The Week Ahead 28 June – 04 July 2021
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The Environment and Public Health Committee will vote on a proposal to boost the mandate of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The aim is to equip the ECDC to better support the Commission and EU governments in areas such as epidemiological surveillance, preparedness and response planning, reporting and auditing, capacity to mobilise and deploy the EU Health Task Force as well as building a network of EU reference laboratories (Tuesday).
EU response to COVID-19. Members of the Environment and Public Health Committee will quiz Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas on the Commission’s recent interim evaluation of the EU’s response to the pandemic as well as on the first lessons drawn from the shortcomings in pandemic preparedness and planning (Monday).
Eurozone. The Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee will hold three separate hearings with ECB President Christine Lagarde, ECB Supervisory Board Chair Andrea Enria and Single Resolution Board Chairperson Elke König. Among the issues likely to be raised are risks of mass insolvencies as pandemic support is withdrawn, credit risk in the context of the COVID-19 crisis as well as banks’ resilience, and the current review of the crisis management and deposit insurance framework (Thursday).
Artificial Intelligence in criminal law. As AI becomes more prevalent in the field of law enforcement, a draft resolution, to be voted on by the Civil Liberties Committee, stresses that it must respect principles such as non-discrimination, and that people should be in charge of making final decisions. The draft text also calls for facial recognition in law enforcement to be banned, and demands that algorithms be transparent and understandable to citizens (Tuesday).
Summit of Western Balkans’ Speakers of Parliament. Parliament’s President Sassoli has invited speakers from the parliaments of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia to meet and debate the role that parliaments should play in EU post-COVID-19 enlargement (Monday).
Plenary preparations. Political groups will prepare for the 5-8 July session, where MEPs will debate and vote on the Connecting Europe Facility to modernise EU transport infrastructure, guidelines for the new regulation designed to protect EU funds from being misused by EU governments who bend the rule of law, and combating online child sexual abuse. Strengthening the European Medicines Agency, LGBTI+ rights in the EU, foreign interference in the democratic process, and the EU’s capacity to tackle disinformation will also be on the plenary agenda. In addition, Parliament will debate the priorities of the incoming Slovenian Council Presidency and comment on the results of the 24-25 June EU summit.
President’s diary. EP President David Sassoli will take part in the Summit of Western Balkans’ Speakers of Parliament. On Wednesday, he will sign the new EU Climate Law with Portuguese Minister for the Environment and Climate Action, João Pedro Matos Fernandes, and on Thursday, he will meet with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Iraq, H.E.M. Mustafa AL-Kadhimi.
Press briefing. On Friday at 11:00, spokespersons from Parliament and political groups will hold a press briefing on the following week’s plenary session.
