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Europe Daily Bulletin No. 12672
Contents Publication in full By article 33 / 34
CALENDAR / Main activities of european institutions

Until 12 March 2021

Monday 8 March

  • Brussels. Council of the EU. Preparatory proceedings: Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA), Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management (Civcom).
  • Brussels. European Parliament. Plenary session (through 11/03). Full agenda for the session: https://bit.ly/3uXd7ps
  • Brussels. European Parliament. Committee activities. - AFET: exchange of views with the High Representative, Josep Borrell, on the EU strategy towards Russia in view of the European Council of 25-26/03 (agenda: https://bit.ly/3rxN2Li ). - IMCO : vote on the ‘Customs’ programme for cooperation between Member States in the customs field (rapp. M. Grapini) (agenda: https://bit.ly/3qfwczp ).

Tuesday 9 March

  • Brussels. European Commission. Weekly meeting of the College of Commissioners. - Europe’s Digital Decade: digital targets for 2030 (Vestager). - EU humanitarian aid in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond (Borrell).
  • Brussels. Council of the EU. Preparatory proceedings: Coreper II, Political and Security Committee (PSC).
  • Luxembourg. * Court of Justice of the EU. #Judgments: - cases C-344/19 (Radiotelevizija Slovenija - period of stand-by duty in a remote location) and C-580/19 (Stadt Offenbach am Main - period of stand-by duty of a firefighter - does a period of stand-by duty constitute, in its entirety, working time when the constraints imposed on a worker very significantly affect his ability to manage, during the same period, his free time?) - C-392/19 (VG Bild-Kunst - does the framing (transclusion) on an Internet site of a work protected by copyright, freely accessible with the authorisation of the copyright owner, constitute communication to the public?)

Wednesday 10 March

  • Brussels. Council of the EU. Preparatory proceedings: Coreper I, Coreper II, Trade Policy Committee (Experts - Services and Investment), Civcom, PSC, EU Military Committee (EUMC).

Thursday 11 March

  • Brussels. Council of the EU. Informal videoconference of Ministers of Justice. - Retention of electronic communication data: exchange of views on the subject following the European Court of Justice judgments which annulled the EU Data Retention Directive and defined the criteria for lawful data retention and access. - Fundamental rights: discussion on the new strategy for the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights with the Director of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, including draft conclusions on strengthening the application of the Charter. - European Prosecutor: update on the work to set up the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. - Other business: the Portuguese Presidency will brief ministers on the fight against illegal online content in the context of the proposed Digital Services Act, the draft conclusions on the training of justice professionals, ongoing work on current legislative proposals, and the proposal on the launch of a new dialogue on justice and home affairs with North African partners.
  • Brussels. Council of the EU. Preparatory proceedings: European Union Military Committee (EUMC), Security Committee (Security Accreditation Board (SAB)), PSC.
  • Luxembourg. * Court of Justice of the EU. #Conclusions: Opinion 1/19 (Istanbul Convention - can the conclusion, on behalf of the EU, of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) be validly achieved through two separate acts?)

Friday 12 March

  • Brussels. Council of the EU. Informal videoconference of Home Affairs ministers. - Resilience of critical entities: discussion in public session on the Commission’s proposal to strengthen the resilience of critical entities providing essential services in the EU, in particular the resilience of critical infrastructures against disruptive incidents (natural disasters, accidents, terrorism, internal threats or public health emergencies). - Migration and asylum: debate on the external aspects of migration on the basis of the Commission Communication on enhancing cooperation on return and readmission and the Presidency Communication on the state of play of the Pact on Asylum and Migration).
  • Brussels. Council of the EU. Preparatory proceedings: Civcom, Trade Policy Committee (alternate members).

Contents

EXTERNAL ACTION
UNITED STATES: EU and Washington suspend punitive tariffs in Airbus/Boeing dispute for 4 months
TRADE: Italy justifies blocking export of Covid-19 vaccines to Australia
UNITED KINGDOM: Northern Ireland protocol, Commission pursues infringement proceeding against London 
HONG KONG: EU warns Beijing about consequences of a reform of Hong Kong electoral system
SYRIA: EU adopts €130 million aid plan to support refugees and local communities in Jordan and Lebanon
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS - SOCIETAL ISSUES
MEDIA: in European Parliament, citizens and journalists depict a Slovenian media landscape undermined by political interference
WOMEN: Covid-19 crisis has more severe consequences for women, confirms European Commission
SECTORAL POLICIES
MIGRATION: Frontex’s internal report does not yet make it possible to remove grey areas in cases of alleged violations of rules at EU’s borders 
AGRICULTURE: a ‘super trilogue’ between EU institutions on 26 March to make progress in CAP negotiations
AGRICULTURE: European Green Party reacts to Hungarian attacks on its report on destination of EU funds
AGRICULTURE: biodiversity strategy, MEPs call for assurances for agriculture
CLIMATE: faced with criticism from MEPs, Frans Timmermans defends Commission’s position in negotiations on ‘Climate Law’
GMO: European Parliament called on to oppose authorisation of glufosinate-resistant maize and cotton
ENVIRONMENT: pesticides, European Parliament could oppose extension of authorisation of nine active substances, including dimoxystrobin
ENERGY: European regulators’ recommendations to improve TEN-E network reform
INTERNAL MARKET: European Commission adopts new guidelines on free movement of goods
SOCIAL AFFAIRS
SOCIAL: MEPs want more ambition in Action Plan for implementation of European Pillar of Social Rights
SOCIAL: European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan was rather well received by social partners
SOCIAL: MEPs are rather opposed to creation of a third status for platform workers
ECONOMY - FINANCE - BUSINESS
ECONOMY: modalities of Next Generation EU, structural funds, and InvestEU support should have been defined together, says José Manuel Fernandes
EMU: MEPs set out measures that would enable single currency to play greater international role 
TAXATION: European Commission gives taste of its thinking on business taxation for 21st century
COMPETITION: public consultation on application of right to collective agreements for self-employed workers
INSTITUTIONAL
PARLIAMENTARY PLENARY: carbon border adjustment mechanism, due diligence for companies and ‘European Semester’ on March plenary session agenda
BETTER REGULATION: ‘FitforFuture’ platform will make recommendations to simplify fifteen European legislative acts 
COUNCIL OF EUROPE
WOMEN: Istanbul Convention is essential in combating violence against women, recalls Council of Europe
NEWS BRIEFS
CYPRUS: EU ready to actively help resumption of talks over island reunification
FINANCE: GameStop case highlights discrimination of retail investors in stock markets, says BETTER FINANCE
DIGITAL: European publishers “deeply concerned” about Google’s future advertising targeting system
PARLIAMENT: discreet invitation from ECR group in European Parliament to Hungarian MEPs who have left EPP group 
SOCIAL: MEPs give go-ahead for Interinstitutional Agreement on European Social Fund plus
UKRAINE: EU Council lifts sanctions against Mr Arbuzov and Mr Tabachnyk 
CALENDAR
Main activities of European Institutions: until 12 March 2021
CALENDAR EXTRA
Other events: until 12 March 2021