EU 'in-person' summit plus key data privacy ruling This WEEK

On Monday (13 July), EU foreign affairs ministers will gather in Brussels to discuss the bloc's relations with Turkey, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

On the same day, EU commissioner for home affairs, Ylva Johansson, and commissioner for neighbourhood and enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, will join interior ministers of several member states and partner countries in a conference on countering migrant-smuggling.

EU budget up close-(ish) and personal

Meanwhile, EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Friday (17 July) and Saturday (18 July) for a summit to discuss in person the EU's long-term budget and recovery plan to respond to the Covid-19 crisis.

Member states have so far been divided over several issues, including the size of the EU budget and the distribution in grants and loans of the recovery fund.

However, the German EU presidency urged leaders to reach agreement on the bloc's long-term budget this month.

EU ministers for European affairs will discuss on Wednesday (15 July) the proposal presented by EU Council president Charles Michel last week.

The India-EU leaders' video conference will see on the same day Michel, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell and the Indian prime minister Narendra Modi discuss the Covid-19 pandemic and its strategic partnership.

Moreover, the colleague of commissioners is expected to launch on Wednesday an action plan against tax evasion and to simplify taxation, plus a statement on taxation good-governance in the EU, and beyond.

On Thursday (16 July), von der Leyen, Michel and Borrell, together with European Parliament president David Sassoli, will attend a ceremony in Madrid to honour their 27,000 victims of the Covid-19 pandemic and health workers.

G20 finance ministers and Central Bank governors will participate in a videoconference to discuss the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the economy on Saturday (18 July).

EU-US Privacy Shield at risk

Additionally, the European Court of Justice will announce on Thursday the much-awaited ruling over the Facebook Ireland vs Schrems case to clarify whether standard contractual clauses for data transfers between the bloc and non-EU countries are aligned with EU data protection law.

At stake is the validity of the EU-US Privacy Shield - an agreement to share personal data for commercial purposes adopted in 2016.

In 2018, members of the European Parliament's committee on civil liberties (Libe) called on the commission to suspend the EU-US data transfer pact.

Members of the European Parliament's committee on economic and monetary affairs on Monday will hold a debate on the latest international developments in the area of digital taxation with representatives from the OECD and the European Commission.

Also on Monday, EU commissioner for justice Didier Reynders will discuss with MEPs from the Libe committee the evaluation report on the implementation of the EU data protection regulation.

Finally, MEPs from the committee on legal affairs and constitutional affairs will hold a public hearing with experts about the consequences of the controversial judgement of the German Constitutional Court of 5 May.

The most senior German court stated that the country's central bank should stop buying government bonds under the European Central Bank's (ECB) stimulus programme within three months - unless the ECB proves it acted proportionally.