Verbatim report of proceedings

Monday, 12 September 2011 - Strasbourg

18. Order of business

  President. – The final draft agenda as drawn up pursuant to Rule 137 of the Rules of Procedure by the Conference of Presidents at its meeting of Wednesday 7 September 2011 has been distributed. The following changes have been proposed:

Thursday

I have received a request from the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) for the vote on the motions for resolutions on the situation in Libya to be brought forward from the second part-session in September to the current part-session. This means moving the vote from the next part-session to this one. As you know, the debate will be held on Wednesday. I would like to ask someone from the PPE Group to tell us more about this request.

  Cristian Dan Preda, on behalf of the PPE Group. – (RO) Mr President, we wish to put forward a very simple argument. It is, of course, important for us to have a debate on this matter, and we will do so on Wednesday afternoon. I also wish to mention on this point that it is important for us to debate this matter separately from the situation in Syria.

On the other hand, we believe that we need not just to debate this matter but also have a vote on it. It is not right for us to postpone a vote which will demonstrate consensus in our Parliament. If anything, we believe that we need to vote urgently on this matter. It is a good idea for us to vote before Gaddafi is captured or flees, and no one can guarantee that this will not happen before the next session. In a nutshell, the vote is just as important as the debate.

  President. – I would first like to ask a Member to support the request. Who would like to support the request?

  Niccolò Rinaldi, on behalf of the ALDE Group. – (IT) Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe is in favour of this request; many things have happened in the Mediterranean this year, and I think that the events in Libya over the last few weeks deserve our attention.

We cannot postpone the vote until such time as Colonel Gaddafi is captured, if he is captured – because this could happen soon, or it could take a long time. It is clear that the Libyan situation is an ongoing crisis. Europe has not always spoken with one voice in recent months on Libya; at times it has even been weak, and I believe that, with a vote, with an official pronouncement from Parliament, we can make a decisive contribution.

  Rebecca Harms, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group. – (DE) Mr President, we have discussed the question of a sensible approach in the Conference of Presidents. I believe we have made the right decision, namely that the debate should be held this week, but that the relevant resolution should build on the information gathered by our own delegation which is travelling to Libya. I do not believe it is useful always to formulate resolutions immediately before a delegation travels to the country in question. In my opinion we should stick to the proposal from the Conference of Presidents and reject the motion by the Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats).

(Parliament agreed to the request)

(The order of business was thus established with the proposed changes)