The Competitiveness Council will meet in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday to agree on a general approach to reform the system of type-approval and market surveillance for motor vehicles. The ministers will address the state of play of the European economy and exchange views on progress made on the implementation of the single market and the digital single market strategies. They will also debate on industrial policy with a view to adopting conclusions on a future EU industrial policy strategy.
European Central Bank’s President Mario Draghi will speak at the European Parliament’s (EP) Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs on Monday.
The EP’s Inquiry Committee into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion (PANA) on Tuesday will ask the European Commission President and former Luxembourg Prime Minister and Finance Minister Jean-Claude Juncker about ongoing and upcoming Commission initiatives in the fight against money laundering and tax evasion, as well as on Luxembourg cooperation with the EU.
The annual economic event of the European Commission Brussels Economic Forum will bring together European and international policymakers and business leaders on Thursday.
EU and China will meet for a bilateral summit on Thursday and Friday in Brussels. Trade, climate change and migration will be among the issues to be covered during the summit. They will also discuss foreign policy and security challenges. European Council President Donald Tusk and Juncker will represent the European Union while by Prime Minister Li Keqiang will represent China.
- Last week
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Brussels last week when he met with Tusk and Juncker in a closed-door meeting to focus on current Turkey-EU relations. The three leaders agreed that the refugee deal between Turkey and the EU signed in March 2016 must be fully implemented. They also discussed Turkey-EU relations and counterterrorism. Erdogan later met with European Parliament President Antonio Tajani.
Leaders from 28 NATO member states gathered in Brussels for a mini-summit to focus on the fight against terrorism and to discuss fair burden-sharing among allies. It was the first NATO leaders' summit for Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May and France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron. U.S. President Donald Trump slammed NATO allies on Thursday for not spending enough on defense, and claimed that the allies owed the U.S. "massive amounts of money".
Speaking at a handover ceremony of the new NATO headquarters in Brussels, Trump sharply criticized member states for not meeting their financial obligations.
"Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defense. This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the U.S.," he said.