18 March 2022
EU energy sovereignty; Food security in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine; Food Security and Nutrition as Keys to Human Development; Roaming regulation; Pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology
EU energy sovereignty
Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine has further put into question the EU’s dependency on Russian energy sources. On Thursday, the European Parliament will hold a plenary debate on EU energy policy. The ECR Group has long stressed the dangers of the EU’s energy dependency on Russia and remains adamant that the EU must put an end to importing Russian energy. Instead, the EU should look to a strategy of energy sovereignty through diversifying and investing in European energy. This includes revitalising the EU’s nuclear energy industry, which could produce even more affordable, clean and reliable power.
Debate: Thursday @ 9:00
Food security in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
On Wednesday, the European Parliament will hold a debate on the impacts of the war in Ukraine on food production and supply lines. The ECR Group points out that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine poses an immediate threat to global food security through the disruption of food supplies both to the Ukrainian people and to other countries heavily reliant on Ukraine’s production of staple crops. The Commission must be called upon to increase EU food production through various support initiatives and to reconsider certain Green Deal initiatives which weigh down EU agricultural output. Urgent measures to secure the upcoming sowing season in Ukraine and to boost humanitarian aid to the region should also take precedent.
Debate: Wednesday @ 15:00
Vote: Thursday @ 11:30
Food Security and Nutrition as Keys to Human Development
On Tuesday, the Committee on Development will hold a hearing on “Food Security and Nutrition as Keys to Human Development” which will be co-chaired and moderated by ECR MEP Beata Kempa, who is also a rapporteur for the initiative report on Addressing food security in developing countries. The hearing is part of the work on the report.
The first panel will focus on what needs to be done to reverse the deteriorating food security situation, to learn from setbacks arising from the Covid-19 pandemic and to brace ourselves for subsequent shocks. It will also aim to answer the question of how the commitments made at the Food Systems Summit and the Nutrition for Growth Summit can contribute to strengthening global food security and improving nutrition. The second panel is related to the current Ukraine crisis, focusing on the importance of supporting local food production and securing livelihoods, in particular for small-scale farmers and women.
When: Tuesday @ 9:30
Roaming regulation
On Thursday, following a plenary debate on Wednesday, the European Parliament will vote on an extension of the Roaming regulation. The previous adjustment to the regulation, which came into force in 2017, abolished retail roaming surcharges in the European Union. This time, the aim of the revision is to extend the regulation for another 10 years, to adjust maximum wholesale prices so they remain sustainable for EU operators, and to bring in new measures to ensure a genuine “roam-like-at-home” (RLAH) experience, such as the ability for travellers to contact domestic emergency services without any additional charges. ECR Shadow Rapporteur Evžen Tošenovský believes that the compromise reached during negotiations at committee level is realistic in ensuring the necessary investments in the rollout of 5G needed to cope with the
expected future demand for cellular data.
Debate: Wednesday @ 15:00
Vote: Thursday @ 11:30
Pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology
On Thursday, MEPs will vote on a pilot regime for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology (DLT). As part of the Commission’s Digital Finance package, the DLT pilot regime aims to contribute towards making financial services regulation fit for the digital age. It does so by granting temporary conditional exemptions from current legislation to enable the use of DLT and provide trading and/or settlement services for crypto-assets that qualify as financial instruments. The experience gained with the regime should help market participants and regulators identify proposals for suitable future rules on the trading and settlement of transactions in traditional financial instruments such as bonds, shares, and exchange-traded funds that are “tokenised” by means of blockchain technology. During negotiations, rapporteur for the Regulation and ECR MEP Johan Van Overtveldt was successful in putting together a proposal that embraces innovation while securing appropriate safeguards for investor protection, market integrity, and a level playing field, among other measures.
Debate: Wednesday @ 15:00
Vote: Thursday @ 11:30