CALENDAR / Main activities of the european institutions
10/12 - 16/12/2018
Monday 10 December
Brussels. Council of the European Union. Foreign Affairs Council. - Western Balkans: an update on the situation and developments in the various countries of the region and the EU's current and future relations with these countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Kosovo. - Iran: situation on the ground and relations with the country also in connection with the American withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear agreement. - Ukraine: Recent developments in the country and situation in the Azov Sea in preparation for lunch on the same day with the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pavlo Klimkin. - Venezuela: situation on the ground and possibility of setting up an international contact group to facilitate a political process, after the re-election of President Maduro. - African Union: cooperation with the AU (security and governance, counter-terrorism, investment and trade, strengthening multilateralism) in preparation for the first EU/AU ministerial meeting. - Other: situation in Sri Lanka and Syria and respect for human rights worldwide on the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Brussels. Council of the European Union. EU-Kyrgyzstan Cooperation Council. - Progress of the EU/Central Asia strategy since the previous meeting in March 2017. - Cooperation at national and regional levels and status of negotiations for a strengthened partnership and cooperation agreement. - Political situation in the country and internal developments after the October presidential election (progress in internal reforms and the rule of law). - Regional cooperation and international issues (trade, relations between countries in the region). - Presentation by the Commission of its annual review of growth in 2019, which will launch the next European Semester. - Hearing on the rule of law in Poland and discussion on respect for EU values in Hungary. - Discussion on the issue of subsidiarity over lunch.
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session (to 13/12). *Debates: - Environment and Climate LIFE Programme (Gerbrandy - ENVI). - Protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work (Rolin - EMPL). - Transparency and sustainability of risk assessment at EU level in the food chain (Sommer - ENVI). - Full application of the provisions of the Schengen acquisition in Bulgaria and Romania (Stanishev - LIBE). - Joint debate on EU agencies: Cedefop (Sander - EMPL), EU-OSHA (Hoc - EMPL), Eurofound (Calvet Chambon - EMPL). - Military mobility (Kelam - AFET). - Education in the digital age: challenges, opportunities and lessons for EU policy making (Toom - CULT). - New European Agenda for Culture (Grammatikakis - CULT).
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Commission activities (as at 13/12). - BUDG: vote on the European Parliament/Council trilogue agreement on the EU budget for 2019 (plenary vote on 12/12). - LIBE: votes on: Rights and Values Programme, EU Agency for Asylum, Marketing and Use of Explosives Precursors, Actions of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency in Albania, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics; Discussion with Commissioner King on cooperation with the Western Balkans in the field of security. - ENVI: Sending a mission to Katowice for the UN COP 24 (11-15/12). - INTA: votes on: compromise with the Council on the proposal for a Regulation establishing a framework for filtering foreign direct investment in the EU; compromise with the Council on the proposal for a Regulation implementing safeguard clauses and other mechanisms providing for the temporary withdrawal of tariff preferences in certain agreements between the EU and certain third countries; amendment of Regulation (EC) No 32/2000 as regards the allocation of tariff quotas in the EU's WTO list after the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the Union.
Luxembourg. * EU Court of Justice. #Arrêt: C-621/18 (Wightman and others - Possibility for a Member State to unilaterally revoke the notification of its intention to withdraw from the EU under Article 50).
Tuesday 11 December
Brussels. Council of the European Union. General Affairs Council. - Financial framework 2021-2027: approach debate and approval of the Council's 18-month programme (01/01/2019-30/06/2020) - Consideration of the draft conclusions of the European Council of 13-14/12.
Strasbourg. European Commission. Weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners. - Preparation of the European Council. - 17th progress report on the Security Union (Timmermans). - Progress report on the Citizens' Dialogues and Citizen Consultations (Juncker).
