The impact on Brexit of the failed gamble by British Prime Minister, Theresa May (see other article), and the promise kept by American President Donald Trump to turn his back on the Paris Climate Agreement are two bolts from the blue to be debated on Wednesday by the session of the European Parliament to open in Strasbourg on Monday 12 June.
The former will be on the agenda on Wednesday morning as part of preparations for the European Council 22 and 23 June, given over to the impact of the result of the snap general election on Brexit, plus migration, security and defence. The latter, included on the agenda by request of the S&D group, will be discussed in a debate on Wednesday morning.
The agenda will also include controversial issues, such as fiscal equity, and contested ones, such as the Commission’s decision to relaunch the authorisation procedures for glyphosate.
Presidents of three republics to address MEPs. The Maltese President, Joseph Muscat, will appear on Wednesday to answer questions from MEPs regarding alleged links between his country and certain tax evasion practices. The President of the Marshall Islands, a small island state that is particularly vulnerable to climate change, will launch the debate on the US withdrawal from the universal climate agreement. The Ivorian President, Alassane Ouattara, will make a formal speech on Wednesday lunchtime, which is also expected to touch upon climate change.
Energy labelling of household devices: In the morning of Tuesday 13 June, with a vote scheduled for the same day, the MEPs will debate the agreement in principle concluded with the Council on simplifying the labelling of low-energy products, with a return to single labelling that is more readable for consumers, between A and G (rather than A + to A+++) (see EUROPE 11751).
Climate/Trump: although all MEPs condemned the Trump administration’s withdrawal decision as a blow to the planet, the debate is expected to show divisions between the Greens/EFA, S&D and GUE, in one corner, and the Right (EPP/ECR), with the former calling for the EU to step up its commitments and the latter arguing that nothing has actually happened yet, the US federal states will continue to commit and European industry should not be penalised.
Sharing efforts outside ETS: the MEPs will debate on Tuesday and take position on Wednesday on the draft EU regulation aiming to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in non-ETS sectors (transport, agriculture, construction and waste) by 30% for the period 2021-2030 to implement the Paris Agreement. The aim is to give rapporteur Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy a mandate to open inter-institutional negotiations. The text will certainly be amended. The deadline for the political groups to table amendments was still open on Friday 9 June, following the committee on the environment’s vote, which was more ambitious than the Commission’s initial proposal (see EUROPE 11798).
Gender pay gap. On Monday 12 June, the Parliament will debate a resolution on ways of reducing gender inequality in employment and pay, with a particular view to avoiding discrimination and pension gaps of nearly 40% in the EU, with a vote on Wednesday.
Glyphosate: Concerned by the diverging opinions of the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) on the one hand, and EFSA and ECHA on the other, over the toxicity of the active substance in Monsanto’s total pesticide and by the Monsanto Papers revelations, and outraged that the Commission has relaunched the glyphosate authorisation procedure, possibly for ten years, the MEPs will question the institution, on the basis of an oral question adopted by the environment committee (see EUROPE 11798)
30 years of Erasmus+. The 30th anniversary of the student exchange programme Erasmus, which, in addition to its popularity with more than 9 million beneficiaries, has indirectly led to 1 million babies born to couples who met through the programme, will be celebrated on Tuesday 13 June in the presence of 33 Erasmus students to be awarded prizes.
The many other subjects on the agenda include the post-2020 EU cohesion policy (vote on Tuesday); the 2016 progress reports on reform efforts in Serbia and Kosovo (two votes on Tuesday); instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo (vote on Wednesday), the deepening of Economic and Monetary Union in the framework of the reflection on the future of the EU (debate on Tuesday) (see EUROPE 11799); - the list of countries to host the European Capitals of Culture for the years 2020 to 2033 (vote on Tuesday). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)