Union européenne

Written by Clare Ferguson

The following debate will see Commission and Council statements on the situation in Iran following the US-Israel military operation, including the need to support the Iranian people. On Tuesday lunchtime, Parliament will celebrate International Women’s Day, with the focus this year on gender stereotypes, disinformation and violence, all of which weaken women’s participation in democracy. Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of Armenia, is expected to address Parliament in a formal sitting on Wednesday.

The 2027 annual EU budget will be the last one under the current multiannual financial framework (MFF), and Parliament’s Committee on Budgets (BUDG) is calling for a strong focus on delivery for people, the economy, the planet and providing investments for competitiveness. On Tuesday, Members are set to debate the committee’s report, which emphasises the EU budget’s role in strengthening the bloc’s cohesion in the face of a difficult geopolitical landscape. BUDG also calls to uphold a strong external policy and underlines the agreement between EU institutions that expenditure covering the financing costs of Next Generation EU must not reduce funding for EU programmes. The vote on the guidelines for the 2027 EU budget will set Parliament’s position for the forthcoming interinstitutional negotiations.

On Tuesday, Members are due to debate a Foreign Affairs (AFET) Committee report on the European Union’s enlargement strategy. To date, merit-based EU enlargement has had a largely positive effect, bringing peace and prosperity to countries joining the bloc. With nine candidate countries and one potential candidate awaiting EU membership, Parliament’s own-initiative report on EU enlargement strategy underlines its support for the process and for reform of the current procedure for admitting new members. The report also emphasises enlargement’s strategic potential to strengthen the wider region in the face of geopolitical uncertainty. Finally, the report underlines the need for a strong merit-based process where alignment with the EU’s core values is an unconditional principle of membership.

Under the Treaties, Parliament’s role is to scrutinise proposed EU legislation – and also international agreements – on behalf of European citizens. The revised framework agreement on relations between Parliament and the European Commission aims at strengthening Parliament’s prerogatives as regards the Commission’s duties to inform Parliament of its plans. On Monday, Members will discuss a report prepared by the Constitutional Affairs (AFCO) Committee. The report emphasises that the new framework agreement retains the institutional balance intended in the Treaties, while also creating a clearer and more accountable relationship between the institutions, working in EU citizens’ interests.

Ahead of the 2026 World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial Conference, taking place in Cameroon at the end of the month, Members are due to debate a resolution setting out Parliament’s position on the multilateral negotiations, on Wednesday afternoon. Here again, global instability and the retreat from global trade rules mean the need to reform the WTO is urgent, not least to replace the long-broken dispute settlement system, promote a global level playing field and make the rules more flexible. Parliament’s Committee on International Trade (INTA) has tabled a motion for a resolution underscoring Parliament’s support for the multilateral trading system and emphasising the need for greater flexibility. A delegation from the INTA committee is due to attend the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO ahead of the 14th WTO Ministerial Conference.

Closer to home, many citizens are personally concerned about the EU’s housing crisis. While housing policy remains a national competence, Parliament’s Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the EU (HOUS) has tabled a report recommending action to improve housing affordability. The committee proposes to help tackle the issue through EU rules on short-term rentals, aiming to strike a balance between promoting urban local communities and tourism income. The HOUS committee also proposes action to improve quality in the construction and energy-efficiency sectors and calls on EU governments to support people trying to get into the housing market through tax breaks. Members are due to debate the recommendations on solutions for affordable housing on Tuesday morning.

A shortage of qualified workers in various sectors continues to be an issue in many EU countries. While the EU has already provided a platform to match EU jobseekers with employers, the European Commission is proposing to introduce legislation to create an EU talent pool which would be open to non-EU citizens. Faced with international competition for talent, the proposal would allow EU countries to attract workers, while guarding against creating an alternative pathway to legal migration. Parliament is keen to ensure that the system is fair, protects against discrimination and is rolled out in all EU countries. On Tuesday, Members are set to vote on a text agreed in interinstitutional negotiations on the proposal to establish an EU talent pool.

When using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate text, images or code, many people are unaware of the legal implications of the AI tool’s use of copyrighted material as training data. This can mean that content creators, artists and other rights-holders are neither acknowledged nor paid for their input. On Tuesday, Members are therefore due to vote on an own-initiative report from the Legal Affairs Committee calling for clarification of the legal situation as regards copyright and generative AI.

The EU rules on package travel date back to 2015 and need to be updated to improve passenger protection. Members are therefore due to consider amendments to the Package Travel Directive, following an agreement reached between the co-legislators in December 2025. Parliament’s negotiators succeeded in improving the complaints procedure and consumer information provided on what is included in the ‘package’ they purchase. Parliament is scheduled to vote to conclude its first reading on the legislation to amend the Package Travel Directive on Wednesday.

Quick links to all our publications for this plenary session:

European Parliament Plenary Session March 2026 – agenda

• Parliament’s guidelines for the 2027 EU budget: Section III – European Commission
• Parliament’s own-initiative report on EU enlargement strategy
• New framework agreement on relations between Parliament and Commission
• Towards the 2026 WTO Ministerial Conference
• Addressing the housing crisis in the EU
• Proposal for a regulation establishing an EU talent pool
• Copyright and generative artificial intelligence – Opportunities and challenges
• Package travel: Improved protection for travellers

Plenary session and committee meetings, Strasbourg

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

« Le bloc n'a pas de réponse mature en matière de défense », a déclaré Christophe Gomart à Euractiv.

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Rapporteur Axel Voss will brief journalists on Tuesday 10 March at 15.00 on Parliament’s proposals to protect EU creative production in the age of artificial intelligence.
Committee on Legal Affairs

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Cette nouvelle pourrait expliquer la réticence de Kiev à autoriser les inspections de l'oléoduc Druzhba.