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session. *Debates: Preparation of the European Council of 13-14/12; Results of the Eurogroup and preparation of the Euro Area Summit (Council and Commission communications). *Votes: - Coordination of social security schemes (Balas - EMPL). - Creation of a European Labour Authority (Lenaers - EMPL). - Re-commitment, or allocation to other actions under national programmes, of the remaining amounts committed for Council decisions (Dalli - LIBE). - Complete EU type-approval legislation with regard to the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU (Mizzi - IMCO). - Objection art. 106: Maximum limits for acetamiprid residues in certain products. - Humanitarian visas; Visa Code (López Aguilar - LIBE). - Common VAT system, temporary application of a reverse charge mechanism for goods and services above a certain threshold (Mato - ECON). - Reports discussed the day before (see above). *Debates: - Findings and recommendations of the Special Commission on Terrorism (Hohlmeier, Stevens - TERR). - Joint debate: EU-Japan Partnership Agreement (Silva Pereira - INTA); EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement (Peterle - AFET). - Joint debate: - Annual report on the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (McAllister - AFET); - Annual report on the implementation of the Common Security and Defence Policy (Paşcu - AFET). - Annual report on human rights and democracy in the world in 2017 and EU policy (Auštrevičius - AFET). - EU-Ukraine Association Agreement (Gahler - AFET). - New general budget of the EU for the 2019 financial year (Viotti, Rübig - BUDG). - Mechanism for interconnection in Europe (Virkkunen, Marinescu, Telička - ITRE). - European Defence Fund (Krasnodębski - ITRE). - Joint debate: Horizon Europe Framework Programme - Rules for participation and dissemination (Nica - ITRE); - Implementation Programme (Ehler - ITRE)
Luxembourg. * EU Court of Justice. #Arrêts: - C-493/17 (Weiss and others - Compliance with EU law of the ECB's programme for the acquisition of sovereign bonds in secondary markets).
Wednesday 12 December
Brussels. Council of the European Union. Coreper I.
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session (to 13/12). *Priority debates: - Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the EU (decl. Council and Commission - vote at the next session). - Debate with the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, on the future of Europe. *Presentation of the Sakharov Prize. *Votes: - Draft amending budget No 6/2018 (Muresan - BUDG). - Mobilisation of the flexibility instrument to finance measures to deal with migration, refugee flows and security threats (Viotti - BUDG). - Mobilisation of the Solidarity Fund for the payment of advances under the general budget of the Union for 2019 (Christoforou - BUDG). - New general budget of the European Union for the 2019 financial year - all sections. - Reports discussed the day before (see above). *Debates: - Involving workers and citizens in a just transition for a safer planet (current affairs debate). - Joint debate: - Tax on digital services and non-adoption of a digital tax for the Union and the need for a majority voting rule on taxation. - Common system of tax on digital services applicable to products derived from the provision of certain digital services (Tang - ECON); - Taxation of companies with a significant digital presence (Rosati - ECON). *Votes: remaining reports discussed the day before (see above). *Debates: - Conflict of interest and protection of the EU budget in the Czech Republic (decl. Council and Commission). - Expedited settlement of commercial disputes (Zwiefka - JURI). - Activities of the European Ombudsman in 2017 (Evi - PETI). - Deliberations of the Committee on Petitions in 2017 (Wikström - PETI). - EU and EU Space Programme Agency Space Programme (Salini - ITRE). - Programme for a Digital Europe for the period 2021-2027 (Mlinar - ITRE).
Brussels. European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Plenary session (and 13/12). - Presentation of the conclusions of the European Commission's multi-party high-level platform, debate on the themes "Towards a sustainable Europe by 2030" and "Rule of Law", with the participation of the First Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans.
Luxembourg. * EU Court of Justice. #Conclusions: - C-476/17 (Pelham and others - Does 'sampling', the use of extracts from a phonogram, constitute an infringement of the copyright of the producer of the phonogram?). * General Court of the European Union: #Arrêts: - case T-677/14 (Biogaran v Commission), T-679/14 (Teva UK and Others v Commission), T-680/14 (Lupin vCommission), T-682/14 (Mylan Laboratories and Mylan v Commission), T-684/14 (Krka v Commission), T-701/14 (Niche Generics v Commission), T-705/14 (Unichem Laboratoiries v Commission) and T-691/14 (Servier e.a./Commission - Application for annulment of the fines imposed on Servier and 5 generic manufacturers in connection with an alleged agreement contrasting the generic versions of perindopril). - T-358/17 (Mubarak/Council - request to cancel the freezing of funds of former Egyptian President Mubarak).
