22/05 - 28/05

Monday 22 May

Brussels. Council of the EU. Eurogroup. – Greece: progress report on the preliminary agreement between the Troika and Greece on the new raft of reforms with a view to forthcoming financial assistance of the ESM; budgetary objectives from 2018 and sustainability of the debt. – Economic situation in the Eurozone; - Spain: results of the seventh post-programme monitoring mission.
Brussels. Council of the EU. ‘General Affairs’ Council. Article 50: adoption of the decision to open negotiations with the United Kingdom and of the negotiating directives for the first phase of talks (citizens’ rights, financial settlement, situation of Ireland); adoption of the decision to set in place an ad hoc working group to assist the Council and Coreper on Brexit
Brussels. Council of the EU. ‘Education, Youth, Culture and Sport’ Council (and 23/05). *Youth: - resolution on the future and structured dialogue to take account of the voices of young people in defining EU policies; - conclusions on the development of skills (role of socio-educational actions in the transition to adulthood) and post-2018 cooperation in the field of youth; - debate on the theme ‘Building the Europe of tomorrow – listening to and supporting young people’. *Education: - adoption of a recommendation on the European certification framework for life-long learning; - progress of work on Europass (common framework in the field of skills and certification); - discussion on how to modernise the education systems.
Malta. Council of the EU. Informal meeting of the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministers. Evolution of agriculture in the context of climate change: importance of water resources, development of research, flexible support to farmers to adapt to these challenges, resilience and risk management. On the sidelines of the meeting: meeting of the Special Agriculture Committee to discuss ongoing negotiations on the ‘omnibus’ regulation following amendments by the European Parliament committee.
Brussels. European Commission. Presentation by Commissioners Dombrovskis, Moscovici and Thyssen of the spring package of the ‘European Semester’ budgetary process
Brussels. European Parliament. Activities of the committees (to 29/05). – ITRE: mission to Poland to examine the Polish energy mix and the rise of innovative SMEs and start-ups (to 24/05). – LIBE: mission to Greece to examine the functioning of the hotspots hosting migrants (to 25/05). – BUDG: mission to Tunisia to verify the implementation of the recent EU support to this country (to 24/05). – EMPL: mission to Estonia to examine the social effects and the effect on employment of a highly advanced digital economy (to 24/05). – INTA: mission to Indonesia to examine the challenges and problems posed by a possible new trade deal with the EU, including non-tariff barriers and environmental issues related to the palm oil industry (to 24/05). – FEMM: mission to Poland to observe the women’s rights situation (to 24/05)

Tuesday 23 May

Brussels. Council of the EU. ‘Economic and Financial Affairs’ Council. *Taxation: - agreement on a new dispute settlement system in the field of double taxation and adoption of rules on “hybrid mismatches” between tax regimes. – Stock-take on the work on the proposed common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB). *Finance: - examination of the in-depth balance sheets of the macroeconomic imbalances in 2017 13 member states. – Free movement of capital and payments. – Results of the spring international finance meetings.
Brussels. Council of the EU. ‘Education, Youth, Culture and Sport’ Council. *Culture: general orientation on the revision of the ‘audiovisual media service’ directive; - conclusions on an EU strategic approach in the field of international cultural relations. *Sport: - adoption of a resolution on the working plan 2017-2020 in favour of sport; - adoption of conclusions on sport as a social inclusion tool; - discussion on creating a media policy to support social objectives in sport.
Brussels. Council of the EU. EU/Armenia cooperation council.
Brussels. European Council and European Commission. Meeting of the Presidents of the European Council and of the European Commission, Mr Tusk and Mr Juncker, with the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, ahead of the summit of the organisation (see below).

Wednesday 24 May

Brussels. European Commission. Weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners. – Seminar to prepare for the White Paper on the future of European defence up to 2025. – Youth initiative: modernisation of school and higher education: proposed improved monitoring of the results for graduates and young people from vocational education and training. – Draft budget 2018. – Legal proposal to reinforce the European Solidarity Corps.
Brussels. Council of the EU. Coreper I and II.

Thursday 25 May

Brussels. European Council and European Commission. In parallel to the NATO summit (25-26/05) and on the eve of the G7 summit (see below): - EU/USA summit and visit of the American President, Donald Trump, to the European institutions (meeting with the Presidents of the European Council and of the European Commission). – Meetings of the Presidents of the European Council and of the European Commission with the Turkish President, Mr Erdogan, and of the President of the Commission with the French President, Emmanuel Macron.

Friday 26 May

Taormina (Italy) (and 27/05). International meetings. G7 summit under Italian Presidency and with the participation of the Presidents of the European Council and of the European Commission, and of the President of the United States, Donald Trump, on the subject of “Building the foundations of renewed trust”. Regaining the confidence of the citizens by focusing on: the security of the citizens; economic, environmental and social viability and reducing inequality; innovation, acquiring new skills and work with a view to the digital revolution in production.

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