CALENDAR / Main activities of the european institutions
12/03 - 18/03
Monday 12 March
Brussels. Council of the EU. Eurogroup. – Greece: Eurogroup to note that Greece has properly carried out the two remaining prior actions for the third assessment of its adjustment programme. – Preparations for eurozone summit in March. – Preparations for international meetings, such as the IMF summit on changes in inflation and exchange rates.
Brussels. Council of the EU. Competitiveness Council (also 13/03). – European Semester: debate on digitising the economy. – Industrial policy: drawing up conclusions on a strategy for the future of industrial policy in the EU. – Single Market: on the 25th anniversary of the Single Market, the ministers will hold a public debate on possible improvements and intensification. – Services: as part of the competitiveness check-up, the ministers will examine costs due to undue restrictions on the services market- Consumers: examining an initiative by the Commission to revise consumer protection legislation. – Plastics: informal presentation by the Commission of its new strategy for recycling plastic. – Intellectual property: adoption of conclusions on Commission’s communication on implementation of intellectual property rights.
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session (until 15/03). *Debates: - Commission’s integrity policy (appointment of Secretary General) (Commission). – Gender equality in EU trade deals (Forenza – INTA ; Björk – FEMM). – Fighting violence against women and ratification of the Istanbul Convention by EU member states (Commission). – Cross-border parcel delivery services (Anderson – TRAN). – Initial qualification and training of drivers and driving licences (Lundgren – TRAN). – European strategy on smart, cooperative transport systems (Ujhelyi – TRAN). – Regions lagging behind in the EU (Giuffrida – REGI). Role of cities and regions in implementing the Paris Climate Agreement (Vallina – REGI).
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Committee work (until 15/03). – PEST : first meeting of new special committee on pesticide authorisations. – LIBE : structured dialogue with the first vice-president of the Commission, Frans Timmermans, on implementing the Commission’s programme in 2017 and priorities for 2018. - AFET : meeting with the Council of Europe’s secretary general on cooperation between the two institutions and the situation in Ukraine, the Balkans and Turkey. – ENVI : voting on new headquarters for the European Medicines Agency. – INTA- FEMM : discussion about non-legislative report on gender equality in trade agreements signed by the EU ahead of a vote in plenary.
Tuesday 13 March
Brussels. Council of the EU. Economic and Financial Affairs Council. – Banking Union: reaching agreement on a range of measures to reduce risk in banking. – Fiscal transparency: reaching agreement on a proposal to improve transparency in fiscal planning mechanisms (transparency for intermediaries). – European Semester: debate on surveillance process for policies and macroeconomic imbalances in certain member states. – G20 : Preparations for G20 meeting in Buenos Aires on 19-20/03
Strasbourg. European Commission. Weekly meeting of College of Commissioners. – Presentation of package of social justice measures. – EU agenda for migration: progress report on Agenda Migration (Timmermans/Mogherini). – Facility for Refugees in Turkey – proposal for second phase (Timmermans/Mogherini). – Review of common visa code (Timmermans). – Social equality package (including a proposal to set up a European Labour Authority and an initiative on access to social protection) (Dombrovskis). – Banking Union package (including proposals on secondary markets for unproductive loans, the protection of creditors benefiting from protection against defaulting commercial lenders) (Dombrovskis). – Second progress report on implementation of action plan for non-performing loans (Dombrovskis).
Strasbourg. European Commission. Launch of knowledge centre on food fraud and food quality.
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary sitting. *Priority debates: - Guidelines on future EU-UK relations (Council and Commission). – Preparations for European Council of 22-23/03 March 2018. Voting: - Implementation of protocol on financial consequences of expiry of CECA treaty (Arthuis – BUDG). – Cooperation and customs administrative assistance agreement between the EU and New Zealand (Caspary – INTA). – European industrial development programme in defence domain (Grossetête – ITRE). – Reports discussed on Monday (see above). *Debates: - Common discussion: - Post-2020 CFP, preparing Parliament's position (Olbrycht, Thomas – BUDG) ; - Reforming EU's own resources system (Deprez, Lewandowski – BUDG). – Guidelines for 2019 budget - Section III (Viotti – BUDG). - Situation in Syria ; EU perspectives for first meeting of the joint EU-Cuba council; New strategy for relations between the EU and Central Asia (HR Mogherini). – Common discussion: - European Semester: annual growth survey 2018 (Bayet – ECON) ; - European Semester: jobs and social aspects in annual growth survey 2018 (Hetman – EMPL).
