European Parliament Plenary Session – February II 2024

Written by Clare Ferguson with Sara Van Tooren.

Parliament returns to full swing for the second plenary session of February 2024, with a packed agenda. Against a backdrop of intense political and geopolitical issues, Members are expected to debate and vote on a number of important files. As we enter the third year of Russia’s unprovoked aggression, motions for resolutions on support for Ukraine are scheduled for consideration. Ahead of International Women’s Day on 8 March, Parliament welcomes several prominent women: Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank and Nadia Calviño, President of the European Investment Bank are scheduled to attend debates on annual reports on the ECB and EIB. However, the most poignant is set to be an address on Wednesday by Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the assassinated Russian opposition activist and 2021 Sakharov Prize laureate Alexey Navalny. Following Council and Commission statements on Navalny’s murder and the need to support Russian political prisoners, Members are due to debate and vote on a motion for resolution.

Revising the EU’s finances

Parliament has repeatedly demanded urgent revision of the EU’s long-term budget to face current challenges, not least to help Ukraine. In a joint debate on Tuesday, Members are due to consider a report from its Committee on Budgets (BUDG), one joint report from BUDG and the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), and another joint report from BUDG and the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE). BUDG recommends granting consent to the agreement reached on a first-ever revision of the EU’s multiannual financial framework (MFF). The revision should help to manage the costs of borrowing to help the EU recovery under the Next Generation EU initiative and provide €21 billion of additional funds, including €17 billion much-needed assistance for Ukraine.

With the MFF revision in place, Members are also set to consider the political agreement reached by BUDG and AFET with the Council to establish the Ukraine Facility, and so support Ukraine’s recovery and its path to EU accession. Up to €50 billion in grants and loans would be available up to 2027. Parliament has insisted that the Facility allow the use of frozen Russian assets to finance grants, and that Russia be ‘held fully accountable and pay for the massive damage caused by its war of aggression against Ukraine’. Parliament also secured enhanced democratic scrutiny of the Facility through strengthening the role of the European Parliament and the Verkhovna Rada.

The EU also intends to allocate more funding from the MFF to projects that develop or manufacture critical technologies and strengthen their value chains, via a new platform for strategic technologies for Europe (STEP). Despite Parliament’s demands for €13 billion for this important step in boosting the EU’s global position, the provisional agreement set for Members’ consideration allocates only €1.5 billion to the European Defence Fund.

EU in a new world

With an obvious focus on Russia’s war on Ukraine and the EU’s response, Parliament is due to consider the 2023 annual reports from the AFET committee on the EU’s common security and defence policy (CSDP) and common foreign and security policy (CFSP), in a joint debate scheduled for Wednesday morning.

In the face of new autocratic threats to the rules-based international order and peace, the AFET committee’s report on the CFSP outlines four major challenges: Russia’s war against Ukraine; the need for a genuine European defence union; stronger defence of rules-based multilateralism, and bolstering strategic partnerships such as through NATO. This year’s CSDP report reflects the seismic changes in EU defence policy since 2022. AFET’s demands include increased parliamentary scrutiny of the CSDP, to ensure increased EU defence spending is effective and a call to appoint a Defence Union Commissioner in the next European Commission. AFET also once again underlines the need for a Security and Defence Committee with full legislative and budgetary responsibilities.

A third AFET report scheduled for consideration on Tuesday reviews EU efforts to promote human rights and democracy in 2022, outlined in a report from the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (HR/VP). This year’s report concurs with the HR/VP’s assessment of a deteriorating international situation, with violations of international law and a continued rise in authoritarianism and threats to democracy. The AFET report calls for measures to strengthen EU instruments in support of human rights defenders, civil society and media organisations; action to tackle corruption; and application of EU global human rights sanctions.

In a joint debate scheduled for Thursday morning, Members are due to consider a recommendation from the AFET and International Trade (INTA) committees to grant consent to concluding two EU-Chile agreements. A new advanced framework agreement (AFA) would modernise and replace the existing Association Agreement governing relations between the EU and Chile, with an interim trade agreement to be put in place until the AFA’s ratification is complete. Parliament has succeeded in including strong parliamentary diplomacy within the agreements, which will also mean 95 % of EU-Chile trade will be duty free, and EU companies will have better access to raw materials from Chile.

