EP Plenary session - Debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law

EP Plenary session - Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)

EP Plenary session - Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine: standing with Ukraine and upholding justice

SEDE - Exchange of views with Radmila Shekerinska, NATO Deputy Secretary General, on deterrence and defence, defence spending and defence industry.

EP Plenary session - Frozen Russian assets

EP Plenary session - White paper on the future of European defence

Roberta METSOLA, EP President and MEP meet with Ruslan STEFANCHUK, Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine

10th year of detention for Uyghur human rights activist Professor Ilham Tohti

EP - European Union Institute High-level conference ' Enlarging and Deepening the Union: What’s at stake for the EU and EU citizens in the next parliamentary term? '

Belarus postcards to political prisoners

Petras AUSTREVICIUS in the EP in Strasbourg

Planting of a Kalyna guelder-rose

DROI D-AF joint meeting - Exchange of views on the deterioration of women’s rights and safety in Afghanistan under Taliban rule

SEDE Committee - Public Hearing: the European defence industry and the urgent need to replenish defence stockpiles within the EU

MEPs and the High Representative discuss the EU's common foreign, defence, and security policy objectives for 2025. MEPs demand more investment in defence, including more military and political support for Ukraine. They are also aiming for greater EU presence in the Middle East, closer ties with like-minded partners, and support for EU candidate countries. The two related reports – Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) – are put to a plenary vote on Wednesday. Second part of MEPs debate.

Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP): MEPs debate (part 2)

MEPs and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas discuss the need to hold Russia accountable for its war crimes in Ukraine. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Russian military and authorities have been accused of committing a multitude of war crimes in the occupied Ukrainian territories. There have been deliberate attacks against civilian targets, such as hospitals, medical facilities, and Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, and indiscriminate attacks on densely populated areas. Other atrocities include the abduction, torture and murder of civilians, forced deportations, including that of children, and the killing and torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war. Following a statement by Ms Kallas, one speaker from each of Parliament’s political groups will take the floor.

Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine: one round of political group speakers

MEPs call on the EU to use frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine and accelerate the phase-out of Moscow’s energy. During the first debate with representatives of the Polish Council Presidency and the European Commission MEPs are set to renew their calls to move from freezing Russian assets to seizing them and using them to support and rebuild war-torn Ukraine. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU, the U.S. and its allies froze over 300 billion U.S. dollars in Russian sovereign assets, with roughly 200 billion dollars held in the Belgium-based securities depository Euroclear. In July 2024, the EU made available the first €1.5 billion transfer of interest generated from immobilised Russian assets to support Kyiv, which was channelled through the European Peace Facility and to the Ukraine Facility to support Ukraine's military and reconstruction efforts.

Russian frozen assets: MEPs debate (part 1)

MEPs and representatives of the Polish Council Presidency and the European Commission discuss the upcoming white paper on the future of European defence, set to be unveiled by the Commission and the European External Action Service in mid-March 2025. The white paper addresses defence sector capability issues, industrial competitiveness and investment needs. It should also frame the overall approach to EU defence integration, and outline how best the EU can respond to security threats. MEPs debate (part 2).

White paper on the future of European defence: MEPs debate (part 2)

From 10 March to 13 March, the third edition of the project #EPStandsBYyou will take place in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. It is an inter-party initiative of Members of the European Parliament. The initiative is about bringing attention to the human rights situation in Belarus, in particular the situation of political prisoners that are being kept by Lukashenka’s regime unlawfully in prisons, under constant terror and in unhuman conditions. MEPs are invited to sign and send an individual postcard to one of Belarus’ 1,300 political prisoners, offering them messages of hope and support from the EU.

#EPStandsByYou : International day of solidarity with Belarus

The European Parliament debates the need for targeted support for EU regions bordering Russia with representatives of the Polish Council Presidency and the European Commission. MEPs bring up Russian efforts to damage infrastructure in the Baltic Sea, and the need to detect and counter these acts of sabotage.

Need for targeted support to EU regions bordering Russia, Belarus and Ukraine: MEPs debate

MEPs assess the impact of three years of Russia’s war against Ukraine and its repression of dissent following Alexei Navalny’s murder. In a debate with representatives of the European Commission, MEPs mark three years since Moscow launched its brutal military invasion of Ukraine. In a resolution adopted in January 2025, Parliament reiterated its firm support for Kyiv, called on Russia to immediately terminate all military activities, and withdraw from Ukraine. MEPs also called on the EU to expand its sanctions against Russian media outlets conducting disinformation and information manipulation campaigns justifying the Kremlin’s war of aggression.

AUŠTREVIČIUS, Petras (Renew, LT)

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