Brussels briefing, June 29

The European Parliament’s (EP) Industry and Energy Committee on Monday will vote on proposals to increase energy storage capacity and guarantee the security of energy supply, with renewables making up an increasingly larger part of Europe’s energy mix.

The EP’s Environment, Public Health and Food Security Committee will adopt a resolution on Monday calling for a chemicals strategy for sustainability that ensures a high level of protection of human health and the environment, minimizing exposure to hazardous chemicals.

An update on the establishment of an EU mechanism on democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights, which would regularly assess the rule of law in all member states, will be discussed in the EP’s Civil Liberties Committee on Monday.

The EU agriculture and fisheries ministers will hold a videoconference to discuss the state of play of some legislative proposals in the policy areas of agriculture and fisheries on Monday.

A videoconference between the Republic of Korea and EU leaders on Tuesday will bring together the President of the European Council Charles Michel, the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the Republic of Korea Jae-in Moon. The leaders will exchange views on the lessons learned from the handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, how to better cooperate to mitigate the effects of the crisis and the concrete steps to take to strengthen resilience at international level.

The EU and the United Nations will co-chair the fourth Brussels Conference on “Supporting the future of Syria and the region”. The Conference’s Ministerial meeting will take place on Tuesday by videoconference.

Croatia’s presidency of the EU on Wednesday will be passed over to Germany for the next six months.

The EU and the UK will intensify negotiations for the post-Brexit relationship from this week. Both parties will hold face-to-face meetings for the next couple of weeks to resolve disagreements.