European Union

Place: European Convention Centre (KIRCHBERG building), Luxembourg
Time: Meeting starts at 9.30 on 18 June and at 10.00 on 19 June

 All times are approximate and subject to change

All items are in public session, except for certain items under any other business

Thursday, 18 June (09.30) - Employment and Social Policy  

08.15

Doorstep by Uldis Augulis, Minister for Welfare

09.30

Adoption of the agenda
Adoption of non-legislative A Items
Adoption of legislative A Items

09:45

European Semester 2015: Contribution to the European Council (Brussels, 25-26 June 2015)

12.00

Proposal for a Council decision on the employment guidelines of the  member states 

12.10

Youth employment

12.30   

Closing the gender gap in pensions - Council conclusions

Proposal for a directive on improving the gender balance among non-executive directors of companies listed on stock exchanges and related measures 

Proposal for a Council Directive on implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation

13.00

AOB

13.15

Press conference

followed by Working lunch - Equality between women and men: strategic orientations up to 2020 

Friday, 19 June (10.00)  -  Health and Consumer Affairs

ttbc

Doorstep by Guntis Belēvičs, Minister for Health of Latvia

10.10

Medical and in-vitro diagnostic devices

12.00

AOB

13.00

Press conference

On 16 June 2015, the Latvian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the Council General Secretariat and the ECI Campaign gathered the opinions of stakeholders and the wider public in a conference on "The European Citizens' Initiative and the Promise of Participatory Democracy". The aim of the conference was to take stock of the three years since the creation of the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), and to give impetus to discussions on how to make the instrument more efficient and user friendly.

Opening the conference, the Latvian Parliamentary State Secretary for EU Affairs Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica set out the situation: "The past three years have shown that the European Citizens' Initiative is part and parcel of the EU's democratic structures. However the experience of stakeholders and the recent report from the Commission have clearly highlighted that there are still issues which need to be addressed quickly if the ECI is to continue to be seen as a viable instrument". 

"The European Citizens' Initiative is a real force for mobilising and inspiring public opinion. Six million people have demonstrated this through their signatures", said Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica. 

Kalniņa-Lukaševica underlined the importance which Latvia attaches to participatory democracy, having one of the most innovative and successful e-petition platforms in Europe, ManaBalss.lv. 

The ECI is the world's first tool of transnational, participatory and digital democracy. Nevertheless, none of the three initiatives, which secured the required one million signatures, have resulted in a legislative proposal, raising a number of questions. 

The conference was the first public debate on the ECI in the Council, bringing together those from the institutions, stakeholders, and the wider public with the twin aim of reviewing the role of participatory democracy in the EU and refining a set of joint recommendations for improving the instrument. 

The discussions at the conference highlighted that some progress can be achieved through immediate action, without legislative changes, by means of raising public awareness about the initiative and its procedures. Another suggestion is to provide greater assistance to the organisers of initiatives.

More political impetus and possible legislative changes are needed to address the structural problems, such as the too tight deadlines for collecting signatures. Measures should also be taken in simplifying or digitalising the signature collection procedures. The conference conclusions will be published on 18 June ECI campaign website.

AMENDMENTS 20 - 72 - Draft opinion Trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Length of video : 196'
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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

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

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

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

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

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

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

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

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Greek soldiers march in front of parliament during a military parade to mark independence

One of the oddities of Greece’s bailout programme has been that, despite five years of punishing austerity, its military budget remains amongst the highest in the EU.

Early in the crisis, the issue became controversial during a dispute over whether Athens should follow through on a contract to purchase German-built diesel submarines – a move that was criticised as a way to curry favour with Greece’s largest creditor.

More recently, the far-left government of Alexis Tsipras raised questions when it agreed to sign off on a €500m programme to upgrade five aging US-made maritime patrol aircraft.

And according to a document obtained by Brussels Blog and posted here, the issue has come up again during the current standoff between Athens and its international creditors as a way to breach the fiscal gap the two sides are currently wrestling over.

To recap, Greece’s bailout monitors have pushed Athens to make up a €1bn-€2bn annual budget shortfall by cutting public sector pensions and raising value-added taxes on some items like electricity, which Tsipras has resisted. Creditors have insisted they are open to other ideas, but argue Athens has not come back with credible alternatives.

