Opening of the Strasbourg session: EP celebrates IDAHO

At the start of this week's Strasbourg session, EP President Jerzy Buzek announced that, as every year, the EU was celebrating 17 May as International Day against Homophobia (IDAHO). This year's Europe Day and the Charlemagne Prizes were among other topics mentioned by Mr Buzek, who also congratulated the new UK and Hungarian governments on taking office. He welcomed a request to send condolences to families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

“This is the sixth time the EU has celebrated International Day against Homophobia”, said Mr Buzek in his opening words, stressing that the EU was opposed to all forms of discrimination, under its Treaty and its Charter on Fundamental Rights.

Last week had seen the 60th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, now celebrated as Europe Day, and Parliament had held its usual Open Days on 8 and 9 May, with over 30,000 citizens visiting its premises in Strasbourg and Brussels.

On Tuesday 11 May, Mr Buzek had awarded the Charlemagne Youth Prize in Aachen. First, second and third places had gone, respectively, to the German, Irish and Bulgarian entrants (see link below for more information).  The main Charlemagne Prize was awarded two days later to Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

On 14 and 15 May in Stockholm, the President had attended the Conference of Speakers of EU Parliaments, where future cooperation and the forthcoming Belgian EU presidency were discussed.

Mr Buzek congratulated the new British and Hungarian governments on taking office and expressed the hope that they would prove stable and decisive.

Lastly, in the wake of the deaths of two Italian soldiers in Afghanistan this morning, the President warmly endorsed requests by Italian and British MEPs for condolences to be sent to their families and those of all other troops who had died while serving under the NATO mission in that country.

Changes to the agenda: vote on working time directive postponed

The House voted to postpone until June the debate and vote on the Bauer report on the working time of lorry drivers.  The request to postpone the vote, on behalf of the EPP group, was approved by 158 votes to 137, with 7 abstentions.

MEPs decided to add to Wednesday's agenda a vote on a proposal to grant the budget discharge to the Council, although the motion for a resolution containing comments on the decision will only be put to the vote in June.

Thursday's urgent debate on the arrest of journalist Ernest Vardanyan in Transnistria will be replaced by one on the situation in Thailand.