Summary

Next week is a political group week in the European Parliament.  Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) will hold meetings with their respective political party to prepare the plenary session, to be held in Strasbourg from May 28 to 31.  However, there will also be a few interesting (committee) meetings.  The upcoming week also marks the start of the 365-day countdown to the next European elections, which will take place on 23 to 26 May, 2019.

As Monday is a public holiday in Belgium, the week starts on Tuesday.  It will start with a meeting between the European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents (composed of the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, and of the presidents of the various political groups) and Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg.  This meeting will be held behind closed doors.  It is expected that the discussion will focus on the use of personal data of European Facebook users.  The meeting will be followed by a press briefing.

On Wednesday morning, Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources Oettinger will present the Commission’s Draft Budget for 2019 during the Committee on Budgets (“BUDG”) meeting.

On Thursday, the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (“EMPL”) will meet with Commissioner Thyssen on the recent proposal to establish a European Labour Authority.

Also on Thursday, the Committee on Constitutional Affairs (“AFCO”) will discuss the consequences for the EU of the future relationship agreement with the United Kingdom, guided by presentations by experts who produced three research papers on the topic.  Please find two of the three research papers here and here; the third one is forthcoming.

On Friday 25 May, the European General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) will come into force.

Meetings and Agenda

Monday, May 21, 2018

• No meetings of note due to public holiday.

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

• No meetings of note.

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

Committee on Budgets

11:00-12:30

• Presentation of the Commission’s Draft Budget 2019 by Günther OETTINGER, Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Joint meeting – Economic and Monetary Affairs and Constitutional Affairs

09:00-09:45

• Discussion on amendments to the report “Amending Article 22 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank” (COD)
  • Co-rapporteurs: Gabriel Mato (EPP, ES) and Danuta Maria Hübner (EPP, PL).

Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

09:00-12:30

Debates

• Exchange of views, as part of the structured dialogue, with Valdis DOMBROVSKIS (Vice President) and Marianne THYSSEN (Commissioner)
• Exchange of views with Marianne THYSSEN (Commissioner) – Presentation of the legislative proposal establishing a European Labour Authority

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

09:00-12:30

Debates

• Appointment of the European Chief Prosecutor – presentation by the political groups and discussion with Ingeborg GRAESSLE (EPP, DE), Chair of the Committee on Budgetary Control (09.00-10.00)
• “Towards a Comprehensive EU Protection System for Minorities”  – discussion on the study with Lina VOSYLIUTE from Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) (10.00-10.30)
• Joint debate on opening of negotiations for an agreement between the EU and Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Algeria on the exchange of personal data between Europol and competent authorities of these countries for fighting serious crime and terrorism (INI), Claude MORAES (S&D, UK) – discussion on eight draft reports (10.30-11.00)
• Joint debate on communication from the Commission and Council on adapting the common visa policy to new challenges and a report by Juan Fernando López AGUILAR (S&D, ES) establishing a Community Code on Visas (COD) (11.00-11.45)
• Delegation to the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training (CEPOL), Budapest, Hungary, April 5-6, 2018 – discussion on draft mission report (11.45-12.00)

Votes (12.00-12.30)

• Adequacy of the protection afforded by the EU-US Privacy Shield (RSP), rapporteur Claude MORAES (S&D, UK) – vote on draft resolution
• Schengen – implementation of the remaining provisions of the Schengen acquis relating to the Schengen Information System in the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania (CNS), rapporteur Monica MACOVEI (ECR, RO)  – vote on draft report
• Agreement between the EU and the Swiss Confederation and the EU and Iceland on supplementary rules in relation to the instrument for financial support for external borders and visa, as part of the Internal Security Fund, for the period 2014-2020 (NLE), rapporteur Claude MORAES (S&D, UK) (Swiss Confederation) and Anders PRIMDAHL VISTISEN (ECR, DK) (Iceland)  – vote on two draft reports
• The European Public Prosecutor (EPPO) – vote on the candidate of the European Parliament to the panel referred to in Article 14(3) of the Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 of 12 October 2017 implementing enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office

Committee on Constitutional Affairs

09:45-18:00

Debates

• Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Article 50 TEU) – discussion on the future of EU-UK cooperation with European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) representatives Mark LEONARD, ECFR’s Director and Wolfgang ISCHINGER, Former German Ambassador to the UK (10.00-11.00)

Votes (11.00-11.30)

• Role of cities in the institutional framework of the Union (INI) – vote on a draft report
  • Rapporteur: Kazimierz Michał Ujazdowski (NI, PL)

Workshop (14.30-16.00)

• The consequences for the EU of the future relationship agreement with the United Kingdom – presentation by experts of three research papers commissioned by the Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs – draft programme will be available here

Friday, May 25, 2018

• No meetings of note.