Highlights – Cross-border health, high-technology assessment, asbestos protection: committee votes – Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy will vote on its report on the proposed European data governance legislation, creating a framework to facilitate data sharing, on 15 July. It will also vote on its report regarding the establishment of joint undertakings under the Horizon Europe programme, and on the report on the EU’s participation in the European Partnership on Metrology, which aims to accelerate Europe’s global lead in metrology research.

The Committee on Internal Market and Consumer Protection will vote on the provisional inter-institutional agreement on the Motor Insurance Directive, on 12 July. The amended rules aim to better protect injured people when accidents occur in any EU member state, including domestic victims of an accident caused by a driver from another EU country. They also harmonise minimum amounts of cover. Victims of accidents will also be protected if a liable party’s insurance company goes bankrupt.

The Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety will discuss the ‘Fit for 2030’ package with Commission Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, on 14 July. The upcoming legislative package aims to align climate and energy policies with the new objectives of the European Climate Law. The Committee will also go over the latest World Meteorological Organisation report on the State of the Global Climate in 2020, with WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

The Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality will go over its opinion on the EU Budget for 2022, on 12 July. Amongst other things, the draft asks for an increase in the European Institute for Gender Equality’s budget and an independent budget line to the objective dedicated to promoting gender equality in the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values Programme. The Committee will then vote on its opinion on the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy, on 13 July.

The Committee on Development will discuss the global humanitarian and food security situation with UN World Food Programme Executive Director David Beasley, on 13 July. According to the latest Global Report on Food Crises, the number of people facing acute food insecurity and needing urgent assistance hit a five-year high in 2020. The debate will feed into the Committee’s work on an upcoming report on food security in developing countries.