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31 August 2015
EUROPEAN DEBATES IN THE SEJM
5 August 2015 - the Sejm accepted the information on the Republic of Poland's participation in the activities of the European Union in January-June 2015 (Latvian Presidency of the EU Council) - resolution. The information was earlier debated in plenary on 24 July 2015, with participation of the Undersecretary of State in Foreign Affairs Ministry, Artur Nowak-Far (verbatim record/PL, point 49).
EU DOCUMENTS IN THE SEJM

In July and August 2015 the EU Affairs Committee (SUE) held 9 meetings: no. 346-354. During these meetings the Committee:

  • scrutinised 62 EU documents:
    • pursuant to Art. 7(4) of the Cooperation Act – 4 EU draft legislative acts concerning i.a. EU general budget for 2016 or uniform format for visas, and 1 letter on amendments to the draft general budget 2016 – financing of the ESFI Guarantee Fund,
    • pursuant to Art. 151(1) of the Sejm Standing Orders and Art. 3(2) of the Cooperation Act – 32 European Commission documents (18 reports, 12 communications and 2 joint communications) concerning i.a. European Citizens' Initiative "Stop Vivisection", synthesis of the EC management achievements in 2014 or framework strategy for a resilient energy union with a forward-looking climate change policy,
    • pursuant to Art. 11(1) of the Cooperation Act – EU documents, which were to be discussed by Agriculture and Fisheries Council,
    • pursuant to Art. 8(2) of the Cooperation Act – 17 EU draft legal acts and 1 recommendation concerning i.a. financial contributions to be paid by states to finance the European Development Fund in 2015, authorization for Italy to introduce a special measure on the common system of value added tax or implementation of the broad guidelines for the economic policies of the Member States whose currency is the euro,
  • issued a positive opinion on:
    • the candidatures of Prof. Nina Półtorak and Prof. Krystyna Kowalik-Bańczyk for judge posts of the Court of the European Union (opinion no. 67),
    • the candidates for members of the European Social and Economic Committee (opinion no. 68),
  • heard information on the results of the European Council summit held on 25-26.06.2015, presented by Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rafał Trzaskowski (mtg no. 348),
  • heard information on common report from the EC President and the presidents of European Council, Eurogroup, ECB and EP: "Completing Europe's Economic and Monetary Union" (so called "five presidents' report"). Information was presented by Secretary of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rafał Trzaskowski and Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Finance Artur Radziwiłł (mtg no. 348),
  • considered Government's information on the application of Art. 3.2 of Protocol No. 36 on transitional provisions, annexed to the Treaties, on the consideration of Recommendations for Poland at the meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council held on 13.07.2015, presented by Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Economy Grażyna Henclewska (mtg no. 348),
  • considered Government's information on the Republic of Poland's participation in the activities of the European Union in the period January-June 2015 during Latvian Presidency (paper no. 3611, mtg no. 348),
  • heard information on the results of Eurozone summit held on 21.07.2015, presented by Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Finance Artur Radziwiłł (mtg no. 351).

SUE together with Foreign Affairs Committee (mtg no. 350):

  • met with the Chargé d'affaires a.i. of the Embassy of the Latvian Republic Anda Ābele and heard information on the results of Latvian Presidency of the EU Council,
  • met with the Ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg Georges Faber and heard information on the programme of the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council.

SUE together with Agriculture and Rural Development Committee (mtg no. 354)

  • considered Senate's resolution on the act on shaping the agricultural system (paper no. 3753).

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In July and August 2015 information on and documents of SUE meetings no. 346-349 and 351-353, provided by the EU Affairs Committee secretariat, were published in the EDL-S (European Legislative Documents in the Sejm) and IPEX databases.

