The European Parliament Plenary Session will be held in Strasbourg this week where Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will take stock of progress in the Brexit talks on Tuesday with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier. They will vote on a resolution setting out Parliament's recommendations for the Oct. 20 EU27 summit in Brussels.
MEPs will discuss migration and how to establish a common asylum system with EC First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, as well as common defense plans and the digital agenda on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, MEPs will discuss with the Council and Commission how to enforce passenger rights in the event of massive flight cancellations, like those recently seen with Ryanair.
MEPs are set to approve stepping up judicial cooperation among 20 EU member states by establishing a European Public Prosecutor's Office on Thursday. As an independent body, the Prosecutor's Office will fight fraud and the misuse of European funds.
The 14th EU-India Summit will take place in New Delhi on Friday. Donald Tusk, president of the European Council and Jean Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission will represent the EU. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will represent India. Federica Mogherini, high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, will also attend the meeting.
The fourth round of Brexit negotiations continued last week in Brussels. Discussions were ongoing on a financial settlement, citizen rights and Irish border issues. Although some progress was made, no concrete results arose from the talks.
The Council has closed the excessive deficit procedure for Greece. It confirmed that the country's deficit is now below 3 percent of GDP, the EU's reference value for government deficits.
The EU has failed to relocate a target of 160,000 asylum-seekers from Greece and Italy among its member states as part of an ambitious burden-sharing scheme rolled out in 2015.听 The two-year program ended last week, with only 29,000 people having been relocated while some EU states failed to take in even one single person.
The European Commission last week proposed new Macro-Financial Assistance (MFA) to Georgia, worth up to 鈧�45 million. If adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, this assistance would help Georgia cover part of its external financing needs.
The EU鈥檚 sugar quota system ended on Sept. 30 after nearly 50 years. This was the very last agricultural quota system in place that managed sugar production in the European Union. The decision to end the sugar quota was agreed between the European Parliament and the Member States in the 2013 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) after a major reform and restructuring process was initiated in 2006.
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess the proposed merger between the French world leader in ophthalmic optics and a key player in visual health Essilor and the world's largest eyewear company Luxottica under the EU merger regulations. The Commission raised concerns that the merger may reduce competition for ophthalmic lenses, and will further investigate effects on eyewear.
The EU started a new External Investment Plan to support more inclusive and sustainable development in Africa and the European neighborhood. With a contribution of 鈧�4.1 billion, it is expected to boost public and private investment and growth.
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