National recovery plans, the lifting of patents protecting Covid-19 vaccines, the conflict of interest involving Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, and the adequacy of the UK’s data protection regime with that of the EU are among the many issues that will be discussed during the next plenary session of the European Parliament from Monday 17 to Thursday 20 May.
The President of the European Parliament decided on Wednesday 12 May that this session would be once again held in Brussels, on the advice of the European Parliament’s medical service.
“Even though the roll-out of vaccination campaigns is accelerating in the Member States and in the European Parliament, vaccine uptake is not yet such that the national authorities, including the French, are in a position to relax the restrictions generally”, says Mr Sassoli in his decision.
The June plenary session, on the other hand, could take place in Strasbourg, after a 15-month absence (see other news).
On Tuesday, MEPs will discuss with the EU Council and the European Commission Parliament’s right to information on the ongoing evaluation of national recovery and resilience plans, which is expected to result in a resolution on Wednesday.
Parliament will also debate on Wednesday a proposal at the WTO to lift intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines. The vote on a resolution on this issue was postponed to the June plenary session.
Conflict of interest
On Wednesday 19 May, MEPs will discuss the conflict of interest involving the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Andrej Babiš, with the EU Council and the Commission. The EPP group has called for a procedure under the ‘Rule of law’ conditionality regulation against the Czech government for misuse of EU funds (see EUROPE 12706/22). The EPP bases its call on the findings of the European Commission’s final audit on conflicts of interest involving the Czech Prime Minister.
Protection of personal data
On Thursday 20 May, MEPs will vote on the draft resolution retaining the European Commission’s approach to the adequacy of the UK’s data protection regime (see EUROPE 12718/14), which was adopted by Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) on 11 May.
On the same day, they will also discuss the Schrems II judgment (see EUROPE 12529/2) concerning data transfers from the EU to the US (see EUROPE 12702/9).
MEPs will also vote at second reading on the establishment of the Cyber Security Competence Centre, which will be based in Bucharest and will serve to strengthen the security of the Internet and other critical information systems (see EUROPE 12702/39).
They will also vote on Wednesday on the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection’s (IMCO) report on “Shaping Europe’s digital future: removing barriers to a well-functioning digital single market and making AI work better for European consumers”.
EU industrial strategy
On Tuesday 18 May, MEPs will discuss the update of the industrial strategy with European Commission Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager (see EUROPE 12713/6).
It should mainly be about the concrete steps to follow and the balance to be found between the need for autonomy and the need for openness to non-Member States, as was discussed in the parliamentary committee on Monday 10 May (see EUROPE 12718/16).
Environment, energy and hydrogen
The plenary will focus on climate issues. On Monday, the session will open with a debate on EU strategies for hydrogen and energy systems integration. The two draft own-initiative reports on these topics (see EUROPE 12684/6; 12684/7) will be put to a vote on Wednesday.
MEPs will then debate the draft own-initiative report by Antonius Manders (EPP, Netherlands) on corporate liability for environmental damage (see EUROPE 12681/7) on Wednesday, followed by a vote on Thursday .
Parliament will debate and vote on Wednesday evening at first reading on the proposal to revise the regulation on improving public access to justice in environmental matters to bring EU legislation into line with the international Aarhus Convention which it transposes (see EUROPE 12705/8). This vote will pave the way for interinstitutional negotiations on this dossier, which must be concluded before the next conference of the parties to the Aarhus Convention in October (see EUROPE 12625/2).
They will also be asked on Tuesday to support the interinstitutional agreement on the ‘Just Transition Fund’, following the committee vote last December. As a reminder, the co-legislators had validated the rejection of gas investments and introduced a green reward mechanism from 2025 (see EUROPE 12620/12).
Parliament will also vote Tuesday on a report by its Committee on Development on climate change, which calls on the Commission to develop a comprehensive strategy to significantly strengthen the EU’s contribution to limiting the effects of climate change on vulnerable populations in developing countries.
A debate is also scheduled for Monday evening on tackling inequalities to ensure that AIDS ceases to be a health threat by 2030, as Parliament wants to know the intentions of the EU Council and the European Commission for the high-level meeting on HIV/AIDS convened by the UN General Assembly (8-10 June). A resolution on this issue is expected to be voted on Wednesday.
Foreign affairs
On Tuesday afternoon, MEPs and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will discuss the EU’s strategy towards Israel and Palestine as the situation on the ground deteriorates (see EUROPE 12718/33).
They will also discuss the 2019-2020 reports on Turkey by Nacho Sánchez Amor (S&D, Spain), and on Montenegro by Tonino Picula (S&D, Croatia). These reports will be voted on Wednesday 12 May.
The report by Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA, Netherlands) on the protection of human rights and the EU’s external migration policy and the report by María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos (Renew Europe, Spain) on the effects of climate change on human rights and the role of environmental defenders in this regard will also be debated on Tuesday and voted on Wednesday.
On Thursday, MEPs will discuss and vote on three urgent resolutions on prisoners of war following the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia (see EUROPE 12712/22), the situation in Haiti, and the situation in Chad following the death of President Idriss Déby (see EUROPE 12708/33).
Legal migration and civil justice
On Wednesday, MEPs will debate the own-initiative report by Sylvie Guillaume (S&D, France) on “new avenues for legal economic migration”.
The text, adopted in Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) in April (see EUROPE 12697/20), calls for more tools to develop legal labour migration in order to address labour and skills shortages, as the pandemic has highlighted the key role of certain professions, which are sometimes carried out by migrants. It also calls for a review and expansion of the current legislation, which mainly covers employment in highly skilled sectors. The final vote on the report will take place on Thursday.
On Tuesday, MEPs will discuss the recent shipwrecks and deaths in the Mediterranean and rescue operations at sea with the EU Council and Commission.
On Wednesday, they will discuss the importance of civil justice for economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic with the European Commission. According to MEPs, the downturn in economic activity is expected to result in a large number of civil disputes. The speed with which such cases can be resolved will be an important factor in the success of the recovery of European economies. The MEPs plan to ask the Commission what initiatives it intends to take in the field of civil justice in order to achieve a faster settlement of commercial disputes.
They will also have a discussion with the Commission and the EU Council on Thursday on equality, inclusion and participation of Roma communities.
Fiscal and financial affairs
A European Commission statement on company taxation was also added to Tuesday’s agenda. It is expected to present its next steps for action in this field.
On the same day, Parliament is also expected to approve the appointment of Natasha Cazenave of France as Executive Director of the European Securities and Markets Authority (see EUROPE 12704/9) and the appointment of Petra Hielkema of the Netherlands as head of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (see EUROPE 12718/24).
2021-2027 programmes
Finally, the plenary session will approve a series of EU programmes for the 2021-2027 period. On Wednesday, MEPs will confirm, among other things, the interim agreements reached in December with the EU Council on the Creative Europe programme (see EUROPE 12623/2), the Erasmus+ programme (see EUROPE 12622/27), and the European Solidarity Corps (see EUROPE 12622/28).
See the agenda: https://bit.ly/3uJns7N (Original version in French by the editorial team)