Tomorrow's Political Agenda (29 August)

State Visits & Ministerial Trips

• UK PM Theresa May continues her visit to South Africa. She has announced plans to boost Britain's investment in Africa after Brexit, during her first trip to the continent as prime minister. In a speech in Cape Town, she pledged £4bn in support for African economies, to create jobs for young people.
• Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir to visit Russia for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
• French President Emmanuel Macron to visit Denmark and Finland.
• Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang to visit Egypt.
• Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez to visit Bolivia and Colombia. 
• Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias to visit China. 
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel to visit Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria.

Key Events

• International Court of Justice hears Iranian case against the U.S. over reimposition of sanctions.

EU Agenda

Europe: Informal meeting of EU Foreign Affairs ministers. 

EU Foreign Affairs ministers meets in Vienna, Austria for an European Council Informal meeting of ministers, also known as Gymnich. (The informal meeting will be opened with a discussion on current developments in the Middle East. During the working session on transatlantic relations, ministers will discuss the general state of relations and will address topics such as the preservation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the denuclearisation of North Korea. Discussions about South-East Europe will be aligned to developments in the coming months, with a focus on enlargement).

Mobilising €34m from the Solidarity Fund for Greece, Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria.

The European Parliament's Budgets Committee will vote on mobilising €34m from the EU Solidarity Fund for Greece, Poland, Lithuania and Bulgaria, which were all hit by natural disasters in 2017. This money from this fund, if awarded, will be used to support reconstruction efforts and cover some of the costs of emergency services, temporary accommodation, clean-up operations and protecting cultural heritage.

Introducing a new framework for crowdfunding.

The European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee will discuss the possibility of introducing an EU framework for crowdfunding service providers to enable crowdfunding platforms to offer their services throughout Europe and to unlock early stage financing for businesses. This proposal aims to modernise financial services using technology.

Regulating cross-border payments.

The European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee will discuss new regulation, which aims to ensure that charges for cross-border payments made in euro currency within the EU are aligned with charges for domestic payments made in the official currency of another member state. Currently, charges for cross-border payments in euro currency from non-eurozone area member states are much higher than between eurozone countries.

Meetings with Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia/Bosnia and Herzegovina Foreign Minister.

The European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee members will encounter the Foreign Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Nikola Dimitrov before discussing the Commission’s 2018 report on the country. After that, MEPs will assess and scrutinise the 2018 report on Bosnia and Herzegovina and the progress made by the country.