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Les cosmétiques ont fait l'objet de près de 4 700 alertes de sécurité des produits dans l'UE en 2025.

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Le contrôleur européen de la protection des données souligne la nécessité de fixer des limites claires qui doivent être respectées en matière de flux de données spécifiques aux frontières.

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Le prix des barres chocolatées a beau avoir explosé, les producteurs de cacao d'Afrique de l'Ouest sont confrontés à la ruine économique.

Selon Europol, le risque de cyberattaques visant les infrastructures et les entreprises occidentales pourrait encore augmenter si le conflit persiste.

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Également dans l'édition de vendredi : avantages accordés aux députés européens, retour des migrants, forces kurdes, autorité européenne de protection des données.

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Female fighters recall how the conflict in the northern Tigray destroyed their lives, as fears grow that fighting could resume.

On Thursday, Parliament and Council negotiators agreed on new provisions to strengthen the contractual position of farmers to help stabilise their income.
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Spokespersons for Parliament and for the political groups will hold a briefing on the 9 - 12 March plenary session, on Friday at 11.00 in Parliament’s Anna Politkovskaya press room.

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Roblox pourrait être la première plateforme de jeux vidéo à être désignée dans le cadre de la loi sur les services numériques de l'Union européenne.

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Sánchez durcit le ton et renforce l'opposition de l'Espagne à la guerre contre l'Iran.

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Chypre accueille deux bases militaires britanniques qui ont déjà été la cible d'opérations liées à l'Iran et au Hezbollah.

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Cette décision a été vivement critiquée par le puissant Parti populaire européen (PPE), de centre-droit.

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Countries wishing to join the European Union (EU) must meet a set of legal, economic and political requirements. The progress that a candidate country makes to implement EU law and fulfil these requirements is monitored during the ‘accession negotiation’ process. The European Parliament’s approval is needed before a country can join the EU.

Application and accession requirements

Any European country can apply for EU membership if it respects and undertakes to promote the values common to all EU countries, as defined in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU).

Candidate countries must meet specific political and economic criteria, known as the Copenhagen criteria. These include:

• stable institutions that guarantee democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and the protection of minorities;
• a functioning market economy and the ability to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the EU;
• the ability to take on the obligations that come with EU membership and a commitment to the aims of the political, economic and monetary union.

Accession process

Application stage: A country that wishes to join the EU sends its application to the Council of the European Union, which asks the European Commission to submit an opinion.

Candidate status: If the Commission’s opinion is favourable, the Council may decide to grant the country candidate status. The Council must agree this unanimously.

Negotiations: The Commission carries out a detailed examination of 35 different policy fields (negotiating chapters), together with the candidate country, and either recommends opening negotiations immediately or asks for certain conditions to be met first. The Council then decides (by unanimity) to open negotiations, which take place between the governments of EU countries and the candidate country. Candidate countries may need to undergo a rigorous reform process, with a focus on the functioning of democratic institutions, judicial independence, media pluralism and the fight against corruption and organised crime.

Accession treaty: Once negotiations have been closed, an accession treaty containing the conditions and deadlines of membership is formally drawn up. The treaty is subsequently submitted to the Commission, the Parliament and the Council for approval. Each EU country and the candidate country must ratify (sign)  the accession treaty according to their own procedures.

European Parliament’s role

Parliament monitors the accession process throughout the negotiations with candidate countries. Specifically, the Committee on Foreign Affairs is responsible for coordinating the work on enlargement. The committee regularly exchanges views with the Commissioner responsible for enlargement negotiations, government representatives, experts and civil society actors.

Parliament gives its opinion on the annual Commission reports on individual candidate countries. It adopts resolutions on the accession process and comments on the progress of countries’ reforms.

Parliament also maintains bilateral relations with the parliaments of candidate and potential candidate countries through joint parliamentary committees and inter‑parliamentary meetings which take place once or twice per year.

Parliament’s budgetary powers give it direct influence over the financial aspects of accession, such as the EU funds allocated to support reforms in candidate countries (Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance).

Finally, Parliament must give its consent, by an absolute majority vote of more than half of all Members, before a country can join the EU (Article 49 TEU).

EU enlargement developments

As of early 2026, there are nine candidate countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.

Albania and Montenegro have made significant progress on the EU accession path by closing certain negotiating chapters and promoting an anti‑corruption and reform agenda.

In the case of North Macedonia, the opening of the first negotiating chapter depends on constitutional reform, progress on the anti‑corruption agenda and improved relations with neighbouring Bulgaria and Greece.

Ukraine and Moldova were granted candidate status in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and Moldova successfully completed the examination of their alignment with EU law in 2025. Once all EU countries agree, the negotiating chapters can be opened.

As regards Serbia, political turmoil and reform stagnation have slowed down the negotiations on matters that remained unresolved.

Accession negotiations with Turkey have been on hold since 2018, as the Turkish government has failed to address backsliding on democracy and the rule of law. In May 2025, Parliament said that Turkey’s accession process could not be re-started under the current circumstances as the accession process requires the fundamental values of the Union to be fully respected.

Political instability and institutional challenges inBosnia and Herzegovina have halted the opening of formal negotiations.

In 2024, the EU found that Georgia was backsliding on the rule of law and fundamental rights and therefore conditions to open negotiations had not been met.

Kosovo applied to join the EU in December 2022 but has not been granted candidate status. In May 2025, Parliament called on the five EU countries [CJ1] (Greece, Spain, Cyprus, Romania and Slovakia) that have not yet recognised Kosovo to do so, so that Kosovo can progress its accession process.

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La Commission souhaite promouvoir les aliments biologiques et locaux dans les marchés publics

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