The Week Ahead 27 November – 03 December 2017

Plenary

EU Budget 2018. The annual EU budget for next year will be signed off by Parliament President Antonio Tajani, once the full House has approved a provisional agreement struck by Parliament negotiators with member states. MEPs pushed for and obtained better support for young unemployed people as well as additional funding to support SMEs and research.(Debate on Wednesday, vote on Thursday)

EU fund for stability and peace. MEPs are willing to support civilian tasks by the military in non-EU countries under strict conditions. They will vote on topping up an EU fund by 100 million euros covering projects in 70 countries, but the money must be spent on e.g. building hospitals and not to buy weapons or train soldiers how to fight. (Debate on Wednesday, vote on Thursday)

Investor-state disputes. Future international trade negotiations should have a multilateral court to deal with the arbitration of trade conflicts, instead of a controversial private investor-state dispute settlement, say MEPs. Conflicts in trade partnerships, such as CETA or TTIP, should be settled by such a court, MEPs will urge the Commission in a debate. (Wednesday)

VAT fraud. MEPs will give their opinion on Thursday on new rules to improve the exchange of information between national authorities to combat cross-border VAT fraud in the EU and on simpler VAT rules for e-commerce. In a debate on Wednesday, they will also give their response to the Commission’s wider vision for a single EU VAT area.

Committees

Paradise Papers. Three journalists of the International Consortium for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ), which recently broke the story on the “Paradise Papers”, will attend the EP Inquiry Committee on Money Laundering and Tax Evasion. Commissioners Pierre Moscovici and Věra Jourová will join the discussion to debate possible follow-up actions. (Tuesday)

Malta/Rule of Law. Following up on Parliament’s resolution expressing concerns on the functioning of the rule of law in Malta, an EP delegation will visit on a fact-checking mission. MEPs will gather information on the rule of law in the country and compliance with anti-money laundering rules and bank regulations. (Thursday and Friday)

Clean energy. New requirements to promote energy savings and increase the share of renewable sources throughout the EU, thus reducing costs for consumers and improving security of supply, are up for two separate votes in the Industry and Energy Committee. (Tuesday)

President’s diary. President Antonio Tajani will be in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, on Tuesday for the EU – Africa Parliamentary Summit and on Wednesday for the fifth African Union – European Union (AU-EU) summit, the latter gathering Heads of state or government from EU and AU countries.

Press briefing. The EP Press Service will hold a press briefing at 11.00 on Monday. (“Anna Politkovskaya” press conference room, Brussels) Ask ##EPressbriefing #EPressbriefingEPressbriefing @EuroParlPress

EP Press Service contact 25 and 26 November