European Union

The EU-India strategic partnership has lost momentum. Bilateral ties are not receiving sufficient priority from both sides. Economics remains at the core of this relationship. Since negotiations on the Broad-based Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) may take time to be concluded, EU-India ties should not be held hostage to developments at BTIA level. On defence and security matters, India deals with EU Member States directly and has a good framework for cooperation with major European powers. The recent Indian decision to buy Rafale jets from France will also have long-term implications for EU-India links. Unlike its partnerships with the US and Russia, India has yet to discover the relevance of EU-India relations within evolving Asian security and economic architecture. Growing Indo-American relations and the close transatlantic partnership could provide new opportunities to work together. Collaboration in research and innovation has expanded significantly and dialogues on global governance, energy, counter-terrorism, migration and mobility as well as human rights all show great potential. New dialogues could be initiated on Afghanistan, maritime security, development cooperation and the Middle-East. Indian engagement in resolving the Ukraine crisis could be explored.
Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

DRAFT REPORT on the EU-China relations
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Bas Belder

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

A draft law to ban the cloning of all farm animals, their descendants and products derived from them, including imports, in the EU was voted by the Environment and Agriculture committees on Wednesday. MEPs beefed up the European Commission’s initial proposal, citing high mortality rates at all development stages of cloning and EU citizens’ animal welfare and ethical concerns.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

A draft law to ban the cloning of all farm animals, their descendants and products derived from them, including imports, in the EU was voted by the Environment and Agriculture committees on Wednesday. MEPs beefed up the European Commission’s initial proposal, citing high mortality rates at all development stages of cloning and EU citizens’ animal welfare and ethical concerns.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

http://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_7e18a1c646f5450b9d6d-a75424f262e53e74f9539145894f4378.r8.cf3.rackcdn.com/a9ef51f2-14fe-11e5-b5a6-bc764e083742_56.1_thumb_169_1434552319_1434552291_129_97shar_c1.jpg

Federica MOGHERINI, EU HR for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, meets Foreign Affairs Ministers from the Sahel region, on 17 June 2015, in Brussels.

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The question of how to resolve Europe's economic woes continues to divide the European Union. The economic committee approved on 16 June a report evaluating the EU's economic governance. French S&D MEP Pervenche Berès, who wrote the report, told us in an interview that there was a clear division between those who believe current rules are not working and those who say they not been correctly implemented.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

The question of how to resolve Europe's economic woes continues to divide the European Union. The economic committee approved on 16 June a report evaluating the EU's economic governance. French S&D MEP Pervenche Berès, who wrote the report, told us in an interview that there was a clear division between those who believe current rules are not working and those who say they not been correctly implemented.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

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

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

On 17 June 2015, the Council presidency and the European Parliament reached an agreement on a regulation to improve the transparency of securities lending and repurchase transactions.

The regulation will enhance financial stability by ensuring that information on so-called securities financing transactions is efficiently reported to trade repositories and investors in collective investment undertakings. Improved transparency will prevent banks and other financial intermediaries from attempting to circumvent regulation by shifting parts of their activities to the less-regulated shadow banking sector.

Securities financing transactions, often carried out by the shadow banking sector, consist of any transaction that uses assets belonging to the counterparty to generate financing. They mostly involve lending or borrowing of securities and commodities, repurchase (repo) or reverse repurchase transactions, or buy-back/sell-back transactions.

A package of measures

The Commission presented its proposal in January 2014, together with a draft regulation on structural reform of the EU banking sector. The regulation on securities financing transactions is in particular intended to counter the risk of trading activities based on securities financing transactions further developing without proper oversight, including outside the regulated banking system. To this end, it proposes binding transparency and reporting requirements for securities financing transactions.  

Transparency

The draft regulation introduces measures to improve transparency in three main areas:

• the monitoring of the build-up of systemic risks in the financial system related to securities financing transactions;
• the disclosure of information on such transactions to investors whose assets are employed in the transactions;
• rehypothecation activities, a practice by banks or brokers of reusing for their own purposes collateral pledged by their clients.

Next steps

The agreement was reached during a trilogue meeting in Brussels. Trilogues started  on 28 April 2015, after the Council and Parliament agreed their respective negotiating stances in December 2014 and March 2015.

The agreement will be confirmed within a few days by the Permanent Representatives Committee, on behalf of the Council. The regulation will then be submitted, following legal-linguistic revision, to the European Parliament for a vote at first reading, and to the Council for adoption.

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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, 2015 - EP