Summary Next week is constituency week for Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”). MEPs will go back to their home countries to handle national issues, or convene in their parliamentary delegations to work on matters related to non-EU Member States. However, this week was a plenary in the European Parliament. A number of interesting votes … Continue Reading
Brexit and International Policy Developments The usual quiet of Brussels’ August recess was disturbed by the arrival, in the middle of the month, of a flurry of position papers from the British government. The two most important of these dealt with the EU’s customs union and the border between Northern Ireland and the republic of … Continue Reading
Summary Next week, there will be a plenary sitting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. Several significant debates, votes and committee meetings will take place. On Tuesday, MEPs will debate a report of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (“ITRE”), authored by Carlos Zorrinho (S&D, PT) on the proposal for a regulation on … Continue Reading
Summary Next week will be a committee and political groups week in the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) will slowly increase their activities ahead of the plenary sitting, to be held from September 11 to 14 in Strasbourg. On Monday, the Subcommittee on Security and Defence will host a Public Hearing on … Continue Reading
Summary Next week will be a committee week in the European Parliament. All Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) will slowly resume their activities. Only a few committee meetings will take place as MEPs gear up for the increase in activities during the week of September 4 ahead of the plenary sitting, to be held … Continue Reading
The annual G 20 summit took place on July 7 and 8 under the presidency of Angela Merkel in the city of Hamburg, which had been put under siege by violent anti-globalization demonstrations. Tensions on trade issues and the rejection of the Paris agreement on climate change by the U.S. President, Donald Trump, made it … Continue Reading
EU institutions are increasingly focusing on the legal challenges posed by the robotics and artificial intelligence sector. On May 16, 2017, the European Commission published a paper announcing a series of regulatory and policy initiatives in response to the European Parliament’s resolution on European civil law rules on robotics of February 2017. These initiatives may … Continue Reading
We recently reported on the global trend towards improved business “non-financial reporting” of human rights and environmental practices. The latest U.K. developments in this area are the Modern Slavery (Transparency in Supply Chains) Bill 2017 (the “Bill“) and a report on labour market enforcement strategy published by David Metcalf, the U.K. Labour Market Enforcement Director, … Continue Reading
Brexit and Elections in the UK and France The legislative elections in the UK on June 8 resulted in what few observers expected: Theresa May, who was hoping to increase her majority in the house of Commons, instead lost it. In order to ensure a majority for the confidence vote in her new minority government, … Continue Reading
Summary Next week will be a committee week in the European Parliament. Next week will also be the last week of parliamentary activities before the Summer break. There will be interesting votes in committee, as well as public hearings, as the Parliament seeks to “clear the decks” before the summer. The Parliament will resume its … Continue Reading
Summary Next week Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) will gather in Strasbourg for the last plenary sitting before the Summer break. Interesting votes and debates will take place. On Tuesday, MEPs will vote on the own-initiative report voted in the Parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (“IMCO”) on European Standards. The … Continue Reading
Summary Next week will be a political group week and a committee week in the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) will hold meetings with their respective political groups to prepare the plenary session, to be held from July 3 to 6, 2017, in Strasbourg. A few interesting discussions will take place in … Continue Reading
Next week will be very busy in the European Parliament as it is a committee week. On Tuesday, the Committee on International Trade (“INTA”) will vote on a draft report prepared by Salvatore Cicu (European People’s Party, Italy) on EU trade defence tools. The report proposes reforms of EU anti-dumping measures, which aim to safeguard … Continue Reading
Summary Next week, there will be a plenary sitting of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France. Several significant debates, votes and committee meetings will take place. On Monday, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (“ECON”) and the Committee on Legal Affairs (“JURI”) will jointly vote on an opinion regarding the taxation of multinationals conducting … Continue Reading
Elections in Europe, Brexit, and a Presidential Visit On June 7th, 2017, the UK went to the polls in a “snap” general election called by the Prime Minister, Theresa May. The outcome was inconclusive, a “hung Parliament” with no single party holding a majority of the seats. The Conservative Party holds the largest number of … Continue Reading
Summary Next week will be a political group week in the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) will hold meetings with their political parties in preparation for the plenary week, to be held from June 12 to 15, in Strasbourg, France. Nevertheless, a few parliamentary committee meetings will take place. On Thursday, the … Continue Reading
Summary Next week will be a committee week and a mini-plenary in the European Parliament, during which some interesting votes will take place. On Tuesday, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (“ENVI”) is expected to vote on its report on Binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions. The report seeks to set … Continue Reading
Summary Next week is a constituency week for Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”). MEPs will go back to their home countries to handle national issues, or convene in their parliamentary delegations to work on matters related to non-EU Member States. However, this past week, the European Parliament held a plenary session. A number of … Continue Reading
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, … Continue Reading
On May 7, President-elect Emmanuel Macron greeted his jubilant supporters in the grounds of the Louvre to a serenade of the Ode to Joy, the anthem of the European Union. He had won the second round of the French Presidential election, dismissing the far-right Marine Le Pen’s challenge by 66.1% to her 33.9% A New … Continue Reading
Brexit and European Elections On Tuesday, April 18, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May announced that she was calling a snap general election on June 8. She explained that divisions in Westminster over Brexit had made an early vote unavoidable: “The country is coming together, but Westminster is not,” she told reporters outside 10 Downing Street. … Continue Reading
Summary This week was a committee week and a mini-plenary in the European Parliament, during which some interesting votes took place. On Tuesday, the European Parliament’s Culture and Education Committee (“CULT”) passed its report on the draft for a revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive proposed by the European Commission in May 2016. While some have … Continue Reading
The Joint Committee on Human Rights – comprised of members of both Houses – has published a report calling on the U.K. government to take significant further steps to improve corporate human rights practices, including criminalising “failure to prevent human rights abuses”. The Committee acknowledges that the U.K. Government’s introduction of reporting requirements under the … Continue Reading
Summary Next week will be a committee week in the European Parliament. There will be a number of interesting discussions in committee and public hearings. On Tuesday, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (“ENVI”) will vote on a its own-initiative draft report on resource efficiency: reducing food waste, improving food safety. … Continue Reading
