European Parliament (News)

The rescue package for Greece agreed at the 12-13 July Eurozone Summit on Greece was debated in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on Thursday. Members gave their views on the deal struck by Greece and its creditors, the functioning of the Eurozone, the role played by the European Parliament and on Parliament’s future involvement in monitoring the implementation of the agreement.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

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A binding emergency mechanism to relocate an initial total of 40,000 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece to other EU member states was backed by civil liberties MEPs on Thursday. An upcoming permanent scheme, on which Parliament will decide jointly with the Council, must be based "on a more substantial contribution to solidarity and responsibility-sharing among member states", MEPs say.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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As air pollution is responsible for around 400,000 premature deaths in the EU yearly, Environment MEPs on Wednesday tightened up Commission plans and called for more ambitious national caps on emissions of six main pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide, particulate matter and nitrogen oxides in order to cut emissions by 70% across the EU and save €40bn in air pollution costs by 2030. MEPs also want to include emissions reduction ceilings on mercury, and a midpoint target for most caps of 2025.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

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Draft EU rules on sharing and protecting the Passenger Name Record (PNR) data of people flying to or from the EU, and its use by member states and Europol to fight terrorism and serious transnational crime, were approved by the Civil Liberties Committee on Wednesday. This data must only be used to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute these crimes, said MEPs, inserting safeguards to ensure "the lawfulness of any storage, analysis, transfer and use of PNR data".
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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General : The end of roaming charges could become a reality in just two years' time. Parliament's industry committee approved on Wednesday a deal to end roaming charged that had been agreed with EU governments and the European Commission. Prices should drop next year, while from 15 June 2017 making a call or watching a football match live on a mobile phone abroad would cost the same as doing so at home. Read on for more details.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

General : On 15 July 2014 MEPs voted to elect Jean-Claude Juncker as European Commission president. During last year's European elections Juncker had run as the candidate of the European People's Party (EPP) and when it won more seats than any other group, the new Parliament backed Juncker to lead the Commission. Our video tells the story of an important innovation that ensured voters had more say than ever on who should be in charge in Europe.

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Deliberately destroying and pillaging archaeological sites and trafficking art objects in war zones amount to « cultural genocide » and should be classified as war crimes, argued speakers in a public hearing held by the European Parliament’s Culture and Education Committee on Monday afternoon. MEPs and experts reiterated the need for harmonised international legislation in this area.
Committee on Culture and Education

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The proportion of female researchers and students might be increasing in Europe, yet they remain underrepresented in scientific careers and disciplines. A report adopted by the women's rights committee on 14 July sets out how women could be helped to overcome the barriers preventing them from progressing in science, research and the technology sector. Check out our infographic to find out how many men and women graduated in science over the past decade.
Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality

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General : Quotas to relocate refugees arriving in Greece and Italy, GMOs and limits on emissions of air pollutants are on the agenda this week in the European Parliament. Plans to introduce EU-wide rules for collecting and processing the data of air passengers will also be discussed.

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General : Members of the agriculture, energy and international trade committees are visiting on 18 and 19 June the Milan Expo, the world exhibition whose motto is "feeding the planet, energy for life". The aim of the visit is to promote efforts to increase global food security, fight food waste and encourage healthy lifestyles.

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General : EP President Martin Schulz discussed British plans to renegotiate EU membership during a meeting with UK Prime Minister David Cameron today. They also talked about the migration crisis in the Mediterranean and the ongoing talks on trade deals. Afterwards Schulz said: I came to London to listen and to learn and I think we had an excellent and open-minded exchange of views.”

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General : The European Youth Event (EYE) will return next year and you could be a part of it! #EYE2016 organisers are looking for enthusiastic young people and organisations that want to help shape the event's programme. Check out the Facebook page for the latest news, including all the information about the previous edition in 2014 and its follow-up phase.

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An informal deal to remove the technical obstacles that differing national standards and procedures place in the way of rail operators and rolling stock manufacturers was struck by MEPs and EU and the Latvian Presidency of the Council of Ministers on Wednesday. This deal, on the “technical pillar” of the 4th railway package should cut the time and cost involved in certifying that operators, locomotives and carriages meet safety and technical standards.
Committee on Transport and Tourism

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Data forms an integral part of international trade as they are used to improve services and products, however it remains important that people's personal data are not abused. The international trade and civil liberties committees held a hearing on 16 June to discuss how to reconcile the need for data protection with trade agreements that boost business in the EU, an issue that has gained in importance due to the upcoming reform of EU data protection rules.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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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

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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

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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

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Parliament and the Council are set to embark on informal talks to come up with a compromise on a reform of data protection rules. Although MEPs already adopted their position in March 2014, member states have only agreed an approach now. We talked to German Greens/EFA MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht, who will be leading negotiations on behalf of Parliament, what the benefit of the new rules will be for consumers and companies and what issues still need to be resolved.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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Should cloning for food be banned because of animal welfare concerns? The environment and agriculture committees vote today on amendments to a European Commission proposal to ban the cloning of farm animals in the EU. The MEPs in charge of steering the plans through Parliament support the ban, but want to add provisions on the offspring of cloned animals and the marketing of their products coming from countries outside the EU. Watch the vote live from 15.00 CET.
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

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General : The specific problems of the Pacific region, such as climate change, fisheries, maritime security and regional integration, as well as the generation of fiscal revenues in ACP countries, were discussed by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly at its 29th session, which closed on Wednesday in Suva (Fiji).

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP