The European Parliament’s plenary session, which will take place from Monday 26 April in Brussels by videoconference, will vote on the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement and adopt its negotiating position with the Council of the European Union on the digital green certificate.
On Monday, the Presidents of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the European Council, Charles Michel, will first report on the results of the EU Spring Summit on the fight against Covid-19 and on EU-Turkey relations.
At the end of March, EU leaders had decided to engage in a “progressive, proportionate and reversible” manner with the Turkish authorities (see EUROPE 12686/3). MEPs are also expected to discuss the trip to Ankara by Mr Michel and Ms von der Leyen where they met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (see EUROPE 12692/1).
It is in this context that the ‘Sofagate” protocol incident is expected to be addressed (see EUROPE 12699/19, 12694/5).
Digital green certificate. On Wednesday 28 April, under urgency procedure, the European Parliament will debate the digital green certificate and vote on the same day on this draft regulation which has already been agreed in principle in the EU Council (see EUROPE 12698/3). The stated objective is that this tool to facilitate the return to free movement should be operational by the end of June.
In Parliament, many questions remain about the risks of discrimination between citizens vaccinated against Covid-19 and others and about what will happen to vaccines not yet recognised by the European Medicines Agency, such as the Russian vaccine Sputnik V (see EUROPE 12697/1).
Brexit. On Tuesday 27 April, after a marathon five-hour debate, MEPs will be asked to give their consent to the post-Brexit EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which began provisionally on 1 January, with a deadline of 30 April. On Thursday, the Conference of Presidents of the political groups gave the green light for the vote to take place (see EUROPE 12704/20).
The vote will be taken on a recommendation consenting to the ratification of the bilateral agreement and on a resolution of the political groups. The Commission is expected to deem the UK’s departure from the EU a “historic mistake” and to condemn in passing the UK’s recent unilateral actions on the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland (see other news).
See the draft resolution: https://bit.ly/2RWUR0q
Foreign Affairs. Foreign affairs are high on the agenda of the plenary. On Wednesday afternoon, MEPs will discuss Russia with High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, both in terms of the treatment of opposition politician Alexei Navalny (see EUROPE 12701/2) and Russia’s military build-up on the Ukrainian border (see EUROPE 12701/1), as well as the alleged Russian attack in the Czech Republic in 2014 (see EUROPE 12704/22).
A resolution will be voted on Thursday 29 April.
Parliament will also debate Chinese sanctions against, among others, EU entities and five MEPs in retaliation for EU measures against four Chinese officials linked to human rights violations against Uighurs in Xinjiang (see EUROPE 12683/1, 12685/16).
Ahead of the EU-India summit, which could take place in virtual format on Saturday 8 May (see EUROPE 12702/36), the European Parliament will discuss the resolution by Alviina Alametsä (Greens/EFA, Finland) on strategic relations between the two partners, which will be put to the vote on 29 April.
MEPs will also revisit the 5th anniversary of the peace agreement in Colombia and vote on a resolution on the subject the following day.
Also noteworthy is the report by Karin Karlsbro (Renew Europe, Sweden), consenting to the voluntary partnership agreement between the EU and Honduras on forest management and timber trade, which will be put to the vote on Tuesday (see EUROPE 12681/25).
In the field of human rights, MEPs will discuss and vote on Thursday on urgent resolutions on: – the pandemic situation in Latin America; – the arrest of the former interim president of Bolivia, Jeanine Añez; – blasphemy laws in Pakistan.
Digital taxation. On economic issues, MEPs will discuss on Wednesday the overhaul of international tax rules and, in particular, the introduction of a minimum effective tax rate for companies in the light of recent US proposals (see EUROPE 12694/11).
On the same day, they will adopt a resolution on the subject, passed by a large majority in the parliamentary committee, which supports an international agreement at the OECD by June 2021 on the two pillars of international tax reform, but also asks the EU to have a backup plan in case of failure.
