Iraqi Turkmen leader’s call to arms

12 July 2009, Sunday

A leader of the Iraqi Turkmens has made an appeal to the Iraqi authorities to let members of his community take up arms to protect themselves against "genocide."

Sawash Auji, who oversees human rights violations in Turkmen-dominated areas in Iraq, made the call following an upsurge in attacks against Turkmens, particularly in the northern parts of the country.

In one such attack in the predominantly Turkmen town of Telafer, to the west of the city of Mosul, 34 people were killed and scores injured. "It is of vital importance that Turkmens are permitted to take up arms and form a force to guard their areas against genocide," Auji said.

Most Iraqi Turkmens live in the disputed oil-rich city of Kerkuk and towns administratively linked to it. But sizeable communities are found in the Province of Nineveh of which Mosul is the capital. Iraqi militias known locally as peshmerga keep Turkmens under surveillance and reject their attempts to take up arms.

Auji said the struggle between Iraqi factions over control of areas which are predominantly inhabited by Turkmens "is the real reason for the latest attacks on Telafer."

Kerkuk.net

British crimes in Iraq: The Story of Baha Mousa, by Robert Fisk

Baha Mousa and his family

'He was a decent guy. They didn't need to do that'

Iraqi inquiry sees video of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by british soldiers


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8146614.stm
Video footage of his detention was shown to the jury

A video of a British soldier screaming abuse at hooded prisoners in Iraq has been played at a public inquiry into the death of an Iraqi civilian.

Sunday, 12 July 2009

I first heard about Baha Mousa from his family. He was working as a hotel receptionist in Basra when British troops surrounded the building and arrested seven men. They were taken to a British barracks, hooded and beaten. Two days later, as his weeping father recalled for me, Mousa was dead. His family was given $3,000 in compensation and rejected a further $5,000. What they wanted was justice. His father had been appointed a police officer by the British authorities themselves. He was wearing two pistols on his hips. He was "our man", and we killed his son.

The outrageous death of his 26-year-old son, arrested in front of his own father, remains one of the most shameful episodes of our occupation of southern Iraq. As they beat the seven men, the British soldiers gave them the names of footballers. I guess it is always easy to demean those who you are going to brutalise. One of his comrades, who worked in the same hotel, and who spoke to me in great pain from his hospital bed, described how Baha had pleaded for his murderers to stop kicking him. "He was a decent guy. They didn't need to do that to him," he said.

When I first heard this story, it reminded me – alas – of all the accounts that I had heard in Northern Ireland, of British Catholics taken from their homes and beaten up in British army barracks, called "terrorist" by those who should have controlled their tormentors. I had heard it all before. Always, but always, those who had been beaten and kicked were always the bad guys.

In Basra, the British like to say that they knew how to treat the locals, that they had learnt from Northern Ireland. Oh, how they had learnt!

I remember sitting in front of Baha Mousa's children – his wife had already died of cancer – and, listening to his father's account, I doubted if justice would be done. It was not. The bad guys got away with it. As they usually did in Northern Ireland. It's not about hearts and minds. It's about justice. And this we do not administer.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-the-story-of-baha-mousa-1742762.html

Ban Racism And Not The Burqa

By Bindu Gurtoo
11 July, 2009
Countercurrents.org

So the French president has gone and done it. In the first presidential address in the French Parliament since 1848, the esteemed President talked about… the Burqa! By declaring, quite theatrically in the parliament that there was no place for the burqa in France, Mr. Sarkozy has undone the goodwill that President Obama so painstakingly earned for the West in Cairo last month. Not only that, by making a fatwa like declaration, he has given the Islamic hardliners another opportunity to raise the bogey of western cultural imperialism.

Well, what else can one expect from a man who seems to have little clue on how to deal with global recession, or to tackle the rising unemployment in his country or even to get his countrymen and women to put in an honest day’s labour without going on a strike. Bombastic statements such as these confirm the long held belief of the coloured world that liberty is the white man’s concubine who uses her exclusively for his pleasure.