The three-page document, circulated among creditors, shows that two of Greece’s bailout monitors – the European Commission and European Central Bank – think defence cuts would be one way to make up the difference and have suggested changes (particularly moving to a less manpower-intensive force structure, a decision several Nato allies like the US have already taken) in talks with Greek negotiators:

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Yesterday, 15 June, Britain celebrated the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. The text proclaimed some of what we now call “human rights”, related to fair trial and the rule of law. It was meant to be a peace treaty between English barons and a particularly bully monarch, King John. Magna Carta did not really apply at the time, war resumed soon after and most of the text was repealed throughout history. However, yesterday, the birthday was greeted with royal splendour and the Prime Minister said that Magna Carta “changed the world”. Not bad for someone who not long ago didn’t know the literal translation of Magna Carta (it’s “Great Charter”, by the way).

David Cameron is not alone in his enthusiasm. Others have claimed that we still enjoy the rights “won” in 1215. BBC refers to Magna Carta as “the document that heralded modern democracy”. And the rather obsessive-looking historian David Starkey is convinced that the proclamation of property rights in Magna Carta was “the foundation of everything else”, in a way that other countries, like China and Russia, have not experienced to this day; Magna Carta was “unique in Europe” and Americans and continental Europeans learned about civil liberties from it.

I must confess my fascination. As a citizen of Spain, I think democracy and civil liberties only got to my home country during the short republican experience between 1931 and 1936, and more strongly, in the late 1970s after Franco’s death. I now live in England and I am impressed to see that my host country has apparently enjoyed freedom and rights at least for seven more centuries.

I suppose Brits must have learned quite a lot over time. I am eager to hear all the lessons should they care to share.

Yet, leaving that aside for now, something else calls my attention. What do the celebrations mean about Britain and the British idea of human rights?

Politicians, scholars and discussants have managed to reconstruct the Magna Carta as a document deeply rooted in the history and the identity of the nation. (Incidentally, England? Britain? UK? I never know! But, then, I hold a Spanish passport, so who am I to speak about nationality!?) The rights enshrined in that text would be British-born and therefore detached from the surge of the idea of human rights in continental Europe, with civil rights from the Enlightenment and social rights from workers’ movements in the 19th century.

There is something else, though. The narrative suggests that human rights would also be the product of a negotiation between the Crown and an élite, which at the time was represented by aristocracy. This idea claims that human rights would come from a gentlemen’s agreement among equals, or rather, as if equals. Moreover, it assumes that the top stratum accurately represents the wishes and interests of everybody, regardless of their socioeconomic origin.

The message goes approximately like this: We invented human rights in Britain, or at least we invented the idea of human rights that applies in these islands. We have had these rights for centuries. We agreed on them much earlier than anybody else. We won’t tolerate intrusion. And human rights are not supposed to generate conflict among us. We are all together on this, as a nation of free men (and women, but later… ehem).

I am not a historian, but I consider the idea of human rights truly appealing, and therefore I find hard to believe that one country could keep this wonderful discovery from its neighbours for centuries.

However, this rosy story about Magna Carta and its role in British history and identity can serve political purposes pretty well. And so does PM Cameron, who wrote in The Sun just yesterday:

Britain will not be told what to do on human rights by euro judges because we invented them 800 years ago.

It’s also about restoring the reputation of rights.

We should all be proud of what happened 800 years ago. So let’s celebrate today’s anniversary. Let’s put human rights right.

To those who say we can’t, I say of course we can – we’re the country that wrote Magna Carta; that has one of the oldest democracies and most respected legal systems the world over.

Human rights weren’t invented with Labour’s Human Rights Act – they’ve been part of the fabric of our country for decades.

If we are lucky, yesterday’s pompous celebration does not say as much about Britain as it does about Tory manifesto. Now, only if we are super-lucky and we work on it, we will manage to save the Human Rights Act.

(Find out more about why it’s worth fighting for the Act here).

 

Koldo Casla

@koldo_casla

(Cartoon: Steve Bell in The Guardian)

The post What the celebration of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta tells us about Britain’s idea of human rights appeared first on Ideas on Europe.