European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Budget Commissioner Gunther Oettinger says examination of the 2016 accounts should provide information on "what works and what has gone wrong".

He says the EU has "made progress" in reducing errors in EU spending.

The European Court of Auditors' latest report said the error rate for spending was 3.1% overall, but spending for "half the budget" was under the 2% target.

However he says that there have been problems with the implementation of EU programmes, and the EU budget is not flexible enough to cope with issues such as the migration crisis.

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That’s the debate on last month’s EU leaders’ summit finished. MEPs are now debating whether to sign off spending in 2016 by a number of EU bodies and agencies.

In the jargon, this process is known as “granting discharge”.

It usually occurs in the spring, after the European Court of Auditors, the EU's auditing authority, has produced its annual report.

This year votes will be held on 53 separate reports, each detailing spending by different bodies. The votes will take place during the voting session later after 11.00 BST.

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Responding to the debate, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker says the EU should only admit new members when the existing union has been "deepened".

He also picks up from a call during the debate from German MEP Hans-Olaf Henkel that the EU should make a revised offer to the UK to stay in the EU.

He points out that he and Donald Tusk have already invited the UK to "review" the Brexit decision during a previous appearance before MEPs.

"The answer from London was 'nyet', as the British are saying", he says.

'Nyet' is the Russian word for 'no'.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage says that for Leave voters, the Brexit process so far has turned into a "slow, endless agony".

He says British negotiations "have blinked", and the UK is heading for a bad deal having conceded too much over financial payments and the role of the EU's top court.

He adds that "open-door immigration" will continue "with no end in sight".

He says the only positive news is that the campaign for a second referendum has "run into the ground".

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Guy Verhofstadt, who leads the Liberal ALDE group and is also the Parliament's chief Brexit spokesman, picks up on the ongoing Windrush deportations row in the UK.

He says that negotiations on a citizens rights' deal are not over, and that MEPs will make sure there is no "bureaucratic nightmare" awaiting EU citizens registering to stay in the UK.

"After the Windrush scandal in Britain, we want to be sure that the same is not happening to our European citizens", he says.

Officials from the Home Office will be questioned over the matter next Tuesday at a special meeting of five European Parliament committees, he says.

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German Christian democrat MEP Manfred Weber, who leads the centre-right EPP group, says EU leaders have kicked the issue of migration "down the road".

He pledges that the EU will "stand behind our Irish friends" during the Brexit talks.

Maria João Rodrigues, from the Socialist and Democrat group, says the EU needs to explore "new sources of taxation", including from digital companies.

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European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker defends the Commisison's recommendation yesterday that EU accession negotiations with Albania and Macedonia should begin.

He notes that this doesn't mean negotiations "will begin tomorrow", and it will be for EU countries to assess whether "adequate progress" has been made by the two countries.

There is "no deadline" on when negotiations could end, he says.

He repeats his warning from yesterday that the Western Balkans countries should be given EU membership prospects to avoid a recurrence of the wars of the 1990s.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Donald Tusk says the EU's actions after the summit last month showed members' "full solidarity" with the UK over the attack in Salisbury.

He gives his backing to the joint US, UK and France air strikes over the weekend, which he says were "necessary and proportionate".

Russia and Iran should "stop playing games" and work to find a solution to the conflict in Syria, he says.

On trade, he says the EU will have "no choice to react" if its temporary exemptions to US steel and aluminium tariffs are not made permanent.

He says he hopes that the "positive momentum" in Brexit talks can now be used to settle "outstanding issues" such as the future of the Irish border.

The UK "caused the problem" by voting for Brexit, he adds, and will have to "help solve it" to get a withdrawal and transition deal out of the EU.

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Brexit and the Salisbury attack were not the only items on the agenda, as leaders also:

• called for the EU’s exemption from US steel and aluminium tariffs to be made permanent
• condemned Turkey for blocking an oil rig from reaching an area off the coast of Cyprus
• discussed the European Commission’s plan for an EU labour authority
• agreed to “address” the issue of EU applications from Western Balkans countries in June

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

First up this morning, European Council President Donald Tusk will be in the chamber for a debate on last month’s summit of EU leaders in Brussels.

At the meeting EU leaders agreed terms for a post-Brexit transition period and their negotiating guidelines for the future relationship with the UK.

They also agreed with the UK’s assessment that it is "highly likely" Russia was responsible for the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, and decided to recall the EU ambassador to Moscow.

With that the debate on the Greek soldiers comes to an end, and with it our coverage of today's plenary sitting at the European Parliament.

MEPs will be back tomorrow from 07.30 BST, when they will first debate last month’s EU summit in Brussels with European Council President Donald Tusk.

At lunchtime, they will vote on a draft motion criticising the the controversial promotion of EU official Martin Selmayr earlier this year.

In the afternoon, they will debate the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and a revision of EU anti-money laundering laws.

Swedish Green MEP Bodil Valero calls for Nato to get involved to broker a quick release of the soldiers, given that both countries are part of the alliance.

Italian MEP Fabio Massimo Castaldo says the European Parliament should stand in solidarity behind Greece and the soldiers.

The situation has been "artificially fueled", he adds.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides says the detention of the soldiers has caused "unbearable uncertainty" for their families.

It remains unclear when their cases will be examined, he says.

He calls for their case to be brought to trial in line with international law and says the EU services will follow developments closely.

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MEPs are now debating the recent arrest of two Greek soldiers in Turkey, amid growing tensions between the two countries.

The pair were charged with espionage and illegally entering the country last month after crossing a land border.

Greece says bad weather caused the two soldiers to inadvertently stray across the border, and has called for their release.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Conservative MEP Nirj Deva says Donald Trump's meeting with Kim Jong-un is an "unprecedented act of diplomacy" and the "beginning of a process, not its end".

The EU should have a role in confirming any agreement from the country to freeze its nuclear weapons development programme, he says.

Estonian Liberal MEP Urmas Paet says it is "unlikely" either side will be able to agree on anything after just one meeting, meaning the "limbo" will continue.

The EU's role should be to ensure European sanctions are "kept in place and followed by the member states", he tells MEPs.

Image source, Reuters

MEPs are now debating attempts to de-escalate tensions between North and South Korea.

It comes ahead of an unprecedented summit reportedly scheduled for next month between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

According to US officials, North Korea has promised the US it is ready to discuss the future of its nuclear arsenal at the meeting.

Last month Mr Kim made his first known foreign trip since taking office, when he held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

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Swedish Christian democrat Lars Adaktusson says he agrees with the diplomatic action taken over the Salisbury attack but says pressure on Russia must be "kept up".

He says action over the "ongoing money-laundering" of oligarchs linked to President Putin would show the EU "has red lines which must not be challenged".

Labour MEP Clare Moody, whose constituency-region includes Salisbury, says the EU's diplomatic action after the attack was "justified".

She calls for greater action to combat Russian disinformation online.

European Parliament
Strasbourg

Belgian Liberal Hilde Vautmans says there is a need for the EU to adopt a new strategy for Russia.

Sanctions are hitting European businesses, she says, and people are now growing up in Europe with an "anti-Russia sentiment", she says.

Centre-right MEP and former Slovak foreign minister Eduard Kukan says he backs the current strategy but that it will only work if EU countries united around it.

This includes "standing firmly" behind the condition in the Minsk agreements, he adds.

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