President Schulz welcomes Croatian observer MEPs

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.

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.