Thursday 13 December
Brussels. European Council (and 14/12). - In-depth exchange of views on the EU budget for 2021-2027 on the basis of a Presidency progress report. - Single Market: discussion on the remaining obstacles to a fully operational Single Market and how to remove them on the basis of a Commission assessment. - Migration: state of implementation of the Global Approach to Migration in line with the conclusions of the June European Council. - External relations: - Mrs Merkel and Mr Macron will inform the Twenty-eight on the implementation of the Minsk Agreement and extend the sanctions against Russia for 6 months. - preparation of the next summit with the Arab League (24-25/02/2019) and various foreign policy topics (Russia, Ukraine, Middle East, relations with the United States, etc.). - Citizens' dialogues and preparation for the next Strategic Agenda to be discussed at the informal summit in Sibiu in May 2019 for approval in June. - Climate: review of the Commission's proposal for a long-term climate strategy and preparation of the Council's discussions on this subject in the 1st half of 2019, also taking into account the conclusions of COP 24. - Combating misinformation: discussion on the basis of the action plan to be presented by the High Representative, Federica Mogherini, and call for decisive action at EU and Member State level against this phenomenon. - Combating racism and xenophobia: condemnation and reference to the Council declaration on combating anti-Semitism.
Strasbourg. European Parliament. Plenary session (to 13/12). *Debates: - Situation of migrants in the border region of Bosnia and Herzegovina (decl. Commission). - Violation of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (Iran, Egypt, Tanzania). *Votes: - US-EU Agreement on Cooperation in the Regulation of Civil Aviation Safety (Griffin - TRAN). - Expedited settlement of commercial disputes (Zwiefka - JURI). - Block chain: a forward-looking trade policy (McClarkin - INTA). - Reports and proceedings discussed the day before or in the morning (see above). *Debates: - Rare diseases (QO ENVI-Commission). - Spread of African swine fever (QO AGRI-Commission).
Brussels. European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). Plenary session. - Presentation of the 2019 Civil Society Award.
Luxembourg. * EU Court of Justice. #Arrêts: - Cases C-138/17 P, C-146/17 P, C-150/17 P, C-174/17 P and C-222/17 P (Gascony, Kendrion, ASPLA and Armando Alvarez/UE - could the EU be ordered to make good the damage suffered by several companies as a result of the exceeding of the reasonable time for judgment before the TEU?) - Case C-412/17 (Touring Tours und Travel), C474/17 (Sociedad de Transportes - Legality of the obligation imposed by Member States on bus operators to check passengers' travel documents before crossing the border with another Member State). - C-385/17 (Hein - Is a worker entitled, during his minimum annual leave, to his normal pay despite previous periods of partial unemployment?) - C-492/17 (Rittinger and others -: Is the German audiovisual contribution compatible with EU law?). #Conclusions: - C-299/17(VG Media - compliance with EU law of German rules prohibiting search engines from providing extracts of press products without prior authorisation from the publisher). * General Court of the European Union: #Arrêts: - T-827/14 (Deutsche Telekom v Commission- application for annulment of the decision on anti-competitive practices on the Slovak market for the provision of broadband access) - Cases T-339/16 (City of Paris/Commission), T-352/16 (City of Brussels/Commission) and T-391/16 (City of Madrid/Commission - Application for annulment of the regulation defining the nitrogen oxide emission limits not to be exceeded during tests under real driving conditions on passenger cars).
Friday 14 December
Brussels. European Council. Euro Area Summit. - EMU reform. - presentation by the Eurogroup will present the result of its work: backstopagreement for the SRF fund, MES reform, discussions not yet mature on budgetary capacity in the euro area.
Brussels. Council of the European Union. Coreper I.
