Plenary sessions : At the start of this week's Strasbourg session, EP President Jerzy Buzek announced that, as every year, the EU was celebrating 17 May as International Day against Homophobia (IDAHO). This year's Europe Day and the Charlemagne Prizes were among other topics mentioned by Mr Buzek, who also congratulated the new UK and Hungarian governments on taking office. He welcomed a request to send condolences to families of soldiers killed in Afghanistan.Source : © European Parliament

Next Tuesday at 10am (Irish time), the winner of the European Charlemagne Youth Prize will be announced at a ceremony in Aachen in Germany. This year's Irish nominee for the prize is 'You are here' - a book project including contributions from 14 young people across Europe. The project, which was submitted by John Holten from Ardee, Co. Louth, brought together young people born after 1980 'who enjoy freedom of movement in Europe and work in a country they did not grow up in.'

Committees : Recommendations on enhancing the visibility of the work of human rights defenders and on providing EU emergency visas to enable them and their families to escape oppressive regimes are set out in a resolution drafted by Human Rights Subcommittee chair Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, FI) and approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday. The resolution also strongly condemns the use of new surveillance technologies to keep tabs on human rights defenders in their home countries.

General : On 9 May 1950, Robert Schuman laid the foundations of the European Union as we know it today, calling for a Europe built on concrete achievements, starting with genuine solidarity. To mark the Schuman Declaration's 60th anniversary, the European Parliament and other EU institutions will hold a festival of Europe and open days in Brussels on 8 May and Strasbourg on 9 May. Parliament's President Jerzy Buzek will be in Strasbourg throughout 9 May.Source : © European Parliament

General : The European Parliament will hold a special commemorative ceremony on Wednesday in memory of all those who died when the plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczyński and an official delegation crashed near Smolensk in Russia on Saturday morning.Source : © European Parliament

The EU must step up its sanctions against Madagascar, said ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) Co-President Louis Michel at the opening of the JPA's 19th session in Tenerife (Spain) on Monday. This item will be on the agenda at the April foreign affairs Council, promised Spain's Foreign Affairs Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.Source : © European Parliament

Economic governance and monetary policy took centre stage in Thursday's annual debate on the Euro area with ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet and European Commissioner Olli Rehn. MEPs voted three resolutions, on the Euro area and public finances, the work of the ECB in 2008, and the appointment of candidate ECB Vice-President Vitor Constâncio, whom they backed for the post.Source : © European Parliament

Following the first ever meeting with the College of European Commissioners in Brussels, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek said: "This was a very successful meeting. It was very useful to discuss directly with the college setting out the Parliament's priorities."Source : © European Parliament

MEPs and national MPs came together in a two-day debate on 16 and 17 March to debate financial regulation, revitalisation of the EU economy and the world's new financial architecture. Guests included Spanish economy and finance minister Elena Salgado, IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, European Central Bank senior economist Jürgen Stark and Commissioners Olli Rehn and Michel Barnier.Source : © European Parliament

'You are here', a book project including contributions from 14 young people across Europe, was today announced as the Irish winner which will go forward to compete for the Charlemagne European Youth Prize in Aachen in Germany on 11 May. The project, which was submitted by John Holten from Ardee, Co. Louth, brought together young people born after 1980, 'who enjoy freedom of movement in Europe and work in a country they did not grow up in.'Source : © European Parliament

At the opening of this week's Strasbourg plenary session, European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek expressed sorrow for the victims of the earthquakes in Turkey, Chile and Haiti as well as the storms in France. He also congratulated Lithuania and Estonia on the 20th anniversaries of their independence (11 March) and, referring to the 51st anniversary of the Tibetan uprising, called on China to engage in dialogue with the people of Tibet.Source : © European Parliament

A wide range of major financial issues thrown up by the economic crisis were aired at a hearing held on Thursday by Parliament's Special Committee on Financial, Economic and Social Crisis (CRIS) with Bank of France governor Christian Noyer and other experts.Source : © European Parliament