Weekly European Agenda 4.-8. September
Day-by-day
Monday 4 September
- EP: DROI, SEDE, CONT, ECON, ITRE, IMCO, CULT, LIBE, AFCO, FEMM
- Informal Agriculture and Fisheries Council
- EC: Hahn visits Tunisia
- EC: Navracsics in Italy
- EESC: Study group meetings
- CoR: Reflecting on Europe local events
- Presidency: European Company Law and Corporate Governance Conference
Tuesday 5 September
- EMI: Launch of European Angst e-book
- EP: Political group meetings
- Informal Agriculture and Fisheries Council
- EC: Mogherini in Slovenia
- EC: Mimica at the Pacific Islands Forum at the Samoa Islands
- EESC: Section for Single Market, Production and Consumption
- Presidency: Annual Baltic Conference on Defence
- CoE: European Court of Human Rights judgments
- CoE: PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
- CoE: Czech Chairmanship meeting on the European Landscape Convention
Wednesday 6 September
- EP: Political group meetings
- Informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers (Gymnich)
- EC: College of Commissioners
- EC: INSPIRE Conference 2017
- EC: King visits EU Hybrid Centre
- EESC: Section for Single Market Production and Consumption
- Presidency: Evolution of Data Protection Conference
- CoE: PACE Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy
- CoE: Venice Commission Country Visit to Ukraine
Thursday 7 September
- EP: Interparliamentary Conference on the CFSP and CSDP
- EP: TRAN, REGI, JURI, LIBE, PETI, INTA, CONT, ENVI
- Informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers (Gymnich)
- EC: Juncker meets Tajani
- EC: Navracsics at European Year of Cultural Heritage meeting
- EESC: Conference on European Energy Dialogue on the Energy Union
- EESC: Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion
- Presidency: High Level Group on Gender Mainstreaming
- CoE: European Court of Human Rights judgments
- CoE: PACE Monitoring Committee
Friday 8 September
- EP: Interparliamentary Conference on the CFSP and CSDP
- Informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers (Gymnich)
- EC: Juncker receives Permanent Representatives of EU Member States
- EC: Gabriel visits Bulgaria
- EESC: Study group meetings
- CoE: PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
- CoE: PACE Launching Conference of the Parliamentary Network on Diaspora Policies
European Movement International
Tuesday 5 September
Launch of European Angst e-book
The Goethe-Institut and the European Movement International will mark the official launch of the e-book EUROPEAN ANGST. The event will feature a debate on populism, extremism and euroscepticism in contemporary European societies. This event is the follow-up to the EUROPEAN ANGST conference organised in December, which aimed to break out of the comfort zone of liberal consensus by inviting controversial thinkers and creating a space for passionate debate, reflection and in-depth analysis. Participants included the writers and philosophers Slavoj Žižek, Didier Eribon, Elif Shafak and Nobel Prize winner Herta Müller, as well as over 40 students. Representing the decision makers of tomorrow, the students played an active role in the conference and drafted a manifesto on Europe’s future that was then handed over to EU officials.
European Union
European Parliament
Monday 4 September
Subcommittee on Human Rights
Feedback from DROI mission to the Philippines; Exchange of views with Peter Soerensen, Head of Delegation of the European Union to the United Nations Office and other International Organisations in Geneva, on the recent and forthcoming HRC sessions; In association with the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee: Debriefing by the EEAS on the latest EU-Ukraine Human Rights Dialogue; Exchange of views on the mid-term review of the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR).
Subcommittee on Security and Defence
In association with the EP Delegations to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Committee, EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee and for relations with Belarus: Public hearing «Security developments in the post-Soviet space, particularly in Ukraine and Belarus»; Annual Report on the implementation of the Common Security and Defence Policy.
Committee on Budgetary Control
Votes: EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust); Establishing the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking; Legitimate measures to protect whistle-blowers acting in the public interest when disclosing the confidential information of companies and public bodies; General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2018 – all sections; Exchange of views in preparation of the CONT mission to Hungary (18-20 September 2017); Workshop on The implementation of the Common provisions (Reg. EU 1303/2013) for structural, agricultural, social and fisheries funds in practice, with view to their effectiveness.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
European Central Bank Annual Report for 2016; Mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders; Vote: Legitimate measures to protect whistle-blowers acting in the public interest when disclosing the confidential information of companies and public bodies; Combating inequalities as a lever to boost job creation and growth.
