The Week Ahead 14 – 20 March 2022

Impact of Russian invasion. On Thursday, Ukrainian Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov will brief MEPs on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Subcommittee on Security and Defence and the Parliament’s EU-Ukraine delegation on the latest developments of the war in the country. During the week, several other committees will also discuss the impact of Russian aggression in Ukraine on their respective policy areas, including transatlantic cooperation, transport, fisheries, culture, foreign interference, children’s rights, and human rights (Monday to Thursday).

Russian invasion/online propaganda. Among the committees dealing with the impact of the Russian war, the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee will debate with Internal Market Commissioner Breton on effectively fighting propaganda on online platforms and the role of the Digital Services Act (DSA) (Wednesday).

Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Foreign Affairs Committee will debate the persisting challenges in Bosnia and Herzegovina with the Chairman and members of the country’s tripartite Presidency, Milorad Dodik, Šefik Džaferović and Željko Komšić, as well as the Speaker of the country’s House of Peoples Dragan Čović (Tuesday).

Gender pay gap. The committees on Employment and Social Affairs and Women’s Rights and Gender Equality will vote on their position on draft legislation to combat unequal pay through binding transparency measures. Lack of pay transparency has been identified as a key obstacle to closing the gender pay gap (Thursday).

Gender balance on company boards. The committees on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality and on Legal Affairs will vote to start talks with EU governments on an EU bill to increase the representation of women on corporate boards of publically listed companies to at least 40% (Wednesday).

EU economic coordination/Parliamentary week. MEPs and national parliamentarians from EU, candidate, and observer countries will gather to discuss economic, budgetary, employment and social issues. The conference will focus on the impact of COVID-19 and particularly the implementation of national recovery plans, as well as the reform of the Stability and Growth Pact, and the EU’s new own resources. EP President Roberta Metsola will also give speech (Tuesday and Wednesday). A webinar for journalists on the recovery and resilience facility will take place on Wednesday at 14:30.

Cryptocurrency. A draft law to regulate the use of cryptocurrencies will be up for a vote by the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. The new rules should cover crypto assets outside the EU, how to support innovation and mitigate risks as well as lessen the cryptocurrencies environmental footprint (Monday).

EU Taxonomy. The Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Economic and Monetary Affairs committees will debate the Commission proposal to include specific gas and nuclear sectors in the so-called taxonomy, a classification system to channel investment into environmentally sustainable economic activities. Parliament has four months to decide whether to veto it (Tuesday).

Plenary preparations. Political groups will prepare for the 23-24 March plenary session, taking place in Brussels, where MEPs will discuss the results of the 10 March European Council on the Russian aggression to Ukraine as well as their priorities for the upcoming EU summit of 24-25 March. They will debate what the EU can do for more affordable, secure and sustainable energy and how to ensure food security inside and outside the EU. MEPs will also vote on extending the free-roaming regime for mobile phones and on providing Moldova with €150 million in macro-financial assistance.

President’s diary. On Tuesday, President Metsola pays an official visit to Luxembourg, where she will meet the Grand-Duc of Luxembourg, Prime Minister Bettel and Foreign Minister Asselborn. She will also address the Luxembourg parliament -the Chambre des Députés- and meet with school students. On Wednesday, she will meet Prime Minister of Portugal António Costa and participate in an extraordinary virtual meeting of the G7 Parliamentary Speakers with the Speaker of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada. On Thursday, President Metsola will speak at the 8th Cohesion Forum before meeting with European Economic and Social Committee President Christa Schweng.