial markets and possible new taxes on the agenda.
The S&D group are calling for a tax on banking and financial transactions, and want the banks to pay part of the bill for the current financial crisis.
The visiting head of state will be Mali's president Amadou Toumani Touré, who will address plenary on Tuesday, followed later on in the day a special joint committee meeting between the foreign affairs committee and the development committee.
MEPs will debate the situation in Pakistan on Tuesday, following the recent visit of humanitarian aid commissioner Kristalina Georgieva to the flood-hit country.
ECR deputy Sajjad Karim, the head of the parliament's friends of Pakistan group, has called on the EU to play a long-term role in helping Pakistan by developing better trade relations.
The commission's 2020 strategy on employment will be also be debated on Tuesday, and the Greens are set to call for more to be done to promote 'green jobs'.
Other issues to be debated include transparency in prices for farmers, food from cloned animals, a debate on the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement , and a report on women in an ageing society.
The Thursday afternoon urgencies concerning human rights will discuss the issue of the death sentenced by Iran of two women, to be stoned to death.
At the end of the week , parliament president JerzyBuzek will be attending the G8 meeting in Canada.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.