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
Directive of the European parliament and of the Council on the legal and operational framework of the European services e-card; Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council introducing a European services e-card and related administrative facilities; Energy efficiency; Promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (recast); ITRE mission to Poland (22-24 May), Debriefing.
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection
Action Plan on Retail Financial Services; Implementation of Directive 2005/36/EC as regards regulation and the need for reform in professional services; Vote: Proposed calendar of meetings for 2018 – Adoption; Vote: European Electronic Communications Code (Recast); Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council to empower the competition authorities of the Member States to be more effective enforcers and to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market; Respect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic communications and repealing Directive 2002/58/EC (Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications); Saving Lives: Boosting Car Safety in the EU.
Committee on Culture and Education
Exchange of views with the Commission on modernisation of education in the EU; Reporting back from the Brexit Monitoring Group meeting; Feedback on the trilogue on the AVMS Directive (in camera).
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
EU Citizenship Report 2017: Strengthening Citizens’ Rights in a Union of Democratic Change; Fundamental rights aspects in Roma integration in the EU: fighting anti-Gypsyism; The EU-Africa Strategy: a boost for development; Draft Council implementing decision on subjecting N-(1-phenethylpiperidin-4-yl)-
Committee on Constitutional Affairs
Consideration of draft opinion on Reform of the European Union’s system of own resources; Discussion on the state of play of the negotiations on Brexit, with the participation of the coordinator for the negotiations of the EP, Guy Verhofstadt.
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
Workshop on «Increasing female participation in the labour market» organised by the Policy Department C with presentation of the recently published «Study on Demography and family policies from a gender perspective»; vote on Implementation of the European Disability Strategy.
Tuesday 5 September
Political group meetings
Wednesday 6 September
Political group meetings
Committee on Transport and Tourism & Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
Informal trilogue financial regulation omnibus.
Thursday 7 – Saturday 9 September
Interparliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP)
The CFSP/CSDP is a joint meeting of the committees dealing with foreign policy and security policy issues in the parliaments of the Member States. At the Inter-Parliamentary Conference for the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy, the parliaments of Member States are each represented by a delegation composed of up to six members; the European Parliament is represented by up to 16 members. National parliaments of EU candidate countries and member countries of NATO that are not members of the EU can participate as observers and are represented by a delegation of four members.
Thursday 7 September
Committee on Transport and Tourism
International ocean governance: an agenda for the future of our oceans in the context of the 2030 SDGs; Adapting a number of legal acts providing for the use of the regulatory procedure with scrutiny to Articles 290 and 291 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU; Proposal for a decision of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Directive 2010/40/EU as regards the period for adopting delegated acts; A European strategy on Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems; Exchange of views with Director General, DG MOVE, Mr Hololei; Presentation by EMSA Executive Director, Mr Mylly.
Committee on Regional Development
Vote: General budget of the European Union for the financial year 2018 – all sections; vote: Economic policies of the euro area; Implementation of EU macro-regional strategies; Competitiveness in low-income and low-growth regions. The lagging regions report; The role of EU regions and cities in implementing the COP 21 Paris Agreement on climate change; Exchange of views with Ladislav Balko, European Court of Auditors, on ECA Special Report 2/2017 (partnership agreements); Exchange of views with Marc Lemaitre, European Commission, on smart specialisation and on the current state of implementation of 2014-2020 cohesion policy programmes; European Solidarity Corps.
Committee on Legal Affairs
Requests for waivers of the immunity of Ana Gomes and Manolis Kefalogiannis; Mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders; Vote: Application of Directive on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage (the ‘ELD’); Vote: Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB); Vote: Common Corporate Tax Base; Countering money laundering by criminal law; Vote: Electronic publication of the Official Journal of the European Union; Vote: Common rules for the internal market in electricity (recast); Vote: Interoperability of electronic road toll systems and facilitating cross-border exchange of information on the failure to pay road fees in the Union (recast); Rules on the exercise of copyright and related rights applicable to certain online transmissions of broadcasting organisations and retransmissions of television and radio programmes; Legitimate measures to protect whistle-blowers acting in the public interest when disclosing the confidential information of companies and public bodies; Respect for private life and the protection of personal data in electronic communications and repealing Directive 2002/58/EC (Regulation on Privacy and Electronic Communications); Protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies and on the free movement of such data; EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust).
