The Week Ahead 13 – 19 July 2015 Committee meetings, Brussels EU PNR. Plans to introduce EU-wide rules for collecting and processing air Passenger Name Record (PNR) data are on the Civil Liberties Committee agenda. Members will vote on a wide range of amendments, including on which flights should be included, the data retention period, and several other data protection provisions. There will be a press conference with the rapporteur after the vote. (Wednesday) Relocating asylum seekers. The emergency mechanism for relocating asylum seekers Agenda and refugees within the EU, as proposed by the Commission in May to distribute 40,000 from Greece and Italy to other EU member states over the next two years, will be debated and put to a vote in the Civil Liberties Committee. Parliament must be consulted on this emergency scheme, and will have co-decision powers over a future permanent one. Most Members are likely to reiterate Parliament’s recent argument that the mechanism should be binding, not voluntary, and that more people will have to be relocated. (Thursday) Taxation. Finance ministers from France, Germany, Italy and Spain as well as Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs Pierre Moscovici, and ECOFIN Council President Pierre Gramegna will come to Parliament to debate current and future taxation policy plans with Members of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and Special Committee on Tax Rulings. However, the meeting format might change due to the special summit on Greece to be held on Sunday. (Monday) Air quality. Stricter and compulsory limits on emissions of air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), will be voted by the Environment and Public Health Committee. These new limits could cut air pollution costs by €40 billion, says the Commission. (Wednesday) Emission limits for non-road mobile machinery. A proposed law to reduce emissions from combustion engines in mobile machines ranging from handheld tools through construction machinery to locomotives and inland waterway vessels will be put to a vote in the Environment Committee. These engines together account for about 15% of nitrogen oxide (NOx) and 5% of particulate matter (PM) emissions in the EU. (Wednesday) GMOs. Environment Committee MEPs will for the first time consider a draft legislative resolution that would reject a Commission proposal to let individual member states decide whether or not to allow the use of GMO food and feed products on their territory. In an earlier debate, most committee members voiced concerns that the proposal could damage the single market and EU farmers’ competitiveness. (Wednesday) Press Service Directorate for the Media Director - Spokesperson : Jaume DUCH GUILLOT 1/18 EN Reference No:20150706APR74635 Press switchboard number (32-2) 28 33000 Agenda Luxembourg Presidency. Parliament's committees will meet Luxembourg government ministers to discuss the EU Council Presidency’s work programme in their respective areas of responsibility. The Luxembourg Presidency runs from July until the end of 2015. (Monday to Thursday) President's agenda. On Monday EP President Martin Schulz will be in Tirana (Albania), where he will meet Parliament’s Speaker Ilir Meta (followed by a press point), President Bujar Nishani and Prime Minister Edi Rama (the latter also followed by a press point). On Tuesday, he will be in Belgrade to meet Serbia’s Parliament Speaker Maja Gojković, Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić (followed by a press point), and President Tomislav Nikolić. He will address the Serbian Parliament, on Wednesday, before travelling to Sarajevo to meet the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the collegia of the House of Representatives and House of Peoples. On Thursday, Mr Schulz will meet Chair of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Council of Ministers Denis Zvizdić and Foreign Affairs Minister Igor Crnadak, and hold a press conference. Press briefing. The EP Press Service will hold a press briefing on the week's activities at 11.00 on Monday, in the “Anna Politkovskaya” EP press conference room, Brussels. Journalists can use #EPressbriefing to put questions on committees' work before and during the briefing. EP Press Service contact during the weekend Federico DE GIROLAMO Phone: 32 498 98 35 91 2/18 Agenda Monday 13/07/2015 PRESS CONFERENCES 11:00-11:30 Brussels, Paul-Henri Spaak, 0A050 Briefing on parliamentary agenda PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES 12:00-16:30 Brussels, Paul-Henri Spaak, 3C050 Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect Joint meeting with ECON • Discussion with finance ministers of Member States • Discussion with ECOFIN Council Presidency • Discussion with Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the European Commission and Pierre MOSCOVICI, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs 15:00-18:30 Brussels, Altiero Spinelli, 1G-3 Committee on Budgetary Control • Discussion with Commissioner Marianne THYSSEN, responsible for Employment, Social Affairs, Skills and Labour Mobility, in the context of the EU policy towards the Roma. • OLAF report 2014 – Fifteenth report of the European Anti-Fraud Office, 1 January to 31 December 2014, rapporteur Benede JAVOR (Greens/EFA, HU), presentation by the Director-General of the European Anti-Fraud Office, Giovanni KESSLER 12:00-16:30 Brussels, Paul-Henri Spaak, 3C050 Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs Joint meeting with TAXE • Discussion with finance ministers of Member States • Discussion with ECOFIN Council Presidency • Discussion with Jean-Claude JUNCKER, President of the European Commission and Pierre MOSCOVICI, Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs 15:00-18:30 Brussels, Jòzsef Antall, 4Q2 Committee on Transport and Tourism • Discussion with Brian SIMPSON, European Coordinator for Motorways of the Seas 15:00-18:30 Brussels, Jòzsef Antall, 2Q2 Committee on Regional Development 3/18 Agenda • Workshop on Territorial Governance and Cohesion Policy (15.15 - 16.15) - see Special events 15:00-18:30 Brussels, Paul-Henri Spaak, 1 A 002 Committee on International Trade • Discussion with Cecilia MALMSTRÖM, Commissioner for Trade, on the Future Trade Strategy • Discussion with UNCITRAL Secretary-General, Renaud SORIEUL, on the United Nations Convention on Transparency in Treaty-based Investor-State Arbitration (NLE 2015/0012) 15:00-18:30 Brussels, Jòzsef Antall, 6Q2 Committee on Culture and Education • Hearing on "Destruction and trafficking of cultural heritage" (15.00-17.30) - see Public hearings 15:00-18:30 Brussels, Paul-Henri Spaak, 4B1 Committee on Legal Affairs • Discussion with Vĕra JOUROVÁ, European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, in the context of the structured dialogue between Parliament and the Commission (15.00-16.00) VOTES (16.00-17.00) • Budapest Convention (2005) on the Contract for the Carriage of Goods by Inland Waterways (CMNI): authorisation for Austria, Belgium and Poland to ratify or accede (NLE), rapporteur Pavel SVOBODA (EPP, CZ) - vote on consent by Parliament • 30th and 31st annual reports on monitoring the application of EU Law (2012- 2013) (INI), rapporteur Kostas CHRYSOGONOS (GUE/NGL, EL) - vote on draft report DELEGATIONS Development Committee Delegation to the UN Conference on Financing for Development Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 13-16 July 2015 Linda McAVAN (S&D, UK), Chair of the EP Development Committee, will lead the EP delegation to the Third UN International Conference on Financing for Development on 13-16 July in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She will be joined by Augustín DÍAZ DE MERA (EPP, ES), Anna ZÁBORSKÁ (EPP, SK), Pedro SILVA PEREIRA (S&D, PT) and Beatriz BECERRA BASTERRECHEA (ALDE, ES). The UN Conference will gather government representatives, civil society and private sector representatives, aiming to adopt solutions and means to finance the post-2015 global development agenda to be decided in September in New York during the UN Summit. The MEPs will hold bilateral meetings with various participants from the 4/18 Agenda Conference. Contact Emilie TOURNIER BXL: (+32) 2 28 30578 STR: (+33) 3 881 72649 PORT: (+32) 473 55 74 66 EMAIL: [email protected] TWITTER: EP_ForeignAff PUBLIC HEARINGS 15:00-17:30 Brussels, Jòzsef Antall, 6Q2 Destruction and Trafficking of Cultural Heritage The Committee on Culture and Education will hold a public hearing on ‘Destruction and trafficking of cultural heritage’ Representatives from academic institutes, as well as from UNESCO, the International Criminal Court (ICC), INTERPOL and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) have been invited to take part in the debate. These experts will give an overview of the main issues regarding the destruction and trafficking of cultural heritage, with a specific focus on the role of the European Union in crisis situations such as those in Syria and Iraq. Contact Cornelia GUSA BXL: (+32) 2 28 32601 STR: (+33) 3 881 73784 EMAIL: [email protected] TWITTER: EPCulture SPECIAL EVENTS 15:15-16:45 Brussels, Jòzsef Antall, 2Q2 Territorial governance and cohesion policy The Committee on Regional Development will organise a workshop on the territorial governance and the European cohesion policy. The speakers will be Kai Böhme and Ms Sabine Zillmer - Spatial Foresight GmbH, Abel Schuman, PhD, Public Governance and Territorial Development Directorate, OECD and René van der Lecq, Project Manager, Department