The Council today renewed the EU sanctions regime against ISIL/Da’esh and Al-Qaida and the related list of people subject to restrictive measures for another year until 31 October 2021. The decision was taken in light of the ongoing terrorist threat.

EU sanctions consist of a travel ban to the EU and an asset freeze for individuals, and an asset freeze for groups and entities. In addition, EU persons and entities are forbidden from making funds and economic resources available to those listed.

Five individuals are currently subject to restrictive measures.

The EU has been able to autonomously adopt restrictive measures against ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaeda, and persons, groups, undertakings and entities associated with them, since September 2016. The EU regime is independent from, but complementary to, the regime allowing for sanctions to be adopted at the UN level.

The relevant legal act will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 20 October 2020.

Visit the meeting page

A press briefing with political group spokespersons will be held at 16.00, to highlight the main topics to be debated and voted on during the plenary session. Due to the worsening public health situation caused by COVID-19, the session will be held entirely in remote mode, with MEPs intervening from a distance, be it from EP liaison offices in the member states or EP premises in Brussels and Strasbourg.

You can follow remotely via webstreaming. For practical information, check the Media Advisory.

Opening

EP President Sassoli will open the 19-23 October plenary session at 17.00.

You can follow all of the session’s debates and votes live on EbS+ or through webstreaming.

Further information on the plenary sitting can be found in our newsletter.

Digital Services and Artificial Intelligence

In a joint debate from around 17.15, MEPs will discuss legislative initiatives on how digital services, including online platforms and marketplaces, should be regulated and how the EU can best regulate Artificial Intelligence (AI) in order to boost innovation, ethical standards and trust in technology. Votes on amendments are to start on Tuesday.

Isabel NADKARNI
(+32) 498 98 33 36
EP_SingleMarket

Yasmina YAKIMOVA
(+32) 498 98 13 45
EP_Legal

The future of European education in the context of COVID-19

MEPs are expected to call on the Commission to urgently propose measures to ensure that every pupil in the EU has access to education, also in case of future lock-downs, in a debate starting around 19.00.

Agnese KRIVADE

(+32) 470 89 01 46

EP_Culture

You can follow the debates live on Parliament’s webstreaming and on EbS+.

In brief

Visa reciprocity EU-US

MEPs are to discuss how to finally establish full visa reciprocity with the US. Four EU member states still need a visa to travel to the US, while all US nationals can enter Europe visa-free.

Votes

Votes start at 19.15 and last until 20.30, with results announced Tuesday morning at 9.00.

MEPs, will vote, among other things, on

• Mobilisation of the European Globalisation Fund to help workers who lost their jobs in the shipbuilding ancillary sectors in Galicia (Spain)
• Budget discharge 2018 for Council and for the European Economic and Social Committee.

October 19, 2020 About the EUIPO

Guidelines available in 23 official languages of the EU

The EUIPO guidelines, which were adopted by the Executive Director on 12 December 2019 (Decision No EX-19-4) and have been in force since 1 February 2020, are now available in 23 official languages of the European Union. They can be consulted online here.

The guidelines were previously only available in the five working languages of the EUIPO (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish). The following languages have now been added: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene and Swedish.

A novelty is that the ‘compare’ functionality, which can be activated by switching on ‘Show modifications’ in the top left-hand corner of the web page, is now also available in 23 official EU languages. This enables the user to quickly view any changes compared to previous editions.

For more information on the functionalities of the Guidelines in HTML format, please consult this tutorial or webinar.

Working conditions in Parliament for journalists in light of Coronavirus

In the light of the current sanitary situation, in an effort to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus, Parliament is reducing the need for physical meetings on its premises, without compromising its role of democratic scrutiny as well as its ability to approve the necessary legislative measures to combat the virus and support the public, consumers, businesses and emergency services.

Those parliamentary activities still taking place (including this week’s plenary session) will be web-streamed and can be followed by the media without requiring your physical presence on EP premises.

You are therefore advised not to come in person unless necessary. If you do, you are requested to respect the standard recommended guidelines on social distancing and hygiene. Please refrain from coming to EP premises if you present any symptoms of a respiratory infection or if you have knowingly been in contact with an infected person.

