Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Kourkoulas will be in Strasbourg from Tuesday, 14 January, to Thursday, 16 January, accompanying the Prime Minister and participating as a representative of the Council of the EU in the proceedings of the European Parliament Plenary.
On the margins of the Plenary session, Mr. Kourkoulas will meet at 11:00 on Tuesday with Latvian Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs Maija Manika. At 13:30 he will be the keynote speaker at a working luncheon with the heads of the Communication Offices of the 28 member states and high-level officials of the European Parliament’s Directorate General for Communication to brief them on the Hellenic Presidency’s priorities. At 16:00 he will meet with the European Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration Maroš Šefčovič.
On Wednesday, 15 January, at the European Parliament Plenary’s evening session (15:00-23:00), Mr. Kourkoulas will represent the Council of the EU as the current Presidency.
Specifically, he will participate in the parliamentary debates on the following issues:
• Respect for the fundamental right of free movement in the EU
• Future of the Safe Harbour Agreement in the light of the NSA affair
• EU citizenship for sale
• Joint debate on the Balkans
• 2013 progress report on Serbia
• European integration process of Kosovo
• 2012 progress report on Iceland and post-election perspectives
• Situation in South Sudan
Finally, at 09:00 on Thursday, he will speak to members of the European Parliament’s Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) about the Hellenic Presidency’s priorities, and specifically EU inter-institutional issues, the proposed EU regulation on the status of the funding of the European political parties and European foundations, the status of transparency, and issues concerning the European elections.
January 14, 2014