European Union

Plenary sessions : Negotiated for nearly five years and four months, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada is now ready for the final vote by the European Parliament. After MEPs backed it on Wednesday 15 February, the agreement could already provisionally apply from April. In 2015 EU-Canada trade accounted for more than €60 billion and Ceta is expected to boost this by 20%. Read on and watch our video to find out more about the difference the trade deal could make.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Irish MEP Mairead McGuinness was elected first Vice President of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Wednesday January 18th.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Six months after the EU membership referendum in the UK and much uncertainty remains about the shape that the future relationship between the two. One of the biggest questions are now being asked about the type of trade deal the UK will reach with the EU post-Brexit.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : Greece and its debt problem are back on the EU’s agenda. A team of EU officials and representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are expected to return to Athens to evaluate whether the country has implemented the latest reforms agreed under the current bailout, a necessary step for further international support. MEPs discussed the situation during a debate on Tuesday 14 February and called for urgent action to help improve the situation.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : Greece and its debt problem are back on the EU’s agenda. A team of EU officials and representatives of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are expected to return to Athens to evaluate whether the country has implemented the latest reforms agreed under the current bailout, a necessary step for further international support. MEPs discussed the situation during a debate on Tuesday 14 February and called for urgent action to help improve the situation.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Place:        Europa building, Brussels
Chair(s):    Evarist Bartolo, Minister for Education and Employment of Malta

All times are approximate and subject to change

+/- 09.15
Doorstep by Minister Bartolo

+/- 10.00
Beginning of Council meeting (Roundtable)

Adoption of the agenda
Adoption of A Items (legislative and non-legislative)

Adoption of conclusions:
-  Investing in Europe's youth with particular regard to the European Solidarity Corps
-  Inclusion in diversity to achieve a high quality education for all

+/- 10.45
The contribution of education and training to social cohesion and the fostering of common European values in the context of the European Semester 2017 (public session)

Other business
-  Conference of Ministers of Education entitled "Securing democracy through education" (Nicosia, 22 - 23 March 2017)

+/- 13.00
Working lunch on Improving and modernising education

+/- 12.45
Press conference (live streaming)

On 14 February 2017, representatives of the Council and the European Parliament reached agreement on a programme to promote the involvement of consumers in policymaking in financial services. 

Grants will be provided to two NGOs - Finance Watch and Better Finance - to support activities that encourage the involvement of consumers and other end-users in policymaking. The programme will also contribute to the information of consumers about issues at stake in regulation of the financial sector. 

"As much as regulators, consumers are well placed to judge the suitability of a financial product or service and can contribute actively to policymaking", said Edward Scicluna, Maltese minister for finance and president of the Council. "This EU-wide support programme is meant to strengthen this consumer participation." 

The new programme follows on from a 2011 pilot project that set out to restore consumer confidence in the financial sector following the 2007-08 financial crisis. 

It will be established for the period running from its entry into force until 31 December 2020 with a financial envelope of €6 million. 

Financial services consumers cover a range of users including individual savers, retail investors, insurance holders, pension fund participants and borrowers. 

Next steps

The agreement will be submitted to EU ambassadors in the coming days for approval on behalf of the Council. The Parliament and the Council will then be called on to adopt the proposed regulation without further discussion.

Plenary sessions : Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen gave a passionate speech in favour of the EU at the European Parliament and said the challenges facing Europe could only be tackled together. Van der Bellen was addressing MEPs in Strasbourg on 14 February as part of his first official foreign trip. During the speech he said: “The European idea is great. It is unique. It is worth all the effort."

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen gave a passionate speech in favour of the EU at the European Parliament and said the challenges facing Europe could only be tackled together. Van der Bellen was addressing MEPs in Strasbourg on 14 February as part of his first official foreign trip. During the speech he said: “The European idea is great. It is unique. It is worth all the effort."

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : EU job search aid worth €1,818,750 for 800 former retail workers in the Netherlands was approved in plenary in a vote on Tuesday. The workers were made redundant by six retail trade companies which recently went bankrupt in the Drenthe and Overijssel provinces. The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) aid still needs to be approved by the Council of Ministers on 17 February.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : EU job search aid worth €1,818,750 for 800 former retail workers in the Netherlands was approved in plenary in a vote on Tuesday. The workers were made redundant by six retail trade companies which recently went bankrupt in the Drenthe and Overijssel provinces. The European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) aid still needs to be approved by the Council of Ministers on 17 February.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : The worsening plight of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels broke the ceasefire and began shelling Ukrainian forces in Avdiivka last week, will be debated by MEPs on Tuesday afternoon with Ian Borg, Maltese Parliamentary Secretary for the EU Presidency, representing EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. This will be followed by another debate on the situation in the West Bank, including settlements.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : The worsening plight of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian rebels broke the ceasefire and began shelling Ukrainian forces in Avdiivka last week, will be debated by MEPs on Tuesday afternoon with Ian Borg, Maltese Parliamentary Secretary for the EU Presidency, representing EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini. This will be followed by another debate on the situation in the West Bank, including settlements.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : An “effective and comprehensive European whistle-blower protection programme” should be proposed “immediately” by the EU Commission, urges Parliament in a resolution voted on Tuesday. MEPs deplore the Commission’s failure, so far, to deliver any legislative proposals to establish a minimum level of protection for whistle-blowers who help protect the EU budget against fraud

