The Week ahead

On Monday and Tuesday, the Environment and Energy Ministers of EU Member States will try to agree on a joint position on the Fit for 55 package. The European Parliament already adopted its position on Wednesday (22 June) and is ready to start negotiations with Member States. The Fit for 55 package is the biggest EU climate law ever and the EPP Group has put its stamp on it in order to protect the climate, keep jobs in Europe, create new ones and increase competitiveness in Europe. The European Parliament has done its job. Now it is the Council's turn to deliver.

From January until May 2022, the number of immigrants and refugees arriving on Greek islands increased by over 50 percent and rose by 25 percent at the northeastern Evros border area. The border and migration policies in Greece, the EU’s south-eastern border, will be the focus of a debate with Notis Mitarachi, Minister of Migration and Asylum of the Hellenic Republic, in Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee on Monday. Greece wants to add another 80 km to its 35 km wall on this border fearing that Turkish President Erdogan may again use immigrants as leverage, as he did in 2020 when he declared the border with Greece open on the Evros River. In addition, the EU-Turkey Agreement signed in 2016, foresees that Turkey takes any necessary measures to stop people travelling illegally from Turkey to the Greek islands.

Due to Russian aggression, a significant amount of Ukrainian food production is being cut from the global markets, particularly hurting many African and Middle Eastern countries. On Thursday, Parliament’s Committees on Agriculture and on Development will discuss ways to prevent worsening global hunger with the Executive Director of the World Food Programme. The EPP Group Spokesman on Agriculture issues, Herbert Dorfmann MEP, has underlined that "when Russia weakens the world’s food security, it is the obligation of the EU to help the people in Ukraine and in the rest of the world.”

The EPP Group's Working Group on Intercultural and Religious Dialogue delegation will visit the Ecumenical Patriach Bartholomew I of Constantinople in Istanbul on Wednesday and Thursday. During the visit, MEPs will also meet Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon. The aim of the visit is to revive and strengthen the decades-long relations and dialogue of the EPP Group with the Orthodox Church that started back in 1996. The EPP Group believes that Orthodoxy has always been an important part of European history and its cultural heritage. The visit comes in the midst of the Russian aggression of Ukraine. The EPP Group, via its dialogue with the Orthodox Church, wants to promote peace and understanding between religions and peoples, and resolutely condemns Russia's aggression against Ukraine.