In Parliament this week: #Brexit and #NATO and #Vietnam

On Thursday (23 January) the constitutional affairs committee will vote on its recommendation to Parliament on whether it should approve the EU-UK withdrawal agreement. The final vote by all MEPs during a plenary scheduled is currently scheduled for 29 January and will take place if the UK has fully ratified the agreement by then.

The EU-Vietnam free trade and investment protection agreements are up for a vote by the international trade committee today (21 January). If approved, the deal would remove all export tariffs from the EU, open the Vietnamese public procurement market to EU firms and protect 196 EU products with geographical indication.

The internal market and consumer protection committee votes on Thursday on a resolution addressing the challenges arising from the development of artificial intelligence technology, in particular in relation to consumer choice, the use of bias data and the need for EU liability rules to also cover new artificial intelligence-enabled products.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will address the foreign affairs committee, the security and defence subcommittee and the parliamentary delegation to NATO on Wednesday (22 January). Last week, the Parliament adopted resolutions on the state of play of the EU's common policies for security, defence and foreign affairs and called for closer co-operation with NATO while at the same time stressing the need for the EU to have strategic autonomy.

On the same day, the budgets committee will ask budget commissioner Johannes Hahn about the European Commission’s priorities under the next long-term budget and the way it intends to co-operate with the Parliament.

The environment and public health committee will decide today whether to call for immediate action against illegal trade in pets.