The Week ahead

At the last plenary of the European Parliament in 2022, MEPs will hold a debate on the upcoming EU Summit on 15 December. EPP Group Chairman Manfred Weber MEP will insist on the need to continue our support for Ukraine and will firmly criticise the blocking of the support package by Hungary. “We have to continue supporting Ukraine in every way we can.” Chairman Weber will also thank the Czech Presidency for its great work under extremely difficult circumstances.

MEPs will vote on a draft law on Tuesday on how to speed up the rollout of renewable energies infrastructure across Europe. New 'renewable acceleration areas' will be defined, in which fast-track permits within a maximum of 9 months shall be made possible. Environmental impact assessments shall, in the future, be done for the whole acceleration area, no longer by each individual project as necessary, which is currently the case. "Permitting procedures in Europe simply take too long. If we want to make our energy supply more independent and more sustainable, more speed is necessary", says Markus Pieper MEP, European Parliament Rapporteur for the reform of the Renewable Energies Directive.

The enormous amount of funding the American Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides to attract companies to the United States is a huge challenge for Europe and its Green Deal. For the EPP Group, our transatlantic ties are fundamental, but it is also important to keep innovative companies in Europe. We must ensure that this conflict doesn't escalate and make sure the European Union continues to be an attractive place for business and industry. On an EPP Group initiative, the plenary debate on Europe's answer to the IRA will take place on Wednesday morning.

EU Finance Ministers are to meet again before Christmas to consider the European Commission’s 'update' to the rule of law assessment in Hungary. Member States will decide on whether to green light Hungary’s national recovery plan and should confirm the freezing of funds until the remedial measures over the rule of law, which the Hungarian Government promised, are fully in place. Viktor Orbán has tried to blackmail the entire EU by blocking an agreement on a minimum corporate tax rate and on an €18 billion aid package for Ukraine. “Europe cannot afford to give in to the Hungarian Government's blackmail. The credibility of the EU as a whole and of the rule of law are at stake. We expect the Member States to remain tough and make a decision on the basis of the Commission's initial assessment. It is hard to believe that in such a short period of time the Hungarian Government could have succeeded in making significant further reforms to protect the EU budget against fraud", says Petri Sarvamaa MEP, EPP Group Spokesman on Budgetary Control.

Before the formal award ceremony of this year's Sakharov Prize on Wednesday, the Members of the committees on Foreign Affairs, Development and on Human Rights will meet the laureates on Monday. “The Ukrainian people and their President Volodymir Zelensky managed to halt the most brutal military invasion of the 21st century. Dedicating the Sakharov Prize for the Freedom of Thought to them is a mere symbol of our gratefulness and understanding that Ukraine is defending our common European values", says Rasa Juknevičienė MEP, EPP Group Vice-Chair in charge of Foreign Affairs. “Ukrainians are a nation which stands against Russia’s war and occupation and thereby also defends our democracy and freedom. They chose to live as we do in the EU and this is why they are being punished by the dictator in the Kremlin. They deserve this prize", says Michael Gahler MEP, EPP Group Coordinator for Foreign Affairs.

On Thursday, Parliament will debate and vote on a Resolution commemorating the 90^th anniversary of the Holodomor in Ukraine and recognising Stalin’s mass killings through starvation as genocide. "Uncondemned brutality will continue to repeat itself until we choose to call it out. Finally, Europe is waking up to its moral obligation to fully evaluate, recognise and condemn Soviet crimes", stresses Rasa Juknevičienė MEP, EPP Group Vice-Chair for Foreign Affairs. "The Holodomor famine of 1932-1933, which caused the deaths of millions of Ukrainians, was planned by Stalin's regime to eradicate Ukrainian national identity. We must commemorate this crime to help prevent the occurrence of similar crimes in the future”, says Radosław Sikorski MEP, Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who initiated the debate.

The European Parliament will insist that a revision of the EU’s long-term budget is brought forward to early 2023, Jan Olbrycht MEP confirmed. Mr Olbrycht co-authored a new Report on upscaling the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027, which will be debated in plenary on Wednesday 14 December, and is due for vote on Thursday. "The MFF is no longer fit for purpose. It was designed before many unforeseen crises struck the Union. Now, less than two years since its adoption, it is already stretched to its limit. In many headings, there are no more margins left - restricting what the EU can do to help in emergencies. A robust revision is urgently required”, Olbrycht said.

In a so-called 'jumbo trilogue' on 16 and 17 December, the European Parliament and Member States are set to reach an agreement on two pillars of the European Green Deal, namely the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and the Social Climate Fund (SCF). The thorniest issue in the ongoing negotiations is the extension of the ETS to buildings and road transport, the so-called ETS2, and with it, the connected new SCF. The fund is meant to help alleviate the impact of carbon pricing for the most vulnerable households. For the EPP Group, it is crucial to keep both parts, the SCF and the ETS2, connected. "We want to make sure that the money from this fund will not just fill the coffers of the Member States, but actually help those who need it most", say the European Parliament's lead negotiators on the topic, Peter Liese MEP, responsible for the ETS, and Esther de Lange MEP, responsible for the SCF. A press conference by both MEPs is planned ahead of the trilogue. The time is still to be confirmed. For more information, please contact the press officer in the contact section below.