EU

European Parliament this week (17-21 November): EU budget, Ebola, Georgia

Published

12 years ago

November 17, 2014

MEPs meet in committee this week to assess the progress made on tackling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, vote on the association agreement with Georgia and discuss the European Central Bank's monetary policy with its president Mario Draghi. On Monday the Parliament and Council representatives resume talks on the EU budgets for this year and next year. In addition political groups prepare for next week's plenary session.

On Monday (17 November) Parliament and Council representatives try to reach an agreement on the EU budgets for this year and next year on the last day of the conciliation process. If a deal is reached, MEPs start preparing the finalizations of the 2015 budget. If there is no agreement, the European Commission has to present a new proposal. MEPs want the unpaid bills for this year to be settled and to ensure that member states back their political promises to revive growth, create jobs and encourage research and development with money.Christos Stylianides, the EU's Ebola co-ordinator and commissioner for humanitarian aid, meets the development committee on Monday to discuss the Ebola outbreak, following his mission to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea on 12-16 November.

On Monday, MEPs from the foreign affairs committee hold a debate on Ukraine with Pavlo Klimkin, the country's foreign minister, and also on vote the EU-Georgia Association Agreement.

Also on Monday, Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, meets the economic committee to discuss the bank´s monetary policy which might go beyond the purchase of private sector assets with an aim to help the stagnating EU economy.

On Thursday, the budgetary control committee starts the annual vetting of EU accounts with a series of hearings during which commissioners account for spending in their areas in 2013. Next April Parliament decides whether to give discharge to the EU institutions.

On Tuesday, Thomas Südhof, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize for Medicine, delivers a keynote speech titled “Towards understanding the brain”. He was invted by the EP's Science and Technology Options Assessment body (STOA) for its annual lecture.

Parliament's political groups will be preparing next week´s plenary session in Strasbourg. Pope Francis will address MEPs on 25 November 2014, while the following day Congolese doctor and women's rights activist Denis Mukwege will receive this year's Sakharov Prize.

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