Official visit to Ireland. European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering will meet Prime Minster Bertie Ahern and President Mary McAleese during an official visit to Ireland (Monday-Wednesday).
Official visit to Qatar. The President will then make an official visit to Qatar at the end of the week, where, in addition to a series of bilateral meetings, he will speak at the 8th Doha Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade (Saturday-Sunday).
Plenary session. Parliament holds a plenary session in Brussels (Wednesday and Thursday). Highlights include:
- vote to approve Commissioner Vassiliou;
- oral question on combating cancer;
- progress reports on the accession of Croatia and FYROM;
- resolution on Tibet.
Juncker. On Monday the Eurogroup President will address the Economic Affairs Committee, which is also holding a hearing on hedge funds (Tuesday).
CFSP. Javier Solana, High Representative for the CFSP, will discuss current external relations issues with the Foreign Affairs Committee (Tuesday).
Waste. The Environment Committee will vote on a draft second-reading recommendation updating the framework directive on waste. Some amendments rejected by Council will be re-tabled, on topics such as recycling and hazardous waste (Tuesday).
Terrorism. A round table with national parliaments will tackle the issue of "provocation to commit terrorist offences", with the European Commission, the EU Counter-terrorism co-ordinator and the Council of Europe (Monday).
Immigration. Civil Liberties Committee MEPs travel to Denmark, for the next in a series of visits to immigrant detention centres across Europe (Thursday).
Nepal. An EP delegation will travel to Nepal, to observe its legislative elections (Monday-Saturday).
Missing child hotline. A meeting to consider prospects for a Europe-wide alert system for missing or abducted children will hear from Gerry and Kate McCann, whose daughter Madeleine has been missing since May 2007 (Thursday).
