The Week Ahead 19 – 25 June 2023

Migration/Italy. A delegation from the Civil Liberties Committee will travel to Lampedusa, Sicily, to look into Search And Rescue (SAR) operations and the reception of migrants. MEPs will meet representatives from the relevant Italian authorities, from Frontex, and from NGOs involved in SAR and in the management of a reception centre. They will also visit a reception centre and attend a demonstration of a SAR operation. A press point should take place on Wednesday afternoon (Monday to Thursday).

Digital laws/Silicon Valley. A Legal Affairs Committee delegation will travel to Silicon Valley to discuss the latest developments in the tech sector. MEPs will assess the complexity of regulating the sector, particularly EU legislation like the Artificial Intelligence Act, the Artificial Intelligence Liability Directive and the EU Chips Act. MEPs will meet representatives from key companies, including OpenAI, META, and Google, as well as academics from Berkeley and Stanford universities (Tuesday to Saturday).

ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. MEPs and their counterparts from the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) will meet in Brussels for the 43rd session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. They will debate and vote on hybrid threats, the reform of UN Security Council, the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, maritime security as well as the humanitarian and security situation in Haiti (Saturday 24 to Wednesday 28 June).

Foreign affairs/Chile and Brazil. A Foreign Affairs Committee delegation will go to Chile for talks with the country’s authorities and civil society groups about strengthening the EU-Latin America strategic partnership. They will also discuss the state of bilateral relations ahead of the ratification of the EU-Chile Agreement. This visit will conclude with a press point. MEPs will then go to Brazil to look into the reviving of EU-Brazil relations as well as the Mercosur agreement, Brazil‘s position on the Russian war, and the fight against climate change and deforestation (Monday and Tuesday in Chile, Wednesday to Friday in Brazil).

Culture and Education/Brexit/Scotland. A delegation of Culture and Education Committee MEPs will go to Edinburgh to discuss potential cooperation in the fields of education, culture, youth and sport in the wake of Brexit. MEPs will in particular look into the possibilities for continuing mobility between Scotland and the EU within the Erasmus+ scheme (Monday to Wednesday).

Human Rights/Israel and Palestine. For the first time since 2015, a delegation of the Human Rights Subcommittee will visit Israel and Palestine. MEPs will meet Israeli and Palestinian high-level government officials and civil society representatives. They will also carry out field visits to both Palestine and Israel and hold discussions with local authorities, residents as well as international and national organisations (Sunday 18 to Thursday).

President’s diary. EP President Roberta Metsola will be in Zagreb on Monday. She will meet Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and participate in a conference on the 10 years of Croatia’s EU membership and a town hall event with young people. On Tuesday in Zagreb, President Metsola will meet the Speaker of the Parliament (Hrvatski Sabor) Gordan Jandroković and hold a joint press point, followed by an address to the Croatian parliament. On Wednesday, the President will be in London to participate in the Ukraine Recovery Conference and deliver a keynote address at the Ukraine Recovery Conference Parliamentary Event at Westminster.