By K. Simopoulou
As the previous crisis started to get forgotten under the pressure of drafting the committee reports, the members of the AFET Committee were visited by the Commissioner of foreign affairs. The Commissioner made clear that the EU cannot control the foreign policy of the countries outside the Union, as well as pointed out the significance of human rights protection and refused to make any comments about NATO. He also urged the MEPs not to use big words and to be specific about their proposals.
Following that and the official announcement that Ms. Sklirou is indeed innocent(a former EPP member was the actual spy), the participants started working hard to draft the committe report. Another unmoderared caucus took place, during which the MEPs seemed to cooperate effectively to reach a conclusion on their proposals.
The time passed and it was time for the participants to elect the rapporteur of their committee report. Ms. Anagnostopoulou from the ECR and EPP alliance gathered 24 votes against Mr. Skourtis from the S&D and GUE alliance and as a result she will be the rapporteur of the AFET Committee’s Report.
Though the report was ready, according to the Secretariat, it was not satisfying enough. The MEPs had to discuss once again, in order to add more clauses in their report.
Finally, after the some amendments, the suggestions were finalized.
The AFET Committee promotes the modernization of the Eastern Partnership, the strengthening of the EU-Russia relations and the protection of democracy and stability. All the MEPs underlined the fact that despite their initial differences, they managed to cooperate and reach to a common point.
It is really encouraging to see that such different opinions led to a really fruitful debate and a unanimous outcome.
What a better way to end a session!
