Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz brings the debate to a close, thanking MEPs for their co-operation during Austria's six months in the presidency.

Jean-Claude Juncker will stay with MEPs to make a speech marking the 20th anniversary of the euro - along with ECB chief Mario Draghi.

The single currency was launched, initially in 11 EU countries, in January 1999.

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Greek Syriza MEP Dimitrios Papadimoulis, who sits in the left-wing GUE group, says he disagrees with the congratulatory tone of the debate so far.

He says Austria "shamed the EU" by not signing up to the "rather moderate" UN pact on migration.

German MEP Jorg Meuthen, from the right-wing AfD, says Austria's presidency will be a "turning point" in the history of the EU.

Austria, he adds, has chosen a "pragmatic course", and has not gone along with plans for greater EU "centralisation" in areas such as asylum policy.

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German Christian democrat MEP Manfred Weber, who leads the centre-right EPP group, says Austria has "achieved a lot" during its presidency.

Mr Weber was recently chosen as the EPP's candidate to be the next head of the European Commission by national leaders in the group - including Sebastian Kurz.

However Portuguese Socialist Maria Joao Rodrigues says Austria's presidency has been dominated by "fears and retrenchment".

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European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker pays tribute to the number of legislative agreements reached during Austria's presidency.

He says the presidency has been "really impressive" - although he criticises Austria for refusing to endorse a UN migration pact last month.

It would have been better if Austria had been among the countries backing the plan, rather than sending out "negative signals", he tells MEPs.

He praises Austria's work in managing negotiations over the EU's next long-term budget, adding that he hopes a deal will be reached in October this year.

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Sebastian Kurz says Austria has had a "very busy six months" in the EU presidency role, with "a number of compromises" reached.

On Brexit, he says the EU side managed to keep its unity in talks - and must continue to "sing from the same hymn sheet" if the deal is rejected in the Commons this evening.

The EU, he adds, has "nothing to reproach itself for" - calling the Brexit withdrawal deal "very balanced".

On migration, he admits there has been deadlock over reforming asylum rules.

However he adds the EU did reach a migration deal with Egypt, and agree plans to "beef up" the madate for Frontex, the bloc's border agency.

He says the EU must now put forward a "fresh proposal", including what he calls a "duty of solidarity".

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That's the debate on the EU's asylum rules finished.

MEPs will now be joined by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to review Austria’s six-month stint in charge of the EU’s rotating presidency, which ended earlier this month.

Austria’s time in charge of the presidency has been dominated by negotiations over Brexit and the bloc’s next seven-year budget, to apply from 2021.

Austria has now handed over the baton to Romania, whose prime minister Viorica Dancila will join MEPs later to lay out her government’s priorities.

It means Romania will chair meetings of the EU’s Council of Ministers, where member states vote on legislation, until the end of June this year.

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Labour's Claude Moraes, who chairs the civil liberties committee, says it is clear the EU needs "some common approach" to migration.

However he says the EU now only has three months to reach a deal on reform of asylum rules, before the forthcoming European elections in May.

He calls on Romania to put the Commission's approach to a formal vote, where only a qualified majority , externalwould be required for it to be approved.

Austria had declined to do this during its six months in charge of the presidency, he notes.

"We should have some movement", he says, adding: "We have three months - let's do it".

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Dutch Liberal Sophia in't Veld says "like Trump" and his "silly wall", European leaders are spending billions on border security to build "Fortress Europe".

She also criticises the EU's migrant return agreements, adding that instead leaders should get behind reform of the EU's asylum system.

"You are building the wall, we just happen to have the Mediterranean in between", she adds.

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Finnish MEP Jussi Halla-Aho, from the anti-immigration Finns Party, says the blame for the lack of agreement must go to the EU's institutions.

The plans to change EU asylum rules put forward by the European Commission and Parliament, he says, are "unrealistic".

He says it is true people want solutions on migration, but not "bad solutions".

