News, Publications and Consultations from the Past Week
News CW 44 (28.10.2024 – 03.11.2024)
Multilateralism and trade: In a speech at the WTO, Charles Michel, EU President of the European Council, called for the strengthening of multilateralism by promoting trust, trade and the transformation of international institutions. He emphasised the need for WTO reforms and highlighted the importance of fair and inclusive trade relations, which should offer equal opportunities to both large and small nations. Michel reaffirmed the EU’s commitment to strengthening the WTO and urged cooperation to tackle global challenges such as climate change and AI. (Consilium.europa.eu)
Open Cloud Coalition calls for fair competition: The newly established Open Cloud Coalition (OCC), which includes Google Cloud among its members, advocates for greater openness and interoperability in the European cloud market. The OCC criticises the market dominance of major providers such as Microsoft and calls for a level playing field to promote innovation and customer value. Microsoft reacted sharply to the coalition’s formation, accusing Google of launching the coalition in order to damage Microsoft’s reputation among public authorities and policymakers. (Euractiv)
Lobbying clashes between Microsoft and Google: Lobbying clashes between Microsoft and Google over the cloud market are escalating in Brussels. Microsoft accuses Google of using covert lobbying strategies and supporting the “Open Cloud Coalition” to deliberately target Microsoft’s cloud licensing policy in order to influence competition regulators. Google rejects the allegations and emphasises its open criticism of what it claims is Microsoft’s anticompetitive practices in the cloud sector. Both companies remain active in various industry lobby groups. (Politico.eu)​
Selected Publications from the EP Think Tanks
- Managed security services
- How to achieve CMU, after all? An analysis of the recommendations for Capital Markets Union in the Draghi, Letta and Noyer reports
- Performance-based delivery of the Recovery and Resilience Facility: Blueprint for future EU spending instruments?
Ongoing Relevant European Commission Consultations
- Delegated Regulation on data access provided for in the Digital Services Act (until 26.11.2024)
- Travel – digitalising travel documents to make travelling easier (until 30.12.2024)
- Artificial intelligence – implementing regulation establishing a scientific panel of independent experts (until 15.11.2024)
Selections of the CW 45 (04.11.2024 – 10.11.2024)
Council:
The current preview of the Council’s work in coming weeks can be found here.
Summit and Ministerial Meetings:
- European Council, 11.2024
Preparatory Bodies:
- Horizontal Working Party on Cyber Issues, 4 November 2024
- Working Party on Intellectual Property, 4 November 2024
- COREPER II, 4 November 2024
- Working Party on Intellectual Property, 5 November 2024
- COREPER I, 6 November 2024
- COREPER II, 6 November 2024
- JHA COUNSELLORS, 6 November 2024
- Working Party on Telecommunications and Information Society, 7 November 2024
- Working Party on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030), 8 November 2024
An overview of the various Council dates can be found here.
Commission:
The agenda of the current Commission meeting was not available at our time of writing. You can potentially find it on the Commission’s website in the near future.
Parliament:
Plenary Sittings (Brussels)
There are no plenary sittings of the European Parliament taking place this week.
Here you can find a list of the upcoming dates of the European Parliament. The calendar of the plenary sittings for 2024 is available here (PDF).
Committees
LIBE Committee (Civil Liberties)
The agenda for the current meeting of the LIBE Committee taking place on 05.11.2024 Â can be found here.
JURI Committee (Legal Affairs)
The agenda for the current meeting of the JURI Committee taking place on 17.11.2024 can be found here.
The agenda for the current meeting of the ITRE Committee taking place on 05.11.2024 can be found here.
IMCO Committee (Internal Market)
No meeting of the IMCO Committee is scheduled for this week.
CULT Committee (Culture and Education)
The agenda for the current meeting of the CULT Committee taking place on 04.11.2024 can be found here.
Outlook:
An overview of the following session weeks can be found here. The provisional agenda for the upcoming plenary sittings can be found here.
European Court of Justice
You can find the judicial calendar of the ECJ here.
