The Week Ahead 28 February – 06 March 2022
Committee and political groups’ meetings, Brussels
Ukraine/Extraordinary plenary. The plenary will discuss EU responses to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, including EU sanctions agreed at an extraordinary meeting of the European Council on 24 February. MEPs will vote on a resolution (Tuesday).
Ukraine/agriculture/trade. MEPs and the Commission will debate the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the EU’s agricultural markets, the economy and trade (Monday).
International Women’s Day/Women in economics and finance. The Women’s Rights and Economic and Monetary Affairs committees will hold a joint event on ”Women in Economics in Finance: Debate on the next challenges in the EU”. High-level participants will include EP President Metsola, ECB President Lagarde, IMF Managing Director Georgieva, US Secretary of the Treasury Yellen, and EU Commissioners Vestager, Gentiloni and McGuiness (Monday).
International Women’s Day/Impact of COVID-19. The Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee is organising an inter-parliamentary meeting on ”An ambitious future for Europe’s women after COVID-19: mental load, gender equality in teleworking and unpaid care work after the pandemic”. President Metsola, French Minister for Equality Elisabeth Moreno, Equality Commissioner Dalli and Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir are among the speakers (Thursday).
International Women’s Day/Eurobarometer. The European Parliament will publish a Flash Eurobarometer survey for International Women’s Day. It focuses on the impact of government COVID-19 measures on the mental health and the financial and economic situation of European women, the increase of mental and physical violence against women, and what women want MEPs to do (Friday).
Due diligence. MEPs meet with Justice Commissioner Reynders on the Commission’s long-awaited proposal on corporate sustainability due diligence. Parliament adopted its own legislative initiative report on the topic in March 2021. The Commission’s proposal will require companies to introduce rules on due diligence, including identifying, mitigating and ending the adverse impact of their activities on human rights and the environment. (Monday)
EU-UK fisheries relations after BREXIT. The Fisheries Committee will vote on ways to foster EU-UK fishing partnerships in the Channel, North Sea, and Atlantic. MEPs are concerned by protectionist UK measures to limit fishing licences for EU vessels and are set to urge UK partners to refrain from controversial action. They are also expected to call on the Commission to consider the possibility of limiting UK access to EU ports (Thursday).
Regular plenary preparations. Political groups will prepare for the 7-10 March session. They will debate and vote on the results of Parliament’s Special Committee on Foreign interference and disinformation, on EU rules for ‘golden visas’ and banning ‘golden passports’ and will vote on a resolution on the consequences of the ECJ ruling on the “rule of law conditionality” mechanism. They will also mark International Women’s Day on 8 March.
President’s diary. President Roberta Metsola meets President of the European Economic and Social Committee Christa Schweng on Tuesday, Committee President Ursula von der Leyen and the Prime Minister of Iceland Katrín Jakobsdóttir and Chairman of the European Union Military Committee General Claudio Graziano on Wednesday. On Thursday, she participates in the plenary session of the 9th European Summit of Regions and Cities, in Marseille, France.
Pre-session press briefing. The EP Press Service will hold a press briefing with the Parliament’s political group spokespersons at 11.00 on Friday (Anna Politkovskaya room, press centre, Brussels).
