European Union

This Week In The European Parliament

From terrorism to climate change and post-earthquake reconstruction in Italy, the European Parliament has a big week ahead. This is the official list of items on the agenda. You can find the original list here.

Counter-terrorism. The attack on Barcelona brought to the fore yet again a well familiar security issue: European countries do not share as much intelligence as they should, and this makes us weaker. Insufficient cooperation also hampers law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

MEPs on the Civil Liberties Committee will discuss strategies with Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos, who is responsible for migration, home affairs and citizenship; and Krum Garkov, president of the eu-LISA agency, which takes care of digital security and databases.

 

Security. The Civil Liberties Committee, and Security Union Commissioner Sir Julian King, will provide an assessment of current threats and challenges.

 

Climate Change/COP23. The next UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) will be held in Bonn in November this year, and MEPs from the Environment Committee will vote on the Parliament’s position on the issues at hand, before a European Parliament delegation is sent.

The conference will focus on the implementation of the Paris Agreement, in force since November 2016, as work remains to be done, in particular on climate finance and national contributions.

 

Environmental liability. The Parliament will review the effectiveness of EU regulation aimed at preventing and repairing environmental damage, based on the ‘polluter pays’ principle. Members will also propose improvements to the Environmental Liability Directive (ELD), which became national law in the member states in 2010.

 

Commission Work Programme 2018. EP President Tajani and the leaders of political groups will meet with Commission President Juncker and First Vice-President Timmermans. The meeting’s purpose is to define priorities for work related policies slated for 2018. (Thursday)

 

Plenary preparations. Political groups will set their political priorities in the run-up to the 2017 “State of the Union” debate with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, scheduled on 13 September.

Preparatory items of debate include: fire safety in buildings, the promotion of internet connectivity in local communities, the security of gas supply, arms exports, prison systems in Europe, next steps for completing the Capital Markets Union, the impact of EU trade policy and EU-Latin America relations.

 

President’s agenda. EP President Antonio Tajani will be in Norcia (Italy) on Monday to participate in a Citizen’s dialogue on “Building a better Europe with citizens for future generations” with Education, Culture, Youth and Sport Commissioner Tibor Navracsics.

On Wednesday, President Tajani will meet Demetris Syllouris, the President of Cyprus’ House of Representatives, in Brussels.

On Friday, he will participate in the 15th G7 Parliaments’ Presidents’ meeting in Rome, and attend the official lunch for G7 speakers with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, in Naples, the following day. On Sunday, Mr Tajani will be in Münster, attending a conference organised by Community of Sant’Egidio, a Catholic organisation active in different fields including peace mediation, together with Chancellor Angela Merkel and Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou.

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Tullio Pontecorvo

Student of political science and international relations, co-founder of My Country? Europe. Aspiring sci-fi author. Believes shooting aliens in the face to be the ultimate form of gaming.

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