From 14 to 18 December 2020

Monday 14 December

• Brussels. Council of the EU. Justice and Home Affairs Council. *Home Affairs: +Legislative activities: – Regulation on the Prevention and Dissemination of Terrorist Content Online: Information by the Presidency on the interim agreement. – Miscellaneous: Legislative proposals under discussion: information from the Presidency +Non-legislative activities: – New ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’: policy debate. – Improving cooperation with non-Member State partners with a view to more effective readmission and more vigorous migration management: exchange of views. – Implementing interoperability: exchange of views and definition of a timetable taking into account delays due to the pandemic. – Internal security and European police partnership: conclusions and exchange of views on other issues related to internal security. – Miscellaneous: (a) information by the Presidency on the EU-Western Balkans Justice and Home Affairs Ministers’ videoconference on 22/10/2020; (b) work programme of the incoming Portuguese Presidency: presentation by Portugal. +In the margins of the EU Council: Meeting of the Joint Committee: implementation of interoperability (exchange of views). – Miscellaneous: information by the Presidency on legislative proposals under examination.
• Brussels. Council of the EU. Videoconference of Energy Ministers. – Integration of energy systems: exchange of views on Member States’ priorities for the forthcoming review of energy legislation. – Miscellaneous: (a) presentation by the Information Committee on recent developments in the field of external energy relations; (b) presentation of the programme of the forthcoming Portuguese Presidency in the field of energy.
• Brussels. Council of the EU. Preparatory proceedings: Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (CivCom)
• Brussels. European Parliament. Plenary session (through 17/12). See article in this newsletter. Agenda: https://bit.ly/2JWG02b
• Brussels. European Parliament. Committee activities (through 17/12). – BUDG-CONT: votes on the 2021-2027 MFF and on the EU general 2021 budget following the agreement reached at the EU summit (agenda https://bit.ly/2JUKPct ). – INTA: state of play of negotiations on future EU-UK trade relations. – AFET-DEVE-DROI: exchange of views with representatives of the democratic opposition in Belarus, winner of the 2020 Sakharov Prize and resolution on Belarus (agenda https://bit.ly/3gEDsSj ).

Tuesday 15 December

• Brussels. Council of the EU. Agriculture and Fisheries Council (and 16/12). *Fisheries: TAC 2021: debate with a view to an agreement on total allowable catches in 2021 for the Atlantic and North Sea, certain deep-sea stocks, the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
• Brussels. European Commission. Weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners. – Communication on Cyber Security Strategy (Vestager/Schinas/Borrell). – Revision of the Directive on the security of networks and information systems (Vestager/Schinas). – Proposal for a Directive on the resilience of critical entities (Schinas). – Action plan for non-performing loans (NPL) (Dombrovskis). – Legislation on digital services (Vestager). – Digital Services Act (Vestager). – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to visit the College of Commissioners: deepening cooperation between the two organisations.
• Brussels. Council of the EU. Preparatory proceedings: Political and Security Committee (PSC).
• Brussels. European Parliament. Committee activities. – LIBE: exchange of views with the EU Working Party for Relations with the United Kingdom on the outcome of the negotiations on the future relationship between the two parties (agenda https://bit.ly/2Keq7UI ).
• Luxembourg. * Court of Justice of the EU. #Judgments: * General Court of the EU: #Judgment 

Wednesday 16 December

• Brussels. Council of the EU. Agriculture and Fisheries EU Council. *Agriculture: – Product labelling: seeking agreement and conclusions on an EU-wide animal welfare label and front-of-package nutrition labelling, nutrient profiles and origin labelling. – Miscellaneous: information by the Presidency on the state of play of the work on the ‘CAP Reform post-2020’ package, on the results of the conference on digitalisation and agriculture on 2-3/12 and on this year’s conference of directors of EU paying agencies.
• Brussels. Council of the EU. Eurogroup videoconference. – Follow-up to the 10-11/12 summit of Eurozone leaders in EU27: economic situation and recommendations for the euro area (see other article in this newsletter). – 2021 draft budget plan.
• Brussels. Council of the EU. Preparatory proceedings: Coreper II, CivCom, Commercial Policy Committee, EU Military Committee (EUMC)
• Brussels. European Parliament. Committee activities. – PECH: emergency measures relating to Brexit and debriefing on the EU/UK agreement. (agenda https://bit.ly/37Z1TWE )
• Luxembourg. * Court of Justice of the EU. #Judgments: Joint cases C-597/18 P (EU Council v K. Chrysostomides & Co et al), C-598/18 P (EU Council v Bourdouvali et al), C-603/18 P (K. Chrysostomides & Co et al v EU Council) and C-604/18 P (Bourdouvali et al v EU Council – do the Courts of the Union have jurisdiction in actions for damages brought against the Eurogroup?) * General Court of the EU: #Judgment: T-93/18 (International Skating Union v Commission – by prohibiting a competition in Dubai, do the eligibility rules of the International Skating Union (ISU) distort competition?)

