EU

Coming up: Vaccines, EU revenue, tourism

Published

3 years ago

March 23, 2021

In a week with committee meetings and a plenary session, MEPs will focus on COVID-19 vaccines, the EU’s own resources system and sustainable tourism.

Vaccines

Today (23 March), the environment and public health committee will hear the latest news on the evaluation and market authorization of COVID-19 vaccines from European Medicines Agency (EMA) Executive Director Emer Cooke.

Also today, the budget control committee will also discuss the current state of the EU’s Advance Purchase Agreement on COVID-19 vaccines with Sandra Gallina, the Euroepan Commission's Director-General for Health.

Plenary session

EU revenue

MEPs will vote Thursday (25 March) on the reform of the EU’s own resources that will lead to new sources of EU revenue, such as a levy on non-recycled plastic packaging waste.

Rule of law

On Wednesday (24March), MEPs will vote on a resolution reiterating their call on the Commission to urgently activate the rule of law mechanism to protect the EU budget. The rules, approved in December, would allow payments from the EU budget to be frozen or cut if a member state has breached EU rules.

Dual-use products

MEPs will vote Thursday on new rules for the export of dual-use goods - products or services such as drones and chemicals that can be misused - to take into account new technologies and better protect human rights.

Sustainable tourism

MEPs are set to call on EU countries to include travel and tourism in their COVID-19 recovery plans to support the sectors after the crisis and help them to become cleaner and more sustainable. They will also back a European strategy including a common vaccination certificate to facilitate travel.

New EU-Africa strategy

The Parliament will vote on its input for a new EU-Africa strategy on Thursday, calling for a move from a donor-recipient relationship to a closer and more equitable one, to face common challenges, such as climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.

Marine litter

MEPs are expected to call Thursday for more reductions in single-use plastics and more sustainable fishing gear in order to reduce marine litter.

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