Pray, Mr. Sarkozy, how is burqa a garment of exclusion while the catholic nun’s habit is not? Granted that the burqa condemns the wearer to a claustrophobic formlessness, but, what about the two piece bikini designed by a man for the voyeuristic pleasure of the male gaze? How can a culture which connives in forcing teenagers to attain impossible thinness and applauds bizarre garments as high fashion, or sit in judgment over others’ attires? Come on Frenchies, tell us, as instruments of debasement and oppression, how are decadence, racism, substance abuse, bulimia, porn and pedophilia any less than the burqa? If, by banning the burqa you are trying to rescue Muslim damsels in distress, then may we suggest a more worthy alternative? How about giving the Muslims in your country genuine equal opportunities that are not sabotaged by racial snobbery?

While you rush to ban the burqa the way you banned the turban, why not ban a few other things such as tobacco, liquor and skinny fashion which have debased and destroyed a great many of your people? But we know you are not going to do that, Mr. Sarkozy for these are valued as expressions of the haute French culture. And one does not desecrate one’s culture by rudely hiving off bits, does one? We suspect Mr. Sarkozy that you have learnt your lessons in governance from the redoubtable Robespierre whose guillotine had once worked overtime in the name of democracy.

Perhaps Mr. Sarkozy, it is time you stepped out of the Muslim woman’s wardrobe and directed your attention to some real issues such as climate change, recession and the future of the European Union. Or do we conclude that it is because you are incapable of pondering over these problems that you take refuge in her cupboard? Do come away from her closet, President and let the Muslim woman decide for herself what she would like to wear.

Ah! You are only trying to lend a helping hand, aren’t you? Please desist! For history shows us that the helping hand often ends up slapping the helper. As the president of the nation that pioneered popular uprising, you ought to know that revolutions have to germinate in native soil and can never be successfully grafted. Instead, place your trust in the Muslims to decide on the destiny of their cultures for themselves.

Perhaps, Mr. Sarkozy, the time has come for France to follow the example from across the Atlantic of her once good friend and partner- in- revolutions and elect colored leaders? Though it may seem a daunting task for a man of your intellect, but think Mr. Sarkozy, think!

(The author is a member of Citizen News Service (CNS) Writers' Bureau. Email: bindugurtoo@gmail.com, website: www.citizen-news.org)
http://www.countercurrents.org/gurtoo110709.htm

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Uluslararası Kriz Grubu´nca hazırlanan rapor, Türkiye´nin bölge etkisi ve Kerkük konusunda ilginç tespitlerde bulunuyor.

Perşembe, 09 Temmuz 2009

Dünya Bülteni/ Haber Merkezi

Uluslararası Kriz Grubunun "Irak ve Kürtler" raporunda, Irak´ın kuzeyindeki bölgesel yönetimin, "komşularına ve Bağdat yönetimine karşı koruyucusu ABD´nin kaybedeceği beklentisiyle, tek gerçekçi alternatif olan Türkiye´ye yöneldiği" iddia edildi. Merkezi Brüksel´de bulunan Amerikan düşünce kuruluşunun raporunda, Kürt liderlerinin, Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisinin 2007 yılındaki ikinci seçim zaferinin ardından, "Türkiye ile anlaşma ihtiyaçlarını açıkça konuşmaya başladıkları ve bunun ardından ilişkilerin istikrarlı şekilde geliştiği" anlatıldı.

KERKÜK SORUNU´NUN ÇÖZÜMÜ İÇİN TARAFLAR BİRARAYA GELMELİ Raporun asıl konusunu oluşturan Kerkük Sorunu´nun çözümü konsuunda taraflara tavsiyelerde bulunan raporda, ABD, Bağdat Hükümeti, Kuzey Irak´taki bölgesel yönetim ve BM sorumlu taraflar olarak zikredildi. Raporda, bölgede 25 Temmuz´da yapılacak seçimler ve 2010 Ocak ayında tüm Irak´ta yapılacak parlamento seçimleri öncesinde herhangi bir anlaşmaya varmanın zor olduğunu belirtildi. Tarafların, ABD´nin Irak´tan ayrılması ile tehlikeli bir ayrışmanın ortasında kalabileceğini belirten raporda, kuzeydeki Kürt bölgesini Irak´ın geri kalanından ayıran "tetik çizgisi" boyunca çatışmaların yaşanabileceği ifade edildi. Bunu önlemenin yolunun ise tarafların birbirleriyle müzakere etmesinden geçtiğini belirten rapor, seçimlere kadar kurulacak geçici bir bilgilendirme mekanizmasının ve tarafların tek taraflı adımlardan kaçınmasının çözüm yolunda önemli safhalar olduğu belirtildi.

