Summary

Next week, the Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) will travel to Strasbourg for plenary sessions.  This will be the last week of the European Parliament before they recess for the Christmas holidays.  They will return on January 6, 2020.

On Monday, MEPs will debate fair taxation in a digitalised and global economy.  In recent months, talks on an EU-wide digital services tax have stalled among representatives of the Member States at the EU level.  Taxation is a purely national competence, meaning that the EU can only take legislative action if all Member States agree on a specific proposal.  Nevertheless, MEPs are keen to push for further EU action through the OECD level, which also happens to be preferred by certain Member States that blocked the EU-level talks.  EU Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni stated in October that the EU will draft a back-up proposal for a digital services tax with which it can move forward in Q3 of 2020, if negotiations within the OECD stagnate.

On Wednesday, MEPs will have a topical debate on the compatibility of the current EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement with the Commission’s proposal for a European Green Deal.  Negotiations on the EU-Mercosur Free Trade Agreement have been concluded in July, but the Agreement has received criticism that it could potentially contribute to deforestation and illegal logging in South America.  The Commission has dismissed these claims. Whether the Trade Agreement is also compatible with the new ambitious ecological goals of the proposed European Green Deal will have to be seen, as only rough outlines of these new policies were presented earlier this week.

On Thursday, MEPs will listen and discuss a statement of the Commission regarding the announcement of United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) to launch a section 301 investigation into the digital services tax of Member States.  The USTR is already considering to impose tariffs on up to $2.4 billion worth of imports from France, because it argues that the French tax on digital services unfairly discriminates against big U.S. tech companies.  France’s digital services tax, that which signed into law by Macron in July 2019, sparked a diplomatic row between the U.S. and France in August.  The governments agreed to a truce at the G7 summit to find a solution within 90 days.  That deadline passed last week without results, putting the option of tariffs back on the table.  The EU’s Trade Commissioner, Phil Hogan, responded by saying that, as in all trade matters, the EU will act as one and will take appropriate counter-measures if the U.S. will go ahead with imposing tariffs on European imports.  More details are expected in this Commission statement.

Meetings and Agenda

Monday, December 16, 2019 

Plenary Session

17:00 – 23:00

Debates

  • Resumption of session and order of business
  • Commission statement – Commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Romanian revolution of December 1989

Vote: Thursday

  • VAT fraud and payment service providers
  • Requirements for payment service providers
  • Measures to strengthen administrative cooperation in order to combat VAT fraud
  • Appointment of members of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank
  • Fair taxation in a digitalised and globalised economy

Vote: Wednesday

  • Macro-financial assistance to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
  • One-minute speeches

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

19:30 – 22:30

Debate

  • Structured dialogue with Margaritis SCHINAS, Vice-President for Promoting our European Way of Life, European Commission (19.30-21.00)

Joint debate

  • Hungary: Council Presidency conclusions on the evaluation of the annual rule of law dialogue and presentation of the Article 7(1) TEU procedure in the Council regarding the situation of the rule of law in Hungary – presentation by Tytti TUPPURAINEN, Minister for European Affairs, Finland
  • Poland: state of play regarding the situation of the rule of law in Poland in the framework of the Article 7(1) TEU procedure – presentation by Tytti TUPPURAINEN, Minister for European Affairs, Finland and Didier REYNDERS, Commissioner for Justice, European Commission

Possibly

  • Ad-hoc LIBE Delegation to Malta, 2-3 December 2019 – presentation of a draft mission report

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

Plenary Session

9:00 – 11:50

Debates

  • Commission statement – The Rule of Law in Malta, after the recent revelations around the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia 

12:00 – 14:00

Votes followed by explanations of votes

  • Election of the Ombudsman
  • EU-Switzerland Agreement on the stepping up of cross-border cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism and cross-border crime
    • Rapporteur: Roberta METSOLA (EPP, MT)
  • EU-Liechtenstein Agreement on the stepping up of cross-border cooperation, particularly in combating terrorism and cross-border crime
    • Rapporteur: Roberta METSOLA (EPP, MT)
  • Protocol to EU-Switzerland Agreement concerning the criteria and mechanisms for establishing the State responsible for examining a request for asylum lodged in a Member State or in Switzerland regarding the access to Eurodac for law enforcement purposes
    • Rapporteur: Jadwiga Wiśniewska (ECR, PL)

15:00 – 23:00

Debates

  • Conflict of interest and corruption affecting the protection of EU’s financial interests in Member States
  • Commission statement – EU disability strategy post 2020
  • Council and Commission statements – EU Pollinators Initiative
  • Council and Commission statements – Animal welfare conditions during transport to third countries
  • Enabling the digital transformation of health and care

Wednesday December 18 2019

Plenary Session

9:00 – 11:50

Debates

  • Commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty and the legally binding Charter of Fundamental Rights
  • European Council and Commission statements – Conclusions of the European Council meeting of 12 and 13 December 2019

12:00 – 12:30

(Award of the Sakharov Prize)

12:30 – 14:30

VOTES followed by explanations of votes

  • CAP: Financial discipline as from financial year 2021 and flexibility between pillars in respect of calendar year 2020
    • Rapporteur: Norbert Lins (EPP, DE)
  • EU-Gambia Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement and the Implementation Protocol thereto
  • Draft amending budget No 5/2019: Adjustments of administrative appropriations of EU institutions in line with the latest information available and update of revenue (own resources)
    • Rapporteur: John Howarth (S&D, UK)
  • Association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Union (‘Overseas Association Decision’)
  • Revision of Solomon Islands to the EU-Pacific States Interim Partnership Agreement
    • Rapporteur: Thomas Tobé (EPP, SE)
  • Closure of the accounts for the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) for the financial year 2017

 15:00 – 23:00

Debates

  • Topical debate (Rule 162) – Compatibility between the current EU – Mercosur Free Trade Agreement and the Commission’s proposal for a European Green Deal
  • Statement by the VPC/HR – Situation of the Uyghur in China (China-cables)
  • Motion for a resolution – Humanitarian situation in Venezuela and migration and refugee crisis
  • Statement by the VPC/HR – Situation of human rights and democracy in Nicaragua
  • Council and Commission statements – An EU strategy to put an end to female genital mutilation

Thursday, December 19, 2019

Plenary Session

9:00 – 11:50

Debates

  • Debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (Rule 144)
  • Violations of human rights including religious freedoms in Burkina Faso
  • Afghanistan, notably the allegations of sexual abuse of boys in the Logar Province
  • The Russian “Foreign Agents” Law

12:00 – 14:00

Votes followed by explanations of votes

  • Motions for resolutions concerning debates on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (Rule 144)
  • Commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Romanian revolution of December 1989
  • The Rule of Law in Malta, after the recent revelations around the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia
  • Situation of the Uyghur in China (China-cables)
  • Situation of human rights and democracy in Nicaragua

 Friday, December 20, 2019

No meetings of notes