The Week Ahead 19 – 25 November 2018

Coordination of social security systems. New rules to facilitate the life of cross-border EU workers and ensure that EU citizens have fair access to social security, regardless of their member state of origin, will be put to the vote in the Employment Committee. The legislation would cover unemployment, family and long-term care benefits and particularly the situation of those working in two or more EU countries (Tuesday).

Whistleblowers. A draft law to set up a protection system for whistleblowers will be voted on in the Legal Affairs Committee. The proposal lays down common standards for protection at EU level, calls for establishing adequate reporting channels in the public and private sectors and sets safeguards for those persons in danger of facing retaliation. (Tuesday).

EU-Japan Strategic Partnership. Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs will vote on whether to give their consent to the recently signed Strategic Partnership Agreement between the EU and Japan. This treaty was signed in parallel to the free trade deal on 17 July and aims to strengthen cooperation in more than 40 areas, such as foreign policy and security issues, climate change and disaster management (Wednesday).

Eurogroup/Centeno. Eurogroup President Mário Centeno will discuss with the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee the implementation of the 2018 national recommendations and the surveillance of national budgets. The debate will also be an opportunity to take stock of the ongoing work on completing the Economic and Monetary Union (Tuesday).

Human Rights Week. To honour the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Parliament will host a Human Rights Week (19-22 November) and a high-level conference on Tuesday 20 November, the latter to be opened with a speech by EP President Antonio Tajani. These events will bring together MEPs, representatives of international organisations and civil society, such as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, to reflect on the core principles of human rights and debate new challenges in a global and digital world.

Conference of Presidents. EP President and political groups’ leaders (Conference of Presidents) will be in Bucharest for a presentation of the priorities of the incoming Romanian Presidency of the Council, starting on 1 January 2019 (Wednesday).

Youth Parliament. Some 800 Europeans, aged 16-30, will gather in the Brussels Parliament premises on Monday, to discuss and vote on the final recommendations to the Council, on the future of Europe.