10 - 14 January 2022

Recent Developments:​​​​​​

• US and Russian officials are conducting talks on the situation on Ukraine's eastern border in Geneva, Switzerland this week amid discussions about the future of security architecture in Europe.
• Finnish Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, has stated that Finland will "not be blackmailed" regarding its own foreign and security policies and possible future membership of NATO - PM Marin: Finland ‘will not be blackmailed’ by Russia – EURACTIV.com
• The ruling PiS party in Poland have confirmed that the government has controversial Pegasus surveillance and hacking software, but denies that it was used against opposition politicians or journalists during the 2019 parliamentary election - https://www.politico.eu/article/kaczynski-poland-has-pegasus-but-didnt-use-it-in-the-election-campaign/
• The Dutch coalition government is expected to be formally sworn into office on Monday 10 January following 271 days of negotiations.
• Lufthansa will allegedly fly 18,000 near empty "ghost flights" during the winter season in order to keep landing slots at major airports despite pandemic related restrictions and reduced passenger numbers while emitting potentially up to 700,000 tonnes of CO2 - Brussels under pressure to change ‘ghost flight’ rules | Financial Times (ft.com)
• Ruling Polish PiS party is apparently considering a split with its junior coalition partner, Solidarity Poland, in order to secure NextGenerationEU funding and to govern as a minority government - Will Kaczyński get rid of Ziobro? There is a rumor in the Sejm about the collapse of the coalition (wyborcza.pl)
• Eurogroup President and Irish Finance Minister, Paschal Donohue will meet German Vice-Chancellor and Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate, Robert Habeck, and German Finance Minister, Christian Lindner, in Berlin
• Several main roads were blocked across Serbia on Saturday 8 January in protest over the proposed Jadar lithium mine in the west of the country run by Rio Tinto due to environmental concerns -  Serbians block main roads to protest possible opening of lithium mine – EURACTIV.com
• Former Austrian Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, has been appointed co-chairman of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, an anti-racism NGO - https://twitter.com/sebastiankurz/status/1480109121298915329?s=21

Monday – 10^th January

• IMCO Committee – transparency and targeting of political advertising - https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/imco/home.html 
• JURI Committee – corporate sustainability reporting - https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/juri/home.html 
• Vice-President Vestager call with Danish Finance Minister, Nicolai Wammen
• Vice-President Vestager roundtable with Semiconductor Industry CEOs
• Vice-President Dombrovskis meeting with Kenyan Minister of Trade, Enterprise and Development, Betty Chemutai Maina in Paris, France
• Vice-President Dombrovskis meeting with French Economy and Finance Minister, Bruno le Maire
• Commissioner Breton meeting with Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo
• Commissioner Breton roundtable with Semiconductor Industry CEOs
• Commissioner Breton videoconference with Eric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation, and Bernard Charlès, CEO of Dassault Système
• Commissioner Urpialinen videoconference with Canadian Minister of International Development, Harjit S. Sajjan
• Commissioner Kyriakides visit to Stockholm, Sweden to visit ECDC and meet Swedish Minister for Health and Social Affairs, Lena Hallengren

Tuesday – 11^th January   

• Vice-President Timmermans videoconference with Xie Zhenhua, Special Representative for Climate Change of China
• Vice-President Dombrovskis receives European Fiscal Board Chairman, Niels Thygesen
• Vice-President Jourová receives Czech Minister for European Affairs, Mikuláš Bek 
• Commissioner Hahn visit to UAE and Saudi Arabia to present NextGenerationEU funding strategy
• Commissioner Reynders videoconference with Meta (Facebook) Vice-President, Nick Clegg
• Commissioner Várhelyi receives Czech Minister for European Affairs, Mikuláš Bek
• Commissioner Urpilainen videoconference with GAVI CEO, Seth Berkley
• Commissioner McGuinness videoconference with UniCredit Chairman, Pier Carlo Padoan

Wednesday – 12^th January   

• COREPER II - operational coordination mechanism for external dimension of migration, EU Cyber Crisis Linking Exercise on Solidarity (EU CyCLES) - Meeting calendar - Consilium (europa.eu)
• COREPER I - amendment to REACH Regulation, delegated Regulation amendment to Directive 2009/81/EC regarding thresholds for supply, service and works contracts - Meeting calendar - Consilium (europa.eu)
• Meeting of the College of Commissioners 

