In January 2015 the EU Affairs Committee (SUE) held 5 meetings: no. 309-313. During these meetings the Committee:

• scrutinised 38 EU documents:
  • pursuant to Art. 7(4) of the Cooperation Act – 5 EU draft legislative acts concerning draft amending budget to the general budget 2014, repealing certain acts in the field of police cooperation and judicial cooperation in criminal matters and harmonised indicators of consumer prices,
  • pursuant to Art. 151(1) of the Sejm Standing Orders and Art. 3(2) of the Cooperation Act – 13 European Commission documents (9 reports, 3 communications and 1 opinion) concerning i.a. overall assessment of 2015 draft budgetary plans, 2013 annual report on the Instrument for Stability and progress towards achieving the Kyoto and "EU 2020" objectives,
  • pursuant to Art. 151(1) of the Sejm Standing Orders – draft General Budget of the EU for the financial year 2015,
  • pursuant to Art. 11(1) of the Cooperation Act – EU documents, which were to be discussed by Agriculture and Fisheries Council and Economic and Financial Affairs Council,
  • pursuant to Art. 8(2) of the Cooperation Act – 14 EU draft legal acts concerning i.a. the fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks in the Black Sea, restrictive measures against Iran and authorising Austria, Belgium and Poland to ratify, or to accede to, the Budapest Convention on the Contract for the Carriage of Goods by Inland Waterways (CMNI),
• has accepted information on the results of the European Council summit, 18-19 December 2014, presented by the Secretary of State in Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rafał Trzaskowski (mtg no. 310),
• considered Government's information on the Republic of Poland's participation in the activities of the European Union in the period July-December 2014 during Italian Presidency (paper no. 3042, mtg no. 310),
• together with Foreign Affairs Committee (mtg no. 311)
  • met with the Ambassador of the Italian Republic Alessandro de Pedys and heard information on the results of Italian Presidency of the EU Council,
  • met with the Ambassador of the Latvian Republic Ilgvars Kļava and heard information on the programme of the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council,
• gave positive opinion (opinion no. 63) on the candidates for the members of the Committee of Regions for 2015-2020 (mtg no. 313).

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In January 2015 information on and documents of SUE meetings no. 309, 312 and 313, provided by the EU Affairs Committee secretariat, were published in the EDL-S (European Legislative Documents in the Sejm) and IPEX databases.

 Innovation and New Technologies Committee

• 14.01.2015, took note of the information on support instruments for research and innovation in Operational Programme Smart Growth for 2014-2020 (mtg no. 146);

Agriculture and Rural Development Committee

• 14.01.2015, considered the information of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development on the participation in the activities of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in December 2014 (mtg no. 230);
• 27.01.2015, held the first reading of the Government's bill on payments under the direct support schemes, paper no. 3080 (mtg no. 233);

Justice and Human Rights Committee

• 15.01.2015, supplemented the membership of the special subcommittee in order to consider the Deputies' bill amending the act on implementation of certain EU regulations on equal treatment and some other acts, paper no. 1051 (mtg no. 216);

Economic Committee, Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry Committee

• 15.01.2015, considered and issued a negative opinion for the Marshal of the Sejm on the motions of: the Parliamentary Club of the Law and Justice, the Parliamentary Club Righteous Poland and the Deputies' Club of the Democratic Left Alliance for presentation on the plenary sitting of the Sejm the Government information on EU climate summit on 23-24.10.2014 (mtg no. 141).

• the following bill implementing EU law has been referred to the first reading [paper no.]:
  • Deputies bill amending the act on recovery, storage and transplantation of cells, tissues and organs [3057],
  • Government bill on payments under the direct support schemes [3080].
• the following acts implementing EU law have been adopted [paper no.]:
  
  • Act of 16 January 2015 on renewable energy sources [2604],
  • Act of 15 January 2015 amending the act on road transport and some other acts [2959],
  • Act of 15 January 2015 amending the act on biofuel components and liquid biofuels and some other acts [2930],
  • Act of 15 January 2015 on the protection of animals used for scientific and educational purposes [2709],
  • Act of 15 January 2015 amending the act on genetically modified organisms and some other acts [2394].

• the following acts implementing EU law have been published [paper no.]:
  
  • Act of 15 January 2015 amending the act on biofuel components and liquid biofuels and some other acts [2930],
  • Act of 19 December 2014 amending the act – Pharmaceutical Law and the act on counteracting drug addiction [2708],
  • Act of 5 December 2014 amending the act - Code of Civil Procedure and the act on court costs in civil cases [2847],
  • Act of 5 December 2014 on amending the act on trading in financial instruments and some other acts [2734],
  • Act of 28 November 2014 on protection of and support for a victim and a witness [2653].

