Thursday

28th Mar 2024

Agenda

This WEEK in the European Union

  • The EU parliament will be busy with kitchen-sink affairs this week (Photo: Valentina Pop)

The EU circus will travel from Brussels to Strasbourg for the first plenary session of 2012 next week - a meeting to be dominated by the mid-term reshuffle of top jobs.

German left-winger Martin Schulz - known for his angry rhetoric - is a shoe-in to take over as parliament president from mild mannered centre right Pole Jerzy Buzek.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The other top posts - the chairs of high-visibility committees like foreign affairs and of power committees, which make laws, like industry, environment and internal market - are up for grabs.

The distribution is governed by the so-called 'd'Hondt' system. It awards choice of best job to the largest national delegation in the biggest political group. The second best job goes to the largest national delegation in the second biggest group and so on, down to junior posts in obscure committees.

D'Hondt punishes small groups, like the ECR, home of the British Conservative Party, and independent MEPs. It also leads to complex deals, because any swap-round of jobs between groups or delegations affects other appointments in the chain.

The shake-up will not leave much time for other business.

But MEPs on the economic and monetary affairs committee will on Monday (16 January) in a meeting with European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi vent ideas on where the EU is going on the crisis.

Member states' negotiators have agreed the outline of a new treaty on fiscal discipline. But MEPs observing the talks say the draft text is too weak.

Meanwhile, EU leaders will continue to hold top-level meetings ahead of their final decision on the fiscal pact at the end of the month.

France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel - who previously steered affairs on their own - have invited Italy's Mario Monti to join them, with three-way talks due in Rome on Friday.

For its part, the European Commission will lock horns with Hungarian leader Viktor Orban.

The commission will on Tuesday decide whether to launch legal action against Hungary over Orban's constitutional reforms, said to threaten the independence of judges and the central bank.

Brussels last year threatened Budapest on new media-gag laws. But it backed down after Budapest made a few small changes.

Hungary's finance minister will also meet EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn in the EU capital on Friday - his country has been downgraded to junk and is struggling to get International Monetary Fund aid as its political credibility drains away.

Behind the scenes, EU diplomats in Brussels will work out details of an oil embargo on Iran.

Foreign ministers are to agree the ban the following week. It might be phased-in with a six-month delay, however. Iran is also trying to stave off action with an agreement - announced on Friday - to hold international talks on its nuclear programme and to let in UN inspectors.

EU countries preparing oil ban on Iran

A Greek official has indicated that Athens would back an oil embargo on Iran, setting the stage for a positive decision by EU countries at the end of the month.

Softer draft of fiscal treaty opens door for UK

Less stringent constitutional demands, a weaker role for the EU commission and a provision allowing the UK to join at a later stage are among the most recent changes to the draft treaty on fiscal discipline.

Environment, Ukraine imports, fish and Easter this WEEK

This week, expect no more than talks on environment, agriculture and fisheries, including discussions between the Polish and Ukrainian governments over angry protests by Polish farmers objecting to cheap grain imports from Ukraine.

EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK

This week, EU leaders come together in Brussels for their usual two-day summit to discuss defence, enlargement, migration and foreign affairs. EU ministers for foreign affairs and EU affairs will meet earlier in the week to prepare the European Council.

EU summit prep work and von der Leyen's Egypt visit This WEEK

MEPs will hold a debate with EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen about the next European Council on Tuesday. Later this week, on Sunday, von der Leyen will be in Egypt for talks regarding a potential 'cash-for-migrant-control' deal.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us