The estimates for the number of children of foreign fighters held in Syria in detention centres, camps or orphanages is close to 29,000, most of them under the age of 12, says UNICEF. About 20,000 children are from Iraq while more than 9,000 are from around 60 other countries, including from several EU countries.

A week after a few EU leaders blocked the start of accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia, the prevailing opinion is that it was “a historic error”, as Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stressed already. The failure to open negotiations with the two Balkan countries was a strategic mistake, MEPs said in a resolution adopted on 23 October by 412 votes in favour, 136 against and 30 abstentions.

At a debate initiated by the EPP, the plenary in Strasbourg reflected on the effects of the bankruptcy of Thomas Cook, a firm with 178-year history, which withstood two world wars. As Spanish centre-right MEP Rosa Estaras Ferragut underlined, this company has not however withstood the shift to digitalisation, the uncertainties of Brexit and the future of that new world of the 21st century.

To top up with €2.7bn the proposed by the Commission 2020 EU budget agreed MEPs during the plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday. Lawmakers adopted their position on next year's financial plan, the last for the current multiannual framework 2014-2020. They accented precisely on tackling climate change and youth unemployment, and also on boosting SMEs and research.

During the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, on 22 October, MEPs assessed what work has done the outgoing Commission over the last five years. In his statement in the Chamber, EC President Jean-Claude Juncker revealed what headway his team made in priority areas such as growth, jobs and investment. He also touched upon the engagement with citizens, cutting red tape, and the promise for focusing on the big issues.

To push Council to advance with the negotiations on the next multiannual financial framework (MFF) that will fund the EU policies in the period 2021-2027, MEPs adopted a resolution at their mini-plenary sitting in Brussels on 10 October. In it, they asked national governments to urgently agree a negotiating position on the EU long-term budget and warned of a real jeopardy that the common investment plan for the next seven years will not be endorsed in time with Council, alerting on what the consequences will be for the businesses and citizens

Sylvie Goulard, France’s choice to be the next head of EU industrial policy, was rejected by the EP committees on Thursday after a second hearing in which she failed to quieten doubts over her role in a jobs scandal. The rejection reflects a power struggle between MPs and French President Emmanuel Macron about who should lead the next European Commission.

European Parliament committees continued last Monday and Tuesday with hearings of the commissioners-designate almost completing the procedure, the EP press service reported. After Frans Timmermans, Margrethe Vestager, Vera Jourova, Josep Borrell, Valdis Dombrovskis and once again Janusz Wojciechowski expressed their views before MPs, only Romanian and Hungarian candidates are to be questioned in the coming days.

European Parliament President David Sassoli started on Monday his first European tour with a visit to Paris, where he met French President Emmanuel Macron. On the next day Sassoli flies to Berlin to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and late afternoon arrives in London for a meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

From Monday to Thursday, MEPs had very busy and hectic schedule, holding hearings of 19 candidates for the EU executive college. As a whole, these three-hour exercises each were carried out as orderly exchange of questions and answers, but there were also pitfalls that prevented two of the nominees from crossing the barrier in the first round.