Budgets and Brexit to dominate week ahead for MEPs

MEPs returned to Brussels on Monday for a busy week of parliamentary activity.
European Parliament | Photo credit EP Audiovisual

By Martin Banks

Martin Banks is a senior reporter at the Parliament Magazine

25 Sep 2017

On Monday, the cost-effectiveness of the youth guarantee scheme, the EU programme helping young people to find jobs by improving their access to training and education, will be assessed by budgetary control committee.

In a draft text, MEPs call for more funding to support young people not in education, employment or training.

On the same day, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi will discuss the programme allowing the ECB to purchase bonds issued by European companies, as well as the latest economic and monetary developments in the EU, with members of the economic and monetary affairs committee. 

On Tuesday, all eyes will be on the special committee on money laundering and tax evasion (PANA), whose members will question representatives of Fifa, UEFA and the European Football Agents Association on the transparency of the transfer market, the financing of European clubs and players' image rights.

A journalist who took part in the European Investigative Collaboration (EIC) network that revealed the football leaks files will also be present.

On Wednesday, meanwhile, the budgets committee will vote on 2324 amendments tabled to the draft 2018 EU budget. MEPs are set to reverse cuts made by the Council and to bolster programmes on research, education, fighting youth unemployment, SME support and migration.

Also on Wednesday - World Tourism Day - Parliament will hold a conference on “A European strategy to enhance the competitiveness of the tourism industry, a key driver for job creation”.

Parliament President Antonio Tajani will open the meeting, which will be attended by key MEPs, Commission Vice-President Katainen and Commissioners Bieńkowska, Vella, Navracsics, Thyssen and Gabriel, as well as representatives from the industry and European and national authorities.

Later in the week, the setting up of the long-awaited European Public Prosecutor's Office, which will be in charge of cross-border criminal investigations of fraud involving EU money, will be up for a vote by the civil liberties committee. Currently, 20 member states have decided to participate.

Later on Thursday, Tajani and political group leaders will meet to discuss the latest progress in the Brexit negotiations, ahead of a European Parliament resolution to be voted the following week in Strasbourg.

Political groups will be updated on the state of play in the Brexit negotiations and prepare for a debate with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier.

The working week will wrap up on Thursday when plans to introduce an EU-wide minimum income to fight poverty and social exclusion will be put forward by the employment and social affairs committee. The draft proposal says such schemes should correspond to 60 per cent. of the median income of the country concerned.

MEPs will also discuss Parliament’s stance on EU-Turkey relations and prepare their input to the October European Summit and to the COP23 climate change conference in Bonn.

Political groups will also prepare Parliament’s position on fertilisers and Parliament’s recommendations on how to fight cybercrime, improve prison conditions and end child marriages.

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