People do not just want "managed" immigration, he says, but "less immigration".

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Helga Stevens, from the Flemish nationalist N-VA, says member states need to protect their borders and need support from the EU to do this.

Swedish Liberal Cecilia Wikstrom, who acted as the European Parliament's lead negotiator on the Dublin rules, says their reform proposals were "pragmatic".

The European Parliament took its position on reform of the Dublin regulation back in November 2017.

Ms Wikstom says however that EU states are not "ready to find a compromise" on updating the rules.

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Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos says he was "relieved" at the recent deal between Malta and eight EU states to divide up and take in 49 migrants stranded at sea.

He says he would like to thank Malta, one of the EU's smallest countries, for the "solidarity" it has shown over the migration issue.

He says that although the number of people arriving in Europe has fallen significantly in the last three years, "political resistance" to migration "almost seems bigger".

He says the EU needs a "predictable" mechanism for handling migration flows, so that the situation does not become "unmanageable" for states acting alone.

He calls on EU leaders to take responsibility for the situation, and "stop blaming the Commission".

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First up to speak is Romanian European Affairs Minister Melania-Gabriela Ciot - she's representing Romania's EU presidency, which gets underway this month.

She tells MEPs the situation regarding illegal entry into the EU has "improved significantly" in recent years, although deaths at sea remain "too high".

However, she says deaths decreased by more than a quarter last year compared to 2017.

She says EU leaders have "worked intensively" on reforming the Dublin rules, but there are still "significant disagreements" between member states.

Finding a compromise, she adds, has "proved impossible".

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Hello and welcome to coverage of the European Parliament’s plenary sitting in Strasbourg, which is due to get underway shortly.

First up, MEPs will be joined by Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos to debate the continuing deadlock over reform of the EU’s Dublin migration rules.

The Dublin regulation requires migrants to be considered for asylum in the first safe country in which they arrive.

The European Commission and Parliament want to change the regulation to create a permanent system for redistributing migrants between EU states.

However these proposals have foundered in the face of opposition from central and eastern European countries.

However, that's it for our live coverage of the plenary this evening.

MEPs will be back tomorrow from 08.00 GMT - following the cancellation of a debate on last month's EU leaders' summit, they will start with a debate on EU asylum rules.

Next up this evening there will be short presentations of five ‘own initiative’ reports drafted by several of the European Parliament’s committees.

These reports often contain policy recommendations for the European Commission, although they are only advisory.

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Polish MEP Jadwiga Wisniewska says the report does not mention the "real problem" of reconciling family and professional life".

She accuses the committee that has drawn up the report of being dominated by "populism of the extreme left".

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Austrian Liberal Angelika Mlinar, who has drafted the committee's report, says that currently only 36% of MEPs are female, and women are under-represented among senior staff.

She says that greater gender balance can be achieved using so-called 'zip lists' or 'parity lists' for candidates standing in the European elections in May.

Responding for the Commission, Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova says gender balance is a duty required by EU treaties, but is "not a tangible reality for all".

She adds that currently only 9 out of the 28 EU commissioners are female.

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MEPs are now debating an advisory report from the women’s rights committee about “gender mainstreaming” in the European Parliament.

It calls on European political parties to ensure a “gender-balanced representation of candidates” for the European elections this May.

It also recommends that political groups within the assembly should elect two co-leaders – one male and one female – for the next five-year session.

It also urges “targeted measures” to achieve gender-balanced representation among both the MEPs and the Parliament’s administrative staff.

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Portuguese social democrat Claudia Monteiro de Aguiar has acted as the European Parliament's lead negotiator on the rule changes.

She says relaxing the rules should help small businesses and help create jobs.

She says that in order to prevent "market distortion", the transport committee has recommended hired vehicles should not be used in another EU state for more than four months.

Companies will only be able to make up a quarter of their total fleet using vehicles hired from abroad, she says.

Such information should be recorded in electronic registers and exchanged between national authorities, she adds.