Thursday – 13^th January   

• Informal Gymnich Meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers in Brest, France
• Vice-President Jourová receives Peter Limbourg, Director General of Deutsche Welle
• Vice-President Jourová meeting with Mark Thompson, co-chiar of International Fund for Public Interest Media, former CEO of NY Times
• Commissioner Kyriakides visit to European Medicines Agency in Amsterdam
• Commissioner Reynders videoconference with Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte
• Commissioner Johansson meeting with Swedish Government officials in Stockholm
• Commissioner McGuinness meeting with Citi Europe Managing Director and Citigroup Global Markets Europe AG CEO, Kristine Baden
• Commissioner Gabriel meeting with Rolls Royce CEO, Andreas Schell

Friday – 14^th January  

• Informal Gymnich Meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers in Brest, France
• DEVE Committee – exchange of views on vaccine access in developing countries, Global Gateway exchange of views with EEAS, NDICI Global Europe climate objectives - https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/deve/home.html 
• ENVI Committee – debate on deployment of alternative fuels infrastructure,  
• Joint debates on:  
  • amending Directives 2001/20/EC and 2001/83/EC and Regulation (EU) No. 536/2014 regarding derogations for certain medicinal products for human use made available in the UK in respect of Northern Ireland, as well as in Cyprus, Ireland and Malta,  
  • Amending Decision (EU) 2015/1814 as regards the amount of allowances to be placed in the market stability reserve for the Union greenhouse gas emission trading scheme until 2030 - Consideration of draft report 
  • Amending Regulation (EU) 2019/631 as regards strengthening the CO2 emission performance standards for new passenger cars and new light commercial vehicles in line with the Union’s increased climate ambition - 
  • Harmonised rules on Artificial Intelligence (Artificial Intelligence Act) and amending certain Union Legislative Acts - Consideration of draft opinion- 
  • Exchange of views with EEAS on "A Stronger EU engagement for a peaceful, sustainable and prosperous Arctic" 
  • Exchange of views with the Commission on the health impacts of 5G - https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/envi/home.html  
• Votes on: 
  • General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030 - Vote on the provisional agreement resulting from interinstitutional trilogue negotiations 
  • Amending Regulation (EC) No 851/2004 establishing a European Centre for disease prevention and control (ECDC) 
  • Objection pursuant to Rule 112(2) and (3) : Authorising the placing on the market of products containing, consisting of or produced from genetically modified soybean GMB151 (BCS-GM151-6) - Adoption of motion for a resolution 
  • Objection pursuant to Rule 112(2) and (3) renewing the authorisation for the placing on the market of products containing, consisting of or produced from genetically modified cotton GHB614 (BCS-GHØØ2-5) - Adoption of motion for a resolution 
• LIBE Committee – debates on: 
  • Exchange of views on Commission proposal for Council Decision on provisional emergency measures for the benefit of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (Art.78(3)), exchange of views with Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, Commissioner Ylva Johansson, and representatives from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) 
  • Establishment and operation of an evaluation and monitoring mechanism to verify the application of the Schengen acquis and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1053/2013 (2021/0140(CNS)) 
  • Exchange of views with Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration, Mattias Tesfaye 
• Votes on: 
  • Computerised system for communication in cross-border civil and criminal proceedings (e-CODEX system), amending Regulation (EU) 2018/1726CJ03/9/05924 (2020/0345(COD)) - Vote on provisional trilogue negotiations agreement  
  • Commission Delegated Regulation supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/817 of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards determining cases where identity data may be considered as same or similar for the purpose of the multiple identity detection (2021/2913(DEA)) - Adoption of motion for a resolution. 
  • Commission Delegated Regulation supplementing Regulation (EU) 2019/818 of the European Parliament and Council as regards determining cases where identity data may be considered as same or similar for the purpose of the multiple identity detection (2021/2912(DEA)) - Adoption of motion for a resolution - https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/libe/home.html 
• CULT Committee – debates on:  
  • Implementation of citizenship education actions - https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/cult/home.html 
• AIDA Special Committee – Report on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age - https://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/aida/home.html  
• Vice-President Dombrovskis videoconference with Friends of the Earth Europe
• Commissioner Wojciechowski visit to Madrid, Spain and meeting with Spanish Agriculture Minister, Luis Planas
• Commissioner Gentiloni conference call with Brussels Airlines CEO, Peter Gerber