The Week ahead

On Tuesday, the European Parliament will debate Europe's strategy on COVID-19 vaccinations. The EPP Group wants as many people as possible to be vaccinated as soon as possible. At the same time, to stop the COVID-19 pandemic, it is imperative that citizens continue to respect the measures put in place to limit the spread of the virus.

The inauguration of the Biden Presidency next Wednesday should mark a new beginning in our EU-US relationship. The last 4 years have been a major challenge for Europe, and everywhere, people are asking what is left of our shared values and our common future. Together, the EU and the US must lead again on global standards in trade, the digital or energy sectors and form a strong alliance against anti-democratic powers in the world. The European Parliament will debate future relations with the US on Wednesday morning.

As we enter the third wave of the pandemic, coordination and cooperation between countries remains an essential part of the European strategy to beat COVID. The EPP Group expects the special Summit on COVID management on Thursday to increase investments in vaccine production capacity around Europe and to decide on a common approach for a European vaccination pass. We need a European strategy to allow those vaccinated to regain their freedom of movement in Europe.

MEPs will debate on Wednesday afternoon serious concerns over the lack of transparency surrounding the appointment of the Portuguese Prosecutor to the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO). The debate follows calls from the EPP Group for a European Commission inquiry and action to be taken over the allegations of an improper process by the Portuguese Government concerning the appointment to the EPPO, which is tasked with fighting crimes against the EU budget. MEPs assert that questions remain over the process used and the very legitimacy of the prosecutor’s appointment.  It is vital that the mistakes of the Portuguese Government do not unfairly tarnish and damage the EPPO's credibility, according to the EPP Group.

Whether it be the military, healthcare or the justice sector, the EPP Group wants Artificial Intelligence systems to always be subject to meaningful human control. This is why we are against the use of mass surveillance systems. However, facial recognition software already used in harmless applications should not be banned, but regulated instead. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the European Parliament will vote on its position on a global framework on military and non-military use of Artificial Intelligence.

Ensuring Europe's strategic autonomy in an increasingly unstable world must be an absolute priority. In order to do that, MEPs will vote to update a Regulation on Thursday that will allow the EU to defend itself when third countries, such as China or the United States, unilaterally adopt restrictions in access to their market and simultaneously block the WTO’s dispute settlement process. The EU will be able to counterattack by using customs duties and quantitative restrictions on the import or export of goods, and measures in the field of public procurement.

"The EU must support the legitimacy of the National Assembly of Venezuela elected in 2015 and not recognise all the attempts of usurpation of power through an obscure election by the Maduro regime", says Leopoldo López Gil MEP, ahead of the plenary debate on Tuesday and vote on Wednesday and Thursday criticising the latest developments in Venezuela. The EPP Group continues to consider the National Assembly elected in December 2015 and its President Juan Guaidó as the single legitimate democratic representative political body in Venezuela and will do so as long as truly free, credible, inclusive, transparent and fully democratic elections are not held in this country.

On Thursday, Members will debate and vote on a text condemning the Chinese crackdown on the democratic opposition in Hong Kong. The EPP Group strongly denounces the constant and increasing interference by China in Hong Kong’s internal affairs and supports the existing Sino-British Joint Declaration which grants Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy until at least 2047.  “More than the Coronavirus, the Chinese Communist Party fears the freedom virus which affects Hong Kong and prefers to proceed with a law which is contrary to the Joint Declaration it subscribed to”, says Michael Gahler MEP, EPP Group Spokesman for Foreign Affairs.

In a debate on Thursday, MEPs will outline the gender perspective of the COVID-19 crisis and post-crisis period, evaluate the European Commission's Gender Equality Strategy and examine how women’s participation in the digital economy can be increased. Women have been at the forefront of the COVID-19 response, working across essential, frontline sectors and providing care for family or persons in need of assistance. Yet they are disproportionately affected by the health and socio-economic consequences of the pandemic. The EPP Group wants to ensure that a strong, inclusive recovery follows this crisis, resulting in a more gender-equal society, as the Group outlined in its recently published Position Paper on Gender Equality.