European Parliament: Afghanistan, rule of law in Poland and Hungary, Recovery Plan among the topics on the agenda

Afghanistan is a top concern also for the European Parliament these days. A meeting is scheduled today between European Parliament President, David Sassoli, and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell. On Wednesday, the day after the planned final withdrawal of US troops from the country, there will be a joint meeting of the Foreign Affairs and Development Committees and the Parliament's delegation for relations with Afghanistan. Also on today’s agenda is a discussion with Josep Borrell on the rule of law in the EU and the application of the rule of law conditionality, the mechanism linking payment of EU funds to respect for EU rules. The rule of law in EU countries will also be discussed at the meeting (on Wednesday) of the Civil Liberties Committee with European Commissioner Didier Reynders, who will brief on the latest developments in the infringement procedures against Poland and Hungary. As for this latter topic, a statement reads, the European Parliament has repeatedly expressed “its concerns about the lack of progress since the processes were launched”, in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Also scheduled this week is a meeting of the Budgets Committee to discuss the European Commission’s delay in presenting the Own Resources proposals about the financing of the EU budget (which was due in June) and a meeting with Commissioners Valdis Dombrovskis and Paolo Gentiloni to assess progress made under the Recovery Plan. President Sassoli - who will be in Slovenia in the next few days - will remotely deliver a speech at the Festival del Cinema di Venezia on Friday.
Valentina Bombelli