CALENDAR / Main activities of the european institutions
08/10 - 14/10/2018
Monday 8 October
Brussels. European Parliament. Activities of the committees (to 11/10). – ECON: public hearing of the presidents of the three European financial supervisory authorities (ESA) – ESMA, EBA and EIOPA. – PETI: examination of the report of the European Court of Auditors on the implementation of EU law by the member states with Leo Brincat, Member of the Court of Auditors. – ITRE: public hearing on Horizon Europe, the next EU framework programme for research and innovation.
Luxembourg. *Court of Justice of the EU. Partial renewal of the Court of Justice
Brussels. European Committee of the Regions (CoR). 131st plenary session (to 10/10). – Participation in the 16th European Week of the Regions and Cities (08/10). Speech by President K.H. Lambertz on “State of the Union: the View of Regions and Cities” and address by the President of the EP, A. Tajani (09/10). - List of the 19 opinions on the agenda of the session: https://bit.ly/2DXymkz.
Tuesday 9 October
Luxembourg. Council of the EU. ‘Environment’ Council. – Emissions: seeking a general approach on the regulation on CO2 emissions standards and cars and vans. – Climate change: conclusions on climate change to constitute the EU’s position for COP 24 to be held in Katowice in December. – Biodiversity: conclusions ahead of the meeting of the Conference of the Parties on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Egypt in November (Cartagena Protocol on the prevention of biotechnological risks and Nagoya Protocol on access to and sharing of benefits). State of progress in work on the ‘single-use plastics’ directive.
Brussels. Council of the EU. COPS.
Brussels. European Parliament. Activities of the committees: - ECON: presentation of two reports on the taxation of the digital sector (Paul Tang and Dariusz Rosati). - BUDG: vote on a proposed resolution reflecting the result of the vote on the budgetary amendments to the position of the Council on the EU budget 2019; examination of the draft interim report on the multiannual financial framework (MFF) 2021-2027 and own resources. – TRAN: votes on the legislative reports on port reception facilities for the delivery of waste from vessels and on the rights of rail passengers. -AFET-DEVE: vote on designating the shortlist for the Sakharov Prize; public hearing on the future of EU assistance to third countries, including neighbouring countries and developing countries. – EMPL: vote on the annual draft report on employment and social policies in the Eurozone. – PECH: hearing on a progress report in the application of the landing obligation in EU waters and by EU vessels ahead of full application in 2019. – PETI: hearing on the rights of the disabled (access to employment, education, transport, etc.).
Luxembourg. *Court of Justice of the EU. Election of the President and Deputy President of the Court of Justice.
Wednesday 10 October
Brussels. European Commission. Weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners. Agenda items: - second communication on preparations for the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU (Juncker). – Outlines of a new partnership with the United Kingdom (to be confirmed) (Juncker and Barnier). – Communication updating the 2012 strategy for the bio-economy (Katainen). – 16th progress report of the Security Union (Timmermans).
Brussels. Council of the EU. Coreper I (and ‘Article 50’) and II.
Brussels. European Parliament. Activities of the committees: - LIBE: vote on the draft resolution on the ‘Cambridge Analytica’ scandal. – CULT: examination of the report on the new programme of the European Solidarity Corps for the period 2021-2027. – SEDE: public hearing on the theme “Artificial intelligence and its future impact on security”. – FEMM: hearing on women’s role in preventing radicalisation in the world. – AFCO: public hearing on the theme “Parliament’s powers of political control over the Commission after Lisbon: lessons learned and the way forward”; meeting with the national MPs on the theme “The state of the debate on the future of Europe”.
Luxembourg. *Court of Justice of the EU. #Conclusions: C-444/17 (Arib e.a. - Does a state of emergency allow a member state to re-establish controls on the borders so that the ‘returns’ directive no longer applies and individuals can be imprisoned on the sole grounds of having entered the territory irregularly via an internal border?)
Thursday 11 October
Luxembourg. Council of the EU. ‘Justice and Home Affairs’ Council (and 12/10). *Justice: - General orientation on the directive concerning corporate insolvency, the preventative restructuring of companies and a second chance for entrepreneurs. – Exchange of views on legislative proposals concerning electronic evidence presented in April by the Commission. – Debate on mutual recognition in criminal matters. – Discussion with the Director of the Fundamental Rights Agency, Michael O’Flaherty. – Commission’s presentation on the implementation of the legislation concerning the European Public Prosecutor’s Office adopted in October 2017 (22 member states participating).
Brussels. European Parliament. Activities of the committees: - DROI: hearing on contemporary forms of slavery in third countries (forced labour, servitude for debts, serfdom, child labour, sexual slavery, forced marriages, etc.)
Luxembourg. *Court of Justice of the EU. #Judgements: C-149/17 (Bastei Lübbe - possibility for a person via whose computer a breach of copyright was committed to invoke the fundamental right to respect for family life (on the grounds that members of his or her family also have access to the computer) to be excused the indemnity obligation).
Friday 12 October
Luxembourg. Council of the EU. ‘Justice and Home Affairs’ Council. *Home affairs: - Examination of the proposal on the European border guard and coastguard agency (role of the agency in returns, cooperation with third countries, support of the member states to manage borders, personnel and equipment of the Agency). – Reform of the ‘Returns’ directive (accelerated procedures on the border, clarification and simplification of return returns decision-making procedures, rules on retention). – Multiannual budgetary framework in the field of home affairs (implementation of external aspects of migration policy)
Vienna (A). Council of the EU. Informal meeting of the ministers for equal opportunities. – The meeting is linked to the “Gender Equality and YOU” conference to be held in Vienna (see the Events part of the week). – Meeting with the equal opportunities ministers of the EFTA and Western Balkan countries on the theme “Equal opportunities, youth and digitalisation”.