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Council decision on the putting into effect of certain provisions of the Schengen acquis relating to the Visa Information System in the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania; Reporting on the implementation of the EU readmission agreements, with particular reference to the ongoing work of the Joint Readmission Committees; Legitimate measures to protect whistle-blowers acting in the public interest when disclosing the confidential information of companies and public bodies; European Agency for the operational management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security and justice; Joint debate: European Commission Comprehensive Assessment of EU Security Policy & Ninth progress report towards an effective and genuine Security Union; Agreement between Canada and the European Union on the transfer and processing of Passenger Name Record data; Fight against Afrophobia; European Commission 2016 Annual Activity report: DG Migration and Home Affairs.
Committee on Petitions
Votes: Opinion on Promoting of the use of energy from renewable sources (recast); Opinion on the Implementation of the European Disability Strategy; and Opinion on the Revision of Regulation (EU) 211/2011 on the citizens’ initiative; In the presence of the European Commission: Petitions for discussion in committee on the basis of the Commission’s written reply or other documents received, on Trade, Economic and Monetary Affairs, Health and Environment; EU Citizenship report; Petitions which it is proposed to close in the light of the Commission’s written reply or other documents received.
Committee on International Trade
Workshop on Russia and the EU sanctions: economic and trade effects, compliance and the way forward.
Committee on Budgetary Control
Extraordinary meeting.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Find an overview of committee agendas here.
Council of Ministers
Sunday 3 – Tuesday 5 September
Informal meeting of ministers for agriculture and fisheries (AGRIFISH)
The main discussion topic of the meeting will be ‘Empowering our farmers with effective tools to manage risks post-2020’. The EU farming sector is facing increasing market and production risks, which is a result of increased price volatility on global markets and climate change. This affects farmers’ income and competitiveness, making long-term planning difficult and hampering incentives to invest. Agricultural ministers will discuss on the following questions: Have our farmers recognized their responsibility in managing the risks and has CAP provided them with efficient tools to do that? Should the amount of the crisis reserve be increased and should this amount be accumulated over the years to have a real impact in addressing market crises? Do you consider direct payments as a risk management tool?
Wednesday 6 – Friday 8 September
Informal meeting of defence ministers and informal meeting of foreign affairs ministers (Gymnich)
An overview of planned Council meetings can be found here.
European Commission and High Representative
Monday 4 September
Johannes Hahn is on a bilateral visit to Tunisia (until 05/09).
Tibor Navracsics in Norcia, Italy: meets with European Solidarity Corps volunteers helping with the reconstruction of the area; holds a Citizens’ Dialogue with Mr Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament; meets with representatives of the local authorities.
Tuesday 5 September
Federica Mogherini in Ljubljana, Slovenia, for a bilateral visit.
Neven Mimica in Apia, Samoa Islands (until 07/09): participates in the 48th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders’ meeting which includes the Pacific-EU Gender Conference and a session on post-Cotonou partnership with the Pacific; meets with Ms Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Minister for International Development and the Pacific of Australia; Mr Edouard Fritch, President of the French Polynesia; Mr Gerry Brownlee, Minister for Foreign Affairs of New Zealand; Mr Henry Puna, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands; Mr Susuga Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, Prime Minister of Samoa; Ms Dame Meg Taylor, Secretary General of the PIF and representatives of civil society organisations.
Wednesday 6 September
College of Commissioners Meeting
Migration Agenda and Security Union: 15th Report on Relocation and Resettlement; 5th Report on the operationalisation of the European Border and Coast Guard; 7th Report on the progress made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement; 5th Report on the Partnership Framework on Migration; 10th Security Union Progress Report.
Orientation debate on EU trade policy after the reflection paper on «harnessing globalisation» and the Singapore Opinion of the European Court of Justice.
INSPIRE Conference 2017: INSPIRE a digital Europe – Thinking out of the box
The Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing an infrastructure for spatial information in the European Community, better known as INSPIRE, celebrates this year the 10th anniversary of its entry into force. A decade of implementation efforts by the EU, EFTA/EEA and candidate accession countries is resulting in a growing online availability of a wide range of spatial data. This makes INSPIRE – as an example of a European interoperability framework and digital infrastructure – more than ever relevant for both the environment, the European digital economy and society in general. By organising the INSPIRE 2017 conference together, the governments of Germany and France, in partnership with the European Commission want to emphasize this message while underlining also the importance of working together across borders, and across policy and economic sectors to make this sharing of spatial data even more a reality for the wider benefit of our citizens, businesses and environment.
