CALENDAR / Main activities of the european institutions
Monday 12/12 to Sunday 18/12
Monday 12 December
Brussels. Council of Ministers. 'Foreign Affairs' Council. - EU/Africa relations -communication in the spring and preparations for the EU/Africa Summit of autumn 2017. – Situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (sanctions). – Situation in South Sudan. – Recent developments in Syria and negotiation prospects. – Migration: progress in the approach to a partnership framework and country-specific pacts (Mali, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria and Ethiopia); work on the external investment plan of the European Fund for Sustainable Development also in preparation for the European Council. – North Korea (condemnation of nuclear testing and other acts threatening security. – On the side lines of the Council: - signature of the political dialogue and cooperation agreement with Cuba; - discussion with the President of Colombia, Manuel Santos, and signature of the agreement to create an EU Trust Fund for Colombia.
Brussels. Council of Ministers. 'Agriculture and Fisheries' Council (and 13/12). *Fisheries: – Fishing possibilities for 2017 for the principal fish stocks in the waters of the EU and certain non-EU waters and catch limits applicable in 2017 in the Black Sea (political agreement on these points on 13/12). *Agriculture: - Possible conclusions on reinforcing the farmers' position in the supply chain. – State of negotiations on organic production. – Exchange of views on the agricultural aspects of the Commission's proposals for a regulation on the division of efforts concerning non-ETS emissions of greenhouse gases and a regulation on land use and land and forestry use change. – Presentation of the Commission's opinion on the directive on the protection of bio-technological inventions recommending the exclusion of the patentability of products obtained from biological processes. Miscellaneous: - Commission's report on the implementation of the new regulation on protection measures against harmful organisms. - Migration and agriculture. – Results of the first meeting of the EU platform on food losses and waste.
Brussels. Council of Ministers. Coreper II.
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session (to15/12). *Debates: - Fundamental rights situation in the EU in 2015 (Nagy – LIBE). – Fisheries: deep water stocks in the north-eastern Atlantic (Thomas – PECH). – CAP tools to reduce price volatility (Delahaye – AGRI). – Recognition of the content of civil registry documents (QO Delvaux – JURI). – EU policy for the cultural sector (Ehler – ITRE – Morgano – Cult). – Women's rights in the countries of the Eastern partnership (Gabriel – FEMM).
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Activities of the committees (to 15/12). – DEVE-AFET-DROI: joint debate with the winners of the Sakharov Prize, Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar. – ECON-EMPL: examination of the annual growth review and the report on the early warning mechanism, launching the European Semester 2017, with Commissioners Dombrovskis (Euro and Social Dialogue), Moscovici (Economic and Financial Affairs) and Thyssen (Social Affairs).
Tuesday 13 December
Brussels. Council of Ministers. 'General Affairs' Council. – Examination of the draft conclusions of the European Summit of 15/12. – Debate and conclusions on the 'Enlargement package 2016' presented by the Commission. – State of progress in the mid-term review of the multi-annual financial framework 2014-2020. – 'Annual growth review' 2017 package, marking the launch of the 'European Semester' (general economic and social priorities).
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session. *Award of the Sakharov Prize. *Debates: - Presentation of the raft of measures on the Energy Union (Commission). – Final summary of the Slovak Presidency of the Council. – Debate with the High Representative on foreign affairs issues. – 2015 report on human rights and democracy in the world and EU policy (Weidenholzer – AFET). – Implementation of the CFSP (Brok – AFET). – EC/Uzbekistan textiles protocol (Arena – INTA). *Votes: - General revision of the regulation of Parliament (Corbett – AFCO). – EU/Algeria framework agreement on the participation of Algeria in programmes of the EU (Panzeri – AFET). – Texts on which the debate is closed.
Wednesday 14 December
Strasbourg. European Commission. Weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners.
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session. *Debates: - Preparations for the European Council. – Joint discussion railway package: - Standardisation of the accounts of railway companies (Kyllönen – TRAN). – National rail passenger transport services (van de Camp – TRAN). – Single European railway area (Sassoli – TRAN). – Access to the port services market (Fleckenstein – TRAN). – Aviation strategy for Europe (Telička – TRAN). – Accession of Ecuador to the EU/Colombia and Peru trade agreement: - Bilateral safeguard clause and banana stabilisation mechanism (de Sarnez – INTA); - EU/Colombia and Peru trade agreement (Scholz – INTA). *Votes: - Insolvency and insolvency practitioners (Zwiefka – JURI). – Agreement on Georgia/Europol strategic cooperation (Moraes – LIBE). – Appointment of Juhan Parts to the Court of Auditors (Staes – CONT). – EU/Norway agreement on fishing activities in Skagerrak and resolution on the agreement (Dohrmann – PECH). – Research programme of the coal and steel research fund (Buzek – ITRE). – Texts on which the debate is closed.
Brussels. European Economic and Social Committee. Plenary session (and 15/12). – Revision of the 'posted workers' directive. – Extension of the duration of the EFSI. – 'Innovative and sustainable economy' package (collaborative economy and functional economy). – Reflection on EU policies. – Development of EU/Turkey trade relations and modernisation of customs union. – Aviation II package.
Luxembourg. *Court of Justice of the EU. #Judgements: - C-238/15 (Bagança Linares Verruga e.a. – Legality of the Luxembourg provision requiring cross-border workers to work for an uninterrupted period of five years in Luxembourg in order to be able to claim a Luxembourg study bursary for their children).
Thursday 15 December
Brussels. European Council (and 16/12). *Migration: - Progress on the partnership frameworks for migration and results achieved concerning pacts with the African countries, orientations for the future and possible extension of this approach to other countries. – Legislative progress on external investment. – Implementation of the EU-Turkey declaration. – Reform of the asylum regime and application of the principles of responsibility and solidarity in the future. *Security: - Implementation of the security agenda. – Reinforcement of the EU's cooperation in external security and defence matters. *Economy, social development and youth: - Progress made on investment (EFSI), strategies concerning the single market, initiatives for youth and fighting youth unemployment. *External relations: - Relations with Russia. – Situation in the Netherlands in the context of the EU-Ukraine association agreement. *Informal meeting of the 27 on how to manage the process of Brexit after the United Kingdom triggers article 50.
Brussels. Council of Ministers. Coreper I.
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session. *Debates: - 2015 activities of the petitions committee (Vallina – PETI). – Cases of violations of human rights, democracy or the rule of law. – Paediatric medicines (QO – ENVI). *Votes: Resolutions on cases of human rights violations. – International aviation agreements.
Luxembourg. *Court of Justice of the EU. #Judgements: - joined cases C-401/15 (Depseme and Kerrou), C-402/15 (Kaufmann) and C-403/15 (Lefort – possibility of considering the child of a blended family the child of the step parent with a view to obtaining cross-border social benefits). #Conclusions: C-672/15 (Noria Distribution – possibility for a member state to prohibit imports of food supplements from another member state if one component exceeds its national limits). *General Court of the EU: #Judgements: - T-112/13 (Mondelez UK/ EUIPO – Nestlé – registration of the shape of the chocolate bar Kit Kat as an EU mark); - T-177/13 (TestBioTech e.a./Commission - cancellation of the Commission's rejection of the request to re-examine the marketing authorisation for products containing genetically modified soya); - joined cases T-758/14 (Infineon Technologies/Commission) and T-762/14 (Philips and Philips France/Commission – cancellation of the fine of €100 million handed down to Philips for its alleged participation in the cartel on the chip cards market).
