European Union

The award ceremony will take place at 18.00, on Wednesday 21 October, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (Daphne Caruana Galizia Press Room).

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

The award ceremony will take place at 18.00, on Wednesday 21 October, at the European Parliament in Strasbourg (Daphne Caruana Galizia Press Room).

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Plenary session and committee meetings, Strasbourg

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

On Wednesday 21 October, Bernd Lange and Pascal Canfin will discuss EU-China trade developments ahead of the Trade Committee’s visit to Beijing and Shanghai.
Committee on International Trade

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

On Wednesday 21 October, Bernd Lange and Pascal Canfin will discuss EU-China trade developments ahead of the Trade Committee’s visit to Beijing and Shanghai.
Committee on International Trade

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Spokespersons for Parliament and for the political groups will hold a briefing on the 19 – 22 October plenary session, on Friday at 11.00 in Parliament’s Anna Politkovskaya press room.

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

We are a few weeks past Andy Burnham’s speech about wanting to re-open the question of the UK’s long-term relationship with the EU.

Since then, there has been a fair amount of (sometimes hyperventilated) comment and discussion about what this relationship might look like, usually in flavours of Why My Prior Preference Was Right Then And Right Now.

But one thing that has been missing is any more detail about what Burnham actually, specifically has in mind for this ‘dialogue’. Indeed, it’s not even clear who the dialogue might be between.

Monday’s statement to Parliament might have been that moment, as the Prime Minister dropped a bunch of international matters on the floor of the House. That neither Iranian involvement in the Fairford incident nor future UK-EU relations was felt to be serious enough to merit a statement of their own points both to a busy time in international relations and to Burnham’s standing intention to focus more on domestic matters (logically, given that these are much more immediately likely to secure votes in a general election).

But the statement was very light on details too. Other than that he will do something around the time of the 20 November summit to ‘present options’, we have no guidance on process, who’s involved, how long it will take, whether any decisions will come out of it, nor what actions will flow from any decisions that are made.

As a best guess – and it is a guess – Burnham will do some kind of high profile speech to start a form of public consultation/debate, presumably with a nominal end-point that will get captured in a reflection document. That document either gets debated in Parliament as the basis from some new mandate to negotiate or – more likely – becomes the basis of a new Labour party manifesto commitment for the next general election.

Given that Burnham was repeatedly pushing back not only on indicating a preference option but also on going across existing red lines, it’s hard to see him trying for anything more than this, certainly within this Parliament.

None of this is intrinsically wrong, but with only just over a month until the summit the absence of any articulated plan, especially one where “[a]t every stage, the British public will be the boss”, seems to confirm the extent to which this whole project was sprung on government by Burnham, leaving it running to catch up. That in turn points to a more extended process, to set up lines for the next Parliament, rather than any hurried dash to set new policy.

From a European perspective that might be the better way of doing things too. Given understandable concerns about whether this is simply another swing of the Brexit pendulum, the effort to seek out more consensual and non-partisan policy positions might better enable the exploratory talks that this development seems likely to produce. Of course, should there be a Conservative/Reform-led government, the limits to that will be all too obvious.

In the meantime, it is useful to keep watching how the plans develop and who gets to set those decisions, especially if there is a genuine commitment to popular involvement.

PDF: https://bit.ly/UshGraphic152

The post A dialogue on Europe, but with whom? appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Newsletter - 19-22 October 2026 - Strasbourg plenary session

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

At the European Council, President Metsola called for a long-term EU budget that matches Europe's ambitions, faster progress on competitiveness, and continued momentum for enlargement.

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

AMENDMENTS 20 - 255 - Draft opinion EU Gender Action Plan IV – priorities for gender equality and women’s rights in external action
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Hannah Neumann

Source : © European Union, 2026 - EP

Approximate timing, public sessions and press opportunities.

EU leaders and social partners met in Brussels for the Tripartite Social Summit, a twice-yearly forum for dialogue that brings together the leaders of the EU institutions and the European social partners. Today’s discussion focused on ‘Driving Europe Forward’.

Remarks by President António Costa at the press conference following the Tripartite Social Summit on 14 October 2026.

The High Representative issued a statement on behalf of the European Union on the postponement of elections in Palestine.