At the opening of this week's Strasbourg plenary session, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek expressed sorrow for the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey, Chile and Haiti as well as the storms in France. He also congratulated Lithuania (11 March) and Estonia later on the 20th anniversaries of their independence and, referring to the 51st anniversary of the Tibetan uprising, called on China to engage in dialogue with the people of Tibet.

In addition, Mr Buzek informed the House that he had fined MEP Nigel Farage (EFD, UK) 10 days of his per diem parliamentary allowances for comments made to European Council President Van Rompuy at the last plenary session.  Lastly, the President announced that, following recent thefts near the EP's Brussels buildings, the creation of a security zone around the buildings of all the EU institutions in Brussels was being discussed with the Belgian authorities.

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