European Union

The EU plans to add an extra €500m to its previous €1.5bn pot for buying arms for Ukraine, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said Friday. The measures will be discussed by foreign ministers meeting in Brussels Monday. Ministers will also debate an oil embargo on Russia and blacklisting its top priest, Patriarch Kirill, for his support of the war, amid Hungarian reservations on the oil ban.

The EU Commission is drafting plans to allow firms to pay for Russian oil and gas without breaking EU currency-related sanctions by setting up dollar or euro accounts at Russian lender Gazprombank and letting the bank convert the money into roubles, Bloomberg reports, citing EU sources. Europe is still in talks on imposing a Russia oil embargo, in a decision expected later this month.

Pro-Russian hacker groups tried to attack the Eurovision song contest final on Saturday in Turin, in which Ukraine won, Italian police have said. The groups, dubbed Killnet and Legion, had also attacked the Eurovision semi-final and Italian institutions, such as its senate and a health agency, last week, Italian police said Sunday, Ansa reports.

Sweden has signalled it will follow Finland in applying to join Nato, as Switzerland also mulls closer ties with the Western alliance.

The EU Commission is expected to put forward the RePowerEU plan, which aims to help the diversification of fossil fuel imports in the bloc, as the EU aims to get rid of its dependence on Russian energy supplies.

Valdimir Putin's equivalent to Nato — the Collective Security Treaty Organization of Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Armenia, Tajikistan, and Belarus — is convening in Moscow next week to give cover that Russia is not alone in its war against Ukraine.

The European Parliament and EU member states have reached an agreement over new rules intended to protect Europe's public and private critical entities from cyberattacks.

Committee meetings - Plenary session

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

AMENDMENTS 1 - 347 - Draft report Report on the 2021 Commission Report on Bosnia and Herzegovina
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Paulo Rangel

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MEPs are expected to back new rules for a global minimum corporate tax rate from 2023 during the plenary session on 18-19 May.

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Recommendations on the negotiations for a cooperation agreement between the European Union and the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO-INTERPOL)
Committee on Foreign Affairs
David Lega

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The European Commission announced on Thursday it will further support the Covid-19 vaccination rollout in Africa with an additional €400m. A total of €300m will be channelled through the global vaccine distribution facility COVAX while €100m will be used for diagnostics, therapeutics and strengthening health systems in the neighbouring continent. The EU will also provide €427m to the Global Pandemic Preparedness Fund, subject to agreement on its governance.

The EU unveiled plans to help Ukraine export its agricultural production — amid fears that the war will create a global food crisis.

Internal documents found EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and energy commissioner Kadri Simson coordinated their Russian gas cutting strategy with oil CEOs to determine which measures were "feasible".

Some 2.7 million Ukrainians have registered for protection in the EU. But many others are hesitating to do the same.

The Spanish government is planning an overhaul of employment and abortion law, which would see female employees allowed up to five days of menstrual leave, and ease abortion restrictions for 16 and 17-year olds, according to The Guardian. The socialist-led coalition will present draft legislation, to be approved by the cabinet next week, to eliminate measures requiring those aged 16 and 17 to have parental approval for terminations.

SEDE organises a public hearing on 'The future of European Defence after the collapse of Afghanistan and Russia war against Ukraine: next steps in achieving the European Defence Union' on Tuesday, 17 May 2022 from 9.00 to 10.30hrs in room SPAAK 5B1 and remotely, with external experts.

Location : SPAAK 5B1
Programme
Poster
Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

The second Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the EU elected Raphaël Glucksmann as its Chair at its constitutive session on Thursday.
Special Committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation (INGE 2)

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British foreign secretary Liz Truss said the UK has "no choice but to act" on the Northern Ireland protocol governing post-Brexit trade during a call with EU Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič — who warned unilateral action was "simply not acceptable".

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the President of the European Parliament has established a number of measures to contain the spread of the virus and to safeguard Parliament's core activities. The current precautionary measures do not affect work on legislative priorities.
Core activities are maintained to ensure the smooth running of the institution's legislative, budgetary, and scrutiny functions.

The next ordinary AFET Committee meeting will take place on 2 June 2022

AFET-SEDE-DROI meetings 2022
Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP