European Union

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A bus of Syrian immigrants was sent to the chancellery in Berlin by Bavarian officials

The knives have been out for Angela Merkel almost since the outset of the refugee crisis. But the rebellion from within the German chancellor’s own ranks appeared to have subsided ahead of the Christmas holidays. Gone were pointed asides by Wolfgang Schäuble, who in November warned of an “avalanche” of refugees because of “careless” government actions. Many read that as an unofficial signal that the powerful finance minister – who has long coveted the chancellery – was prepared to step in should Ms Merkel fall.

But in recent days, the German press has been filled with renewed accounts of plotting within the centre-right coalition – her own Christian Democratic Union and its more conservative Bavarian sister party, the Christian Social Union. The scheming was linked to anger surrounding the New Year’s Eve attacks by men of “north African and Arab” appearance on scores of women in Cologne. Ms Merkel even cancelled her annual trip to Davos to handle the political troubles at home, though Berlin later denied the cancellation had anything to do with Cologne.

The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has reported that a confidence vote is likely to come before the end of the month, a measure backed by “several dozen deputies” within the CDU/CSU. Süddeutsche Zeitung notes that even the CDU general secretary, Peter Tauber, has got in on the act, demanding the deportation of 1,000 refugees denied asylum every day. Süddeutsche argues that the rather unchristian stance from Christian Democrats is just another reflection of pressures within the party, where voices are rising to shut the borders and set caps on the number of refugees accepted – a policy explicitly backed by Horst Seehofer, the seemingly mutinous head of the CSU.

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EU Foreign Affairs Ministers meet in Brussels on 18 January 2016 to discuss Syria and current developments in the region. They are also to address the situation in Iraq and Ukraine.

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EU Ministers of Foreign and European Affairs meet in Brussels on 18 January 2016 to start preparations for the European Council on 18 and 19 February 2016 by examining an annotated draft agenda. They are also to take note of the Netherlands Presidency work programme.

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General : The EU and 22 countries, representing 70% of world trade in services, are currently negotiating the Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA). It can’t enter into force with the approval of the Parliament. MEPs are closely following negotiations and have demanded more transparency. The international trade committee votes on a report with recommendations on 18 January. We asked report author Viviane Reding, a Luxembourg member of the EPP group, what will determine Parliament's approval of any deal.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Parliament's Press Service is holding a seminar on the EU's response to terrorism. The discussions are set to focus on the European Agenda for Security, highlighting the proposal for a directive to combat terrorism, a firearms directive, a new data protection directive, and a directive on a high common level of network information security. This thematic digest provides selected policy department publications prepared to support the committees in their work related to these issues.
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos warned MEPs the refugee crisis was "getting worse" during a meeting organised by the civil liberties committee on 14 January. He said the EU's unity was at stake amid an increase of "populism and nationalism". The commissioner also called on member states to deliver on their own promises and show solidarity to each other: "If Schengen collapses, it will be the beginning of the end of the European project".
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

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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, 2016 - EP

The priorities of the incoming Dutch presidency of the EU Council are being outlined to parliamentary committees by Dutch ministers at a series of meetings this week.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Constitutional Affairs
Committee on Legal Affairs
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
Committee on Regional Development
Committee on Fisheries
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos joined the Civil Liberties Committee on Thursday to debate the implementation of measures to tackle the migration and refugee crisis, including relocation and work in the reception “hotspots”. MEPs also raised the issue of the future of Schengen as well as the need for a review of the Dublin system.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Are treaty changes needed to meet UK demands, will the four freedoms be safeguarded and could current talks release an avalanche of reform requests from other countries? These questions were put by members of Parliament's constitutional affairs committee to Jonathan Faull, head of the Commission's task force for strategic issues related to the UK referendum, in a debate on Thursday morning.
Committee on Constitutional Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Firms supplying essential services, e.g. for energy, transport, banking and health, or digital ones, such as search engines and cloud computing, will have to take action to improve their ability to withstand cyber-attacks under new rules approved by Internal Market MEPs on Thursday. These rules, informally agreed by MEPs and Council negotiators on 7 December, were approved by 34 votes to 2. They now need to be endorsed by the Council and the full Parliament.
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP