CALENDAR / Main activities of the european institutions
15/05 - 21/05
Monday 15 May
Brussels. Council of the EU. ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council. – Stock-take of the EU’s global security and defence strategy. – Situation in the Horn of Africa (political and security issues). – EU/Africa relations: new impetus to the EU/Africa partnership ahead of the EU/Africa summit of November and working lunch with the President of the African Union, Moussa Faki Mahamat. – Situation of the Eastern Partnership ahead of the ministerial meeting of 19/06 and the Eastern Partnership Summit of 24/11.
Brussels. Council of the EU. EU/Tajikistan Cooperation Council. – Bilateral relations under the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. – Stock-take of the implementation of the EU’s strategy for Central Asia. – Political (reforms, human rights, etc.) and economic situation in Tajikistan and trade links.
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session (to 18/05). *Debates: - 2015 report on the fight against fraud (Pitera – CONT). – Cohesion policy: appropriate funding for the regions (Novakov – REGI); future of technical assistance (Tomasic – REGI). – Financial technology (van Nieuwenhuizen – ECON). –2016-2020 online administration action plan (Verheyen – IMCO). – Effectiveness of the use of resources (Borzan – ENVI). – External aspects of customs functioning and organisation (Beghin – INTA).
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Activities of the committees (and 12/05). BUDG-ECON: vote on the proposed extension of the EU Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI 2.0). – EMPL: vote on the opinion on the simplification of the financial rules applicable to the budget. – IMCO: discussion and vote on the online administration action plan (eGovernment) 2016-2020, to be voted on in plenary.
Tuesday 16 May
Brussels. Council of the EU. ‘General Affairs’ Council. – Preparations for the European Council of 22-23/06 (draft annotated agenda). – Progress report on the implementation of the previous conclusions of the European Council. – Follow-up on the White Paper on the future of Europe. – Any other business: rule of law situation in Poland.
Brussels. Council of the EU. Council of the European Economic Area.
Strasbourg. European Commission. Weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners. – European Semester: country-by-country recommendations (spring package). – Revision of Regulation 651/2014 on category exemptions to the EU rules on State aid. – Report of the High Representative on the European neighbourhood policy. – 7th progress report on the Security Union. – 12th report on the relocation and resettlement of migrants.
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session. *Debates: - Mastering globalisation up to 2025 (Commission communication). – Implementation of the EFSI (Fernandes, Bullmann). – European strategy towards Syria (communication of the High Representative). – 2016 AFET reports on: Serbia (McAllister) and Kosovo (Lunacek). – EU/Korea free-trade agreement (Szejnfeld – INTA). – Bangladesh Sustainability Compact (OQ Lange, Karim – INTA). – Joint discussion on the EU/Norway agreement (Borrelli – INTA and Commission). *Votes: - Protocol to the EU/Mongolia framework agreement (Scholz – AFET). – Adapting the EU/Bosnia Stabilisation and Association Agreement to Croatian accession (Preda – AFET). – EU/Norway external borders and visa agreement (Zdechovsky – LIBE). –2016 report on FYROM (Vajgl – AFET). – Two-state solution in the Middle East.
Luxembourg. *Court of Justice of the EU. #Opinion 2/15 on the possibility for the EU to conclude the free-trade agreement with Singapore on its own (without the involvement of the member states. #Judgment: C-682/15 (Berlioz Investment Fund – Possibility for the jurisdictions of a member state to verify the legality of requests for tax information sent by another member state). #Conclusions: C-195/16 (I – possibility of criminal proceedings against an individual who passed driving tests but has not yet received a driving licence. *General Court of the EU. #Judgment: T-122/15 (Landeskreditbank Baden-Wurttemberg/BCE – should this German bank be subject to the direct supervision of the ECB?)
Wednesday 17 May
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session. *Debates: - Conclusions of the European Council of 29/04 (statements by the Council and Commission). – Preparations for the G7 summit of 26-27/05. – Cross-border portability of online content services (Cavada – JURI). –2014 report on subsidiarity and proportionality (Karim – JURI). – Portability *Formal session: address by the UN Secretary General. – Road transport in the EU (Commission declaration). *Votes: texts on which the debate has been concluded.
Strasbourg. European Commission. Adoption of the monthly package of infringements.
Brussels. Council of the EU. Coreper I and II.
Luxembourg. *Court of Justice of the EU. #Judgments: C-365/16 (AFEP e.a. – Possibility for a member state to grant a tax exoneration for dividends paid to a parent company by a subsidiary in a different member state and then to tax the dividends when they are distributed by the parent). #Conclusions: C-501/15 P (EUIPO/Cactus – opposition to the registration of the mark ‘Cactus of Peace/Cactus de la Paz’)
Thursday 18 May
Brussels. Council of the EU. ‘Justice and Home Affairs’ Council. – Reform of European common asylum regime: stock-take on the work on the effective application of the principles of responsibility and solidarity. – Adoption and conclusions on the establishment of the EU’s priorities in fighting major organised crime between 2018 and 2021. – Joint discussion with the defence ministers on the fight against terrorism. – Discussion with the development ministers on the external aspects of migration.
Brussels. Council of the EU. ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council (Defence). – Stock-take and conclusions on the implementation of the EU’s global security and defence strategy (possibility for permanent structured cooperation, an annual coordinated examination of defence matters, reinforcing the rapid reaction tools, including battle groups, partnerships in the field of ESDP. – EU/NATO cooperation: implementation of the joint declaration of the Presidents of the Commission and of the European Council and of the Secretary General of NATO ahead of the EU/NATO Summit of 25/05. – Fight against terrorism: joint discussion with the home affairs ministers. – The meeting will be preceded by a meeting of the steering committee of the European Defence Agency.
Valletta (Malta). Council of the EU. Informal meeting of the energy ministers (and 19/05). – Proposal on energy efficiency as part of the “Clean energy for all Europeans” package, with a certain emphasis laid on energy efficiency. – Problems encountered by the islands in the transition to clean energy.
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session. *Debates: EU ‘collaborative economy’ programme (Danti – IMCO). – Longer product life cycle (Durand – IMCO). – Infringements of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (and vote). *Votes: accession of the EU to the International Cotton Advisory Committee (Ruas – INTA). – Texts on which the debate has been concluded
Luxembourg. *Court of Justice of the EU. #Judgments: C-356/15 (Commission/Belgium – in a case of fraud, refusal to recognise the A1 certificate issued by another member state). *General Court of the EU: #Judgment: T-410/16 (Makhlouf/Council - Cancellation of the continuation of restrictive rights in 2016-2017 against Mr Makhlouf, cousin of Bachar al-Assad).
Friday 19 May
Brussels. Council of the EU. ‘Foreign Affairs’ Council (Development). – Humanitarian crises in Africa, Yemen and Syria and risk of famine in Nigeria, South Sudan and Somalia. – EU/ACP relations following the expiry of the Cotonou agreement in 2020. – Implementation of the sustainable development programme up to 2030, to be attended by the Deputy Secretary General of the UN, Amina Mohamed.
