European Parliament

Binding waste-reduction targets, revamped ecodesign legislation and measures to break the link between growth and the use of natural resources are the chief demands set out in a resolution passed on Wednesday by environment MEPs,who call on the Commission to table new legislation by the end of 2015.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Parliament and the Council are set to embark on informal talks to come up with a compromise on a reform of data protection rules. Although MEPs already adopted their position in March 2014, member states have only agreed an approach now. We talked to German Greens/EFA MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht, who will be leading negotiations on behalf of Parliament, what the benefit of the new rules will be for consumers and companies and what issues still need to be resolved.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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Should cloning for food be banned because of animal welfare concerns? The environment and agriculture committees vote today on amendments to a European Commission proposal to ban the cloning of farm animals in the EU. The MEPs in charge of steering the plans through Parliament support the ban, but want to add provisions on the offspring of cloned animals and the marketing of their products coming from countries outside the EU. Watch the vote live from 15.00 CET.
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

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General : The specific problems of the Pacific region, such as climate change, fisheries, maritime security and regional integration, as well as the generation of fiscal revenues in ACP countries, were discussed by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly at its 29th session, which closed on Wednesday in Suva (Fiji).

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An informal deal on the wording of draft EU law on transmissible animal diseases, negotiated by MEPs, the Latvian Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the European Commission, was backed by the Agriculture Committee on Wednesday. The law will merge and update many scattered items of old legislation, so as to help prevent and halt new outbreaks of animal diseases such as avian flu or African swine fever and keep pace with scientific progress.
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

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Human Rights subcommittee MEPs debated today the human rights situation in Venezuela with representatives of the political opposition, human rights activists and spokespersons of victims groups.
Subcommittee on Human Rights

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Today’s economic governance rules for the euro area are not working as well as they should. This is because they are too complex, lack ownership and are not consistently enforced, say Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee MEPs in a resolution voted on Tuesday. This draft text, which assesses the record of the economic governance architecture so far and recommends improvements, will become Parliament’s input to the 25 June European Council.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

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Forthcoming proposals to reform EU copyright law for the digital era and EU digital single market must protect Europe’s cultural diversity and citizens’ access to it, whilst striking a fair balance between the rights and interests of rightholders and users, say Legal Affairs Committee MEPs in a non-legislative resolution voted on Tuesday.
Committee on Legal Affairs

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Europe is an important market for drugs, supported by both domestic production and drugs trafficked from elsewhere, according to the 2015 report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). The report will be discussed by the civil liberties and justice committee and EMCDDA Director Wolfgang Götz on Wednesday 17 June from 9.00 CET. Watch it live online and check out our infographic and article for the report's main findings on drug use in Europe.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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The Capital Markets Union (CMU) should boost the efficient allocation of savings to fund businesses, protect cross-border investors and create a new channel to finance the real economy, said economic and monetary MEPs in a resolution on Tuesday. They want CMU building blocks such as diverse investment choices, risk mitigation and clear investment information across the EU to be in place by 2018 to complement bank financing
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

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Plans to help businesses obtain legal redress against the theft or misuse of their trade secrets were backed by the legal affairs committee on Tuesday. The committee clarified the draft rules to ensure respect for freedom of expression and information, including media freedom, and provide adequate protection for whistle-blowers.
Committee on Legal Affairs

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Parliament's International Trade Committee will hold an extraordinary meeting on 29 June in Brussels to decide whether the 116 amendments tabled to Parliament's draft recommendations to Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiators should be put to a vote by Parliament as a whole, the political groups represented in the committee decided on Monday.
Committee on International Trade

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The European Central Bank is doing all it can to facilitate a successful outcome of the ongoing talks with Greece, ECB President Mario Draghi assured Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee MEPs on Monday. But he also made it crystal clear that ultimately, disbursing any further financial assistance to Greece is "a political decision that will have to be taken by elected policymakers, not by central bankers".
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

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General : "There can be no cultural relativism where human rights are concerned," said Louis Michel (ALDE, BE) on Monday, at the start of the 29th meeting of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, in Suva, Fiji. He said human rights could not be breached in the name of cultural diversity, adding that this issue was at the heart of discussions in Europe, as well as in the ACP states.

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Plenary sessions : It will be 30 years this Friday since Spain and Portugal signed their EU accession treaties and so rejoined the EU family of democratic nations, noted President Schulz in his opening remarks. Not all the hopes of this historic moment were met, but both countries won their struggle against regressive forces and achieved stability. The EU promises of strength through democracy, and welfare for the many, not just wealth for the few, are still there, he added.

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Plenary sessions : Martin Schulz has paid to tribute to Portugal and Spain on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the two countries signing the EU accession treaty this Friday. "This was a major step in European history," the president of the European Parliament said in his opening remarks of the 8-11 June plenary session in Strasbourg. At the time the EU was still known as the European Economic Community and after the accession of Portugal and Spain consisted of 12 member states.

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Plenary sessions : December's climate change conference in Paris aims to come up with an international agreement to help limit global warming after 2020, but it is far from the first one. MEPs are this week voting on a recommendation to ensure that the Doha climate agreement, setting targets for emissions reductions up to 2020, is still ratified by the end of the year. Read on to find out more about the first climate change agreements and the efforts to come up with a new global deal to help fight global warming.

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General : Ramón Jáuregui (S&D, ES), co-president the EuroLat Assembly, on Friday stated his "great concern" at the situation in Venezuela and called for the release of political prisoners and for elections, in a statement to next week's EU, Latin American and Caribbean Summit (EU-CELAC) in Brussels representing the majority position of the EuroLat MEPs. He also refers to the situation in Cuba and Colombia.

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Plenary sessions : A new EU strategy for equality between women and men beyond 2015 will be debated by MEPs on Monday 8 June. The draft EP resolution drafted by Maria Noichl states that progress in the EU has been slow and that much remains to be done over the next five years. Watch the debate live on our website on Monday 8 June from 18.00 CET and check out our infographic to see how successful member states have been in achieving gender equality.

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Plenary sessions : Fake products are harmful to the economy, not only to those who have invested in the original products, but also to consumers, whose health and safety are at risk. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) exist to help counter these dangers. On Monday 8 June MEPs debate two reports dealing with IPR infringements and vote on them the following day. Watch it live on our website.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP