20/11 - 26/11

Monday 20 November

• Brussels. Council of the EU. ‘Education, Youth, Culture and Sport’ Council (and 21/11). *Youth: - Definition of a general orientation on the proposed regulation on the European solidarity corps. – Conclusions on intelligent youth work. *Education: - Discussion on the future of skills and the evolution of the role of vocational teaching and training. – Adoption of the recommendation on the monitoring of graduates. – Conclusions on the development of schools and teaching of excellence and Conclusions on a new EU strategy for higher education.
• Brussels. Council of Ministers. ‘General Affairs’ Council. *European Affairs: - Preparations for the meeting of the European Council of 14-15/12 on the basis of an annotated agenda. – State of progress in the implementation of the inter-institutional ‘Better Regulation’ agreement. – Discussions on the European Commission’s working programme for 2018. – Presentation of the roadmap for the ‘European Semester’ 2018. – Adoption without debate of conclusions on the reform of cyber-security in the EU. – Approval of the entry/exit system for travellers entering the Schengen zone or the EU. *‘Article 50’ formation: - Debate with Michel Barnier on the state of progress in the Brexit talks. – Preparations for the ‘Article 50’ European Council of December. – Vote on the transfer of the headquarters of the European Banking Authority and the European Medicines Agency and decision on their future locations.
• Nay Pyi Daw (Myanmar). Council of Ministers. Meeting of the foreign affairs ministers of ASEM (and 21/11). EU/Asia dialogue: – Security. – Trade. – Climate change. – Sustainable development. – Connectivity. – Launch of preparations for the 12th ASEM summit, to be held in Brussels in October 2018.
• Brussels. European Parliament. Activities of the committees (to 31/08). – ENVI-ITRE-AGRI-PETI: public hearing on the citizens’ initiative ‘Stop Glyphosate!’. – LIBE: vote on the opinion on copyright in the digital single market. – CONT: vote on the draft opinion on the forthcoming multi-annual financial framework ahead of the preparation of the Parliament’s position on the post-2020 MFF. Vote on the draft opinion on the reform of the EU’s system of own resources.

Tuesday 21 November

• Brussels. Council of the EU. ‘Education, Youth, Culture and Sport’ Council. *Culture: Conclusions on promoting access to culture by digital means. – Discussions on the role of culture for the cohesion of society. – Stock-take with the Commission on the revision of the ‘audiovisual media services’ directive. *Sport: - Discussions with the President of the International Olympic Committee on the challenges of sport in the 21st century (drugs, violence, fraud, etc.) and cooperation with the EU, governments and sports movements. – Conclusions on the role of trainers in society. – Resolution on the development of structured EU dialogue on sport.
• Brussels. European Parliament. Activities of the committees. – LIBE: hearing of Commissioner King and other representatives of the Presidency of the Council and the data protection supervisor on the interoperability of EU information systems. Discussions on EU/Africa relations in the fields of migration, asylum and official readmission agreements. – IMCO: discussions of the report on the legislative proposal on a single digital bridge to extend and integrate national and European portals with a view to facilitating users’ access to information. – AFCO: hearing on the subject “Constitutional implications of the various scenarios for the future of the EU”. – ECON: public hearing on the pan-European personal pension product (PEPP). – JURI: hearing on corporate social responsibility.
• Luxembourg. * Court of Justice of the EU. #Conclusions: C-191/16 (Pisciotti – Possibility of extending protection from extradition enjoyed by nationals of a member state to other citizens of the EU whose extradition has been requested of that state).

Wednesday 22 November

• Brussels. European Commission. Weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners. – ‘European Semester’ package including the annual growth review 2018) (Dombrovskis). – Initiative on endocrine disruptors (Katainen). – Proposal for a full-time EU Civil Protection Mechanism with its own operational capabilities (Juncker and Stylianides).
• Brussels. Council of the EU. Coreper I and II and ‘Article 50’ Coreper.
• Brussels. European Parliament. Activities of the committees. – Parliament and committees: High-level conference on recent developments in the field of security, human rights, sustainable development and migration ahead of the forthcoming EU/Africa summit. – Resumption of the debate on the functioning of the EU single market in the field of road transport. – TRAN: hearing on the impact of Brexit on the land transport sector. – DROI: hearing on the freedom of religion and belief and the situation of persecuted minorities, such as Christians. – PETI: public hearing on the protection of the rights of temporary workers and those in insecure employment situations. – SEDE: discussions with experts on risks and trends in climate change and their implications for the security of the EU. – TRAN: public hearing on the functioning of the single market in the road transport sector and its social aspects.
• Luxembourg. * Court of Justice of the EU. #Judgements: C-251/16 (Cussen e.a. – Possibility of applying the ban on abusive VAT practices independently of a national measure to give it effect in the member states cut that

Thursday 23 November

• Brussels. European Parliament. Activities of the committees. – AGRI: hearing on the subject “Implementation of policies in favour of young farmers following the CAP reform of 2013”.

Friday 24 November

• Brussels. European Council. Fifth Summit of the Eastern Partnership. – Results achieved since the summit of Riga in 2015 and future of EU/Eastern Partnership cooperation: economy and trade, reinforcement of the institutions and good governance, improving connectivity (transport and energy), increasing mobility and inter-personal contact. – State of progress in the 20 targets set out in December 2016 and reviewed in June 2017.
• Brussels. Council of the EU. Coreper I.