EU

European Parliament this week: Greece, quantitative easing, energy union, Syria, electoral law

Published

11 years ago

November 9, 2015

It's a busy week ahead in Brussels as members return from duties in their constituencies or with parliamentary delegations. In coming days committees deal with the macroeconomic programme for Greece, plans for energy union and the ECB's quantitative easing programme. In plenary on Wednesday (11 November) MEPs are set to discuss and vote on EU funding to deal with the Syrian conflict and irregular migration from Africa. The aviation sector and electoral law reform will also be on the agenda.

On Tuesday (10 November) the economic and monetary affairs committee debates the macroeconomic adjustment programme for Greece with Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem and European Stability Mechanism Managing Director Klaus Regling.

On the same day the industry committee votes on its priorities concerning the EU's future energy union, touching on issues such as energy security and diversification of supply, the Nordstream pipeline and energy efficiency.On Thursday the economic and monetary affairs committee discusses the quantitative easing programme, interest rates and ways to address low inflation with ECB president Mario Draghi.

President Martin Schulz attends the Valletta summit on migration which commences on Wednesday. The day before he will address Malta's parliament and meet with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Plenary

The first plenary session of November takes place in Brussels on Wednesday. MEPs are to quiz the Council and Commission on the lack of financial contributions by member states to two new EU funds established to deal with the Syrian crisis and to address the root causes of irregular migration from Africa. €500 million and €1.8 billion respectively have already been earmarked for these funds in the EU budget.

Ahead of Commission proposals expected by the end of the year, possible measures to improve the competitiveness of the EU aviation sector will also be the subject of a debate on Wednesday afternoon.Parliament also votes on proposals for future electoral reform to enable all EU citizens living abroad to vote in European elections. Electronic, online and postal voting is also among the proposals.

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