The EU fishing fleet already has access to rich tuna fishing grounds in the Seychelles through a sustainable fisheries partnership agreement. On Thursday afternoon, Members are set to vote on a recommendation from Parliament’s Committee on Fisheries (PECH) to grant consent to the conclusion of a new six-year agreement to continue reciprocal fisheries access for Seychelles vessels to the waters of the French overseas departments of Mayotte.

A balanced environment for everyone

On Monday evening, Parliament is expected to debate a political agreement reached with the Council on measures to tackle serious, organised environmental crime more effectively. The penalties for such activities will range from three to ten years in prison, with companies fined based on their annual worldwide turnover, or fixed amounts up to €40 million, attesting to the seriousness of such crimes – a choice left to EU governments. The Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) has succeeded in including a new offence relating to highly toxic mercury and mercury products to the list of criminal offences.  

At Tuesday lunchtime, Members vote on a provisional agreement reached in trilogue on the proposed EU nature restoration law, aimed at returning degraded ecosystems to health across the EU. The provisional agreement supports this objective, with time-bound and quantitative targets for ecosystems. In line with Parliament’s demands, EU national authorities should prioritise Natura 2000 sites until 2030. The co-legislators also agreed on derogations for renewable energy and defence projects. As Parliament requested, an ’emergency brake’ should allow suspension of agricultural ecosystem restoration for up to one year under exceptional circumstances impacting EU food production.

In a debate scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, Members are set to consider a provisional agreement reached with the Council on revising the legislation on geographical indications (GIs) for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products in a single legal act. GIs help European producers obtain fairer prices for quality products, yet the process could be speedier and more robust. The agreed text would simplify and speed-up registration, as well as strengthen removal of illegal use and provide better protection online. To maintain a focus on producer needs rather than intellectual property, the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) will provide technical assistance only, rather than managing the scheme.

In a joint debate, also scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, Members will consider a number of first-reading reports from the JURI committee on legislative proposals concerning intellectual property rights on products affecting our environment. In particular, they aim to update and harmonise rules on supplementary protection certificates, which extend patent protection to compensate for lengthy compulsory testing and trials to ensure such products are safe before they can come to market. The first two concern supplementary protection certificates for plant protection products. Two more cover supplementary protection certificates for medicinal products.

As concerns Parliament’s negotiating position on the standard essential patents regulation, Members are also due to vote on a JURI committee report, setting Parliament’s first-reading position. Standard essential patents protect technology incorporated in a standard (5G and the internet of things, for instance). The JURI report introduces several amendments to the Commission’s proposal, including: tasking the EUIPO competence centre with selection and training of evaluators; creating a Licensing Assistance Hub to help small businesses for free; and requesting that the Commission review the measures’ impact on competitiveness.

While detergents and surfactants can improve health and hygiene, they may also pose health and environmental risks. The EU is proposing to revise the Regulation on detergents and surfactants to ensure detergents using microorganisms are safe and to introduce a digital label to display mandatory consumer information. Members are set to debate an ENVI committee report on Monday evening, which enlarges the list of restricted microorganisms and adds specific rules for detergent refills. The report also adds a new article specifying that detergent safety be established without testing on animals.

Protecting EU consumers and businesses

Apart from the environmental imperative, the EU is keen to protect consumers and businesses against wholesale energy market manipulation. Aimed at avoiding a repeat of the recent energy crisis, Members are set to consider a provisional agreement with the Council, endorsed by the ITRE committee on Wednesday. Taking elements of Parliament’s position into account, the agreement reinforces the role of the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators in inspections and reporting. The Agency will also have the power to impose penalties where there is a suspicion of market abuse affecting at least two EU countries. Parliament’s negotiators secured the inclusion of oversight mechanisms on liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices.

