June plenary session opening: Metsola presents procedural reforms 

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President Metsola opened the 15-19 June plenary session in Strasbourg by announcing several changes to plenary procedural rules.

Roberta Metsola opened the session by reminding MEPs that, as agreed by the Conference of Presidents on 21 May, certain innovative measures would be put to the test during this session to improve plenary proceedings. The objective was to bring greater flexibility, enhanced accessibility to debates and better organisation of MEPs’ work.

President Metsola mentioned the following key measures to be tested during the June part-session:

• a clear start and end time for each debate to ensure predictability for both Members and citizens;
• sittings to end on Monday at 20.30, and on Tuesday and Wednesday at 19.00, and on Thursday at 16.00, to allow Members to attend other parliamentary meetings;
•opportunities for the Commission to intervene during debates to reply to Members’ interventions;
• more “blue-card” opportunities (to spontaneously question or react to statements during debates);
• the possibility for MEPs to make short personal statements immediately to rebut remarks made about them;
• a scrutiny session with the Commission on Tuesday at 15.00; and
• continuation of the new special format used for key debates (with no pre-determined order of speakers).

The president mentioned that a final draft agenda indicating the start and end time for each debate would from now on be made available on the Friday before each session.

Changes to the agenda

Tuesday

The title of the Commission statement on “Achieving digital sovereignty and resilience for Europe” is changed to “Achieving digital sovereignty and resilience for Europe, in light of recent developments affecting access to advanced AI technologies”.

The title of the VPC/HR statement on “The urgent need for the de-escalation of military confrontations in the Middle East” is changed to “The role of the EU in efforts for peace and stability throughout the Middle East after the announced deal between the US and Iran”.

Requests for urgent procedure

The President announced requests from the Committees on the Environment and Food Safety and on Agriculture and Rural Development to fast track the following files under Rule 170(6):

Shipments of waste: export of mixed municipal waste for recovery to Switzerland; and

Temporary support and payment of advances regarding the increased fertiliser prices due to the Middle East crisis.

The votes will take place tomorrow.

Parliamentary immunity

The authorities of Poland, Spain and Italy have asked for the parliamentary immunity of Daniel Obajtek (ECR, PL), Alvise Pérez (N/A, ES) and Matteo Ricci (S&D, IT) respectively to be waived.

These requests have been referred to the Legal Affairs Committee.

As Poland has now withdrawn its request to waive the immunity of Borys Budka (EPP, PL), this file has been closed.

Outgoing MEPs

Christine Schneider (DE, EPP) as of 15 June

Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA, NL) as of 21 June

Incoming MEPs

Csaba Bogdán replacing Péter Magyar (HU, EPP) as of 22 May 2026

Viktor Weisz replacing Zoltán Tarr (HU, EPP) as of 22 May 2026.