Friday

29th Mar 2024

Agenda

Brexit stalemate dominates This WEEK

  • Irish PM Leo Varadkar and EU Council president Donald Tusk will meet to discuss the Irish backstop (Photo: Consilium)

Brexit is still on everyone's mind in Brussels, as the EU and the UK are locked in a stalemate and Britain's departure at the end of March without a deal is increasingly the likely scenario.

The secretary-general of the EU commission, Martin Selmayr and European parliament Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt will meet British members of parliament in Brussels on Monday (4 February).

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MPs from the committee on exiting the EU want to see how much leverage there is to reconcile the bloc's and the UK's positions. They meet with Selmayr, who is now overseeing the no-deal preparations and is seen as a key power-broker in the EU.

British prime minister Theresa May, after British lawmakers rejected the divorce deal, is meeting with Conservative backbenchers later in the week.

They will discuss alternatives to Irish backstop, including technical solutions that the EU has warned do not exist yet to police the border on the island of Ireland.

On Wednesday (6 February) EU council president Donald Tusk will meet with Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar, whose country is under pressure over the issue of avoiding a hard border on the island after Brexit.

Varadkar will also meet Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU Commission president, in Brussels to discuss no-deal Brexit planning

Taxes

On Monday, the European parliament's special committee on tax evasion will hold a public hearing on Germany's Deutsche Bank which in recent years has been accused of money laundering and tax evasion. A representative of the bank will brief MEPs on the bank's policies.

The same day MEPs on the civil liberties committee will vote on a draft report on the revised Visa Information System, which will close gaps in information regarding travellers coming to the EU, and better spot overstays and illegal migrants.

In the commission on Monday, justice commissioner, Vera Jourova, will present the findings of the monitoring the code of conduct on countering illegal hate speech online.

On Tuesday (5 February), Juncker will hold a working launch with his possible successor, German MEP Manfred Weber, who last year launched his campaign for the commission top job as the lead candidate for the centre-right European People's Party (EPP).

Still, on Tuesday, Weber's EPP will host a group conference on the rise of populism - which some critics feel the EPP has done little to hinder, by refusing to discipline its Hungarian member, prime minister Viktor Orban's ruling Fidesz. Academics will discuss populist movements on the rise in Europe.

The budget and economic committees on Thursday (7 February) will vote on the interim report establishing the European Monetary Fund (EMF) from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), that is planned to give financial assistance to EU countries in need under economic-adjustment programmes.

The interim report suggests bringing the intergovernmental ESM under the EU's framework for better oversight.

At the end of the week, justice and interior ministers will gather in Bucharest for an informal meeting.

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.

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