Highlights of the year so far in the European Parliament

1) The Euro in Crisis

The deepening debt crisis in the Eurozone has dominated the work of the EU institutions over the last few months. Portugal - the home country of Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso - became the latest country to need a bailout, whilst violent protests swept Greece as its government passed a tough austerity budget to meet the terms of its EU/IMF loan. Eurosceptics in the European Parliament - such as UKIP's Nigel Farage - said it was a sign of the failure of the single currency and described the bailout as "a form of sado-monetarism". However at a debate on 22 June ahead of a summit of EU leaders, Mr Barroso remained defiant, promising that the EU would show solidarity with Greece. You can see the full debate on the video above.

2) An end to open borders?

The single currency was not the only totemic policy of the EU to have its future called into question. MEPs condemned the decision by some member states to reintroduce border checks, flouting the Schengen agreement which allows the free movement of people within the EU (with the exception of the UK and Ireland). French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi called for a revision of Schengen after France stopped migrants arriving by train from Italy. Meanwhile Denmark put border guards in place at the borders with Germany and Sweden. The pressure of Schengen became acutely visible when thousands of migrants crossed the Mediterranean Sea, fleeing revolutions in North Africa. Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom insisted she wanted to protect and promote Schengen as "a wonderful symbol of European integration". However Maltese MEP Simon Busuttil pleaded for assistance from the Commission for countries on Europe's external fringes, pointing out that "1,000 migrants arriving in Malta is the equivalent of 400 million migrants arriving in the EU as a whole".

3) EU presidency passed from Hungary

Hungary's six month tenure of the EU Presidency was dogged by controversy, with many MEPs expressing deep concern over the country's new constitution and its new media law. The centre-right government of Viktor Orban, who had been one of the leading figures in the revolution to topple Communism at the end of the 1980s, had used its sizeable parliamentary majority to push through a new law that created a new oversight committee of the country's media. It was modified after complaints from the European Commission but MEPs from the centre-left, liberal and socialist groups raised the issue whenever Mr Orban addressed parliament. Summing up his country's presidency during the last plenary session before the summer break, he said it had been "highly successful", but critics such as Green group co-leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit said domestic woes had undermined the country's leadership of the EU.

4) EU presidency passed to Poland

It proved to be a much more successful start to Poland's presidency in July, with the centre-right government of Donald Tusk taking over the reigns from it southern neighbour. Mr Tusk launched his six month tenure with a passionate call for "more Europe - more European integration", music to the ears of many MEPs across the political spectrum. Socialist group leader Martin Schultz said it had been "one of the best speeches I have heard", whilst Green group co-leader Rebecca Harms said she had been "soothed" by Mr Tusk's words. However it didn't go down well with everyone. Dutch right-winger Barry Madlener accused Mr Tusk of misjudging the mood in Europe - adding that Dutch taxpayers "should not have to pay for improvements in the lives of Romanians and Poles", comments described as racist by Mr Schultz.

5) The Arab Spring

As well as internal issues, MEPs have spent much of the last few months focusing on events across the Mediterranean, with countries from Tunisia to Syria facing revolutions. Although the European Parliament has very limited powers in foreign affairs, a number of resolutions were passed urging an immediate end to the violence and a smooth transfer to democracy. The EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs Baroness Ashton was a regular visitor to Strasbourg, but didn't always get a warm welcome. In March she was criticised by MEPs from the liberal and green groups for not formally recognising the Libyan opposition Transitional National Council, whilst the Parliament as a whole was split over the need for military action. However much of the criticism was reserved for member states - British Labour MEP Richard Howitt attacked governments for cosying up to Gadaffi in the past, and reminded his colleagues that the EU had been on the verge of signing a trade agreement with Libya before the conflict broke out.

6) The future of nuclear

The tsunami disaster in Japan that led to the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear reactor threw the EU's reliance on nuclear energy into sharp focus. The Energy Commission demanded "stress tests" be carried out at all nuclear facilities across the EU, to check on their ability to withstand natural or man-made disasters. Although countries such as the UK and Japan have said they are committed to new nuclear power stations, German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a shock announcement that the country would make a phased withdrawal from all reliance on nuclear energy. In April, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned that some levels of radioactive material had been found in food imports from Japan and introduced more rigorous checks. Then in June Commissioner Oettinger was attacked over the stress tests when it emerged that much of the tests would be on a voluntary nature, in the hands of the nuclear operators.

7) EU budget under attack

Money matters provoked rows in many European Parliament debates, as MEPs clashed over future funding. Under discussion were two separate budgetary proposals - the EU's budget for 2012, and the long term future financing of the Union. Budget Commissioner Janusz Lewandowski put forward a proposal for a 5% increase in the EU's budget for 2014-2020, a position attacked by the UK government who called for a freeze. However this stance was lambasted by the leader of the Liberal group Guy Verhofstadt. He accused the UK of "continuing the policies of the past". Meanwhile MEPs have called for an increase in the Parliament's own budget for 2012 - critics of the increase were accused by Finnish MEP Carl Haglund of "competing to be the most populist". Arguments over the budget are likely to increase when MEPs return from their summer break, and a stand-off between the Parliament, Commission and Council seems increasingly likely.

8) The role of women

An MEP from the UK Independence Party provoked outrage when he said that quotas for women on the board of companies were "madness". Godfrey Bloom - a member of the Parliament's Gender Equality Committee - said quotas were patronising, during the debate to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day. He said small businesses would be "stark staring mad" to employ a woman of child-bearing age due to "draconian" maternity leave provisions. However his comments didn't go down well with some colleagues, including the committee chair Eva-Britt Svensson, who said that greater maternity and paternity leave had led to an increase in female employment. Meanwhile Portuguese socialist Edite Estrela accused the UK of "having a problem with maternity leave". She said that in the UK "only rich families" were able to let women stay at home without causing financial difficulties.

9) Vegetable rows

Spanish vegetables took centre stage on a couple of occasions in the recent term of the European Parliament. An E-Coli outbreak in northern Germany that left at least 20 people dead led to blame initially being focused on cucumbers from Spain. However when this proved to be false, there was outrage from Spanish MEPs. Brandishing a cucumber during a plenary debate in June, independent MEP Francisco Sosa Wagner called on the EU "to restore the lost honour of the Spanish cucumber grower". Meanwhile earlier in the year, it was tomatoes that were the focus of debate. The petitions committee called on the European Commission to investigate allegations of unfair trade practices by Moroccan tomato exporters. The Spanish tomato industry claimed it was being undercut by cheap Moroccan imports. Spanish Green MEP Raul Romeva I Rueda denied his countrymen were being protectionist, saying it was about "fairness in trade".

democracylive@bbc.co.uk