European Parliament (News)

To fight the growing resistance of bacteria to today’s antibiotics, the use of existing antimicrobial drugs should be restricted, and new ones should be developed, said Environment and Public Health Committee MEPs on Wednesday. In a vote on draft plans to update an EU law on veterinary medicines, they advocate banning collective and preventive antibiotic treatment of animals, and back measures to stimulate research into new medicines.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

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The nuclear agreement with Iran marked the end of a long period of sanctions and gave a new impetus to Iran-EU relations. On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif appeared before Parliament's foreign affairs committee to discuss the future of EU-Iran relations as well as the situation in the Middle East. “Iran is open to work with Europe to reduce the concerns and tensions in the region,” he said, but added: “We both need to gain each other’s trust."
Committee on Foreign Affairs

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After the nuclear deal with Iran there is room to develop EU-Iran relations, but not at the expense of human rights, said Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs in Tuesday’s debate with Iran's Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. Ways to end violence in Syria and Yemen, and Iran's relations with Saudi Arabia were also among the topics discussed.
Committee on Foreign Affairs

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General : In the case of a deal on a reform of the UK’s EU membership, Parliament will do its utmost to support it, but the result is not guaranteed, warned EP President Martin Schulz. He spoke out after UK Prime Minister David Cameron discussed Parliament’s position with leading MEPs on Tuesday. The visit came ahead of Thursday’s European Council summit when heads of state will try to come to an agreement. Schulz will attend to present Parliament’s position.

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General : How much money should a country devote to its health and pension systems? Although this is of course for national parliaments to decide every year, their decisions have to be in line with the country's budgetary commitments taken at the EU level. On 16 February, MEPs and their national counterparts will debate ways to increase the democratic accountability of how the EU coordinates the economic policies of member states.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

The European Central Bank has plenty of monetary policy instruments, and the leeway to use them if needed, ECB President Mario Draghi told economic and monetary affairs MEPs on Monday. The ECB’s assets purchase programme is flexible enough to adapt to changing economies and markets, he replied to comments that it may soon run out of room to manoeuvre.Mr Draghi had already warned that the ECB Board would probably reconsider its monetary policy stance in March due to the weaker inflation outlook.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

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Gülhan was a physics student in Syria when the civil war put paid to her promising future. Now 32 she has already spent four years living at Osmaniye refugee camp in southern Turkey, an existence that has become routine for her and her three young children. The conflict in Syria has resulted in the world's largest humanitarian disaster since World War II and last week two EP delegations led by Sylvie Guillaume and Jean Arthuis visited some of those whose lives have been upturned by the conflict.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Committee on Budgets

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General : Members of national parliaments from across Europe join MEPs in Brussels to discuss EU-wide budgetary coordination, while British Prime Minister David Cameron is to discuss his proposals for a reform of the UK's EU membership terms with Parliament's leadership. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif meets MEPs on Tuesday in the wake of sanctions against his country being lifted. Meanwhile international specialists debate the Zika virus epidemic with MEPs on Wednesday.

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Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs - meeting 18/02/2016 (AM)
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

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The European Parliament will welcome national MPs from across Europe on Tuesday 16 and Wednesday 17 February for joint debates with MEPs on the European Semester Cycles 2015/2016 (Tuesday) and on Stability, Economic Coordination and Governance in the European Union (Wednesday). Both events are being held as part of the 2016 edition of the European Parliamentary Week (#EPW16).
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Committee on Budgets

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General : As co-legislator, the European Parliament is fully involved in setting up general rules and making policy choices in areas as diverse as food safety, data protection and the fight against terrorism. How these rules are then put into practice also matters, as technical requirements can make a big difference to Europeans' everyday lives. That is why MEPs are focussing more and more on the delegated and implementing acts that set out how adopted legislation should be carried out.

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General : Our revamped Newshub aggregates social media updates from 751 MEPs, eight political groups and the Parliament itself to create a single unmissable page of Parliament news, which is constantly renewed. Read more on what it is, how it works and then visit to try it out for yourself.

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Turkey plays a crucial role in the refugee crisis: not only is it hosting more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees but also most of the one million migrants who reached the EU last year passed through the country. MEPs have called on EU countries to deliver on the €3 billion refugee facility for Turkey. As the EU searches for the best approach to tackle the crisis, two delegations from the civil liberties and budgets committees travel to Turkey this week to assess the situation on the ground.
Committee on Budgets
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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Plenary sessions : The debate on the upcoming UK referendum on EU membership dominated Parliament´s first February plenary alongside migration, the future of Schengen, the liberalisation of services and car emissions. In addition Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari addressed MEPs. Read on for more details of what happened during this week's plenary session.

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General : Trade agreements can affect anything from employment to migration, so no wonder that people are interested in them. On 3 February our Facebook fans had the chance to ask Bernd Lange, the chair of the international trade committee, all about them during a chat. The German member of the S&D group, who is also in charge of drafting Parliament's position on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), managed to answer more than 60 questions on trade agreements such as TTIP.

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Plenary sessions : MEPs urge the European Commission to take concrete steps to address the permanent handicaps that EU islands face and make full use of their potential, in a resolution voted on Thursday. The text also stresses the unique difficulties that southern insular regions face due to the increased migration flows and asks that special tax regimes should continue.

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Plenary sessions : MEPs urge the international community to take urgent action to counter the systematic mass murder of religious minorities by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) or Daesh, in a resolution voted on Thursday. The text wraps up a 20 January debate with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, in which many MEPs called for measures to protect all religious and minority groups against ISIS attacks.

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Plenary sessions : Economic disintegration and violence in Libya are worsening its fragility and enabling extremist organisations to flourish there, warned MEPs in Wednesday’s debate with Dutch foreign minister Bert Koenders, representing the EU foreign policy chief. Spillovers from Libya’s conflicts are also destabilising the Sahel region, they add. In a resolution voted on Thursday, MEPs urge the EU and international community to be ready to support Libyans’ efforts to implement the Libyan Political Agreement.

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Plenary sessions : Parliament condemns the unprecedented levels of human rights abuses perpetrated against Crimean Tatars, calls on the Bahrain to grant Mohammed Ramadan a royal pardon or to commute his death sentence, and for the immediate safe release of the five missing book publishers in Hong Kong, in three resolutions voted on Thursday.

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Plenary sessions : The start of EU accession negotiations with Serbia and the progress made in normalising relations between Serbia and Kosovo was welcomed by MEPs in two resolutions passed on Thursday. They also stressed that these relations would be helped if all EU member states were to recognise Kosovo.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP