Live coverage of debates and votes can be found on Parliament’s webstreaming and on EbS+.

For detailed information on the session, please also see our newsletter.

All information regarding plenary, including speakers’ lists, can be found here.

Higher quality of tap water

From 8:45, MEPs will debate EU water legislation including new drinking water rules, designed to offer high quality tap water across the EU, thus enabling and encouraging people to drink tap water rather than bottled water while reducing plastic waste. Since no amendments were tabled, the drinking water directive was announced as adopted at the end of the debate. MEPs will also assess the implementation of the EU water legislation as a whole. A resolution will be put to the vote on Thursday.

Thomas HAAHR
(+32) 470 88 09 87

EP_Environment

Addressing the impact of COVID-19

MEPs will debate and vote on the €47.5 billion REACT-EU package to mitigate the immediate effects of the COVID-19 crisis across EU regions from around 11:00. The money will be made available over the next two years through the EU Structural Funds and investments will be focused on the sectors most affected by the economic fallout of the pandemic.

Marcia BIZZOTTO
(+32) 283 21 98

EP_Regional

Foreign Policy debates

From 15.00, MEPs will discuss with EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell recent developments in the Eastern Partnership, the situation in Mozambique as well as the 25-year anniversary of the process that created the Union for the Mediterranean.

In brief

Agricultural funding and recovery aid for food producers. MEPs will vote on rules to ensure a smooth transition from the current to the future EU farm policy and to release €8 billion in aid for farmers and rural areas.

Votes

The first voting session lasts from 11.00-12.15; results will be announced at 14.45.

Among other things, MEPs will cast their final votes on

• the agreement on the European Year of Rail 2021 (final vote)
• a harmonised risk management system, designed to enable clearing houses in difficulty to continue their services while minimising the risk that taxpayers might have to bail them out.

They will vote on amendments on

• a new strategy for European SMEs.

The second voting session lasts from 20.00-21.15; results will be announced on Wednesday morning at 8.30.

Among other things, MEPs will cast their final votes on

• agricultural funding and recovery aid for food producers
• the REACT-EU package

They will vote on amendments on

• the implementation of the Dublin III regulation
• the implementation of the Return Directive.

The dataset contains a wealth of information from nearly 140,000 respondents. For the first time, it includes experiences of intersex people and young LGBTI people aged 15 to 17.

The dataset provides invaluable information on how the situation developed since FRA’s LGBT survey from 2012.

The survey asked respondents about a wide range of issues. These include experiences of discrimination, harassment or violence; rights awareness; openness about LGBTI identity; experiences at work and in education; life satisfaction; same-sex partnership and parenting; socio-economic and living conditions; health and wellbeing; and housing issues.

The dataset covers 27 EU Member States, plus the United Kingdom, and the candidate countries of North Macedonia and Serbia.

Researchers can carry out their own detailed analysis of the survey results. Academia can also use the data for teaching.

Interested researchers can request access to the dataset. The access is subject to agreement by FRA.

The dataset is stored with the GESIS Data Archive, a certified trusted digital repository.

The GESIS Data Archive contains a description of the dataset and accompanying documents.

The Technical Report that accompanies the survey provides detailed information on how FRA collected the data. The survey questionnaire is also available online.

The agency’s own analysis of the survey data and country data are also available on the FRA website.

FRA’s own data explorer also provides access to the data, broken down by target group.

For more information, please contact statistics&surveys@fra.europa.eu. 

On Monday evening, Parliament negotiators agreed on a deal with member states to significantly step up the EU’s action in the health sector through a dedicated 5.1 billion EUR “EU4Health Programme” as part of the EU’s recently agreed long-term budget.

The new programme will support actions in areas where the EU’s contribution will clearly be valuable, invest in health promotion and disease prevention measures and prepare European health systems to face future health threats.

Addressing cross-border health threats

Supporting member states in developing quality healthcare standards at national level will be one of the programme’s specific objectives. By making health systems more resilient, EU4Health will prepare the EU more thoroughly for major cross-border health threats. This should enable the EU to face not only future epidemics, but also long-term challenges such as an ageing population and health inequalities.

The new European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority will be created to support a better EU-level response to cross-border health threats. It will also be eligible for funding through EU4Health.

As a well-informed public is vital in preventing and responding to diseases, the programme also supports communication activities to promote disease prevention and a healthy lifestyle and to counter misinformation.

Better availability of affordable medicines and medical devices

The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted many weaknesses in national health systems including their dependence on non-EU countries to supply medicines, medical devices as well as personal protective equipment. The programme will therefore support actions, which foster the production, procurement and management of such crisis-relevant products in the EU in order to make them more available and affordable. Actions to develop medicinal products and medical devices that are less harmful for the environment are also eligible.