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : An “effective and comprehensive European whistle-blower protection programme” should be proposed “immediately” by the EU Commission, urges Parliament in a resolution voted on Tuesday. MEPs deplore the Commission’s failure, so far, to deliver any legislative proposals to establish a minimum level of protection for whistle-blowers who help protect the EU budget against fraud

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

AMENDMENTS 1 - 206 - Draft report Report on the 2016 Commission Report on Montenegro
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Length of video : 57'
You may manually download this video in WMV (445Mb) format

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Avis au titre de l'article 218, paragraphe 11, TFUE
Law governing the institutions
The EU, acting on its own, may conclude the Marrakesh Treaty on access to published works for persons who are visually impaired

Refugees are often used as scapegoats, but the success stories of Germany’s refugees paint a very different picture.

Angela Merkel has come under fire from many directions for her so-called ’open door‘ refugee policy. But apart from the usual suspects – domestic and foreign right-wing politicians, groups and parties – criticism has come from moderates as well.

Merkel is by no means an infallible stateswoman. She doesn’t get it right all the time. But her decision to allow more than one million refugees into Germany when others refused to take them is up there with greatest humanitarian acts in history. So how is it possible that it has made her life so difficult? And will it cost her a fourth term as German chancellor?

Those who oppose her may argue that she should not have made that decision so unilaterally; that more than a million is too many; that the right thing to do is not always the right thing to do. Perhaps. But has the result been so catastrophic for Germany?

The pressures – economic and cultural – have been well documented. The success stories have been publicised, but not to the same degree. But these success stories are vital in forming public attitudes towards refugees.

Upon hearing of a country taking so many refugees, many people ask how they will be cared for, housed, fed, clothed and educated. And how much this will cost. But this question is often based on the assumption that these million refugees will be forever dependent on German taxpayers.

“Merkel’s decision to allow more than one million refugees into Germany is up there with greatest humanitarian acts in history”

Providing the refugees’ basic needs has indeed been a burden on the German taxpayer. But it is an investment in Germany’s future labour force. There are many highly-educated people among the refugees, bringing with them skills and experience that make them valuable human capital that can be readily absorbed by the German labour market.

To help bring this about, Germany has introduced legal measures requiring migrants to integrate into German society. These include the first-ever integration law, designed to make it easier for asylum-seekers to gain access to the German labour market. The German government has also promised to create 100,000 new working opportunities for asylum seekers.

According to a study by the Federal Employment Agency’s Institute for Employment Research, 50,000 refugees found work between September 2015 and September 2016. By September 2016, 30,000 were already earning enough to make them subject to social security contributions.

While these figures are still low, and statistics never tell the full story, they do show progress. The gloomy picture some like to paint is not accurate. With an ageing population and a marked labour shortage, Germany must do something if it wishes to remain Europe’s largest economy. This is not only a question of economics, but of geopolitics.

But it is often not big-picture statistics that shape public perceptions; rather the actions of individuals. There are many positive stories to tell.

Muhannad M., a Syrian refugee in the town of Minden, returned €150,000 that he found in a second-hand cupboard he had been given.

Yusra Mardini, a teenager who left Syria when her house was destroyed in the country’s civil war, swam for three hours in the Aegean Sea pushing a sinking dinghy to safety, saving the lives of nineteen people. Settling in Berlin, she swam for the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Rio Games, winning the first heat of the women’s 100m butterfly. She is currently studying, working to change people’s perception of refugees and hopes to compete in Tokyo in 2020. Perhaps, one day, she will win a gold medal for Germany.

“It is often not big-picture statistics that shape public perceptions but the actions of individuals”

Taking in these refugees is a success in another sense too. Their gratitude to a country that helped them in their time of need will surely have a positive impact on how their friends and relatives in their home country view Germany and, by extension, the West. This comes at a time when positive bonds between the West and the Muslim world are more important than ever.

Of course the picture is not all rosy. Recent events have shown that Merkel’s policy also brings with it security risks and cultural challenges. Dismissing any anti-refugee argument as racism is not only over-simplistic but also a form of intolerance, as many people have legitimate concerns. Lessons of the past must be learned, integration given priority, and security services given the tools and resources they need.

Integrating Germany’s refugees will be challenging, it will cost money, and it will take a long time. In the shorter term, Merkel’s opponents will benefit from her refugee policy. But if the policy is properly managed, it is Germany that will benefit in the longer term.

And it is a policy that could cement Merkel’s legacy as one of Germany’s great leaders: one who looked ahead, beyond her own term of office – making her a rarity in the politics of today.

IMAGE CREDIT: Number 10

The post Behind the headlines, Merkel’s refugee policy is working for Germany appeared first on Europe’s World.

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