The Week Ahead 08 – 14 January 2024

European Disability Card. The Employment and Social Affairs Committee will adopt its position on a European disability card and a revamp of the European parking card for persons with disabilities. These cards aim to make it easier for people with disabilities to travel across the EU by ensuring they can access special conditions, preferential treatment, and parking rights when visiting another member state. (Thursday)

Autumn fiscal package. The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee will discuss with Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni the fiscal part of the 2024 European Semester autumn package, in particular the overall assessment of draft budgetary plans for this year. (Thursday)

Plenary preparations. Political groups will prepare for the 15 – 18 January session, where MEPs will assess the results of the December EU summit with European Council President Charles Michel and debate the programme of the Belgian EU Council Presidency with Prime Minister De Croo. MEPs will also debate and vote on a law that will ban greenwashing and improve consumer information on product durability, on measures to cut down emissions of substances that damage the ozone layer and on rules to ensure a fair and sustainable environment for music streaming and to promote cultural diversity. They will also debate and vote on the state of the EU’s common foreign, security and defence policy, on China’s influence on critical infrastructure in the EU and on Parliament’s call to tackle hate speech and hate crime.

Pre-session press briefing. The EP’s Press Service will hold a press briefing with the Parliament’s political group spokespersons at 11.00 on Friday (Anna Politkovskaya room, press centre, Brussels).

President’s diary. EP President Roberta Metsola will meet the President of the Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg, Claude Wiseler, on Thursday. On Friday morning, she will be in Riga, where she will meet with Speaker of the Saeima Daiga Mieriņa, President of the Republic of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs, Prime Minister Evika Siliņa and Minister of Foreign Affairs Krišjānis Kariņš. President Metsola will then deliver a speech and participate in a discussion with young Latvians. On Friday afternoon, she will be in Vilnius to meet with Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė, President Gitanas Nausėda, attend a discussion with young Lithuanians and participate in the ceremony of lighting of commemorative bonfires for the Day of Defenders of Freedom. On Saturday, President Metsola will meet the Speaker of the Seimas Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen and deliver a keynote speech in the Lithuanian Seimas at the Commemoration of the Day of Defenders of Freedom and award ceremony of the Freedom Prize of the Republic of Lithuania.