ON THE OIDE WEBSITE

Following sections have been updated:

Bibliographies - The national parliaments' position in the EU under the Lisbon Treaty and EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,

OIDE Notes - EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms,

EU Information - Changes in information sources (harmonising the numbering of EU legal acts),

Statutes on Ratification - 7th term (association agreement with Georgia).

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LATEST DEBATES - COMMENTS

 Articles on the current political and economic issues in the EU from the specialist periodicals available on-line (accessed 05.02.2015)

• Blockmans S.: The EU and its Neighbours: Predictions for 2015, "Commentary", Centre for European Policy Studies, 05.01.2015.
• Boonstra J., Delcour L.: A broken region: evaluating EU policies in the South Caucasus, "Policy Brief", FRIDE, 28.01.2015.
• Borońska-Hryniewiecka K., Dudzińska K.: Łotewska prezydencja w Radzie UE: więcej niż tylko symbol, „Biuletyn PISM" nr 2 (1239), Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych, 05.01.2015.
• Borońska-Hryniewiecka K.: Ryzykowna gra w wyjście ze strefy euro, „Biuletyn PISM" nr 6 (1243), Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych, 19.01.2015.
• Chatzistavrou F., Michalaki S.: Greece in limbo: Post-election 2015 scenarios, "Commentary" no. 22, European Policy Institutes Network, 21.01.2015.
• Cîrlig C.C.: Parliament and High Representative: a new partnership?, "At a glance", European Parliament, European Parliamentary Research Service, 05.01.2015.
• Debyser A., Poptcheva E.M., Bassot E.: European Commission's 2015 Work Programme, "Briefing", European Parliament, European Parliamentary Research Service, January 2015.
• Devaney C., Christie A.: Changes to the ECB's voting rules, "At a glance", European Parliament, European Parliamentary Research Service, January 2015.
• Faucheur P.: Cohesion policy facing the crisis: what effects for the EU's regions?, "Policy paper", Notre Europe - Jacques Delors Institute, 15.01.2015.
• Hedberg A.: Europe's energy security – is the Energy Union the answer?, "Commentary", European Policy Centre, 28.01.2015.
• Helwig N.: Fine-tuning EU foreign policy: A joint approach between the new Commission and the European External Action Service?, "Briefing Paper" no. 168 (2015), Finnish Institute of International Affairs, 26.01.2015.
• Kaca E.: Zapomniany piąty element: wsparcie przedsiębiorczości w regionie Partnerstwa Wschodniego, „Biuletyn PISM" nr 10 (1247), Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych, 26.01.2015.
• Latek M.: 2015 – the European Year for Development, "At a glance", European Parliament, European Parliamentary Research Service, January 2015.
• Łazowski A., Wessel R.: The European Court of Justice blocks the EU's accession to the ECHR, "Commentary", Centre for European Policy Studies, 08.01.2015.
• Micossi S.: Time for the ECB to bite the bullet, "Commentary", Centre for European Policy Studies, 19.01.2015.
• Otero-Iglesias M.: Beware of taking the ECB out of the Troika, "Expert Comment" no. 4/2015, Elcano Royal Institute, 19.01.2015.
• Page R., Booth L.: Greece's new anti-austerity coalition, "Commons Library Standard Note", House of Commons Library, 28.01.2015.
• PrpicM.: Towards a new European Agenda on Security, "At a glance", European Parliament, European Parliamentary Research Service, January 2015.
• Scagliusi M., Huber S.: Evaluating EU Economic Governance. Elements for the debate on the "Six-Pack" and "Two-Pack", "Briefing", European Parliament, European Parliamentary Research Service, January 2015.
• Sinkkonen T.: War on two fronts: The EU perspective on the foreign terrorist fighters of ISIL, "Briefing Paper" no. 166 (2015), Finnish Institute of International Affairs, 08.01.2015.
• Szczepański M.: A connected Digital Single Market. State of play and the way forward, "Briefing", European Parliament, European Parliamentary Research Service, January 2015.
• Toporowski P.: Czas na katharsis: redukcja greckiego długu w zamian za więcej reform, „Biuletyn PISM" nr 8 (1245), Polski Instytut Spraw Międzynarodowych, 21.01.2015.
• Vanden Broucke J., Finance S. de: Outcome of the European Council meeting of 18 December 2014, "Briefing", European Parliament, European Parliamentary Research Service, 09.01.2015.
• Webb D.: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), "Commons Library Standard Note", House of Commons Library, 13.01.2015.