WORK IN COMMITTEES
Infrastructure Committee
  • 23.07.2015, heard (during off-site meeting) the information of the President of the Office of Rail Transport (ORT) on the impact of changes in European law on the activities of the ORT President (mtg no. 386);
Innovation and New Technologies Committee
  • 22.07.2015, considered the information of the Minister of Infrastructure and Development on the results of the implementation of the Operational Programme Innovative Economy (mtg no. 166);
Agriculture and Rural Development Committee
  • 09.07.2015, considered the amendments proposed during the second reading of the bill on supporting sustainable development of the fisheries sector including resources of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, papers no. 3463 and 3572 (mtg no. 274);
  • 08.05.2015, considered: the information of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) on the implementation of the bill on supporting rural development including resources of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development under the Rural Development Programme (RDP) for 2014-2020; information of the President of the Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture on the information system for handling the RDP for 2014-2020; the answer of the Minister of Health to the desideratum no. 27 on the state of implementation of the Directive 2014/40/EU of 03.04.2014, the so-called tobacco directive; information of the Minister of Health and ARD Minister on the bill implementing the Directive 2014/40/EU; information of the ARD Minister on the participation in the activities of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in June 2015(mtg no. 281);
Local Government and Regional Policy Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee
  • 05.08.2015, held the first reading and considered the Government bill amending the act on the European grouping of territorial cooperation, paper no. 3762 (LGRPC - mtg no. 384; FAC – mtg no. 190).
IMPLEMENTATION OF EU LAW - UST DATABASE
In July and August 2015
  • the following bills implementing EU law have been referred to the first reading [papers no.]:
    • Government bill amending the act on medical devices and some other acts [3764],
    • Government bill amending the act on a European grouping of territorial cooperation [3762],
    • Government bill amending the act on on payment periods in commercial transactions, the act – Civil Code and some other acts [3760],
    • Government bill amending the act on inland water shipping [3747],
    • Government bill amending the act on personal income tax, act on corporate income tax and some other acts [3697],
    • Government bill amending the act on providing information on the environment and environmental protection, public participation in environmental protection and on environmental impact assessment and some other acts [3677],
    • Government bill on biocidal products [3670],
    • Government bill amending the Act - Aviation law [3663],
    • Government bill on amending the act on maritime areas of the Republic of Poland and maritime administration and some other acts [3661],
    • Government bill amending the Act - Penal Code and some other acts [3659],
    • Government bill on maritime labour [3645],
    • Government bill on insurance and reinsurance activity [3644],
    • Government bill amending the act - Banking law, act on trading in financial instruments and some other acts [3595].
  • the following acts implementing EU law have been adopted [paper no.]:
    • Act of 5 August 2015 o amending the act – Aviation law [3663],
    • Act of 5 August 2015 amending the act on maritime areas of the Republic of Poland and maritime administration and some other acts [3661],
    • Act of 5 August 2015 on maritime labour [3645],
    • Act of 5 August 2015 on the macro-prudential oversight of the financial system and crisis management in the financial system [3595, 3576],
    • Act of 24 July 2015 amending the act - Code of Civil Procedure, the act - Law on Notary and some other acts [3516],
    • Act of 24 July 2015 amending the act on maritime safety and some other acts [3369],
    • Act of 24 July 2015 amending the act on – Industrial property law and some other acts [3249],
    • Act of 23 July 2015 amending the act - Energy law and some other acts [3590],
    • Act of 23 July 2015 amending the act - Environmental law and some other acts
      [3523],
    • Act of 23 July 2015 amending the act on accounting and some other acts [3352],
    • Act of 10 July 2015 amending the act on the Agricultural Market Agency and organization of some agricultural markets and some other acts [3524],
    • Act of 10 July 2015 amending the act on the organization of the fish market [3472],
    • Act of 10 July 2015 on the support of sustainable development of the fisheries sector with the use of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund [3463],
    • Act of 10 July 2015 amending the act on copyright and related rights and the act on gambling [3449],
    • Act of 10 July 2015 amending the act on protection of foreigners on the territory of the Republic of Poland and some other acts [3433],
    • Act of 10 July 2015 on waste electrical and electronic equipment [3244],
    • Act of 9 July 2015 amending the act - Code of Civil Procedure, the act - Law on Notary and some other acts [3516],
    • Act of 9 July 2015 amending the act on the Border Guard and some other acts [3464],
    • Act of 9 July 2015 amending the act - Tax Ordinance and some other acts [3462].
  • the following acts implementing EU law have been published [paper no.]:
    • Act of 24 July 2015 amending the act - Code of Civil Procedure, the act - Law on Notary and some other acts [3516],
    • Act of 24 July 2015 amending the act on – Industrial property law and some other acts [3249],
    • Act of 25 June 2015 amending the act - Labour Code and some other acts [3321],
    • Act of 25 June 2015 on infertility treatment [3245],
    • Act of 25 June 2015 amending the act on the functioning of cooperative banks, their affiliations and affiliated banks and some other acts [3150],
    • Act of 25 June 2015 amending the act on construction products, act - Construction law and the act amending the act on construction products and act on compatibility assessment [2493],
    • Act of 12 June 2015 on scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading [3151],
    • Act of 27 May 2015 on the financing of the common agricultural policy [3365],
    • Act of 27 May 2015 amending the act on obligations to provide information on energy consumption through energy-using products and some other acts [3323],
    • Act of 27 May 2015 amending the act on recycling of end-of-life vehicles and some other acts [3033],
    • Act of 15 May 2015 amending the act on copyright and related rights [3293].
SUBSIDIARITY CHECK IN NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS

Subsidiarity scrutiny in July and August
(Information from IPEX database as of 04.09.2015)

Draft legislative act Deadline for subsidiarity scrutiny Adoption / transmission of reasoned opinion Chamber / parliament (country)
COM(2015)303 21.09.2015 - -
COM(2015)365 19.10.2015 - -
COM(2015)341 23.06.2015 - -
ALL REASONED OPINIONS OF NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS IN IPEX
In July and August 2015 3 draft legislative acts were subject to subsidiarity scrutiny. As of 4 September 2015, the national parliaments submitted no reasoned opinions on the non-compliance of the scrutinised draft acts with the subsidiarity principle.
INTERPARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION

12 and 13 July 2015, Luxembourg, Meeting of the Chairpersons of COSAC

- Meeting of the Presidential Troika of COSAC
- Opening of the meeting, adoption of the agenda
- Priorities of the Luxembourgish Presidency of the Council of the European Union
- Procedural issues and miscellaneous matters
- Strengthening of the political dialogue by introducing a "green card" and improvement of the reasoned opinion procedure ("yellow card")
- Closing remarks

RECENT PUBLICATIONS
New books in the Sejm Library Przegląd Sejmowy Kronika Sejmowa (EN)

ON THE OIDE WEBSITE

Following sections have been updated

OIDE Notes:Eastern Partnership, European Semester - course of coordination cycle at the level of the Union and Poland (2011-2015).

Bibliographies: Act on the cooperation of the Council of Ministers with the Sejm and the Senate in EU affairs (2004 and 2010), Selected publications, EU institutional system and law - selected monographs and textbooks (since 2010), EU documents: publication, access, languages, Citizenship of the European Union.

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LATEST DEBATES - COMMENTS

 Selected articles on the current political and economic issues in the EU from the specialist periodicals available on-line (accessed 04.09.2015)