Summary
Next week will be plenary week in Strasbourg, with a few committee meetings.
On Monday, the Committee on Regional Development (“REGI”) will introduce its report on “FinTech: the influence of technology on the future of the financial sector” to the plenary, for debate. The report highlights the development of FinTech in the recent years, including the opportunities it presents and its benefits. However, the committee also stresses the regulatory and social challenges which need to be addressed to ensure consumer protection and the stability of the financial system. The REGI Committee seeks to set out the first step towards the creation of a forward-looking EU FinTech policy. See the report here.
On Tuesday, the plenary is expected to vote on the report “Initiative on resource efficiency: reducing food waste, improving food safety” prepared by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (“ENVI”). This report advocates a reduction of EU food waste by half (approximately 88 million tons a year) by 2030. The report also calls on the Commission to remove existing restrictions on food donations, and to clarify the existing confusion on labels, such as “best before” or “use by”. See the report here.
Also on Tuesday, the plenary will discuss a draft report, prepared by the Committee on International Trade (“INTA”) on the “Implementation of the Free Trade Agreement between the European Union and the Republic of Korea”. This report seeks to evaluate the implementation of the Free Trade Agreement, almost six years after it came into force. The report finds that the Agreement has promoted deeper commercial partnership and increased bilateral trade, but raises concerns about certain aspects, including barriers in the area of sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property rights, technical barriers to trade (in particular, the direct transport clause) and the wording of the rules of origin and their effect on utilization rate. See the report here.
On Thursday, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (“ITRE”) and the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (“IMCO”) will hold an extraordinary meeting, during which Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) are expected to vote on an own-initiative report on Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market. The report follows the Commission Communication “Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market. Opportunities and Challenges for Europe”, published in May 2016. The reports seeks to facilitate the sustainable growth of European online platforms, clarify intermediaries’ liability, enhance consumer information and provide them with additional protection tools, create a level playing field among online platforms, and more broadly, increase online trust and foster innovation. See the draft report here, amendments tabled here and here, and the Commission Communication here.
On the same day, the plenary will vote on the Parliament’s position on the Proposal for a Regulation on Cross-Border Portability for Online Content. The proposal seeks to allow EU consumers benefit from portability with regard to online content, such as games, movies and music, while they are traveling abroad. The Parliament is expected to introduce amendments to the initial proposal to enhance consumers’ access to online content. See the Parliament’s position here, and the proposal for a Regulation here.
Meetings and Agenda
Monday, May 15, 2017
Plenary:
17:00 – 23:00 (Debates)
- Annual report 2015 on the protection of EU’s financial interests – Fight against fraud
- Rapporteur: Julia Pitera (EPP, PL)
- Committee: CONT
Joint debate – EU Cohesion Policy
- The right funding mix for Europe’s regions: balancing financial instruments and grants in EU cohesion policy
- Rapporteur: Andrey Novakov (EPP, BG)
- Committees: REGI
- Future perspectives for technical assistance in Cohesion Policy
- Rapporteur: Ruža Tomašić (ECR, HR)
- Committee: REGI
Short presentations of the following reports:
- FinTech: the influence of technology on the future of the financial sector
- Rapporteur: Cora van Nieuwenhuizen (ALDE, NL)
- Committee: ECON
- EU eGovernment action plan 2016-2020
- Rapporteur: Sabine Verheyen (EPP, DE)
- Committee: IMCO
- Resource efficiency: reducing food waste, improving food safety
- Committee: ENVI
- Rapporteur: Biljana Borzan (S&D, HR)
- Evaluation of external aspects of customs performance and management as a tool to facilitate trade and fight illicit trade
- Rapporteur: Tiziana Beghin (EFD, IT)
- Committee: INTA
Committee on Budgets
19:00 – 20:30
Joint meeting with Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee
Votes