• Although most Members of Parliament will be participating remotely, if you need to interview Members of Parliament, please give preference to telephone or online methods unless absolutely necessary.
• The Vox Box recording studio will be open but under a strict regime of prior reservation and respect for social distancing.
• The press tribune in the hemicycle will be accessible (limited capacity).
• The press work room will remain open with clear social distancing, and full respect of the precautionary measures in place.

Thank you for your understanding.

• Securitisation operation totalling €490 million: €440 million from the EIB and €50 million from the EIF
• Alba Leasing will add a further €490 million (not financed by the EIB), making a total of €980 million available for the leasing operations of businesses with fewer than 3 000 employees
• €50 million share (around 10%) covered by Investment Plan for Europe guarantee
• An additional 8 000 SMEs and mid-caps across Italy will receive support for their investment projects

€1 billion in new financial resources will be made available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and mid-caps thanks to an agreement between the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group and Alba Leasing. The EIB and its subsidiary the European Investment Fund (EIF) have provided the corporate leasing specialist with €490 million via a securitisation financing operation. Alba Leasing has undertaken to double this, increasing the total amount available to almost €1 billion (€980 million) for projects across all economic sectors, with a particular focus on environmental investments (for which 20% of the resources have been reserved).

In concrete terms, the securitisation operation concerns a portfolio of performing loans held by Alba Leasing, for which the EIB Group has subscribed senior and mezzanine securities totalling €490 million (EIB €440 million, EIF €50 million). At least two-thirds of the total will go to financial leasing investments by micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (fewer than 250 employees), while a third will go to mid-caps (up to 3 000 employees).

Around 10% of the operation (€50 million) will be covered by the Investment Plan for Europe guarantee.

The final amount available will make it possible to finance up to 100% of new investments and projects, with a maximum of €12.5 million for each leasing operation.

Projects may include the purchase of plant, equipment, motor vehicles, machinery, existing or new buildings, cars and other vehicles for professional purposes. 8 000 Italian businesses are expected to benefit from these new resources.

Green projects will be financed in the areas of energy efficiency, energy generation from renewable sources, natural resource conservation measures in specific sectors such as agriculture, livestock, public and private transport, waste collection and treatment, and operations aimed at reducing emissions and the impacts of climate change.

For the EIB, this operation falls under several of its traditional areas of activity: support for SMEs and mid-caps, thanks to the partnership with financial operators, and its commitment as the climate bank, protecting the environment and combating climate change.

For Alba Leasing, the agreement consolidates its existing relationship with the EIB, enabling it to offer its customers new financing with particularly competitive terms compared to standard finance, as a result of the advantages of the EIB’s bond funding (triple-A rating from the main rating agencies).

“This operation intensifies the EIB Group’s cooperation with Alba Leasing, a key partner to support the activity of thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises located throughout Italy through leasing operations on favourable financial terms. A particular focus will be placed on environmental investments, a key pillar of the EU bank’s activities,” said EIB Vice-President and EIF Chairman Dario Scannapieco.

European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, said: “The European Union continues to work hand in hand with the private sector to provide new financing opportunities for Italian SMEs and mid-caps. Thanks to the European Fund for Strategic Investments and the EIB, 8 000 SMEs and mid-caps across Italy will receive support for their investment projects to help them recover from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic and to make a success of the green transition.”

“We aim to take concrete measures to help businesses, even more so at this precarious time for Italian entrepreneurs,” added Alba Leasing Chairman Luigi Roth. “We are convinced that leasing can jump-start business recovery and the new funds made available by the European Investment Bank will do precisely this, also with the resolutely green focus of the EIB agreement.”

Alba Leasing is a leasing finance specialist owned by Banco BPM S.p.A. (39.19%), BPER Banca S.p.A. (33.50%), Banca Popolare di Sondrio S.c.p.a. (19.26%) and Credito Valtellinese S.p.A. (8.05%). Alba Leasing offers a full range of leasing products – equipment, vehicle, real estate, energy, subsidised and operational leasing – marketed via a distribution network of over 6 300 full branches of shareholder and partner banks. In 2019, it signed 13 000 contracts for a total of €1.5 billion.