The Week Ahead 12 – 18 July 2021
Committee meetings, Brussels
Fit for 2030/climate target. With Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans, MEPs from the Environment and Public Health Committee will give their initial impressions of the Commission’s “Fit for 2030 / Fit for 55” package, designed to achieve the EU’s new 2030 greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, a few hours after its publication (Wednesday).
Tackling cross-border health threats. As part of the lessons learnt from the coronavirus pandemic, the Environment and Public Health Committee will vote on new legislation to better manage serious cross-border health threats. The proposal aims to reinforce the crisis preparedness and response roles of EU agencies. It foresees the adoption of an EU health crisis and pandemic preparedness plan as well as a stronger monitoring system for infectious diseases and other health threats (Tuesday).
EU-Russia relations. The Foreign Affairs Committee will review the EU’s policy vis-à-vis Russia and propose a new EU-Russia strategy. The draft resolution covers a wide range of issues, such as deterring Russian security threats, fighting Russian interference, EU engagement to support democracy in Russia, sanctions policy, media freedom and human rights (Thursday).
A new EU-China strategy. MEPs in the Foreign Affairs Committee will take stock of the EU-China relationship. They will give their input for a new EU strategy towards the country, including how to continue cooperation with China, while dealing with emerging threats and challenges such as investments, disinformation, the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), security, human rights, as well as Taiwan and Hong Kong (Thursday).
Data Governance Act. Draft legislation to facilitate data sharing in the single market will be voted on by the Industry and Research Committee. The proposal sets the conditions for the reuse of data of public bodies, private companies and citizens. It aims to enable the safe sharing of sensitive data held by public bodies and regulate data sharing by private actors (Thursday).
Slovenian Presidency priorities. Slovenia’s ministers will present their priorities in a series of meetings with parliamentary committees. Slovenia will hold the Presidency of the Council until the end of 2021 (Monday to Thursday).
High-Level Conference on the Global State of Human Rights. The first Global State of Human Rights conference to discuss the state of human rights in the world, jointly organised by the Global Campus of Human Rights and the European Parliament, will bring together MEPs, EU Commissioners, Nobel Peace Prize Recipients, Sakharov Prize Laureates, International organisations’ high representatives, academia and stakeholders (Friday).
President’s diary. EP President David Sassoli will meet Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen on Tuesday. The President will meet Italy’s Minister for Regional Affairs Mariastella Gelmini, Her Royal Highness Princess Rym al–Ali of Jordan and the EU Special Representative for Sahel Emanuela Da Re, on Thursday.