- The implementation of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (INI) – Vote on a report
- Co-rapporteurs: José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, PT) and Udo Bullmann (S&D, DE)
- Extension of the duration of the European Fund for Strategic Investments as well as the introduction of technical enhancements for that Fund and the European Investment Advisory Hub (COD) – Vote on a report and on the decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations
- Co-rapporteurs: José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, PT) and Udo Bullmann (S&D, DE)
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
19:00 – 22:30
- Discussion with Phil Hogan, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, on the European Solidarity Corps
- Discussion with Phil Hogan, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, in the framework of the Structured Dialogue
- Organic production and labelling of organic products (COD) – presentation on the state of play of the on-going trilogue negotiations
- Rapporteur: Martin Häusling (Greens/EFA, DE)
Tuesday, May 16, 2017
Plenary:
09:00 – 11:50 (Debates)
- Implementation of the European Fund for Strategic Investments
- Co-rapporteurs: Udo Bullmann (S&D, DE), José Manuel Fernandes (EPP, PT)
- Committees: ENVI and BUDG
12:00 – 14:00 Votes
- EU-Norway Agreement on supplementary rules in relation to the instrument for financial support for external borders and visa
- Rapporteur: Tomáš Zdechovský (EPP, CZ)
- Committee: LIBE
- Protocol to the EU-Mongolia Framework Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation (accession of Croatia)
- Rapporteur: Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL, DE)
- Committee: AFET
- EU-Bosnia and Herzegovina Stabilization and Association Agreement (accession of Croatia)
- Rapporteur: Cristian Dan Preda (EPP, RO)
- Committee: AFET
- 2016 Report on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
- Rapporteur: Ivo Vajgl (ALDE, SI)
- Committee: AFET
- Resource efficiency: reducing food waste, improving food safety
- Rapporteur: Biljana Borzan (S&D, HR)
- Committee: ENVI
15:00 – 23:00 (Debates)
- 2016 Report on Kosovo
- Rapporteur: Ulrike Lunacek (Greens/EFA, AT)
- Committee: AFET
- 2016 Report on Serbia
- Rapporteur: David McAllister (EPP, DE)
- Committee: AFET
- Implementation of the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement
- Rapporteurs: Adam Szejnfeld (EPP, PL)
- Committee: INTA
Joint debate – EU-Norway agreement
- Agreement between the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway on an EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021
- Rapporteur: David Borrelli (EFD, IT)
- Committee: INTA
- Increase in Norwegian duties on agricultural products/recent negotiations on the fish trade protocol
- Committee: INTA
Wednesday, May 17, 2017
Plenary:
09:00 – 11:50 (Debates)
- Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 29 April 2017
15:00 – 23:00 (Debates)
- Preparation of the G7 Summit
- Cross-border portability of online content services in the internal market
- Rapporteur: Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, FR)
- Committee: JURI
- Annual report 2014 on subsidiarity and proportionality
- Rapporteur: Sajjad Karim (ECR, UK)
- Committee: JURI
- Road transport in the European Union
- Committee: TRAN
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Plenary:
8:30 – 11:50 (Debates)
- European Agenda for the collaborative economy
- Rapporteur: Nicola Danti (S&D, IT)
- Committee: IMCO
- A longer lifetime for products: benefits for consumers and companies
- Rapporteur: Pascal Durand (Greens, EFA)
- Committee: IMCO
12:00 – 14:00 (Votes)
- EU accession to the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC)
- Rapporteur: Fernando Ruas (EPP, PT)
- Committee: INTA
- Motions for resolutions concerning debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (Rule 135)
- Cross-border portability of online content services in the internal market
- Rapporteur: Jean-Marie Cavada (ALDE, FR)
- Committee: JURI
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy – Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection
09:00 – 10:30
Extraordinary joint meeting
- Online Platforms and the Digital Single Market – Consideration of compromise amendments, Adoption of draft report
- Co-rapporteurs: Henna Virkkunen (EPP, FI), Philippe Juvin (EPP, FR)
Committee on Regional Development
11:00 – 12:00
- Building blocks for a post-2020 EU cohesion policy (INI) – vote on a draft resolution
- Rapporteur: Kerstin Westphal (S&D, DE)
- Increasing engagement of partners and visibility in the performance of European Structural and Investment Funds (INI) – vote on a raft resolution
- Rapporteur: Daniel Buda (EPP, RO)