If you have ever used an online platform to rent holiday accommodation direct from a host, you may have wondered how such platforms collect and share data. Platforms connecting hosts with guests help tourists find affordable places to stay and enable people to earn extra income, but also contribute to a lack of affordable accommodation and unfair competition in the tourism sector. On Wednesday evening, Members are set to consider a provisional agreement with the Council, endorsed by the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO), on a proposal to regulate data use by the sector. To increase consumer confidence, the co-legislators agreed that registration tools should be available online for free, and that hosts must provide specific information, which online platforms would then be responsible for checking. Each EU country would set up a single digital point for receiving the data collected.

While road safety has greatly improved in the EU, this is less the case for vulnerable users. To continue to improve the situation, the EU is working towards zero deaths on EU roads by 2050. The proposed revision of the Driving Licence Directive is one step in this direction. Members are set to debate a report from the Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) on Tuesday morning, which approves the proposed stricter rules for novice drivers and introduction of a digital driving licence. However, the TRAN committee wishes to see medical certification, rather than self-assessment, of fitness to drive when obtaining or renewing a driving licence. To mitigate driver shortages, TRAN also wants to lower the minimum age for coach, bus and truck driving licences to 18 years for certified professional drivers.

Investors are often discouraged from making investments in another EU Member State due to inefficient tax relief procedures. A proposal to move to faster and safer tax excess relief (‘FASTER’), aims at encouraging growth with more efficient and secure withholding tax procedures in the EU for cross-border investors and tax administrations. On Wednesday afternoon, Members are due to vote on a (non-binding) Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) report, which strongly supports the proposal.

100 days to the 2024 European elections

With just over 100 days to go to this year’s European elections, on Monday evening Members consider a provisional agreement reached (after several rounds of trilogue meetings) on evolving campaign techniques that pose new challenges on transparency and targeting in political advertising. The agreement seeks to help voters detect political advertisements and identify who is behind them. It sets strict limits on targeting and delivery techniques and enhances personal data protection in online political advertising. It bans profiling, using the data of people who are under voting age, and non-EU based entities financing political advertisements in the EU in the three months prior to an election or referendum. While the new rules will only apply 18 months after their entry into force, those on the non-discriminatory provision of cross-border political advertising (including for European political parties and political groups) would take effect in time for the 2024 European Parliament elections.

Judicial independence, the anti-corruption framework, media freedom and checks and balances are all vital to a thriving democracy. Following Parliament’s demands, the Commission launched an annual rule of law review cycle in 2020. On Wednesday afternoon, Members are due to consider a Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) Committee motion for a resolution on the Commission’s fourth annual rule of law report. The LIBE report highlights that antisemitism, islamophobia and LGBTIQ+ rights have not been addressed, and calls for a more vigorous approach to infringement proceedings. It also reiterates Parliament’s demands to add a fundamental rights pillar, establish a panel of independent experts, and expand the report’s scope to candidate countries.

FURTHER READING

• European Parliament Plenary Session February II, 2024
• 2021 Sakharov Prize laureate: Alexey Navalny
• Parliament’s consent to the revision of the 2021-2027 MFF
• Establishing the Ukraine Facility
• Strategic technologies for Europe platform
• Annual report on implementation of the common security and defence policy, 2023
• Annual report on implementation of the common foreign and security policy, 2023
• Human rights and democracy in the world: Assessing EU action in 2022
• EU-Chile agreements
• EU-Seychelles Agreement: Access for Seychelles fishing vessels to the waters of Mayotte
• Protecting the environment through criminal law
• Nature restoration regulation
• Geographical indications for wine, spirit drinks and agricultural products
• Supplementary protection certificates for plant protection products
• Supplementary protection certificates for medicinal products
• Parliament’s negotiating position on the standard essential patents regulation
• Regulation on detergents and surfactants
• Protection against wholesale energy market manipulation
• Data collection and sharing relating to short-term accommodation rental services
• Revision of the Driving Licence Directive
• Faster and safer tax excess relief (‘FASTER’)
• Transparency and targeting of political advertising
• Commission’s fourth annual rule of law report