Up to 20 % of the total budget shall be reserved for health promotion and disease prevention by addressing health risks such as the harmful use of alcohol and tobacco. Digitalising healthcare, including by supporting the creation of a European health data space, is also part of the deal.

Supporting actions to promote access to quality healthcare, including access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and the EU’s fight against cancer is also a priority. In addition, it will be possible to support global health initiatives e.g. actions proposed by the WHO.

Quote

After the deal, Parliament’s rapporteur Cristian-Silviu Buşoi (EPP, RO) said: “The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the need for well-defined and adequately-financed health instruments. We also need to boost innovation and invest more in health in general. It was crucial to increase funding for the EU4Health Programme from €1.7 billion to €5.1 billion in order to be able to deal with future pandemics and health threats, and to make our health systems more resilient. I am also happy that this deal will contribute to the establishment of a reserve of health crisis relevant products, such as essential medicines, vaccines and medical devices.”

Next steps

The provisional deal still needs to be approved by Parliament as a whole as well as Council.

Background

The Commission has put forward a new stand-alone EU4Health Programme for 2021-2027 as part of the Recovery Plan. The Health Programme was previously under the initial EU long-term budget 2021-2027 as one element of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).

Symbolically opening the December part-session in Strasbourg, the official seat of the European Parliament, President Sassoli expressed his solidarity with the citizens of Strasbourg and the French authorities and committed to holding the Parliament’s plenary sessions in the Strasbourg hemicycle again in the near future.

Former French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, who passed away on 2 December, was also an MEP and “a passionate European”, said the president. The Parliament will hold a special ceremony in his honour in Strasbourg, on 2 February 2021 which will be attended by President Macron and other heads of state or government.

President Sassoli expressed his condolences to the victims of the terrorist attack on the City of Strasbourg on 11 December 2018, as well as to their families and their friends.

Outgoing MEPs

József Szájer (EPP, Hungary) as of 2 January 2021.

Changes to the agenda

The following proposed act is deemed adopted:

• Framework for the recovery and resolution of central counterparties.

Tuesday

The following legislative files are added for adoption under Rule 63 (urgency procedure). Final votes are scheduled for Friday.

• Common rules ensuring basic road freight and road passenger connectivity following the end of the transition period mentioned in the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union,
• Common rules ensuring basic air connectivity following the end of the transition period mentioned in the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union,
• Certain aspects of aviation safety with regard to the end of the transition period mentioned in the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union, and
• Fishing authorisations for Union fishing vessels in United Kingdom waters and fishing operations of United Kingdom fishing vessels in Union waters.

Friday

The first voting session will be open from 09.30 to 10.45, with results announced at 13.00.

The second voting session will be open from 13.30 to 14.45, with results announced at 17.00.

The information concerning the distribution of votes is available on the website of the European Parliament under the section “Priority information”.

The changes to the agenda with timing of votes can be found here.

Requests by committees to start negotiations with Council and Commission

Decisions by committees to enter into inter-institutional negotiations (Rule 71) are published on the plenary website.

If no request for a vote in Parliament on the decision to enter into negotiations is made by Tuesday 12.00 midnight, the committees may start negotiations.

Information on the extraordinary remote participation procedure is available here.

The programme will fund the increase in the capacity of European supercomputing and data processing (€2.2billion), and make supercomputing more accessible and user-friendly in public health especially in health, the environment, security and industry, and in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

It will strengthen and support artificial intelligence testing and experimentation in health and mobility sectors, and encourage member states to cooperate in this area, with the aim of setting up a European data space. Businesses and public administrations will also be able to use artificial intelligence more (€2 billion).

€1.6 billion are also dedicated to cybersecurity, to strengthen coordination between member states, boost Europe’s capabilities and support the deployment of cyber-security technology, infrastructure and competence across the economy, through initiatives such as the EU cybersecurity competence centre and network. The programme will also help support the existing workforce to train in order to have the skills needed.

Quote

Valter Flego (RE, HR), Rapporteur for the Digital Europe Programme said: “I am convinced that the deal we have sealed on the Digital Europe Programme (DEP) will serve to achieve one of the main EU priorities for the upcoming decade – assure a new generation of digital technologies. Although the Programme was not topped up in the final MFF agreement, it remains the most important tool to reach our goal of asserting Europe’s digital sovereignty. With DEP as one of the EU’s flagship programmes, Europe will be ready to speed up its digital transformation and become a global leader in the digital field.”

Next steps

The informal agreement will be confirmed in a forthcoming meeting of the Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) committee.

Background

The Digital Europe Programme aims to build the EU’s strategic digital capacity and deploy digital technologies more widely, so that they can be used by Europe’s citizens, businesses and public administrations. More investments will be made in supercomputing, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, advanced digital skills, and ensure a wide use of digital capacity across the economy and society. Its goal is to boost Europe’s competitiveness and the green transition towards climate neutrality by 2050 as well as ensure technological sovereignty.