The Week ahead

Parliament's Home Affairs Committee will start work on Tuesday on two new EU migration laws. "We need a stronger, more efficient migration policy, grounded in solidarity. We need a strong border, we must make a better distinction between refugees and economic migrants with swift and fair procedures, protect those in genuine need and return those not in need of international protection. It is high time that we get a more legally secure and well-functioning migration system in place", says Tomas Tobé MEP, the European Parliament negotiator on the law providing the legal framework for the new migration policy in the EU. Tobé will hold a press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday, the European Parliament’s Budgets and Environment Committees will debate the setting-up of an EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA). The EPP Group wants this health agency to, for example, jointly purchase necessary materials such as vaccines. The EPP Group expects the European Parliament to be appropriately involved and to have scrutiny in the agency's work.

The Foreign Affairs Committee will vote on Tuesday on cooperation in the fight against organised crime in the Western Balkans. The Report underlines that organised crime and corruption in the region hurt not only the people there but also the accession process. The EPP Group notes that in order to continue on their European path, Western Balkans partners have to show tangible results in the fields of fighting organised crime and corruption. Also, supporting a European perspective for the countries of the Western Balkans reduces the influence of organised crime. Hence there is a need to accelerate the EU integration process.

The EPP Group was the first to recognise the need for a European Care Strategy. On Tuesday afternoon, at 14.30 hrs CET, we will host a virtual event to discuss reforming and improving the care sector for children, older persons, persons with a disability or long-term illness, as well as their formal and informal carers. This exchange will centre around this care provision and will also focus on the opportunity to harness EU funds to improve care services and infrastructure; the opportunity for citizens to avail of growing care sector jobs, while promoting gender equality in the sector; and the need for targets and data to reform and improve the care sector. You are invited to join the event. More info here.

The European Parliament will hold its second European Gender Equality Week starting on Monday. The initiative was introduced last year by the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee as an opportunity to promote gender equality and the advancement of girls' and women's rights with engagement across all parliamentary committees and delegations. There will be a wide range of interesting debates, hearings, presentations and exchanges of views addressing gender inequality issues across an array of areas of competence. Frances Fitzgerald MEP, Vice-Chairwoman of the EPP Group and EPP Group Spokeswoman for Gender Equality, said: “Gender Equality Week is crucial to our parliamentary work. It gives us an opportunity to reflect on the impact that the decisions we make have on women, and perhaps how gender-specific actions may be needed to ensure that policies can be as impactful and inclusive as possible.”

On Tuesday, Parliament's International Trade Committee will host a debate with the Commission's Vice-Presidents Margrethe Vestager and Valdis Dombrovskis on the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) following its inaugural meeting in Pittsburgh (USA) at the end of September. On the same day, the Culture and Education Committee will welcome Vera Jourová, Vice-President of the European Commission for Values and Transparency, for a debate on the state of media freedom in the EU. Also on Tuesday, the President of the European Court of Auditors, Klaus-Heiner Lehne, will present its Annual Report in the presence of EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn. On Wednesday, the Environment Committee will debate with Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius and Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski on the EU Forest Strategy.