This WEEK in the European Union

In its last major proposal before it slides into holiday mode, the European Commission will next week unveil an overhaul of the EU's fisheries policy.

According to a draft proposal seen by Reuters, Brussels wants to achieve sustainability of stocks by 2015. A central plank of the proposals will be to end the traditional pre-Christmas haggle when EU ministers trek to Brussels to argue about fish quotas. The agreements, generally reached late at night, have previously gone against what scientists recommend for maintaining fishstocks.

The commission is instead suggesting that multi-annual plans with fixed fish quotas be set. As a way of reducing fleet sizes, it is also proposing that fishermen be allowed sell their quotas to other EU operators. And it wants to ban discarding of unwanted catches as well as, in its own words, to "decentralise decision-making away from micro-managing in Brussels".

The proposals are to be agreed by the college of commissioners on Wednesday but media reports suggest that at least one commissioner is already upset. French official Michel Barnier, actually in charge of the internal market, was reported by AFP to be against "central parts" of the plan. France has a large fisheries sector.

EU finance ministers will meet in Brussels at the beginning of the week. A telephone conference a week ago saw the eurozone agree to release a €12bn aid tranche to Greece but agreement on a second bailout is not expected until September. Ministers remain divided over the involvement of private-sector holders of Greek government debt.

Germany and France have said they want voluntary participation but Dutch finance minister Jan Kees de Jager upped the stakes by saying that voluntary participation is "unrealistic" and they should be obliged to take part. Credit rating agencies, which are at the centre of the eurozone debt maelstrom, have said they would consider even a voluntary rolling over of debt a default.

Meanwhile the health of the EU's banks will once again be under scrutiny. On Friday (15 July), the European Banking Authority will publish the results of so-called stress tests of 91 lenders. Banks will need to be able to maintain a core capital ratio of at least 5 percent after theoretical market shocks. Test carried out last year were widely seen as being too soft.

On Wednesday the commission will launch a consultation paper on how to give customers better access to films and TV online. At the moment, the fragmented market means customers often cannot legally access works in member states other than their own due to copyright rules.

On the same day it will lay out options for a European Terrorist Finance Tracking System, a controversial issue as it needs to balance privacy and security concerns. MEPs, who have been vocal supporters of individual data privacy, are set to pore over the options. The parliament regularly castigated the commission in the past for tipping the scales towards security in similar arrangements made with the US.

The following day, the commission will publish the annual report on counterfeit goods. Past such reports have highlighted the large amounts of counterfeit medicines and tobacco that make their way into the EU and normally result in some handwringing about China, from where the vast majority of fake goods come.

The European Parliament's foreign affairs committee on Wednesday will discuss the protests and crackdown in Syria with representatives of the Syrian opposition, while MEPs in the agriculture committee will discuss recent proposals to change the EU farm policy with national deputies.

Meanwhile, Polish ministers will crop up in all sorts of parliamentary committees as Warsaw seeks to explain its sectoral plans for its six month EU presidency, which began 1 July.