EU Parliament: COVID-19 response and budget on the agenda. Saturday 9 May is Europe Day and 70th anniversary of Schuman Declaration

The EU’s long-term budget and the impact of and response to COVID-19: these items top the European Parliament’s agenda this week, with many MEPs continuing to attend remotely. “To ensure that EU programmes, including support for regions and Erasmus, will continue in the event that an agreement on the long-term budget covering 2021-2027 is not reached in time, the Budget Committee will vote Monday on a request for a contingency plan to extend all EU programmes beyond 2020”, the official website of the institution reads. Tomorrow, the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, and political group leaders will discuss the European Commission’s new proposal for the EU’s long-term budget with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The proposal will be discussed by the whole Parliament at the next plenary session on 13 May. Committees will question commissioners on a range of issues linked to the COVID-19 crisis, including the use of personal data in the fight against the pandemic and how the digital transformation can boost recovery; the impact on security and migration; and how the crisis is affecting the media and creative sectors. Saturday 9 May is Europe Day, which this year marks the 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration that kick-started the process of European integration. The EU Parliament is preparing a series of virtual events.
Gianni Borsa