KÜRTLER TÜRKİYE İLE İTTİFAK YAPMAK ZORUNDA Raporda, Irak´ın kuzeyindeki bölgesel yönetimin lideri Mesud Barzani´nin özel kalem müdürü Fuat Hüseyin´in şu sözleri aktarıldı: "Eğer (Iraklı) Şiiler İran´ı ve Sünniler Arap dünyasını seçerse, Kürtler de Türkiye ile ittifaka girmek zorunda kalacak. Türkiye´nin de bu kapsamda Kürtlere ihtiyacı olacak.

Biz Türkiye ile birlikte olmak zorundayız ve Türkiye açısından bakarsanız Irak´ta bizden başka dost ya da ortakları yok." Raporda, Mesud Barzani ile Cumhurbaşkanı Abdullah Gül ve Başbakan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan arasında henüz görüşme yapılmamış olsa da Kürt yetkililerin üst düzey Türk yetkililerle birçok kez bir araya geldiği hatırlatıldı. "Tüm bu gelişmelerin, Osmanlı sonrası Türkiye´nin hak iddia ettiği ´Musul vilayeti´ fikrini yeniden canlandırdığı" kaydedilen raporda, "şaşırtıcı bir şekilde bu kez isteğin Türk milliyetçi çevrelerinden değil, üst düzeydekiler dahil Kürt tarafından geldiği" ifade edildi. Raporda, isim verilmeden Irak´ın kuzeyindeki bölgesel yönetimden ve Türkiye´den üst düzey yetkililerin Uluslararası Kriz Grubu´na yaptığı açıklamalara da yer verildi.

TÜRKİYE İLE BİRLİKTE OLMAYI TERCİH EDERİM Irak´ın kuzeyindeki bölgesel yönetimin adı açıklanmayan bir yetkilisi, "Bağımsız olmak hakkımız, fakat bu olmazsa ben Türkiye ile olmayı Irak´la birlikteliğe tercih ederim. Çünkü Irak demokratik değil" diyerek, tek çıkış yolunun bölgenin "Musul vilayeti" adıyla Türkiye´ye, Türkiye´nin de kendi içindeki Kürtlerin durumuna çözüm olarak AB´ye katılması" olduğunu ifade etti. Buna karşın Ankara´nın Iraklı Kürtlerle "resmi birliktelik" seçeneğine sıcak bakmadığı kaydedilen raporda, adı açıklanmayan üst düzey bir Türk yetkilinin şu görüşlerine yer verildi: "Iraklı Kürtlerle ekonomik birliktelik gelecekte mümkün. Fakat bu resmi değil, fiili bir birliktelik olmalı. Biz Irak´ın bütünlüğünü korumasından yanayız. Irak, bölgedeki etnik ve mezhepsel dengenin barometresi gibi.

Fakat ekonomik teşvikler mümkün. Bağdat´la anlaşarak Kürt bölgesiyle sınırımızı esnek hale getirip ekonomik (serbest) bölge oluşturabiliriz." TÜRKİYE, KERKÜK´TE NÜFUZ SAHİBİ OLACAK Barzani´nin özel kalem müdürü Hüseyin, Kürt yetkililerinin, Başkan Barack Obama´nın açıkladığı takvime uygun olarak ABD´nin Irak´tan çekileceğine ve bunun sonucunda Irak´ın çökeceğine ikna olduğunu belirtti. Hüseyin, "Kürtler bu şartlarda Türkiye´nin koruması altında rahat ederken, bunun karşılığında Türkiye´nin, Kerkük´teki dev rezervler dahil, Irak´ın kuzeyindeki bölgenin petrol ve doğal gazına doğrudan erişim imkanı elde edeceğini ve dolaylı yollarla Kerkük´e sahip olacağını" ileri sürdü.

