CALENDAR / Main activities of the european institutions
15/01 - 21/01/2018
Monday 15 January
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session (to 18/01). *Debates: - Promoting the use of energy produced from renewable sources (Blanco López – ITRE); - Energy efficiency (Poche – ITRE); - Governance of the Energy Union (Rivasi - ENVI, Turmes – ITRE); - Conservation of fish stocks and protecting the marine ecosystems (Mato – PECH); - Management, conservation and control in South Pacific (Engström – PECH); - EU macro-regional strategies (Cozzolino – REGI); - International governance of the oceans in the context of the SDGs 2030 (Faria – ENVI); - Women, gender equality and climate justice (Engström – FEMM).
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Activities of the committees (to 18/01). – LIBE: examination of the ‘Interoperability’ package proposed by the Commission in December of last year, with Commissioner Julian King (Security Union)
Tuesday 16 January
Strasbourg. European Commission. Weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners. – Third ‘Fair taxation’ package (including a proposed directive of the Council for a common value-added tax system concerning small businesses and a proposed directive of the Council on rules governing the setting of VAT rates) (Dombrovskis). – ‘Circular economy’ package (including a strategy on the use, reuse and recycling of plastics) (Timmermans/Katainen). – ‘Education’ package – following up on the Commission’s contribution to the social summit of Gothenburg of 17/11/2017 (communication of the Commission on reinforcing the European identity through education and culture) (Ansip/Katainen). – Progress report on the implementation of the action plan on non-performing loans (NPL) (Dombrovskis).
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session. *Debates: - Results of the Estonian Presidency of the Council (Council and Commission); - Conclusions of the European Council of 14-15/12/17 (European Council and Commission). *Votes: Engström (PECH and FEMM), Cozzolino, Mato and Faria reports on which the debate concluded the day before (see above). *Debates: - Support for the peace process in Colombia, situation in Iraq and Kenya (HR Mogherini); - Controls on exports of dual-use products (Buchner – INTA); - Oral question: Chapters on trade and sustainable development in the EU’s trade agreements (Lange -INTA).
Luxembourg. *General Court of the EU: #Judgments: - T-398/16 (Starbucks/EUIPO – Starbucks’ objection to the registration of the figurative sign COFFEE ROCKS as an EU mark). – T-747/15 (EDF/Commission – Cancellation of the Commission order to France to recover State aid of €1.37 billion granted to EDF).
Wednesday 17 January
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session. *Priority debates: - Presentation of the programme of activities of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council (Council and Commission). - Debate on the future of Europe with Leo Varadkar, the Irish Prime Minister. *Votes: - Nomination of Ms Lindström and Mr Murphy as members of the Court of Auditors (Tarand – CONT); - Buchner, Blanco López, Poche and Rivasi-Turmes reports on which the debate concluded on 15 and 16/01 (see above). *Topical debate (article 153a of the internal regulation): - Influence of Russian propaganda in the countries of the EU. – Implementation in the member states of the Youth Employment Initiative (Tomc – EMPL). – Decision on the ‘plastics’ strategy (Commission). – Jurisdictions, recognition and implementation of decisions on marriage or parental responsibility and international abduction of children (Zwiefka – JURI); - Treaty of Marrakech to facilitate the access of the blind and vision-impaired to printed texts (Andersson – JURI); - Fight against the trafficking of women and girls for the purposes of sexual exploitation and work (oral question EPP, S&D, ECR, ALDE, Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL and EFDD groups). – European Year of Cultural Heritage.
Brussels. Council of the EU. Coreper I.
Brussels. European Economic and Social Committee. 531st plenary session (and 18/01). *Debates: - Climate-finance pact. – Priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU. – Transport: ‘Aviation’ package, driving time and posted workers in road transport. – Enterprise: global approach to industrial policy, promoting the role of SMEs, fighting fraud in payments other than cash. – Economy: economic policy in the Eurozone in 2018, tackling tax evasion and avoidance.
Thursday 18 January
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session. *Debates: Implementation of the directive on the recognition of professional qualifications (Danti – IMCO). - Cases of violations of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (Nigeria, DRC, imprisoned activists). *Votes: Anderssson, Zwiefka, Tomc and Danti reports on which the debate has concluded (see above). *Major interpellations (article 130 b of the internal regulation).
Brussels. European Investment Bank (EIB). Presentation of the annual results of the EIB Group, its strategic objectives for 2018 and its future role, on the occasion of its 60th anniversary.
Brussels. Council of the EU. Coreper II.
Luxembourg. *Court of Justice of the EU. #Judgment: C-45/17 (Jahin – Possibility for France to subject the income of French nationals working in other EU/EEA states or Switzerland to social contributions). #Conclusions: C-528/16 (Confédération paysanne e.a. - Are organisms obtained by mutagenesis subject to the rules of the directive on GMOs?).
