CALENDAR / Main events at the european institutions
Monday 19 to Sunday 25 December
Monday 19 December
Brussels. Council of Ministers. Environment Council. – Seeking agreement on examination of exchange system for emissions quotas, EQES. – Progress in work on two proposals to reduce emissions not covered by EQES (use of forests and land). – Adoption of conclusions on protection of human health and the environment through rational use of chemicals. – Examination of progress on draft legislation on waste (the circular economy). – Presentation of Maltese Presidency work programme for the environment (first half of 2017).
Brussels. European Council and Council of Ministers. Third meeting of EU-Ukraine Association Council. – EU-Ukraine relations: political dialogue and reforms, association, justice and security, economic sectoral and commercial cooperation. – Sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, EU strategy at regional level.
Nairobi (Kenya). European Parliament. Thirty-second ACP-EU assembly plenary (until 21/12). – Aid to help migrants settle in their countries of origin. – Consequences on development of unlawful financing. – Problems of small-scale agricultural production in ACP nations. – Post-electoral situation in Gabon.
Tuesday 20 December
Brussels. Council of Ministers. COREPER II.
Wednesday 21 December
Brussels. European Commission. Weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners. – Action Plan on financing of terrorism: Proposed harmonisation of infringements and sanctions for money-laundering; proposal on strengthening mutual recognition of rulings to freeze and confiscate criminals’ assets; proposals to combat unlawful transfers of cash. – Third progress report on Security Union. – EU security programme: revision of Schengen Information System on application of laws and border-management - Report on visa reciprocity. – VAT Action Plan: temporary derogation to application of self-assessment in certain member states. - Communication ‘Developing Customs Union and its governance’ and other Customs Union questions.
Luxembourg. * European Court of Justice. #Rulings: - Combined cases C-20/15 P (Commission/World Duty Free Group) and C-21/15 P (Commission/Banco Santander and Santusa – annulment of decision that the Spanish tax exemption for investment in foreign companies is unlawful). – Combined cases C-154/15 (Gutiérrez Naranjo), C-307/15 (Palacios Martinez) and C-308/15 (Banco Popular Español – compliance with EU law on time limitation for consequences of non-application of ‘floor’ clauses in mortgage contracts in Spain). – C-201/15 (AGET Iraklis – opposition from a member state to collective redundancy plans taking account of labour market conditions, the company’s situation and the interests of the national economy). – Combined cases C-203/15 (Tele2 Sverige) and C-698/15 (Watson et al. – legality of requiring suppliers of electronic communication suppliers to preserve data as a matter of course). – C-104/16 P (Council/Front Polisario – Applicability to Western Sahara of EU-Morocco liberalisation agreement). – C-7T/15 (Vervloet et al. – legality of guarantee granted by Belgium to ARCO financial cooperatives). – combined cases C-164/15 P (Commission/Aer Lingus) and C-165/15 P (Commission/Ryanair Designated Activity Company – Determining the scale of state aid from Ireland in the form of a tax deduction on air transport to be recovered from airlines). – C-618/15 (Competition – power of national judges to ban illegal sales of goods on national Amazon website and Amazon websites in other member states). #Conclusions: - Opinion 2/15 (EU power to exclusively sign and conclude a free-trade deal with Singapore). – C-213/15 P (Commission/Breyer – possibility for the Commission to refuse access to notes from member states in proceedings at the ECJ). – C-17/16 (El Dakkar and Intercontinental – possibility to force a non-EU national transiting through the EU to declare any sums of above €10,000).