Thursday 17 December

• Brussels. Council of the EU. Environment Council. – General approach on the regulation revising the Aarhus Regulation to widen access to justice in environmental matters in the EU. – General guidance on the European Climate Law regulation taking into account the binding target of 'at least 55%' reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, set by EU leaders on 11/12 (see other articles in this newsletter). – Approval of the submission of an updated EU contribution (NDC) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (if any). – Endorsement of conclusions on Circular and Sustainable Recovery. – Endorsement of conclusions on Digitalisation for the benefit of the environment. – Exchange of views on the Communication on the Chemicals Strategy for a Toxics Free Environment. Miscellaneous: (a) public deliberation on the legislative proposals under consideration; (b) presentation by the Commission of the draft revised Regulation on batteries and battery waste (first reading); (c) information by the Commission on multilateral environmental agreements; (d) information by the Portuguese delegation on the European Conference on “Climate Change and the European Dimension of Water Resources – Increasing Resilience” held on 4-5/11/2020; (e) presentation by the Portuguese delegation of the forthcoming Presidency’s work programme on the environment.
• Brussels. Council of the EU. EU-Armenia Partnership Council
• Brussels. Council of the EU. Videoconference of the members of the Stabilisation and Association Council of Serbia.
• Brussels. Council of the EU. Preparatory proceedings: PSC.
• Luxembourg. * Court of Justice of the EU. #Judgments: – C-808/18 (Commission v Hungary – Reception of applicants for international protection – Do Hungarian rules on asylum applications (transit zone) comply with Union law)?) – C-316/19 (Commission v Slovenia – ECB archives – in the context of criminal proceedings by national authorities, does the unilateral seizure of documents belonging to the ECB archives constitute an infringement of the Protocol on the Privileges and Immunities of the Union?) – C-336/19 (Centraal Israëlitisch Consistorie van België et al – Do the provisions of a decree of the Flemish Region prohibiting the slaughter of animals without stunning also for slaughter carried out as part of a religious rite conform to Union law?) – Joint Cases C-354/20 PPU and C-412/20 PPU (Openbaar Ministerie – Independence of the issuing judicial authority – Can the existence of a risk of breach of the fundamental right to a fair trial, linked to a lack of independence of the courts of a Member State on account of systemic or generalised failings in that State, justify the automatic non-execution of all European arrest warrants issued by the judicial authority of the Member State concerned?) – C-667/19 (AM – Labelling of cosmetic products - whether the indication of the ‘function’ of a cosmetic product, which must appear on its container and packaging, must clearly inform the consumer of the use and method of use of that product) – C-449/19 (WEG Tevesstraße – is national legislation providing for exemption from VAT on the costs of acquiring and operating a cogeneration plant compatible with Union law?) – C-398/19 (Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Berlin – Extradition to Ukraine – in the context of a request for extradition to a non-Member State for the purpose of prosecution, may a person residing in a Member State other than that of which he subsequently acquired the nationality rely on the status of citizen of the Union?) – C-490/19 (Syndicat interprofessionnel de défense du fromage Morbier – is a cheese with the physical characteristics of Morbier, a product with a protected designation of origin (PDO), liable to mislead the consumer as to the true origin of the product?) – C-416/20 PPU (Generalstaatsanwaltschaft Hamburg – under what conditions may an executing judicial authority authorise the execution of a European arrest warrant against a person sentenced in absentia?) #Conclusions: – C-824/18 (AB et al – Appointment of judges to the Supreme Court – Appeals - Do the Polish rules on the appointment of judges and appeals against such appointment decisions comply with Union law, in particular with the principle of the Rule of law and the right to an effective remedy?) – C-896/19 (Repubblika – Is the Maltese system for the appointment of judges capable of ensuring that the national judicial bodies satisfy the conditions required for effective judicial protection?)

Friday 18 December

• Brussels. Council of the EU. Videoconference of the members of the EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation Council.
• Brussels. Council of the EU. Preparatory proceedings: Coreper I and II, Trade Policy Committee.