Next week will be a committee week in the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) will gather virtually and in person in Brussels. Several interesting votes and debates are scheduled to take place.
On Tuesday, the MEPs of the Committee on International Trade (“INTA”) will debate on the EU’s trade policy tools addressing the global overcapacity and additional duties in the steel and aluminum sectors. Currently, the EU has safeguard measures in place which were imposed early 2019 to protect the European market against trade deflection after the U.S. imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum products. The EU measures are set to expire mid-2021 and the EU must decide soon whether to extend them. However, on May 17, 2021, the EU and U.S. issued a statement that they will hold talks to discuss solutions for the excess capacity in global steel production and “hold countries like China that support trade-distorting policies to account.” They also committed not to impose measures that would negatively affect bilateral trade. The joint statement is available here.
On Wednesday, the MEPs of the Committee in Industry, Research and Energy (“ITRE”) will debate the adoption of a draft report on the establishment of the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (“EuropHPC JU”). Part of the European Data Strategy, the European Commission proposed to renew the mandate and funding for the EuroHPC JU, which was established in 2018. The EuroHPC JU is a legal and funding entity that helps the EU, Member States and associated countries to pool their resources and develop innovative supercomputing technologies and applications. In her report, Rapporteur Maria Carvalho (PT, EPP) proposes to introduce a new “User Forum” with representatives of civil society, industrial and public users, EU social partners, SMEs organizations, etc. to facilitate a permanent dialogue between developers and the users of high performance computing infrastructures. The draft report is available here.
On Thursday, the Special Committee on Beating Cancer will hold a public hearing together with the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence on unlocking the potential of artificial intelligence in cancer research. The committees have invited eight experts from the healthcare sector, academia, and consumer organizations. The panel discussions will touch on the latest developments and experiences of AI in imaging, detecting and diagnosing cancer, as well as AI in cancer surgery and personalized medicine. The hearings are part of an Own-Initiative Procedure of the European Parliament under the Rapporteurship of MEP Véronique Trillet-Lenoir (FR, RE) to develop a comprehensive and coordinated strategy to fight cancer in the EU. The program of the event is available here.
For the complete agenda and overview of the meetings, please see here.