Uluslararası Kriz Grubu´na göre, bölgedeki gelişmeleri dikkatle izleyen Ankara ise Irak´ın kuzeyinde Türk girişimcilerin yatırımlarını teşvik ederek bölgedeki petrol ve doğal gazın ihracat kapısı olmak istiyor. İran´ın Irak üzerinde etkinlik kazanmasını istemeyen Ankara, bu riski azaltmak için bir yandan merkezi hükümeti güçlendirmek amacıyla Bağdat yönetimiyle bağlarını geliştirmek isterken, diğer yandan Mart 2009´da Basra´da konsolosluk açarak ülkenin güneyindeki "İran etkisini sınırlandırmayı" hedefliyor. Raporda, "Ankara´nın çıkmazı, Amerikan ordusunun ayrılmasının ardından (Irak´ta) ne olacağını bilmediği için tüm yumurtalarını Bağdat´ın sepetine koyarak Kürtleri yabancılaştırma riskini almak ile İran´ın güçlü etkisi altındaki geleceğin Irak´ıyla arasında bir tampon bölge oluşturmak için kuzeydeki bölgesel yönetimi destekleyerek Bağdat´ı kızdırmak arasında kalması... Etkili olmak için bahislerini koruma altına alarak, her iki tarafla ilişkilerini dengeliyor" deniliyor.

TÜRK PETROL ŞİRKETLERİ KUZEY IRAK´TA Raporda, Genel Enerji ve PetOil gibi Türk şirketlerinin "Ankara´dan aldıkları yeşil ışıkla" Irak´ın kuzeyinde faaliyet gösterdiği ve "ileri kol" rolü oynadığı öne sürüldü. Uluslararası Kriz Grubu raporunda, Irak´ın kuzeyindeki bölgesel yönetimin, Türkiye üzerinden AB´nin doğal gazda Rusya´ya bağımlılığını azaltacak Nabucco projesine doğal gaz arzını başarması halinde, Bağdat yönetimiyle ilişkilerde elini önemli ölçüde güçlendireceği savunuldu.

Dün meydana gelen bombalı saldırı nedeniyle ITC bir kınama mesajı yayınladı

Dün Telafer'de yapılan intihar saldırısında ilk belirlemelere göre 50 masum insan şehit ve çoğunluğu çocuk ve kadından oluşan, yüzden fazla kişi yaralanmıştır. Bundan önceki terör oyunları, Karakoyunlu ve Musul'a bağlı Bavice bölgesinde oynanmış, orada da birçok şehit ve yaralı verilmiştir. Türkmen mevcudiyetini hedef alan ve aratarak devem eden terör saldırılarını şiddetle kınıyoruz.

Irak Türkmen Cephesi olarak Irak'taki tüm masum sivilleri hedef alan terör saldırılarının açığa çıkarılması için Tüm yetkili mercilerin bir araya gelip çalışmalarını istiyoruz.

Özellikle Tazehurmatu'daki menfur saldırı üzerinden 3 hafta geçmesine rağmen, saldırıyla ilgili herhangibi bir somut sonuç alınamamıştır. Aynı zamanda Irak'taki yetkili mercilerden, güvenlik boşluğundan kaynaklanan, genel olarak Iraklı sivilleri, özel olarak Türkmen sivilleri hedef alan terör saldırılarının nedenleri ve faillerinin tespit edilmesini istiyoruz.

Irak Türkmen Cephesi olarak şehitlerimize rahmet, yaralılarımıza acil şifalar , yakınlarına ve milletimize Allah'tan sabır dileriz.

Irak Türkmen Cephesi Başkanlığı

Kerkük - Irak

In Iraq, twin bombings follow insurgent's renewed call to fight US

The attacks underscore the security challenges after the US withdrawal from cities, particularly in the volatile areas in the north.

By Jonathan Adams

posted July 09, 2009 at 8:10 am EST

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.

Dozens were killed in bombings in Iraq Thursday, underscoring the security challenges remaining after US combat forces withdrew from Iraqi towns and cities last month.
At least 34 people died in back-to-back suicide attacks in the town of Talafar, in northern Iraq, the BBC reported. A suicide bomber blew himself up early in the morning, then a second blast ripped through the crowd that had gathered after the first.

Separately, seven were killed and 20 injured in bombings in Baghdad's notorious Sadr City. (Click here for a map from the Associated Press.)

The Associated Press reports the Talafar attacks targeted the home of an antiterrorism officer. The first blast killed the officer, along with his wife and child, at around 6:30 a.m., the news service reported.

