The Week Ahead: 13-18 July 2020

European Council; Exchange of views with German foreign Minister Heiko Maas; How to tackle medicine shortages in Europe

European Council

On Friday and Saturday, the leaders of the European Union will try to reach an agreement on the post-covid-19 Recovery Plan and a new long-term EU budget 2021-2027. The ECR Group hopes for an ambitious agreement that revitalises the European economies and helps affected citizens as quickly as possible, whilst not undermining the sovereignty and autonomy of EU Member States.

When: Friday and Saturday

Exchange of Views with German foreign Minister Heiko Maas

German foreign minister Heiko Maas is going to present the German presidency’s priorities in the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. ECR MEPs will urge the minister to work towards ensuring that EU foreign policy does not take a one-sidedly negative view towards Israel.

When: Monday @ 16:45

Where: JAN 2Q2

How to tackle medicine shortages in Europe

On Monday, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety will vote on a plan on how to tackle medicine shortages in Europe. Medicine shortages is not a recent development and the sudden exponential increase in global demand triggered by the COVID-19 health crisis has further highlighted the problem and underlined the need for a coordinated response to it. In the opinion of the ECR Group, the EU should return to a certain level of independency in health sectors supporting measures to foster relocation activities and encourage companies to operate in Europe, whilst having closer cooperation between Member States so as to provide a clear overview of problems, shortages and requirements, with a view to preventing stockpiling.

When: Monday @ 12:00