Julian King participates in the High-Level Seminar «Hybrid Challenge 2017» and visits the new EU Hybrid Centre in Helsinki, Finland.
Thursday 7 September
Jean-Claude Juncker meets with Mr Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament, in Brussels and participates in the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament.
Tibor Navracsics hosts the opening session and delivers a speech at the joint meeting of national coordinators and stakeholders of the European Year of Cultural Heritage.
Friday 8 September
Jean-Claude Juncker receives the Permanent Representatives of the EU’s 28 Member States for a working lunch.
Mariya Gabriel in Sofia, Bulgaria: meets with Mr Georgi Dimitrov, President of Law and Internet Foundation and Assoc.; Ms Daniela Illieva-Koleva, Executive Director of the Law and Internet Foundation; Ms Maya Manolova, National Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria; participates in the closing session of the European Junior Olympiad in Informatics.
The Commissioners’ weekly activities can be found here; the agenda of the College Meetings can be found here; Commission events can be found here.
European Economic and Social Committee
Monday 4 September
Study Group Meetings
Access to the international road haulage market and the occupation of road transport operator (revision)
Emissions/heavy duty vehicles
Eurovignette
Tuesday 5 September
Study Group Meetings
The core role of Trade and Investment in meeting and implementing the SDGs
Exchanging and Protecting Personal Data in a globalised World
European Defence Industrial Development Programme (referral)
Section for the Single Market, Production and Consumption
Opinion on the Customs Union/governance; Opinion on Consumer financial services; Presentation of the study by DG Justice and Consumers on Consumer issues in online peer-to-peer platforms, by Antonia FOKKEMA, European Commission; Own-initiative opinion on Transparency, methodology and resources of impact assessments; Own-initiative opinion on the Impact of the digital healthcare revolution on health insurance.
Wednesday 6 September
Study Group Meetings
Clean, competitive and connected mobility for all
Financing of CSOs by the EU
EU personal pension product
Section for the Single Market, Production and Consumption
Discussion on Brexit.
Thursday 7 September
Study Group Meetings
Prevention of radicalisation
Compliance Package
Monitoring the application of EU legislation (Landscape review – EU Court of Auditors)
Conference on European Energy Dialogue on the Energy Union: Progress, Governance, and Civil Society Participation
The Energy Union strategy and associated policies recognise the importance and make efforts to «put the citizens at [the Energy Union’s] core» and to set up «an energy dialogue with stakeholders to inform policy-making and support active engagement in managing the energy transition». The EESC conference aims at facilitating this dialogue by bringing together representatives of civil society organisations, experts and senior representatives of the European institutions. More concretely, the event seeks to foster an open debate of cross-cutting topics that have emerged from the EESC’s recent work on the clean energy package, namely governance, empowering consumers, financing the energy transition, greening the economy, and the future (progress) of the Energy Union.
Section for Economic and Monetary Union and Economic and Social Cohesion
Opinion on Wealth inequality in Europe; Opinion on Family and traditional businesses in regional development; Opinion on Common (Consolidated) Corporate Tax Base; Opinion on Tax system for competition/growth; Opinion on European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR) – Amendment; Exchange of views on the implementation of macro-regional strategies with invited guests from Interact, DG REGIO (European Commission), Danube Strategy’s Priority Area in charge of Institutional Capacities & Cooperation, Foster Europe and the High-level group on simplification.
Friday 8 September
Study Group Meetings
Deepening EMU by 2025
European Solidarity Corps
EU finances by 2025
Capital Markets Union: Mid-term Review
New EU education strategy
More information about EESC events can be found here.
The agendas of the different EESC meetings can be found here.
Committee of the Regions
Monday 4 – Friday 8 September
The European Week of Regions and Cities goes local with «Reflecting on Europe»
My future Europe – A citizens’ dialogue in Hannover on 5 September;
Connecting people across maritime borders in Tallinn on 6 September;
Functional Cities – Europe in my Region in Malmö on 7 September;
Citizens’ Dialogue– It’s about Europe, it’s about you, let’s talk! in Bucharest on 7 September.
More information about Committee of the Regions events can be found here.
