Strasbourg plenary session on 17-20 April

Opening - President Schulz welcomes Croatian observer MEPs

President Martin Schulz welcomed twelve Croatian observer MEPs during the opening of the April plenary session

President Schulz opened the session by welcoming twelve Croatian observer MEPs. Taking part in group and committee meetings would prepare them to represent their citizens fully when Croatia joins the EU, hopefully on 1 July 2013, he said, adding that Croatia's desire to join shows that "despite the economic crisis, the EU is still pulling together".

Mr Schulz noted that the European Parliament had already ratified Croatia's EU Accession Treaty, and said that its accession would be an historic day for Croatia, the EU and the whole of the Western Balkans.

Name	National party	Political group
Ms ANTIČEVIĆ MARINOVIĆ Ingrid	SDP	S&D
Ms BORZAN Biljana	SDP	S&D
Mr BOŽINOVIĆ Davor	HDZ	EPP
Mr GRUBIŠIĆ Boro	HDSSB	NI
Ms JERKOVIĆ Romana	SDP	S&D
Mr MATUŠIĆ Frano	HDZ	EPP
Mr PICULA Tonino	SDP	S&D
Mr PLENKOVIĆ Andrej	HDZ	EPP
Mr PUPOVAC Milorad	SDSS	S&D
Mr RADOŠ Jozo	HNS	ALDE
Ms VRBAT Tanja	SDP	S&D
Mr VULJANIĆ Nikola	HL	NI

Agenda changes

A motion for a resolution under Rule 90(6) on a "consultation of the Court of Justice" (B7-200/2012) with regard to the EU-US Passenger Name Record agreement will be put to the vote before the vote on the In't Veld report on this subject.

Further to Argentina's announcement that it intends to nationalise the YPF oil firm, in which the Spanish firm Repsol holds a majority stake, a debate with Council and Commission on the legal security of European investments outside the EU will be added on Wednesday afternoon, after the Council and Commission statements on ways to combat tax fraud and tax evasion. A resolution on European investments outside the EU will be put to a vote on Friday.