The New York Times reported that the bombings in Talafar "bore the signature" of the Islamic State of Iraq, which is affiliated with Al Qaeda, without giving details.

The attacks came a day after a reputed leader of the Islamic State of Iraq, whom the Iraqi government claimed to have captured this year, issued a taped statement calling on Iraq's Sunnis to join the fight against Shiites and American troops.
The statement, which was released on the Internet and attributed to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, said attacks on American forces should continue despite the withdrawal from Iraqi cities by U.S. combat troops....

"Even if they are in one spot in the Iraqi desert, away from all forms of life, every Muslim must fight them until they are kicked out of that spot," the statement said.

Northern Iraq has increasingly become the most violent area of the country. Thursday morning's bombings followed attacks in Mosul the day before that killed at least nine. The New York Times reported that a truck bomb killed 68 in northern Iraq on June 20, the single worst attack in Iraq this year, and a car bomb killed 24 in Kirkuk on June 30.

The attacks have centered on "an oil-rich region that lies on the tense ethnic fault line between Iraq's Arabs and Kurds," the Times reported. "The area is populated largely by the Turkmen, the third largest ethnic group in Iraq after Arabs and Kurds, who have their own territorial claims in the region."

Talafar lies west of Iraqi Kurdistan (click here to see a map of the region from NPR), and less than 60 miles east of Iraq's borders with Syria and Turkey. (Click here for a detailed map from GlobalSecurity.org.)

Competing historical claims to the region by Turkmen and Kurds has fueled tensions, according to the International Crisis Group (ICG).

In a 2006 report called "Iraq and the Kurds: The Brewing Battle Over Kirkuk" the ICG quoted Muzaffer Arslan, adviser on Turkmen affairs to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, as saying: "the Kurds claim Tel Afar for the same reason they claim Kirkuk, Mosul and Tuz Khurmatu. They want to take as large an area as possible to add to their Dreamland [a stock Turkoman reference to the Kurdish region]."

The ICG has warned that the region has been neglected amid broader efforts to stabilize Iraq.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0709/p99s01-duts.html

UIGHUR EXILES IN MUNICH

SPIEGEL ONLINE


07/09/2009 03:27 PM
UIGHUR EXILES IN MUNICH
'The Reality is Far Worse than Television Pictures Suggest'
By Sebastian Fischer in Munich

Corpses litter the streets and hunger and chaos prevail in China's Xinjiang province, claim members of Munich's Uighur community, the largest such group in Europe. In constant touch with Uighurs back home, they allege the death toll is much higher than the official figures.

The headquarters of the World Uighur Congress (WUC) amounts to a couple of rooms, tucked in the attic of a 1960s-era block near Munich's central train station. More than 500 Uighurs live in the capital of the German state of Bavaria, making it the biggest such community in Europe.

Asgar Can, the organization's vice president, sits between a German flag and a Uighur one, which resembles the Turkish banner, except it is blue instead of red.

"We assume that the situation in the Xinjiang province is far worse than television pictures suggest," he says. The World Uighur Congress maintains contact with Uighurs in their homeland, "our fellow countrymen who phone us with information are risking their lives," he says.

Dolkun Isa, WUC's general secretary, walks into the room, clutching a piece of paper. It contains the latest reports of the unrest in the giant province in Western China. The group now estimates that up to 800 Uighurs have died, Isa says, adding that he is unable to give a more precise number. Official Chinese figures claim that 150 people have been killed in the clashes between the Chinese and Muslim Uighurs.

Isa claims one attack took place on a medical school in Urumqi, the regional capital. He alleges that four Uighur students were stabbed and beheaded by Han Chinese, "their bodies were hung in the faculty entrance," Isa says, citing eyewitness reports. According to a separate report, 150 Uighurs died during an attack on workers in a tractor factory in the northwestern city.

WUC Vice President Can says Uighurs are too afraid to leave their homes -- they fear they might get killed outside on the streets. In the meantime, they are starving. In Urumqi, "corpses litter the street like bits of furniture," he says. Demonstrations are allegedly continuing in the cities of Kashgar, Aksu, Hotan and Karamay, and curfews have been imposed on the local populations. In many cities, water and electricity supplies have been cut, he says.

