The EU’s General Affairs Council will convene in Brussels on Monday to discuss the rule of law in Poland. Ministers will also reexamine Article 7(1) of the Treaty on European Union for Hungary. The Council will then prepare for the European Council meeting on Dec. 13-14 by discussing an annotated draft agenda. In addition, the Council will hold a policy debate on the multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027. The Austrian presidency and the incoming Romanian presidency will present the 2019 European semester roadmap.
The Commission's Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier will update the Council in an EU27 format on ongoing Brexit talks with the U.K. Ministers will focus their discussions on the state of play on the completion of work for the withdrawal and the framework for future relations with the U.K.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will debate the future of Europe with MEPs and EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday in Strasbourg. This will be the twelfth in a series of future of Europe debates between EU heads of state or governments and MEPs.
To fight climate change, new ambitious binding 2030 targets for renewables (32 percent) and energy efficiency (32.5 percent) will be put to the vote on Tuesday in Strasbourg. The new law also stipulates that some types of food-crop biofuels will be phased out, in a move towards second-generation biofuels.
The 10th EU-Albania Stabilization and Association Council will review the state of relations under the Stabilization and Association Process on Wednesday in Brussels. The participants will discuss the pre-accession strategy, including the political and economic criteria, acquis and financial cooperation. They will also review the state of play of implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement. There will also be an exchange of views on developments in Albania and the Western Balkans.
Members of the European Parliament (EPs) will lay down their funding priorities for the EU’s post-2020 long-term budget, including a breakdown of the amounts foreseen for each EU program on Wednesday in Strasbourg. They are likely to push for more funding for youth, research, growth, jobs and in tackling climate change. New challenges like migration, defense and security should also receive adequate resources.
Parliament will vote on a new telecom law on Wednesday in Strasbourg capping intra-EU phone calls at €0.19 cents per minute and €0.06 cents for text messages (SMS) from May 15, 2019. The law also lays down that the rollout of 5G networks should be speeded up and that an SMS alert system for emergencies should be created in all member states.
Parliament will vote on a proposal for a new EU humanitarian visa system on Wednesday, which would allow asylum-seekers to reach Europe without putting their lives at risk. They would be able to request a visa at EU embassies or consulates abroad, giving them access to European territory for the sole purpose of submitting an asylum application.
EU’s Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström will be in Washington D.C. on Wednesday to meet with Robert Lighthizer, the United States trade representative.
An EU-South Africa summit will take place in Brussels on Thursday. EU and South African leaders will review relations and discuss ways of intensifying and broadening their cooperation during this 7th summit between the two sides. The leaders are expected to focus their discussions on economic, trade and investment cooperation, development cooperation, global challenges such as climate change, migration and human rights, and multilateralism.
Updated rules on European rail passenger rights will be put to a vote on Thursday in the European Parliament. These include more compensation for travelers in case of delays, better information given to passengers about their rights, better assistance to people with reduced mobility, better access to cyclists and clearer complaints-handling procedures.
The EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council will meet on Friday in Brussels to discuss budgets. The Council will prepare negotiations with the European Parliament on the EU's general budget for 2019. Negotiations will be held at a conciliation committee meeting the same day. The conciliation committee's task is to bridge the gap between the positions of the Council and the European Parliament in order to agree on a joint text. After the meeting of the conciliation committee, the Council will resume its session to take note of the results and endorse the deal. If the negotiations with the Parliament are not successful, the Council will then decide on the next steps to take.
On Oct. 24, the Council announced that it could not accept all of the Parliament's amendments for the 2019 budget. As a result, a three-week conciliation process started on Oct. 30 and will run until Nov. 19. The Parliament is asking for an increase of total commitments to €166.3 billion and total payments to €149.3 billion. The Council had set total commitments at €164.1 billion and total payments at €148.2 billion.