In the field of transport, the European Parliament will adopt on Tuesday 27 April a non-legislative draft resolution for more efficient and cleaner shipping (see EUROPE 12667/9). The text calls for a carbon neutral transition by 2050, a reduction in shipping emissions, the phasing out of fuel oil and the decarbonisation of European ports.
Confirmation of interinstitutional agreements. In addition, several interinstitutional agreements between Parliament and the Council of the EU will be debated and voted on.
On Tuesday 27 April, after a debate the day before, the plenary will endorse the regulation and the specific programme establishing the new EU framework programme for research and innovation, Horizon Europe (see EUROPE 12621/10).
Parliament will also validate the reform of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism and its equipment pool RescEU (amendment of decision 1313/2013/EU) aiming at a better preparedness and a more effective response to large-scale disasters (see EUROPE 12654/16).
On Wednesday 28 April, after a debate the day before, the Parliament-EU Council agreement on the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), which relaxes the threshold for triggering aid by lowering it to 200 workers in particular, will be put to the vote (see EUROPE 12625/27).
On the same day, MEPs will confirm the allocation of up to €1.8 billion to the ‘Justice’ and ‘Rights and Values’ programmes for the 2021-2027 period (see EUROPE 12030/12), which aim to promote democracy, the Rule of law, equality and fundamental rights in the EU. Within this envelope, the ‘Rights and Values’ programme (renamed ‘Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values’) will be allocated a maximum of €1.55 billion (see EUROPE 12626/6).
On the same day, MEPs will approve the interim agreement reached after lengthy negotiations with the EU Council on the regulation establishing the EU space programme. This programme will kick off the operation of the Copernicus and Galileo programmes under a single regulation (see EUROPE 12624/21). This step highlights the recent interim agreement on the Financial Framework Partnership Agreement (FFPA) between the European Commission and the European Space Agency (see EUROPE 12704/18) which defines, among other things, the role of the future EU Space Programme Agency (EUSPA) established by the above-mentioned regulation.
On Thursday 29 April, MEPs will give the green light to the adoption of the regulation requiring the removal of terrorist content online within 1 hour (see EUROPE 12620/11), after a debate on Wednesday. The Greens/EFA group opposes this legislative proposal as an infringement of individual freedoms.
In addition, MEPs will debate and approve the institutional agreement reached on the European Defence Fund (see EUROPE 12622/13) on the same day.
The Parliament will also endorse on Thursday the December 2020 political agreement on the €5.432 billion (at current prices) LIFE 2021-2027 programme, of which €3.5 billion will go to environmental projects and €1.9 billion to climate action (see EUROPE 12637/23).
Also on Thursday, MEPs will debate and vote on plans to deploy technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), supercomputing and data platforms. The Digital Europe programme has a budget of €7.5 billion, of which €2.2 billion is expected to be spent on data processing, €2 billion on AI and €1.6 billion on cyber security (see EUROPE 12622/2).
MEPs will debate and endorse new rules to better protect and help rail passengers facing delays, cancellations or discrimination on Wednesday (see EUROPE 12572/9). In particular, the new rules will allow passengers, in the event of a delay of more than 60 minutes, to choose to be reimbursed 100%, to continue their journey or to be re-routed under similar conditions at no extra cost.
Budget. Finally, the European Parliament will endorse the Parliament-EU Council compromise on the regulation establishing the EU’s anti-fraud programme with an annual budget of €29 million per year over 7 years (see EUROPE 12619/7).
Following the recommendation of the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control (see EUROPE 12684/25), Parliament should decide to postpone the discharge for the implementation of the 2019 budget of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex). The draft report refers to cases of harassment reported by the Agency in 2019 and other cases reported more recently by whistleblowers as well as the OLAF investigation into allegations of so-called pushback of migrants involving Frontex.
See the agenda of the plenary session: https://bit.ly/3vfwJo5 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and editorial staff)