EU Parliament September 2018 Plenary Session

Sebastian F.A. Vos

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The Week Ahead in the European Parliament – September 28, 2018

by: Sebastian F.A. Vos of Covington & Burling LLP - Global Policy Watch

Sunday, September 30, 2018

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Summary

Next week Members of the European Parliament (“MEPs”) will gather in Strasbourg for the plenary session, with interesting votes and debates ahead.

On Wednesday, MEPs will vote on a report prepared by the Committee on Envrionment, Public Health and Food Safety (“ENVI”) on a proposal for a Regulation on emission performance standards for new passenger cars and for new light commercial vehicles. The proposal calls for cutting carbon dioxide emissions from new cars and boosting the market share of zero – and low – emission vehicles. Furthermore, CO2 emissions from new cars should be cut by 45% by 2030, with an intermediate target of 20% by 2025. In case of manufacturers whose average CO2 emissions still exceed these targets, they will pay a premium to the EU budget. Also, the new rules will provide for a CO2 emission test by implementing a portable device which will measure CO2 emissions on the basis of data from cars’ fuel consumption meters. See the proposal for a Regulation here and the draft ENVI report here.

On the same day, MEPs will vote on the report on the proposal for a Regulation on Health Technology Assessment (“HTA”). HTA is a multidisciplinary assessment process that seeks to evaluate the added therapeutic value of health technologies (i.e., drugs, certain medical devices, medical treatments including surgical procedures, and measures for disease prevention and diagnosis) on the basis of both clinical and non-clinical elements. The proposal aims to overcome a number of problems which, according to the report, cannot be sufficiently addressed without regulation at the EU-level. See the proposal for a regulation here, the draft parliamentary report here.

Also, on Wednesday MEPs will debate on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (“IMCO”) report on free-flow of non-personal data. Once voted, the report will constitute the Parliament’s position at first reading on the proposal for a Regulation introduced by the European Commission in September 2017. The proposal has been provisionally agreed with the Council and will aim to ban barriers to the free movement of non-personal data handled by firms and public authorities. More specifically, the new regulation will prevent national rules from requiring data to be stored or processed in a specific Member State. Non-personal data include aggregated and anonymized datasets used for big data analytics, or data on maintenance needs for industrial machines. Furthermore, the new Regulation will only allow restrictions when non-personal data must be located for public security purposes. The new legislation will complement the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), thus creating a framework for a common European data space. MEPs will vote on the draft IMCO report on Thursday. See the proposal for a Regulation here, and the draft IMCO report here.

Meetings and Agenda

Monday, October 1, 2018

Plenary session

17:00 – 23:00

Debates

Resumption of session and order of business
Free flow of non-personal data in the European Union
Rapporteur: Anna Maria Corazza BILDT
Implementation of the Council’s LGBTI Guidelines in relation to the situation in Chechnya

Special committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance

20:30 – 21:45

Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

19:00 – 21:00
Debates

Transparency and sustainability of the EU risk assessment in the food chain – Consideration of amendments (to be confirmed)
- Rapporteur: Renate SOMMER (EPP, DE)

Votes

Protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work – Adoption of draft opinion
- Rapporteur: Joëlle MÉLIN (ENF, FR)
Use of Cannabis for medicinal purposes – Adoption of motion for a resolution
- Co-rapporteurs: Dubravka ŠUICA (EPP, HR), Guillaume BALAS (S&D, FR), Urszula KRUPA (ECR, PL), Catherine BEARDER (ALDE, UK), Martin HÄUSLING (Greens/EFA, DE), Estefanía TORRES MARTÍNEZ (GUE/NGL, ES), Piernicola PEDICINI (EFDD, IT)
14th meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP14) – Adoption of motion for a resolution
- Co-rapporteurs: Norbert LINS (EPP, DE), Guillaume BALAS (S&D, FR), Jadwiga WIŚNIEWSKA (ECR, PL), Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY (ALDE, NL), Benedek JÁVOR (Greens/EFA, HU), Anja HAZEKAMP (GUE/NGL, NL), Piernicola PEDICINI (EFDD, IT), Jean-François JALKH (ENF, FR)

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

19:30 – 20:30

The situation in Romania, including the independence of judiciary – exchange of views with European Commission First-Vice President Frans TIMMERMANS

Committee on Constitutional Affairs

19:30 – 22:30

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Plenary session

Debates

09:00 – 11:20

Preparation of the European Council meeting of 18 and 19 October 2018

Formal sitting

11:30 – 12:00

Address by Milo Đukanović, President of Montenegro

Votes followed by explanations of votes

12:00 – 14:00

Electronic publication of the Official Journal of the European Union
- Rapporteur: Pavel SVOBODA (EPP, CZ)
Single Market Information Tool
- Rapporteur: Eva MAYDELL (EPP, BG)
Third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement
- Rapporteur: Lidia Joanna GERINGER de OEDENBERG (S&D, PL)
EU-Morocco Agreement for scientific and technological cooperation: terms and conditions for the participation of Morocco in the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA)
- Rapporteur: Aldo PATRICIELLO (EPP, IT)
Provision of audiovisual media services
- Rapporteur: Petra KAMMEREVERT, Sabine VERHEYEN

Debates

15:00 – 23:00

The EU’s input on a UN binding instrument on transnational corporations with respect to human rights
EU support to UNRWA, following the US withdrawal of financial support to UNRWA
Situation in Yemen
Emission performance standards for new passenger cars and for new light commercial vehicles
- Rapporteur: Miriam DALLI (S&D, MT)
Harmonising and simplifying certain rules in the VAT system
- Rapporteur: Jeppe KOFOD (S&D, DK)
Rates of value added tax
- Rapporteur: Tibor SZANYI (S&D, HU)

Wednesday, October 3, 2018

Plenary session

Debates

09:00 – 10:00

The rule of law in Romania

Debates

10:00 – 12:30

Debate with the Prime Minister of Estonia, Jüri Ratas, on the Future of Europe

Votes followed by explanation of votes

12:30 – 14:30

Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund: application EGF/2018/001 NL/Financial service activities
- Rapporteur: Ivana MALETIĆ (EPP, HR)
Draft Amending Budget No 5/2018: cancellation of the reserve related to the support to Turkey from the Instrument for Pre-Accession (IPA II), reinforcement of the European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) and of the Humanitarian Aid for orther urgent actions and modification of the establishment plan of the Innovation & Networks Executive Agency (INEA) in the context of the WiFi4EU initiative
- Rapporteur: Siegfried MUREŞAN (EPP, RO)
VAT: period of application of the reverse charge mechanism and of the Quick Reaction Mechanism
- Rapporteur: Sirpa PIETIKÄINEN (EPP, FI)
Administrative cooperation in the field of excise duties as regards the content of electronic register
- Rapporteur: Ivana MALETIĆ (EPP, HR)

Debates

15:00 – 23:00

EU Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (Eurojust)
- Rapporteur: Axel VOSS (EPP, DE)
Mutual recognition of freezing and confiscation orders
- Rapporteur: Nathalie GRIESBECK (ALDE, FR)
Distributed ledger technologies and blockchains: building trust with disintermediation
Humanitarian emergency in the Mediterranean: supporting local and regional authorities