(Sir Europe – Brussels) – The presentation of the “State of the Union” by the president of the EU Commission, Barroso, and the outline of the 2013 budget by the presidency of the EU Council will be two of the items on the agenda of the first plenary session of the European Parliament after the summer holidays, in Strasbourg, from 10th to 13th September. One of the reports that should be more attentively listened to is the one called “Voluntary, free tissue and cell donation” by MEP Marina Yannakoudakis. In the meantime, the EU Parliament received a message from president Martin Schulz for the London Olympics: “The Olympic truce dates back to the IX century before Christ. A tradition of ancient Greece that still exists. The Olympic Games are the target of many athletes, they go beyond any political borders, bringing together thousands of athletes and public from all over the world”. The Assembly’s website points out that some MEPs took part in the Olympic Games. Finnish MEP Sari Essayah used to be a track athlete, who won fourth place in Barcelona in 1992. Slovakian MEP Peter S�astny “raced for Czechoslovakia in Lake Placid in 1980 and for Slovakia in Lillehammer in 1994”. While Theodoros Skylakakis, Greek, was coordinator for Athens Olympics in 2004. Pál Schmitt, deputy president of the EU Parliament (2009-2010), won three gold medals for fencing in Mexico City in 1968 and in Munich in 1972.

03/08/2012 -