The Agriculture and Fisheries Council will gather in Luxembourg on Monday to discuss the state of play on the proposal for organic production and labeling of organic products. The Ministers will also receive an update from the Commission on the market situation of the main agricultural sectors.
On Tuesday, EU officials and Turkey will engage in political dialogue in a meeting with representatives from the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and undersecretaries from EU ministries. The goal of this meeting is to increase the cooperation and encourage both sides to take concrete steps to improve relations. They are expected to discuss migration, the customs union, economic relations, security, a visa-free regime, energy, foreign relations and cooperation against terror.
The European Parliament plenary session will take place in Strasbourg this week. Ministers of European Parliament (MEPs) will take a final vote on new energy labels for household appliances on Tuesday, which will use A to G ratings to indicate energy consumption, rather than the current A+/A++/A+++.
U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change will be discussed in the European Parliament with the Council and the Commission. Parliament will vote on legislation to implement its 2030 CO2 emissions-reduction targets on Wednesday.
As of Thursday, June 15, the last roaming charges that customers are obliged to pay to their mobile operators in the EU will be scrapped. Every existing or new contract that includes roaming services will become a ‘Roam like at home� contract. The new EU rules will cover data services, voice calls and SMS.
The Eurogroup will gather on Thursday in Luxemburg to discuss the Greek bailout program. Greece expects the second review of the program to be completed and a previously promised new branch of the funds to be released by the end of the meeting.
The Economic and Financial Affairs Council will meet in Luxemburg on Friday.
The Council will be invited to agree on a directive proposal that aims to amend the current EU VAT rules to allow e-publications to benefit from reduced VAT rates. Currently, in most EU countries, e-publications are charged a standard VAT rate - a minimum of 15 percent. Ministers will also discuss proposals to further strengthen the resilience of the EU's banking sector and to enhance financial stability in the EU.
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- Last weekÌý
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess the proposed acquisition of NXP by Qualcomm under the EC Merger Regulation. The Commission has concerns that the transaction could lead to higher prices, less choice and reduced innovation in the semiconductor industry.
The Commission decided to impose definitive anti-subsidy duties of up to 35.9 percent on Chinese hot-rolled flat steel used in shipbuilding, gas containers, pressure vessels, tubes and energy pipelines.
On the Justice Council, 20 Member States reached a political agreement on the establishment of the new European Public Prosecutor's Office under enhanced cooperation. Once in place, the independent EU public prosecutor will be equipped with the power to investigate and prosecute criminal cases affecting the EU budget, such as corruption or fraud with EU funds, or cross-border VAT fraud.
The European Commission launchedÌý “European Defense Fundâ€� last week. The Fund will coordinate, supplement and amplify national investments in defense by pooling resources. The fund will have â‚�500 million in total for 2019 and 2020 and â‚�1 billion per year after 2020.
The European Court of Auditors is to audit EU financial support for Turkey. The audit will assess whether EU pre-accession assistance to Turkey has been well managed and effective. It will focus on three priority sectors: rule of law and fundamental rights; democracy and governance; and education, employment and social policies. The results of the audit are expected by 2018.
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