CALENDAR / Main activities of european institutions
From 02/03 to 08/03/2020
Monday 2 March
Brussels. Council of the EU. PSC.
Brussels. European Parliament. Commission activities (through 05/03). – BUDG: vote on the European Parliament’s annual report on the EIB for 2019. – Draft agendas for the week’s meetings of the various committees: https://bit.ly/3acfIk8
Tuesday 3 March
Brussels. Council of the EU. PSC and EU Military Committee (EUMC).
Luxembourg. * Court of Justice of the EU. #Rulings: – Joint cases C-75/18 (Vodafone Magyarország) and C-323/18 (Tesco-Global Áruházak – compatibility with EU law of the Hungarian law providing for special taxes on telecommunications and on in-store retailing). – C-482/18 (Google Ireland – EU conformity of the fine under the Hungarian Advertising Tax Act for failure to register a foreign company). – C-717/18 X (European arrest warrant – dual criminality – Can a European arrest warrant be executed where the offence indicated is punishable by a maximum sentence of at least 3 years’ imprisonment under the criminal law in force in the issuing Member State at the time the European arrest warrant was issued, whereas the maximum sentence in that Member State at the time the offence was committed was less than 3 years’ imprisonment?) – C-125/18 (Gómez del Moral Guasch – Is a term in a loan agreement fixing an interest rate on the basis of a statutory index covered by the Unfair Terms Directive and does that Directive preclude review by the national court of the unfairness of that term?)
Wednesday 4 March
Zagreb. Council of the EU. Informal Meeting of Defence Ministers (and 05/04). – Initiatives to strengthen European cooperation on security and defence: Common Security and Defence Policy missions. – Future ‘Strategic Orientation’. – EU Defence Initiative (Permanent Structured Cooperation). – Strengthening cooperation with NATO. – Neighbourhood security. – Combating hybrid and cyber threats
Brussels. European Commission. Weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners. – European climate law (Timmermans). – European Strategy for Gender Equality (Jourova). – Towards a global strategy with Africa (Borrell).
Brussels. Council of the EU. Coreper I and II.
Luxembourg. * Court of Justice of the EU. #Conclusions: – C-61/19 (Orange Romania – What exactly does the concept of ‘free and informed consent’ cover in the case of processing of personal data and what are the criteria for assessing such consent (retention of identity documents of its customers by a telecommunications operator)?)
Thursday 5 March
Zagreb. Council of the EU. Informal Foreign Affairs Meeting (Gymnich) (and 06/03). – Working methods of the EU Council. – Relations with Russia. – Relations with Turkey.
Brussels. Council of the EU. Environment Council. – Green Deal: discussion on the main actions after the presentation of the climate law by the Commission (04/03) and in anticipation of the presentation of the new action plan for the circular economy (10/03). – Adoption of the long-term climate strategy containing commitments to respond to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. – Air quality: adoption of conclusions on air quality following the review of the implementation of relevant legislation by the Commission in December. – Water quality: exchange of views following the review of the implementation of the relevant legislation by the Commission in December. – European Semester: discussion on the environmental dimension of the ‘European Semester’. Other business: presentation by the Commission of its proposals for a climate law and a Just Transition Mechanism; presentation by the Polish delegation of the auctioning of aviation emissions.
Brussels. European Parliament. Committee activities. – FEMM: in view of International Women’s Rights Day on 8 March, inter-parliamentary meeting on the theme “The 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action”. ENVI: vote on the proposal to determine the financial envelope for the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. – INTA: Workshop “Trade-Related Aspects of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism”.
Luxembourg. * Court of Justice of the EU. #Rulings: C-766/18 P (Foundation for the Protection of the Traditional Cheese of Cyprus named Halloumi/EUIPO – application for annulment of the judgement of the General Court finding that there is no likelihood of confusion between the signs ‘Halloumi’ and ‘BBQLOUMI’). #Conclusions: – C-66/18 (Commission/Hungary (Higher Education) – conformity with EU law of the obligation imposed on foreign higher education institutions, such as the Central European University in Budapest founded by George Soros, from countries outside the European Economic Area, on the conclusion of an international convention). – C-550/18 (Commission v Ireland (anti-money laundering) – Should Ireland be ordered to pay a pecuniary penalty (lump sum and penalty payment) for failing to adopt and communicate measures transposing the directive on combating money laundering and terrorist financing?) – C-212/19 (Compagnie des pêches de Saint-Malo - Do the reductions in employee contributions granted by France in 1999 constitute aid incompatible with EU law and, if so, who is responsible for repayment, the company or the employees?)
Friday 6 March
Brussels. Council of the EU. Health Council. Extraordinary meeting of Health Ministers on the coronavirus epidemic (at the time of going to press, it was not yet known whether conclusions would be adopted).
Zagreb. Council of the European Union. Informal Foreign Affairs Meeting (Gymnich) (see above).
