(Strasbourg) This afternoon, Poland will be in the spotlight at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. “In a debate, the MEPs will consider the recent developments” of the legislation and Constitution, “and their impacts on fundamental rights”. And a non-binding resolution will be voted on, tomorrow. The debate will involve leaders of the EU Council and the EU Commission. The EU Commission, as explained by the EU Parliament, “on 13th January 2016 decided to start stage one of the ‘framework against systematic threats to the rule of law in Poland”. A first debate on the situation with the Polish Prime Minister, Beata Szydlo, and the first deputy president of the EU Commission, Frans Timmermans, was held to coincide with January’s plenary session in Strasbourg, followed by a non-binding resolution approved in April. The EU Commission issued an opinion on the rule of law in Poland on 1st June and a recommendation on 27th July. Yesterday, on opening the plenary session, president Martin Schulz asked the MEPs to hold a one-minute silence to commemorate the victims of the earthquake that devastated Central Italy on 24th August, killing almost 300 people and destroying towns. “Houses, palaces and churches can be rebuilt and will be, with the help of the European Union, but the void left by the dead cannot be filled”, stated Schulz, expressing Parliament’s sympathy with the victims, their families and the populations hit by the earthquake.