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Vaccines remain the number one topic for the continent in the new year after nine months of Covid-19 deaths, lockdowns, and economic hardship.
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen last Friday (8 January) said that the EU executive had secured a further 300 million doses from the Pfizer/BioNTech jab.
But the commission refused to answer questions on whether Germany secured an extra 30m doses outside of the EU contracts, which could have been a breach in the EU-27 agreement to negotiate collectively.
On Tuesday (12 January), the European Parliament’s environment committee will hear from the person who negotiated the contracts, commission director-general of health and food safety, Sandra Gallina.
MEPs are expected to discuss the EU’s procedure to approve the vaccines, what stage of the review process various vaccines have reached, as well as the quantities bought by the EU.
On Wednesday, the centre-right EPP group hosts an online event on the European health union, with the participation of CEOs of Pfizer, BioNTech, CureVac and the chief medical officer of Moderna, according to their press statement.
Commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas, research commissioner Mariya Gabriel, and health commissioner Stella Kyriakides will also take part.
The parliament will also start the steps to approve the EU-UK deal on the future cooperation reached on Christmas Eve last year.
A debate in the trade committee on Monday (11 January) will kick off the process, and continues on Thursday with a meeting held jointly with the foreign affairs committee.
MEPs will discuss the text and later decide to recommend it (or not) for approval by the plenary.
MEPs on the committee on foreign interference will on Monday discuss the first series of working documents prepared by Latvian MEP Sandra Kalniete on disinformation, the role of the social media platforms, cybersecurity and the financing of political actors.
Parliament president David Sassoli will meet Kosovo’s acting president and speaker of parliament Vjosa Osmani, on Tuesday.
Osmani last Wednesday dissolved the parliament and called for early parliamentary elections on 14 February, after the Kosovo Constitutional Court issuing a verdict ruling the election of Avdullah Hoti’s government last June illegal.
On Friday , von der Leyen plus commission members will travel to Lisbon to mark the start of Portugal’s EU presidency.
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