The European Parliament returns for its first session of 2025 with contentious issues dominating the agenda—mass killings during Iran’s protest crackdown, US plans to annex Greenland, and the presentation of Cyprus’s EU Council Presidency priorities.
MEPs will discuss Cyprus’s six-month presidency programme on Tuesday with the President of Cyprus. The presidency, which began on 1 January, operates under the motto “An autonomous union. Open to the world.”
Cyprus will focus on strengthening the EU’s strategic autonomy whilst maintaining commitment to multilateral approaches, international law and global cooperation. Priorities include security and defence readiness, economic, maritime and energy security, water resilience, migration management, and democratic resilience and crisis preparedness.
Competitiveness forms a structural element of the presidency programme—achieved through simplifying rules, completing the single market, driving innovation, securing digital sovereignty and advancing the green transition.
Cyprus will focus on EU enlargement, continued support for, deeper cooperation with southern neighbours and Gulf partners, and an open, rules-based trade policy. Social and economic issues, including affordable housing, EU values, and a strong long-term EU budget for 2028-2034, also feature prominently.
The Greenland question looms large. European governments have rejected US plans to annex Greenland, warning such moves would undermine state sovereignty, NATO cohesion and transatlantic security.
Multiple EU governments, including Denmark, stated that decisions on Greenland’s status fall exclusively to Denmark and Greenland. They emphasised Arctic collective security under NATO leadership and cautioned against unilateral actions that could destabilise allied relations and regional stability.
Danish and Greenlandic authorities have repeatedly insisted Greenland is not for sale and called for cooperation instead. Greenland is an autonomous region of Denmark. Beyond NATO alliance commitments, Washington and Copenhagen signed a 1951 defence treaty committing the US to defend the island from potential aggression. Current US military presence is limited to Pituffik Space Base.
Iran’s brutal suppression of nationwide protests will feature in a resolution MEPs are expected to approve. Iranian authorities have intensified violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations that erupted in recent weeks, causing a dramatic rise in deaths.
Human rights organisations estimate hundreds of protesters have been killed. Despite an almost complete internet shutdown and strict telephone communication restrictions, information continues leaking from the country—including authenticated videos showing protesters being killed and rows of corpses in bags outside medical facilities.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola expressed support for “the brave people of Iran” and urged the EU to immediately expand sanctions to include everyone sustaining the regime through suppression, violence and murders.
On 12 January, Metsola announced an entry ban for all diplomatic personnel and representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran to European Parliament premises.
“This Parliament will not help legitimise this regime that has been maintained through torture, suppression and murders,” Metsola said.
Read more:
