The Week Ahead: 2–6 July 2018
MONDAY
This week MEPs will revise the controversial EU Copyright law. The decision adopted by the Legal Affairs Committee to start negotiations with member states on the copyright directive will be announced at the opening of the plenary session today. If more than 10% of MEPs object (76 MEPs) to this decision by Tuesday midnight, a plenary vote will take place to confirm or reject the committee’s decision on Thursday.
EP Members will debate on the first EU programme dedicated to European defence instruments to make Europe more independent and stimulate innovation in defence.
The state of play of the negotiations on Brexit will be debated at the EP with the participation of ALDE Group President and Brexit Coordinator Guy Verhofstadt.
TUESDAY
More measures on the Mobility Package will be debated on Tuesday and voted on Wednesday with a very active implication by our shadow rapporteurs Izaskun Bilbao, Gesine Meissner and Pavel Telička. Included within the measures are the charging of heavy vehicles’ road use, the posting of transport workers in other EU countries, also called cabotage, and the driving and resting times for hauliers.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz will discuss the priorities of the incoming presidency with MEPs and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker with the participation by Guy Verhofstadt.
WEDNESDAY
The new European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) to pre-screen visa-exempt travellers from about 60 non-EU countries will be up for a debate on Wednesday and a final vote on Thursday. From 2021 on, non-EU nationals exempt from visa requirements will have to get authorisation before entering the EU.
Following the series of debates on The Future Of Europe which take place in every Plenary Session, MEPs welcome this week Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.
MEPs Cecilia Wikstrom and Sophie in’t Veld will co-host the conference “Accidental Americans – The adverse effects of the US Foreign Tax Compliance Act”.
THURSDAY
The Parliament will vote the report called ‘Mandate for the trilogue on the 2019 draft budget’ with MEP Gérard Deprez as shadow rapporteur. This report constitutes a second step of the annual budgetary procedure. It provides for the first reaction of the EP to the Draft Budget 2019 proposal presented by the Commission on May and will serve as a basis for the inter-institutional trilogue to be held next week, ahead of the adoption of the Council’s position.