Wednesday 14 March
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary sitting. *Debates : - United States’ decision to apply customs duty to steel and aluminium (Commission). – Debates on the future of Europe with Portuguese prime minister, António Costa. *Voting: - Guidelines on future EU-United Kingdom relations- Statistics on rail transport (Delli – TRAN). – Appointment of vice-president of EIB (Gualtieri – ECON). – Fighting Newcastle disease (Vălean – ENVI). – Extra macrofinancial assistance for Georgia (Takkula – INTA). – Objection to Commission delegated regulation amending Regulation 347/2013/EU list of projects of common EU interest. – Mobilisation of Globalisation Adjustment Fund: Goodyear (Gräßle – BUDG). – Membership of special committee on financial crime, tax evasion and tax fraud. – Reports debated the day before (see above). *Debates : - International cooperation in fighting cybercrime. – Protecting journalists : case of Slovak journalists Ján Kuciak and Martina Kušnírová. - Common discussions: - Common consolidated corporate tax basis (CCCTB) (Lamassoure – ECON). – Common basis for corporate tax (Tang – ECON). US attacks on EU agricultural support under CAP (Spanish olives) (Siekierski - AGRI, Lange - INTA). – Corporate social responsibility (Commission). - Europass: framework for skills and certification (Mann – EMPL, Malinov – CULT). - Programme ‘Creative Europe’ (Costa – CULT). Common discussion: - EU-Comores fisheries agreement : denunciation (Ferreira – PECH).
Brussels. Council of the EU. Coreper I and II.
Brussels. Economic and Social Committee. Plenary sitting (also 15/03). – Digital Single Market. – Commission’s strategy for artificial intelligence.
Luxembourg. *European General Court: #Rulings : T-33/16 (TestBioTech/Commission – Cancellation of Commission’s decision rejecting a request for reassessment of the authorisation to market products containing genetically-modified soya). – T424/16 (Gifi Diffusion/EUIPO – Request for cancellation of registration of a Croc shoe design) – T/651/16 (Crocs/EUIPO – Was EUIPO right to cancel (on request from Gifi Diffusion) the registration of a Croc shoe design (different case from T-424/16 that will be ruled upon on the same day)?.
Thursday 15 March
Brussels. Council of the EU. Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumers Council. *Social policy: - Debate on future of Social Europe post-2020. – European social rights: policy debate on measures to be taken to fill pay gap between men and women. – Youth Guarantee: approval of recommendations of employment committee and adoption of a recommendation on a European framework for effective, high-quality apprenticeship. – European Semester 2018 ': adoption of conclusions on annual growth survey and joint employment report. – Tripartite Social Summit: preparations for Tripartite Social Summit on achieving objectives of European social rights.
Brussels. Council of the EU. Coreper II and Coreper ‘Article 50’.
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary sitting. *Debate : - Common discussion – Conflict minerals (Commission, INTA). – Action plan for an infrastructure for alternative fuels (Commission). – Violations of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (Maldives, Sudan, Uganda). *Voting: Violations of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (Maldives, Sudan, Uganda). – Headquarters of European Medicines Agency (La Via – ENVI). – Resolutions : Situation in Syria, US attacks on EU farm aid (Spanish olives), Social corporate responsibility. – Reports debated on previous days (see above). *Debates: ESI funds' performance reserve (Mihaylova – REGI).
Luxembourg. * European Court of Justice. #Rulings: - C-355/16 (Picart – Option for individuals who have moved to Switzerland and managing from that country investments in a member states to make use of the freedom of establishment when it comes to the taxing of profit). - C-431/16 (Blanco Marqués – Is the extra pension granted by Spain to total invalidity workers compatible with receiving a retirement pension from another EU member state or Switzerland?). *European General Court: #Ruling: T-1/17 (La Mafia Franchises/EUIPO - Was the EUIPO right to refuse to register ‘La mafia se sienta a la mesa’ trademark for catering?).