Estonian Presidency
Sunday 3 – Tuesday 5 September
21st European company law and corporate governance conference
According to its 2017 work programme, the European Commission intends to “present a company law initiative to facilitate the use of digital technologies throughout a company’s lifecycle and cross-border mergers and divisions”. The aim of this conference, organised by the Estonian Ministry of Justice in the framework of the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the EU, is to bring together stakeholders to discuss possible necessary changes in the existing EU company law framework.
The conference is planned to cover 3 different areas of interest: digital company law, cross-border mobility of companies and applicable law in company law matters.
Tuesday 5 – Wednesday 6 September
Annual Baltic Conference on Defence: Common Security and Defence Policy (ABCD:CSDP)
This year’s ABCD conference is titled ‘European Defence Cooperation – Out of the Shadows?’ and will focus on strategic questions about the EU’s role in international security and defence and the future of European defence cooperation.
Wednesday 6 – Friday 8 September
E-volution of Data Protection (Implementation of Data Protection Reform) Conference
The Estonian Ministry of Justice is organising an international high-level Data Protection conference in Tartu, in close cooperation with the faculty of law of the University of Tartu. The conference will bring together an international community of data protection and privacy experts. For a successful implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), all relevant topics will be covered.
Thursday 7 – Saturday 9 September
High Level Group on Gender Mainstreaming
The High Level Group on Gender Mainstreaming is an informal group of high-level representatives responsible for gender equality policies at the national level. It is chaired by the European Commission at regular meetings convened in close collaboration with the Presidency.
The agenda of the Estonian Presidency can be found here.
Council of Europe
Tuesday 5 September
European Court of Human Rights judgments
The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 11 judgments concerning Belgium, Montenegro and Turkey; deliver a Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Fábián v. Hungary; and
deliver a Grand Chamber judgment in the case of Bărbulescu v. Romania.
PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
New threats to the rule of law in Council of Europe member States: selected examples; Azerbaijan’s Chairmanship of the Council of Europe: What follow-up on Respect for Human Rights?; Prosecuting and punishing the crimes against humanity or even possible genocide committed by Daesh; Counter-Narratives to Terrorism; The case for drafting a European Convention on the profession of lawyer; Hearing: Compatibility of Sharia law with the European Convention on Human Rights: can States Parties to the Convention be signatories of the “Cairo Declaration”?.
Tuesday 5 – Wednesday 6 September
Czech Chairmanship meeting on the European Landscape Convention
19th Council of Europe Meeting of the Workshops for the implementation of the European Landscape Convention “The implementation of the European Landscape Convention at local level: the local democracy”.
Wednesday 6 September
PACE Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy
Enlarged debate on The activities of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2016-2017; The evaluation of the partnership for democracy in respect of the Parliament of Jordan; Call for a Council of Europe Summit to defend and promote democratic security in Europe; Sub-Committee on the Middle East and the Arab World.
Wednesday 6 – Tuesday 7 September
Venice Commission Country Visit to Ukraine
A delegation of the Venice Commission will meet with the Ukrainian authorities and other stakeholders in the framework of the preparation of the Opinion on compliance with the Council of Europe standards of the draft laws on anti-corruption courts and on the specialisation of judges for corruption-related offences.
Thursday 7 September
European Court of Human Rights judgments
The European Court of Human Rights will notify in writing 37 judgments and/or decisions concerning Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Italy, Montenegro, Norway, Poland and Turkey.
PACE Monitoring Committee
Consideration of a draft report and adoption of a draft resolution on the functioning of democratic institutions in Azerbaijan; Consideration of preliminary draft periodic review report on Hungary; The functioning of democratic institutions in Poland; Oral report by the co-rapporteurs on their fact finding visit to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina; Oral report by the co-rapporteurs on their fact finding visit to Serbia.
Thursday 7 – Friday 8 September
PACE Launching Conference of the Parliamentary Network on Diaspora Policies
The PACE will organise a conference to launch the parliamentary network on diaspora policies, at the invitation of the Portuguese Parliament. This network is being set up in order to promote political and legislative reforms regarding the role of diaspora in countries of origin and host societies.
PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
Meeting of the Sub-Committee on Co-operation with non-European countries of origin and transit; Meeting of the Sub-Committee on Integration; Launching conference of the Parliamentary Network on Diaspora Policies.
Find an overview of Council of Europe events here; the PACE diary here; information on forthcoming judgments here; information on Venice Commission events here; and the Chairmanship agenda here.
