The Week Ahead 14 – 20 January 2019
[:en]
Austrian/Romanian presidency. MEPs will discuss the priorities of the incoming Romanian Council presidency with Prime Minister Viorica Dăncilă at 15:00, following a morning debate with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz assessing the Council presidency’s achievements over the past six months. A press conference by EP President Antonio Tajani and Prime Minister Dăncilă is scheduled at 17.00. (Tuesday)
Pedro Sánchez/Future of Europe. MEPs will exchange views about the future of Europe with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday at 10.00. A press conference by EP President Antonio Tajani and Prime Minister Sánchez is scheduled at 12.30. (Wednesday)
Brexit. At 8.30 on Wednesday, Parliament will debate the state of play of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, one day after the UK House of Commons’ meaningful vote on 15 January. (Wednesday)
Euro/20 years. To commemorate the launch of the Euro 20 years ago, Parliament will host a ceremony on Tuesday at 11.30, opened by EP President Antonio Tajani and followed by speeches by Jean-Claude Juncker, Mario Draghi, Mário Centeno, Jean-Claude Trichet and Roberto Gualtieri, Chairman of Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. There will also be an exhibition on the Euro within the premises of the European Parliament. (Tuesday)
Rule of Law/EU funding. MEPs will debate and vote on rules to reduce pre-financing or suspend EU budget payments to member states which interfere with courts or which do not tackle fraud and corruption. Parliament is also set to increase funding for the Rights and Values Programme promoting democracy, rule of law and fundamental rights across the EU. (debates Wednesday, votes Thursday)
InvestEU programme. MEPs are set to approve a new EU programme for investments which otherwise would have been difficult to make. The aim is to trigger almost €700 billion in investments during 2021-2027 to boost jobs and growth. (debate Tuesday, vote Wednesday)
Pesticides. MEPs will debate and vote on plans to boost trust in the EU approval procedure for pesticides, by making it more transparent and accountable. The report from the special committee on pesticides says that the public should be granted access to the studies used in the authorisation procedure, including all the supporting data and information relating to the applications. (debate Monday, vote Wednesday)
President’s Diary. EP President Antonio Tajani will have a bilateral meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Tuesday morning and with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez on Wednesday morning.
Pre-session press briefing. The EP Press Service will hold a press briefing at 16:30 on Monday in the Daphne Caruana Galizia Press conference room, Strasbourg.
[:]
