The Week Ahead in Brussels

Next EU multi-annual budget

The parliament has set up a special committee to articulate an opinion on the priorities for the next seven-year budget of the EU, which will take centre stage in the second half of this year.

The committee will vote on its report, aimed at influencing European Commission proposals at the beginning of July. The report calls for a five percent budget increase compared to the last seven-year budget, a system of EU direct taxation, a financial transaction tax, abolition of national rebates, and an end to returning unspent EU money to national governments.

ECR spokesman on the committee, Richard Ashworth MEP, is emphatically opposed to all of these elements of the report and will vote against it.

Votes: Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning

CAP post-2013
The agriculture committee will vote on proposals for reforming the Common Agricultural Policy after 2013. ECR agricultural spokesman James Nicholson MEP wants to see a greater environmental impetus only in the rural development section of the CAP, more of a level playing field in support for farmers and no return to a coupled link between payments and production. He wants farmers to be able to react to the market and to be left to get on with farming.

Vote: Wednesday @ 15.00

Body scanners
The parliament's transport committee will adopt a report on the use of body scanners at European airports, ahead of formal legislative proposals from the commission later this year. The committee says that scanners are a useful additional tool for fighting terrorism but MEPs want the commission's plans to demonstrate that there will be no risk to passengers in terms of health, privacy, dignity or the use of data.

ECR transport spokesman Roberts Zile MEP is broadly supportive of the parliament's stance.

Vote: Tuesday @ 09.00

Cross border traffic offences

A proposal that enables a driver who commits a traffic offence in another EU country to be identified by that country's authorities will be adopted by the transport committee. ECR transport spokesman Roberts Zile MEP can support the plan, as after several years of negotiations, it is likely the final legislation will contain strong language on data protection. The UK and Irish governments will exercise their right to opt-out of the plans.

Vote: Tuesday @ 0900

Motor bike and quad bike safety
The parliament is currently considering proposals to improve the safety features on new two, three and four wheeled cycles, for example by fitting mandatory anti-lock brakes. Although the parliament's internal market committee is in charge of the report, the transport committee will also vote on its opinion on the plans, in a report drafted by ECR transport spokesman Roberts Zile MEP.

Vote: Tuesday @ 09.00

Arrest of Andrzej Poczobut in Belarus

In the foreign affairs committee Michal Kaminski MEP will debate his written question on the arrest of Mr. Andrzej Poczobut, a journalist of Gazeta Wyborcza, with the European External Action Service.

Mr Poczobut was twice arrested by Belarusian authorities for reporting on protests at the end of 2010 and start of 2011. On the second occasion he was sentenced to 15 days in prison. Mr Kaminski will ask what action the EEAS has taken to assist Mr Poczobut, and he will press the EEAS for further information on repression in the Lukashenka regime, and the number of journalists/media representatives currently jailed in Belarus.

As well as the case of Mr Poczobut, Mr Kaminski will also raise the general lack of media freedom in Belarus.

Debate: Wednesday @ 11.30

Women in entrepreneurship and business leadership

The women's committee will vote on two reports related to women in business. The first aims to set quotas for women in the board room, which ECR women's spokesman Marina Yannakoudakis MEP is against.

The second report, which is authored by Marina, seeks to encourage more women into entrepreneurship by calling for increased mentoring for women, increased support for women who may need practical assistance with business plans, and business banking. Her report also reinforces that, in times of low economic growth, women who become entrepreneurs make a valuable contribution to the economy.

Votes: Wednesday @ 15.00