Chinese leaders are blaming the World Uighur Congress for the latest escalation. In particular the WUC's Washington-based president Rebiya Kadeer has become a scapegoat for the unrest.

"Our initial findings indicate that the separatist World Uighur Congress under the leadership of Rebiya Kadeer has fuelled the violence," the Chinese state news agency Xinhua claims, citing information from the regional government. Can angrily rejects such claims. He is in close contact with Kadeer and spoke to her a night earlier. "She is stunned that she is being held responsible," he says.

Tension Flares

Kadeer, in a recent guest editorial published in the Wall Street Journal, blamed the Chinese for the escalating violence. She also condemned violence by Uighurs and said Han Chinese and Uighurs need to "achieve a dialogue based on trust, mutual respect and equality." She urged the US to take on a key role, saying Washington should condemn the violence in the Chinese province and open up a consulate in Urumqi. That step, she argues, could calm tensions in the area.

For its part, China is taking a tough line on the conflict. The head of the Communist Party in the Xinjiang province, Li Zhi, has threatened that the government will execute those responsible for the latest violence, according to the Associated Press. The wire service reports that many people, mostly students, have already been arrested on suspicion of murder. Early Wednesday morning, the authorities imposed a curfew in Urumqi after thousands of Han Chinese took to the streets a day earlier, armed with sticks, knives and metal poles.

Authorities dropped thousands of flyers from helicopters above Urumqi and called for calm among the 2.3 million residents. Some citizens erected barricades to avert further street fights. "We just want to protect our homes, we don't want to attack anyone," says a spokesman for the Uighurs.

Chinese police swarmed Urumqi on Wednesday in a bid to contain the protests, which have endured for days. The arrests of a number of alleged Han Chinese leaders from among a 1,000-strong group of demonstrators sparked scenes of aggression. "Let them free, let them free," called the demonstrators. The presence of large numbers of security forces restored calm in the city center. Armored military personnel carriers patrolled the streets.

Along with Tibet, the Xinjiang province is one of the most politically volatile regions of China. Bordering on Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, it is strategically important -- with ample oil reserves and China's biggest supply of natural gas. It is so important that Chinese President Hu Jintao cancelled his plans to attend the G-8 summit in Italy due to the violence. German Chancellor Angela Merkel had reportedly wanted to speak to him about the regional unrest.

The World Uighur Congress says the province should be given the right of self-determination. "The people should decide," says Asgar Can. At the moment the conditions are not in place for that to happen. If his people do call for independence one day, he says, then they would establish a democratic system.

Can says it could be modelled after the East Turkistan Republic that existed in the region between 1944 and 1949, when it became part of the People's Republic of China. He adds: "We have never had the intention of founding an Islamic country."

Can says he is also appealing to the German government to accept the remaining 13 Uighurs still being held in the US Guantanamo detention center.

URL:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,635249,00.html
RELATED SPIEGEL ONLINE LINKS:
From the Archive (08/22/2008)http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,573843,00.html
Uighur Unrest: 140 Killed in Ethnic Riots in China (07/06/2009)http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,634505,00.html
Photo Gallery: Deadly Ethnic Violence in Xinjianghttp://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-44072.html
The World from Berlin: 'China Is Acting on an Old Reflex in Urumqi' (07/07/2009)http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,634791,00.html
RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
Wall Street Journal: The Real Story of the Uighur Riotshttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB124701252209109027.htmlSPIEGEL ONLINE is not liable for the content of external Web pages.
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European Parliament: The Week Ahead

The Week Ahead 6-12 July 2009
03-07-2009

Political groups week – Brussels

Swedish Presidency/Conference of Presidents. The outgoing President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, will be joined by leaders of the political groups in Stockholm for a meeting with the Swedish government as Sweden takes on the presidency of the Council (Monday).

Preparing for the plenary.

The political groups will finalise their preparations for the 14-16 July inaugural plenary session of the 7th directly elected European Parliament. On Thursday, the Conference of Presidents will set the plenary agenda, notably deciding whether there should be a vote on the Commission presidency at this stage. The session will begin with the election of Parliament’s new President and the Vice-Presidents and is likely also to include debates with the outgoing Czech presidency and the incoming Swedish presidency of the Council.