Article - Coming up: vaccines, EU revenue, tourism

On Tuesday, the environment and public health committee will hear the latest news on the evaluation and market authorisation of Covid-19 vaccines from Emer Cooke, the Executive Director of the European Medicines Agency.

On the same day, the budget control committee will also discuss the current state of the EU’s Advance Purchase Agreement on Covid-19 vaccines with Sandra Gallina, the Euroepan Commission's Director-General for Health.

MEPs will vote Thursday on the reform of the EU’s own resources that will lead to new sources of EU revenue, such as a levy on non-recycled plastic packaging waste.

On Wednesday, MEPs will vote on a resolution reiterating their call on the Commission to urgently activate the rule of law mechanism to protect the EU budget. The rules, approved in December, would allow payments from the EU budget to be frozen or cut if a member state has breached EU rules.

MEPs will vote Thursday on new rules for the export of dual-use goods - products or services such as drones and chemicals that can be misused - to take into account new technologies and better protect human rights.

MEPs are set to call on EU countries to include travel and tourism in their Covid-19 recovery plans to support the sectors after the crisis and help them to become cleaner and more sustainable. They will also back a European strategy including a common vaccination certificate to facilitate travel.

The Parliament will vote on its input for a new EU-Africa strategy on Thursday, calling for a move from a donor-recipient relationship to a closer and more equitable one, to face common challenges, such as climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.

MEPs are expected to call Thursday for more reductions in single-use plastics and more sustainable fishing gear in order to reduce marine litter.