EU

Weekly

Weekly European Agenda 17/04/2023

17-23 April 2023

Monday 17 April 

Tuesday 18 April 

Wednesday 19 April 

Thursday 20 April 

Friday 21 April 

Institutional Agendas

European Parliament 


Monday 17 April 

Plenary Session
Debates: Deforestation Regulation – Report on the proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the making available on the Union market as well as export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation and repealing Regulation; Joint debate – Fit for 55 – Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System; Monitoring, reporting and verification of greenhouse gas emissions from maritime transport; Carbon border adjustment mechanism; Social Climate Fund; Revision of the EU Emissions Trading System for aviation.
Short presentations of the following reports: Institutional relations between the EU and the Council of Europe; Sustainable carbon cycles; eGovernment accelerating digital public services that support the functioning of the single market.

Tuesday 18 April 

Plenary Session
Debates: EU’s China policy; Crypto-assets; Situation in Peru; Guidelines for the 2024 budget – Section III.
Votes: Third countries whose nationals are subject to or exempt from a visa requirement: Kosovo; Machinery products.

Wednesday 19 April

Plenary Session
Debates: Deported Ukrainian children/Putin arrest warrant; This is Europe – Key Debate with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel.
Votes: Amendments to Parliament’s Rules of Procedure concerning question time, the central rostrum, the blue-card procedure, the explanations of votes, the transparency register and the Ombudsman; Protocol Amending the Marrakesh Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization; Methods and procedure for making available own resources based on the Emissions Trading System, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and reallocated profits and on the measures to meet cash requirements; Motions for resolutions – Combating discrimination in the EU – the long-awaited horizontal anti-discrimination directive; Challenges facing the Republic of Moldova.

Thursday 20 April

Plenary session
Debates: IPCC report on Climate Change: a call for urgent additional action; Cohesion dimension of EU state aid and de minimis rules; EU Action Plan against Trafficking in Cultural Goods.
Votes: The crackdown on the right to education and education rights activists in Afghanistan, including the case of Matiullah Wesa; ran, the case of Bernard Phelan and the case of Toomaj Salehi; The risk of death penalty and execution of singer Yahaya Sharif Aminu for blasphemy in Nigeria; Markets in Crypto-assets (MiCa); Information accompanying transfers of funds and certain crypto-assets (recast); Parliament’s estimates of revenue and expenditure for the financial year 2024; Universal Decriminalization of Homosexuality, in light of recent developments in Uganda.

Find an overview of the parliamentary agenda here.

Council of Ministers


Tuesday 18 – Wednesday 19 April 

Informal meeting of environment ministers
EU environment ministers will attend an informal meeting in Stockholm, chaired by Swedish Minister for Climate and the Environment Romina Pourmokhtari. The meeting will start with three working sessions for the ministers and business representatives on 18 April. The meeting will continue on 19 April with a study visit including test driving electric heavy goods vehicles and other electric vehicles, and a working lunch on achieving a circular economy for plastics.

An overview of planned Council meetings can be found here.

European Commission and High Representative


Monday 17 April 

von der Leyen attends the award ceremony of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to Angela Merkel
President Ursula von der Leyen will attend the award ceremony of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany to Angela Merkel, former Federal Chancellor of Germany.

Dombrovskis participates in the 10th Recovery and Resilience Dialogue
Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis will participate in the 10th Recovery and Resilience Dialogue with Committees on Budgets and Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament.

Tuesday 18 April

College Meeting 
The College of Commissioners will meet to present and discuss the Cyber Package: The Cyber Solidarity Act and Cybersecurity Skills Academy. Commissioners are also expected to present the Digital skills and education package: Recommendation on enabling factors for digital education, and Recommendation on improving the provision of digital skills in education and training. Lastly they are expected to present the Bank crisis management and deposit insurance package: Review of the bank recovery and resolution directive, Review of the deposit guarantee schemes directive and Review of the single resolution mechanism regulation.

Von der Leyen participates in the EP plenary debate on EU-China relations
President Ursula von der Leyen will participate in the EP plenary debate on EU-China relations.

Lenarčič meets with Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
Commissioner Janez Lenarčič will meet Dr. Natalia Kanem, Executive Director of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Gabriel holds a meeting with the ITRE/CULT Coordinators
Commissioner Mariya Gabriel will hold a meeting, in Strasbourg, with the ITRE/CULT Coordinators.

Wednesday 19 April 

von der Leyen delivers a keynote speech at the conference “Agreement 25”
President Ursula von der Leyen will deliver a keynote speech at the conference “Agreement 25”, organised by Queen’s University Belfast 25 years after the signing of the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement.

Thursday 20 April

Gabriel participates in a roundtable on “Cultural and creative ecosystems”
Commissioner Mariya Gabriel will participate, via videoconference, in a roundtable on “Cultural and creative ecosystems”.

Friday 21 April 

Gentiloni receives Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova
Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni will receive Dorin Recean, Prime Minister of the Republic of Moldova.

Hahn meets with Prime Minister of Slovakia 
Commissioner Johannes Hahn will meet with Eduard Heger, Prime Minister of Slovakia.

Gabriel participates in the 14th International competition “Creativity without borders”
Commissioner Marya Gabriel will participate in the 14th International competition “Creativity without borders” in Bulgaria.

An overview of the Commission College can be found here; the Commissioners’ weekly activities can be found here; the agenda of upcoming College meetings can be found here; Commission events can be found here.

European Economic and Social Committee


Monday 17 April

2023 All DAGs Meeting
As the Domestic Advisory Groups (DAGs) are approaching the end of the current mandate, the objective of the event is to take stock of past challenges and achievements, including preliminary results for some of the DAGs’ desk studies. It will also give the opportunity to do a benchmarking exercise to prepare the new DAG mandates. Topics to be covered will include: labour and environmental agendas, partnerships, and going beyond sustainable development chapters. This will be a strategic time for feedback and preparation for the new mandate, with presentations by the EU DAG chairs and discussions between all EU DAG members.

