European Parliament

General : New gun control rules, making it more difficult for terrorists to have access to them, are voted on by the internal market committee this week. In addition the budgets and economic committees discuss the eurozone's future development with Eurogroup president Jeroen Dijsselbloem and the finance ministers of France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Malta. A delegation of MEPs is also visiting refugee camps near Calais.

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Plenary sessions : Human trafficking is a highly profitable international crime in which people are traded for use in prostitution, forced labour or other forms of exploitation. In a resolution adopted in plenary last week, MEPs condemned it as a modern kind of slavery and one of the worst forms of human rights violations. Resolution author Barbara Lochbihler, a German member of the Greens/EFA group, told us victims needed more protection and that more needed to be done on forced labour and money laundering.

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Plenary sessions : An EU army is not on the cards for the time being, however closer cooperation on security and defence is becoming more important. During the Nato summit starting in Warsaw today, the EU and Nato will sign a declaration aimed at strengthening cooperation, while setting out an effective division of responsibilities. We asked Estonian liberal MEP Urmas Paet, who is drafting a report on the European Defence Union, whether EU countries are ready for working more closely together on security.

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Plenary sessions : Brexit and its consequences were discussed during a plenary debate on last week's EU summit with MEPs saying it is now time for Europe's leaders to speak up for the EU. During July's plenary session in Strasbourg MEPs also insisted on the need to protect whistle-blowers exposing scandals such as the Panama papers and approved a proposal to help better protect the EU's external borders.

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Following a hearing at the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON Committee), a large majority of ECON Coordinators were satisfied that Vice-President Dombrovskis is in a position to assume the portfolio that is transferred to him and look forward to a strong leadership in a key file for the stability of the EU and the prosperity of EU citizens.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

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Plenary sessions : EU Commission plans to allow claims that sugary drinks and energy drinks containing caffeine boost “alertness” or “concentration” were vetoed by the European Parliament on Thursday. Displaying these claims on drinks cans would have led to higher sugar consumption among adolescents, who are the largest group of energy drink consumers, said MEPs in their resolution.

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Plenary sessions : Parliament condemns recent crimes and widespread discrimination against albinos in Malawi, ongoing restrictions of fundamental democratic rights in Bahrain and practices that discriminate against Myanmar’s Muslim minority, in particular the Rohingya, in three resolutions voted on Thursday.

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Plans to strengthen the EU’s visa suspension mechanism, which enables it to temporarily reintroduce visa requirements for third-country nationals in the event of sudden surges in irregular immigration, unfounded asylum applications or a failure to cooperate with the EU on “readmissions” (i.e. returns), were amended and approved by Civil Liberties Committee MEPs on Thursday. MEPs widened the range of grounds upon which a visa waiver may be suspended.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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The future EU common list of safe countries of origin, which should help member states to process certain asylum applications faster and more consistently, should replace today’s national lists after a three-year transition period, Civil Liberties Committee MEPs agreed on Thursday. The EU Commission will assess which countries should be included, removed or temporarily suspended from the list.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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Plenary sessions : Whistle-blowers leaking information in the public interest play a crucial role in upholding democracies, and must therefore be better protected from prosecution, reprisals and threats. This was the key message voiced by many MEPs in Wednesday evening’s debate with Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen and Ivan Korčok from the Slovak Presidency of the Council on how to improve legal safeguards for people revealing illegal or unethical activities in the public or private sectors.

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Plenary sessions : What's involved in reinforcing the EU's external borders? On Wednesday 6 July MEPs approved plans to set up an EU border control system aiming to secure the EU’s external borders and to restore the functioning of the Schengen area. Our Facebook followers had the chance to ask all about it during our live interview with Parliament's lead negotiator Artis Pabriks, a Latvian member of the EPP group. Read on to find out what he had to say and watch the interview.

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Plenary sessions : The EU must come together and deliver tangible results, with clear benefits for its citizens, to regain their confidence and fight growing populism and nationalism across the continent, agreed Slovak Prime Minister Róbert Fico and most MEPs in Wednesday morning’s debate on the priorities of the incoming Slovak Presidency in the EU Council of Ministers.

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Plenary sessions : A new, tougher, A to G scale showing the energy efficiency of household appliances should be introduced, to keep pace with technological progress, said MEPs voting on an EU Commission proposal on Wednesday. Most appliances on the market now meet the “class A” requirements first set in 2010, so ever more pluses (A+, A++, A+++) are being added, note MEPs, who argue that setting tougher requirements will create incentives to improve energy efficiency still further.

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Plenary sessions : Parliament set out its recommendations for the European Commission's 2017 Work Programme in a non-legislative resolution voted on Wednesday. Before the vote, MEPs debated EU priorities with Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans. The need to reflect on what direction the EU should take in the aftermath of the UK’s EU membership referendum was the leitmotiv of this debate.

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Plenary sessions : MEPs are to debate a new EU “global strategy”, setting out the EU’s core interests and principles in the world, with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Wednesday at 15.00. This debate will be followed by another on new Middle East peace process initiatives and a third on the EU’s engagement with China for the next five years.

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Plenary sessions : Parliament’s recommendations for making corporate taxation fairer and clearer were voted on Wednesday. MEPs call for an EU register of beneficial owners of companies, a tax havens blacklist, sanctions against non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, action against abuse of “patent box” regimes, a code of conduct for banks and tax advisors, tax good governance rules in EU trade agreements, a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) and a withholding tax on profits leaving the EU.

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Plenary sessions : The EU needs to update its long-term financing plan to cope with new priorities and challenges such as mass migration, internal security and youth unemployment, said MEPs in a resolution voted on Wednesday. The text sets out political recommendations for the EU Commission’s forthcoming proposal to revise the EU’s multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2014-2020. The update should also tackle the recurring backlog of overdue EU payments, and look beyond 2020, add MEPs.

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Plenary sessions : Plans to set up an EU border control system, bringing together the EU’s Frontex border agency and national border management authorities, were endorsed by MEPs on Wednesday. Under these plans, national authorities will still manage their borders on a day-to-day basis but, if their EU external borders are under pressure, they will be able to seek help from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (EBCG), to rapidly deploy pooled border guard teams to those borders.

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Plenary sessions : EU member states should use a €1.349 billion EU budget refund for 2015 to honour their pledges to contribute to two EU trust funds set up to tackle the refugee crisis, urge MEPs in a resolution voted on Wednesday. Parliament approved a Commission proposal to amend the EU’s 2016 budget in order to include a positive balance from 2015. This balance is to be refunded in the form of a reduction in member states’ contributions.

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