European Union

Plenary sessions : Whistle-blowers leaking information in the public interest play a crucial role in upholding democracies, and must therefore be better protected from prosecution, reprisals and threats. This was the key message voiced by many MEPs in Wednesday evening’s debate with Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen and Ivan Korčok from the Slovak Presidency of the Council on how to improve legal safeguards for people revealing illegal or unethical activities in the public or private sectors.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

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One of the major legacies of the euro area debt crisis has been tougher oversight of how well, or badly, countries respect EU fiscal rules.

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Plenary sessions : What's involved in reinforcing the EU's external borders? On Wednesday 6 July MEPs approved plans to set up an EU border control system aiming to secure the EU’s external borders and to restore the functioning of the Schengen area. Our Facebook followers had the chance to ask all about it during our live interview with Parliament's lead negotiator Artis Pabriks, a Latvian member of the EPP group. Read on to find out what he had to say and watch the interview.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : What's involved in reinforcing the EU's external borders? On Wednesday 6 July MEPs approved plans to set up an EU border control system aiming to secure the EU’s external borders and to restore the functioning of the Schengen area. Our Facebook followers had the chance to ask all about it during our live interview with Parliament's lead negotiator Artis Pabriks, a Latvian member of the EPP group. Read on to find out what he had to say and watch the interview.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : The EU must come together and deliver tangible results, with clear benefits for its citizens, to regain their confidence and fight growing populism and nationalism across the continent, agreed Slovak Prime Minister Róbert Fico and most MEPs in Wednesday morning’s debate on the priorities of the incoming Slovak Presidency in the EU Council of Ministers.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : The EU must come together and deliver tangible results, with clear benefits for its citizens, to regain their confidence and fight growing populism and nationalism across the continent, agreed Slovak Prime Minister Róbert Fico and most MEPs in Wednesday morning’s debate on the priorities of the incoming Slovak Presidency in the EU Council of Ministers.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : A new, tougher, A to G scale showing the energy efficiency of household appliances should be introduced, to keep pace with technological progress, said MEPs voting on an EU Commission proposal on Wednesday. Most appliances on the market now meet the “class A” requirements first set in 2010, so ever more pluses (A+, A++, A+++) are being added, note MEPs, who argue that setting tougher requirements will create incentives to improve energy efficiency still further.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : A new, tougher, A to G scale showing the energy efficiency of household appliances should be introduced, to keep pace with technological progress, said MEPs voting on an EU Commission proposal on Wednesday. Most appliances on the market now meet the “class A” requirements first set in 2010, so ever more pluses (A+, A++, A+++) are being added, note MEPs, who argue that setting tougher requirements will create incentives to improve energy efficiency still further.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : Parliament set out its recommendations for the European Commission's 2017 Work Programme in a non-legislative resolution voted on Wednesday. Before the vote, MEPs debated EU priorities with Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans. The need to reflect on what direction the EU should take in the aftermath of the UK’s EU membership referendum was the leitmotiv of this debate.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : Parliament set out its recommendations for the European Commission's 2017 Work Programme in a non-legislative resolution voted on Wednesday. Before the vote, MEPs debated EU priorities with Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans. The need to reflect on what direction the EU should take in the aftermath of the UK’s EU membership referendum was the leitmotiv of this debate.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : MEPs are to debate a new EU “global strategy”, setting out the EU’s core interests and principles in the world, with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Wednesday at 15.00. This debate will be followed by another on new Middle East peace process initiatives and a third on the EU’s engagement with China for the next five years.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : MEPs are to debate a new EU “global strategy”, setting out the EU’s core interests and principles in the world, with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Wednesday at 15.00. This debate will be followed by another on new Middle East peace process initiatives and a third on the EU’s engagement with China for the next five years.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : Parliament’s recommendations for making corporate taxation fairer and clearer were voted on Wednesday. MEPs call for an EU register of beneficial owners of companies, a tax havens blacklist, sanctions against non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, action against abuse of “patent box” regimes, a code of conduct for banks and tax advisors, tax good governance rules in EU trade agreements, a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) and a withholding tax on profits leaving the EU.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : Parliament’s recommendations for making corporate taxation fairer and clearer were voted on Wednesday. MEPs call for an EU register of beneficial owners of companies, a tax havens blacklist, sanctions against non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, action against abuse of “patent box” regimes, a code of conduct for banks and tax advisors, tax good governance rules in EU trade agreements, a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) and a withholding tax on profits leaving the EU.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : The EU needs to update its long-term financing plan to cope with new priorities and challenges such as mass migration, internal security and youth unemployment, said MEPs in a resolution voted on Wednesday. The text sets out political recommendations for the EU Commission’s forthcoming proposal to revise the EU’s multiannual financial framework (MFF) for 2014-2020. The update should also tackle the recurring backlog of overdue EU payments, and look beyond 2020, add MEPs.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : Plans to set up an EU border control system, bringing together the EU’s Frontex border agency and national border management authorities, were endorsed by MEPs on Wednesday. Under these plans, national authorities will still manage their borders on a day-to-day basis but, if their EU external borders are under pressure, they will be able to seek help from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (EBCG), to rapidly deploy pooled border guard teams to those borders.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : EU member states should use a €1.349 billion EU budget refund for 2015 to honour their pledges to contribute to two EU trust funds set up to tackle the refugee crisis, urge MEPs in a resolution voted on Wednesday. Parliament approved a Commission proposal to amend the EU’s 2016 budget in order to include a positive balance from 2015. This balance is to be refunded in the form of a reduction in member states’ contributions.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : Firms supplying essential services, e.g. for energy, transport, banking and health, or digital ones, such as search engines and cloud services, will have to improve their ability to withstand cyber-attacks under the first EU-wide rules on cybersecurity, approved by MEPs on Wednesday.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Solemn undertaking before the Court of Justice of the European Union by new Members of the European Court of Auditors

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The British establishment is set to receive another beating today when the long-awaited Chilcot Report into the Iraq war is released.In it, the failings that led up to the war in Iraq – and with it the deaths of 179 British soldiers and an uncountable number of Iraqis – will be laid bare.

Tony Blair, Britain’s last Europhile leader, broke with Berlin and Paris, sided with the US and ended up on the wrong side of history. Until last month, the Iraq war loomed over Britain as the biggest foreign policy failure in a generation. Now, thanks to Brexit, at least it has competition.

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