The Week Ahead 11-17 January 2009

Hearings of Commissioners-designate and political group meetings – Brussels

Commission hearings.  Parliament’s committees hold the first 22 of the 26 three-hour long hearings with the Commissioners-designate, assessing their suitability for membership of the European Commission and their plans for their specific portfolios.  After each hearing, the committee(s) concerned will send their assessment to the Conference of Presidents, which, together with the assembled committee chairs, will review the outcome of the hearings as a whole when the final four hearings have been held the following week in Strasbourg.

Preparing for the plenary.  In view of the hearings, the political group meetings to prepare for the plenary session of 18-21 January in Strasbourg will mainly take place on Wednesday morning.  The main points on the session agenda include the presentation by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of the programme of the Spanish presidency of the Council and a debate on the outcome of the Copenhagen Summit on Climate Change.  There will also be debates on the situation in Yemen, on democratisation in Turkey and a vote on issues surrounding the recent judgement of the European Court of Human Rights regarding crucifixes in Italian classrooms.

EP Journalism Prize 2010.  This year’s edition of the European Parliament’s Prize for Journalism will be launched on Friday.

Press briefings.  The EP Press Service holds a briefing on the Commission hearings on Monday at 11.15, while the regular pre-session briefing with the spokespeople of the political groups available to comment on the agenda will take place as usual on Friday at 1100 (Anna Politkovskaya room, PHS 0A050).