The Week Ahead 14 – 20 May 2018

Civil protection/natural disasters. An overhaul of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) will be up for a vote in the Environment Committee. The current system is unable to respond effectively to all the requests from EU member states for support. Proposed changes, including the creation of a Civil Protection Erasmus, reflect lessons learned from forest fires in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Greece in 2017. (Thursday)

Financial help after natural disasters: The Budgets Committee votes on plans to mobilise more than €100 million in financial aid to Greece, following earthquakes in Lesbos, hurricane damage in the French overseas territories of Saint-Martin and Guadeloupe and forest fires in Portugal and Spain, all in 2017. (Wednesday)

Cyber defence. The Foreign Affairs Committee will vote on ways to improve the cybersecurity of Europe’s armed forces. MEPs may call for closer integration of national defence capabilities and increases in financial and staff resources, in particular experts in cyber forensics, to make it easier to identify the sources of cyber-attacks. (Wednesday)

Migration/review of EU funding. EU funding for migration-related programmes and the challenges that are faced by organisations managing it in the field will be debated at a public hearing organised by the Civil Liberties, Budgets and Budgetary Control committees. MEPs will review EU migration expenditure and propose ways to improve the efficiency of EU funding for asylum and migration policies. (Wednesday)

Data protection. As new EU rules on data protection are set to take effect on 25 May, MEPs and national MPs will meet to discuss their implementation with law enforcement authorities, intergovernmental organizations, enterprises and IT specialists. (Tuesday)

President’s diary. EP President Antonio Tajani will be in Sofia for the EU-Western Balkans Summit on Wednesday and Thursday.