Committee on Foreign Affairs

On 16 October, the European Commission and the High Representative set out a strategy to strengthen EU relations with its Southern Mediterranean partners the Pact for the Mediterranean. On 20 October, Dubravka Šuica, Commissioner for the Mediterranean will present this Joint Communication to the Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Strasbourg.

On 23 September, the Committees on Foreign Affairs and on Development, together with the Subcommittee on Human Rights, presented the candidates for this year's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, one of the most important events of the European Parliament. On 16 October, the AFET and DEVE committees will meet again to narrow down the list of nominees to a three-candidate shortlist, via a secret vote.

On Thursday, 16 October 2025, the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and the Committee on Development (DEVE) will organise a joint public hearing on "Global Gateway – past impacts and future orientation". This hearing brings together experts and stakeholders to discuss the achievements and challenges of the Global Gateway strategy, launched by the Commission in 2021.

The nominees for this year’s Prize will be presented by the political groups in a joint meeting of the Committees on Foreign Affairs (AFET) and on Development (DEVE) and the Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) in Brussels on 23 September, 14:30-15:30. Each year, the Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to honour exceptional individuals and organisations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms.

On Monday, 22 September 2025 in room Spaak 3C50 (16:00-17:30), the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET) will hold a public hearing on promoting an EU feminist foreign policy. This hearing brings together Margot Wallström, who launched the world's first feminist foreign policy in 2014 when she was Foreign Minister of Sweden, and Aude Maio-Coliche, the EU Ambassador for Equality, to discuss how an EU feminist foreign policy could take shape and what the EU is currently doing in this field.

A delegation of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), led by MEP Matjaž Nemec (S&D, SI) will travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina from 16 to 18 September 2025. This will be the first official visit of the AFET Committee to the Western Balkans in the 10th legislative term.

A delegation of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), led by Chair David McAllister, will travel to Ottawa and Toronto from 16 to 18 September 2025. This will be the AFET Committee's first official visit to Canada under the European Parliament's current mandate and after the 2025 Canadian federal elections.