European Parliament
Strasbourg

Image source, EBS

Investment Commissioner Jyrki Katainen tells MEPs the EU Commission is working to provide better market surveillance and ensure "better enforcement" of emissions rules.

New measures proposed by national regulators must lead to a reduction in diesel emissions - not just in the testing lab, but also on the road, he says.

This is "the only way" to avoid the need for bans on diesel cars, he adds.

Both the UK and France have announced bans on diesel and petrol cars from 2040.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

Image source, EBS

Ska Keller, a co-leader of the Green/EFA group, says diesel cars are a "health issue" and should be "consistently" retrofitted with newer technologies.

The European Commission should carry out "its own tests", she says - and the sector should be closely monitored.

Image source, AFP

Hello and welcome back to coverage of this plenary sitting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.

The sitting will resume shortly with a debate on the “dieselgate” scandal, which first emerged just under two years ago.

Volkswagen has admitted to fitting vehicles with illegal software which allowed them to cheat emissions tests over a six-year period.

The European Parliament’s own inquiry into the scandal concluded that national and EU regulators had known about problems with emissions testing but failed to intervene.

A tougher EU-wide framework for emissions testing came into effect earlier this month.

European Commission head says the wind is back in Europe's sails to build a stronger union.

That’s the voting session finished. MEPs will now get the chance to make short speeches explaining how they voted.

The sitting will resume at 14.00 BST, with a debate on car emissions testing standards.

MEPs also call on the European Commission to drop plans to relax radioactive contamination checks on EU imports of food products harvested near Japan’s Fukushima power plant.

Radioactivity checks are currently mandatory for food imports from 12 areas in Japan which were exposed to radioactive fallout from the nuclear disaster at the plat in 2011.

A non-binding motion from the food safety committee argues that the proposals contradict EU legal obligations to properly protect human life.

The EU’s food safety commissioner said last month, external that the Commission’s proposals were based on a “detailed analysis” of food safety tests undertaken by the Japanese authorities.

Image source, Reuters

MEPs also give initial backing to a proposal from the EU Commission extending a measure to exempt flights from the Emissions Trading System (ETS).

The ETS scheme works by making emitters buy “allowances” authorising them to emit greenhouse gases, within an overall agreed limit.

Flights to and from the European Economic Area (EEA) were included in the ETS in 2012 but have been temporarily excluded whilst international regulators draw up new emissions rules.

They decide not to put their position to a "first reading" vote at this stage, instead deciding to enter into informal negotiations with national ministers on the details of the proposals.

Image source, Getty Images

MEPs vote to approve almost €1.2bn in EU aid to help repair damage caused by earthquakes in central Italy last year and earlier this year.

Earthquakes hit the Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche and Umbria regions.

The payout is the biggest ever under the EU’s Solidarity Fund since it was set up in 2002.

That’s the debate on this year’s “state of the union” speech finished. MEPs will now move on to today’s voting session.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

From the centre-right EPP group, German Christian democrat MEP Manfred Weber questions whether increasing legal migration is a wise way to get illegal immigration down.

The EU should think of the "millions of Europeans who have no jobs", he adds.

He also comes out against an idea that Mr Juncker said he was "sympathetic" towards - the idea of creating pan-EU MEPs to replace departing British members.

National MEPs, he says, are "already doing a transnational job".

European Parliament
Strasbourg

Now it's the turn of the political group representatives to wind up the debate.

Guy Verhofstadt, who leads the Liberal ALDE group, says Mr Juncker's programme is "ambitious" and commands "broad support" in the European Parliament.

On behalf of the conservative ECR group, Polish Law and Justice MEP Ryszard Antoni Legutko however says the ideas outlined represent the "same old" mantra of "more Europe".

The European Commission is itself guilty of breaking rules, he adds, and calls for a "renovation" of the EU's executive body.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

With the debate among backbench MEPs finished, Jean-Claude Juncker gets a second bite at the cheery with the chance to make a closing speech.

He keeps it brief - telling the Parliament that he hopes to adopt a "joint declaration" with MEPs on legislative priorities for 2018 by the end of this year.

Image source, Reuters

As well as plenty of rhetoric, there were also a number of remarks touching on policy.

During the course of his hour-long speech, Mr Juncker proposed:

• merging the EU Commission and European Council presidencies
• opening trade talks with Australia and New Zealand
• a new EU industrial policy strategy
• a new EU agency to monitor the labour market
• ruling out Turkish EU membership for the "forseeable future"
• a separate line in the EU budget for eurozone countries
• a mechanism to screen foreign investments in strategic areas
• allowing Romania and Bulgaria to join the Schengen area
• a "finance and economy" minister for the eurozone
• "functioning" EU defence co-operation by 2025
• offering "credible" membership prospects to the Western Balkans
• a new EU cyber-security agency

The EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says the EU will always regret Brexit - and the UK soon will, too.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

Polish centre-right MEP Janusz Lewandowski says the UK which is "in the shadow of Brexit", rather than than EU.

The project of the EU's founding fathers "will continue to flourish", he adds.

Spanish Podemos MEP Miguel Urban Crespo, however, says Mr Juncker's plans would create an "anti-democratic machine".

This systems leads to "financial blackmail" used to push a "neoliberal vision" for Europe, he adds.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage says Mr Juncker's speech was "open, honest and worrying", proposing "more Europe in every direction".

He expresses concern at his support for pan-EU lists of MEPs, saying that "genuine parties of opposition" will not be able to compete on a "level-playing field".

The Commission's attitude to the countries of central and eastern Europe, he adds, must remind them of "living under the Soviet communists".

"Thank God we're leaving", he adds.

The Brexit vote "would never, ever have happened" if the EU had given David Cameron more powers to restrict European immigration, he says - and accuses Mr Juncker of learning nothing from the result.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

From the left-wing GUE group, French MEP Patrick Le Hyaric says the EU should focus on boosting wages, including by better application of posted worker rules.

He also calls for a "development pact" with Africa.

Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts, the co-leader of the Green/EFA group, says he hopes the ideas outlined in the speech today "give us a jolt".

He says his group will screen new EU laws for their impact on equality and the environment.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

Guy Verhofstadt, who leads the Liberal ALDE group and is also the Parliament's chief Brexit spokesman, recalls electoral successes for pro-EU parties in the past year.

He takes a pop at former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, sitting opposite, whom he says is the "only one who doesn't get it".

However he adds that the EU should not believe that "the war is over".

He lends his backing to the idea of creating a "European asylum system" to replace the "broken" Dublin regulation on migration, and the creation of pan-EU MEPs for the European Parliament.