EU Parliament: gold-coloured headquarters to raise awareness of childhood cancer. MEPs at work on the budget and the fight against the pandemic

This week, the European Parliament will be lit up in gold to celebrate Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Such international month “aims at increasing support, funding and awareness of the problem of childhood tumours and the impact that the disease has on the sick and their families”, a notice from Brussels explains. The European Parliament recently decided to set up a special committee on the fight against cancer, in charge of assessing the opportunities the EU has to take effective initiatives, by singling out the regulations and other measures that can help prevent and fight cancer. Today, the members of the Committee on Budgets will be discussing the progress of the negotiations for the EU’s next multiannual budget for 2021-2017, the reform of the own resource system, and the recovery plan. Tomorrow, Andrea Ammon, director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, will give the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety the latest updates on the state of Covid-19. The next initiatives of the European Union about the digital world, artificial intelligence and data will be discussed by the Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection on Thursday. Tomorrow, David Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, will meet Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. On Friday, the president will attend the opening ceremony for Parma as the Italian Capital of Culture.

Valentina Bombelli