Romanian and Bulgarian lawmakers have taken their place for the first time in the European parliament as the first plenary session got under way since the two former communist countries joined the EU at the beginning of the year.

On Wednesday, the plenary session debated the outcome of last week's eighteenth Russia-EU summit - held in Helsinki on 24 November - with the Council and Commission. Energy, human rights, overflight payments, customs issues and Russia's ban on meat imports from Poland were all part of the discussion.