28/01 - 03/02/2019

Monday 28 January

Brussels. Council of the European Union. Agriculture and Fisheries Council. *Agriculture: - Presentation of the work programme of the Romanian Presidency. - CAP reform for the post-2020 period: exchange of views on the new implementation model and ecological architecture as well as on the proposal for a Regulation on the common organisation of the markets. - Vegetable proteins: general discussion on the report on the development of vegetable proteins in the EU. - Other: outcome of the ministerial conference on the eradication of African swine fever; presentation on the establishment of an international centre for antimicrobial resistance solutions; double level of food quality; rural development; multiannual financial framework.
Brussels. European Parliament. Commission activities (to 31/01). - ECON: Monetary dialogue with Mario Draghi, President of the ECB (anniversary of the euro, economic situation in the euro area, latest monetary developments).

Tuesday 29 January

Brussels. European Parliament. Commission activities. – AFCO: vote on the Interinstitutional Agreement on financial penalties for European political parties handling data for political purposes. - LIBE/BUDG: exchange of views on the procedure for appointing the Head of the European Public Prosecutor's Office. - LIBE: exchange of views with Commissioner Vera Jourova; vote on the report listing third countries in nationals who must be in possession of a visa when crossing the EU borders and those exempt from it under Brexit; vote on the draft Eurojust/Georgia cooperation agreement. - ECON/BUDG: Consideration of amendments to the interim report on the establishment of the European Monetary Fund. - IMCO: vote on the report on strengthening the competitiveness of the internal market by developing the customs union. - ENVI: Hearing on the long-term strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. - TAXE3: Public hearing on money laundering cases involving Russian nationals and their effects on the EU. – INTA: Workshop on the theme "Trade negotiations with Australia and New Zealand".
Brussels. European Commission. - Publication of the new list of third countries at high risk of money laundering.
Luxembourg. * EU Court of Justice. #Conclusions: - Opinion 1/17 (EU/Canada CETA Agreement - compatibility of the EU/Canada CETA Agreement with EU law).

Wednesday 30 January

Bucharest. Council of the European Union. Informal Meeting of Defence Ministers (and 31/01). - Exchange of views on the way forward in the field of European Security and Defence Policy, review of the work carried out on the basis of the EU's Global Strategy on Foreign and Security Policy. - Coherence between the different defence policy initiatives and taking into account trends in technological innovation for the armed forces of EU Member States.
Brussels. European Commission. *Weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners. - Discussion paper "Towards a sustainable Europe by 2030", on the follow-up of the United Nations' sustainable development objectives, including the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. (Timmermans/ Katainen). *Miscellaneous: - Recommendation for a Council Decision authorising the opening of negotiations for an EU-US agreement on cross-border access to electronic evidence for judicial cooperation in criminal matters - Recommendation for a Council Decision authorising the opening of negotiations on a second Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime.
Brussels. Council of the European Union. Coreper I and II.
Brussels. European Parliament. Plenary session (and 31/01). *Debates: - Combating the climate of hatred and physical violence against democratically elected mandate holders (decl. Commission). - Rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary, developments since September 2018 (decl. Commission and Council). - Recent developments in relations between the two shores of the Strait between China and Taiwan (decl. HR Mogherini). - Implementation and operation of the .eu top level domain name (Federley - ITRE). - Annual report on competition policy (Reimon - ECON). - Annual Report 2017 on the protection of the EU's financial interests - fight against fraud (Marinescu - CONT). - Strategies for Roma integration (decl. Council and Commission). - Joint discussion - Gender balance Women in company councils). - NAIADES II - action programme for the development of inland waterway transport (decl. Commission). - State of trade negotiations between the United States and the EU (decl. Commission).
Luxembourg. * EU Court of Justice. #Rulings: C-220/17(Planta Tabak - validity of the prohibition on the sale of tobacco products containing a characteristic flavouring provided for in the 2014 Tobacco Products Directive)

Thursday 31 January

Bucharest. Council of the European Union. Informal Meeting of Foreign Ministers (Gymnich) (and 01/02). Main topics covered: - Eastern Partnership. - Middle East and Syria. - Relations with China.
Brussels. European Parliament. Plenary session. *Debates: - Discussion on the future of Europe with the Finnish Prime Minister, Juha Sipilä. *Votes: - Amendments to Parliament's Rules of Procedure (Corbett - AFCO). - EU Customs Code: inclusion of the municipality of Campione d'Italia and the Italian waters of Lake Lugano in the EU customs territory (Selimovic - IMCO). - Accession of the Dominican Republic, Ukraine, Honduras, Belarus, Uzbekistan to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (3 reports - Honeyball - JURI). - Association of the OCTs with the EU, including relations between the European Union, Greenland and Denmark (Ponga - DEVE). - Harmonisation of gross national income at market prices (GNI Regulation) (Gualtieri - ECON). - Reports discussed the previous day (see above) and NAIADES IIProgramme of Action.
Luxembourg. * EU Court of Justice. #Conclusions: C-558/18 (CCOO - compatibility with EU law of the absence of an obligation for Spanish companies to have a system for recording working hours performed by staff).

Friday 1 February