A busy week is expected in Brussels for the week ahead, with a parliamentary vote on the new president of the European Commission, transatlantic trade negotiations and another summit of European Union leaders on the schedule.

Monday is the official start of the sixth round of negotiations over the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership -- the trade and investment pact between the EU and the U.S. The talks are expected to continue through the week. The same day, the commission will release recommendations to regulate online gambling. In the evening, European Central Bank president Mario Draghi will discuss monetary policy and the euro-zone economy with the European Parliament's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.

Tuesday is Jean-Claude Juncker's big day. He spent much of last week meeting with the different groups in the European Parliament and now we will see if it paid off. The vote in the Parliament, conducted by secret ballot, is the only thing standing between Mr. Juncker and the presidency of the European Commission. He needs a simple majority.

The European Council meeting, just three weeks after the previous meeting, will take place on Wednesday. The topic of discussion will be the appointment of the other 27 new commissioners and several EU top jobs such as the next president of the European Council to replace Herman Van Rompuy and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs, to replace Catherine Ashton. Last week, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth Androulla Vassiliou announced she and the other female commissioners would be writing an open letter to Mr. Juncker urging him to appoint at least 10 women commissioners.

The European Court of Justice will release a decision on Thursday on whether homosexuals can claim asylum because they fear persecution in their home country. The ECJ will also release decisions on whether procedures for extracting stem cells can be patented and whether discrimination based on a person's weight is illegal under EU law.