The Week ahead

The European Parliament will convene under exceptional conditions on Thursday (26 March) in an extraordinary plenary session. MEPs who cannot travel to Brussels will participate from home. Votes will happen remotely. "Next week's extraordinary meeting of the European Parliament allows for a safe and responsible way to approve the urgent proposals of the European Commission in the fight against the coronavirus. In this time of crisis, we need unity and decisive action to protect citizens and our economy", says EPP Group Chairman Manfred Weber MEP.

On Thursday, the extraordinary plenary session will debate and vote on two important measures to help Member States deal with the coronavirus outbreak. The first one is the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative, making available 37 billion euro of the Cohesion Funds to Member States to mobilise investments for their health care systems and in other sectors of their economies in response to the pandemic outbreak. The second one is a legislative proposal to extend the scope of the EU Solidarity Fund to cover public health emergencies. This will give financial assistance to Member States and countries negotiating their accession to the Union that are seriously affected by the coronavirus. Regarding these measures, EPP Group Spokesman Andrey Novakov, reiterates: "A friend in need is a friend in deed. This is the EU to the Member States and I am glad that the EPP Group is part of the solution".

The coronavirus outbreak is having a major impact on the European aviation industry. In order to help ease the effects of the outbreak, the European Commission has put forward a proposal to ease slot rules for airlines. The proposal will be voted by MEPs on Thursday, during the extraordinary plenary session. Marian-Jean Marinescu, EPP Group Spokesman for Transport and Tourism, sees the proposal as beneficial for the aviation sector and for the environment. "We need to ensure that in the current situation, airlines aren't forced to fly empty or almost empty, just to keep their time slots. The new rules should take effect immediately", says Marinescu.

On Tuesday, EU Member States plan to decide on the opening of the enlargement negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania. The EPP Group believes that the decisions taken within the enlargement process should be merit-based and mirror the progress made by each candidate country. "The EU must live up to its commitments. The enlargement process should not be taken hostage by the domestic agendas of individual Member States", reiterates Michael Gahler MEP, EPP Group Spokesman for Foreign Affairs.

Kovatchev, Gahler