Tuesday 18 April

Strategic foresight – An economically sustainable Europe
The topic of the 2023 foresight cycle is “What strategic decisions need to be made to ensure a socially and economically sustainable Europe with a stronger role in the world in the coming decades?”. The ECO section is directly concerned through this thematical focus on economic sustainability (understood as managing the transformation of the economy to ensure it remains within the planetary boundaries). Responding to the EESC´s request to be better involved ex-ante in the foresight process, the Commission is this year engaging in this debate with the ECO section. Against this background, the ECO section organise a public debate on Tuesday, 18 April 2023 from 11:00 to 12:30.

Friday 21 April 

Engaging with citizens 
The Conference on the Future of Europe brought to the forefront the importance of citizens having a say in EU policy, as well as how to facilitate their views. In the context of the EESC’s opinion on citizen’s panels and public consultation, this public hearing aims to examine these tools: What works? What doesn’t? Who is the best placed to organise such deliberation?

More information about EESC events can be found here.
The agendas of the different EESC meetings can be found here.

Committee of the Regions


Monday 17 April

Life in Border Regions – Tackling the challenges
The European Cross-Border Citizen’s Alliance (CoR, AEBR, MOT and CESCI) is organising a conference on “Life in Border Regions – Tackling the challenges” that will take place in the European Committee of the Regions on 17 April 2023 in the afternoon. Despite decades of European integration, legal and administrative obstacles in border areas continue to exist, and new ones are created. With the Regulation on the European Cross-Border Mechanism blocked in the Council of the European Union, this conference will look into issues the citizens, local administrations and businesses encounter and why having a tool to address such challenges is necessary.

Thursday 20 April

Ruralization Final Conference 
​​​The conference will present project results that will serve to develop policies that facilitate the entry of new generations and newcomers to the rural areas. European Commission’s representatives and other experts will discuss how specific European policies may contribute to the long-term vision of the EU’s rural areas and how they can address two key aspects of ruralization: access to land and new generations.​

4th Zero Pollution Stakeholder Platform meeting
The meeting will be focused on Flagships 4 (Towards zero pollution for production and consumption) and 7 (Living Labs for green digital solutions and smart zero pollution) of the Zero Pollution Action Plan.

More information about Committee of the Regions events can be found here. The agendas of the different Committee of the Regions meetings can be found here.

Swedish Presidency


Thursday 20 April – Friday 21 April

Conference on Institutional Protection of Fundamental Rights in times of Crises
The High-level Conference on Institutional Protection of Fundamental Rights in Times of Crises will provide a forum to discuss how structures to protect fundamental rights in the European Union can be made more robust and resilient in times of crises. What can we learn from crises, past and present, and how can we best move forward? Unpredictable crises and developments, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as events related to climate change, can severely affect the lives of people and communities in the European Union and worldwide. Member States must anticipate and be prepared to address such crises. In this context, robust and resilient structures for the protection of fundamental rights are key. There is clear evidence that countries where human rights are respected and protected are less prone to conflict or crises and have increased resilience to withstand unexpected crises. The event is organised by the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union in cooperation with the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).

High-level meeting on loneliness – policy options to combat loneliness and strengthening mental health in the EU
The aim of this meeting under the Presidency is to promote the exchange of best practices and knowledge, as well as different policy options. This meeting will address loneliness and other risk factors for mental health; while at the same time building synergies with the Commission’s new initiative on mental health. The ambition is to increase the political visibility of social connections and accelerate the adoption of evidence-based solutions to reduce social isolation and loneliness with the hope to strengthening the mental health in Europe.

The agenda of the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU can be found here.

European Central Bank 


Monday 17 April

McCaul holds a keynote speech at the seminar “Diverse and effective boards in a changing and competitive landscape”
Executive Board Member Elizabrth McCaul will hold a keynote speech at the seminar “Diverse and effective boards in a changing and competitive landscape”.

Friday 21 April 

Elderson speaks at an event on “Accounting for climate change within central bank and banking supervision mandates”
Executive Board Member Frank Elderson speaks at an event on “Accounting for climate change within central bank and banking supervision mandates” organised by Peterson Institute for International Economics.

More information about ECB events can be found here

European Investment Bank


Monday 17 April – Thursday 20 April 

Opera for Peace Academy – Europe 2023
Opera for Peace Academy, in collaboration with the EIB, is a one-of-a-kind programme offering 12 emerging opera singers the opportunity to find and develop their unique artistic identity. Supporting their journey to becoming self-sustainable professionals who then become social entrepreneurs and ambassadors for peace and collaboration creating a better future. The second edition will be held in Paris.

The agenda of the EIB can be found here.

Council of Europe


Monday 17 April 

2023 Privacy Symposium examines global role of Council of Europe’s data protection “Convention 108”
The 2023 Privacy Synopsium will devote a special programme to the Council of Europe privacy and data protection treaty. There will be workshops addressing the future impact of the protocol modernising the treaty in achieving stronger data protection globally.

Tuesday 18 April 

Turning 18 with confidence – international launching event
The Council of Europe will host an international launching event on  “Turning 18 with Confidence: Supporting Migrant and Refugee Children in transition to Adulthood” with support from the Icelandic Presidency of the Committee of Ministers and the participation of Iceland’s Minister of Education and Children, Ásmundur Einar Daðason.

Find an overview of Council of Europe events here; the PACE diary here; the Congress calendar of events here; information on forthcoming judgments here; the calendar of hearings here; information on Venice Commission events here; the agenda of the Commissioner of Human Rights here; and the Chairmanship agenda here.

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