European Parliament (News)

During a first debate the state of play on Volkswagen's emission "defeat devices" with the European Commission in the Environment Committee, many MEPs highlighted the need to speed up the introduction of automotive test procedures that better reflect vehicle emissions in real driving conditions, while others compared the EU's decentralized “type-approval” system unfavourably with the US one.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

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The EU military operation against people smugglers in the Mediterranean is about to enter its next phase. After gathering intelligence and setting up the structure, the operation will now focus on arresting traffickers and disabling smugglers vessel. The details of the operation were discussed by MEPs during a meeting of the security and defence subcommittee on 22 September.
Subcommittee on Security and Defence

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Tax competition as such cannot be avoided, but today’s system has reached its limits and led to unwanted side effects. Small firms should not have to bear the tax burden of multinationals that pay very little. Action is needed to harmonise corporate tax practices across Europe, so as to make tax competition clearer and fairer. This was the key sentiment voiced at Tuesday’s meeting of the Special Committee on Tax Rulings with finance ministers from Luxembourg, Italy, France, Spain and Germany.
Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect

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Goods or substances that may be misused for torture or execution should not be promoted for export, so as to prevent their spread, said the International Trade Committee, voting on Tuesday to strengthen EU “Anti-torture” rules. MEPs want to widen today’s EU ban to include services, e.g. marketing in expos or online catalogues, but also finance, transport and insurance. They also want to ban transit of prohibited goods via the EU and add a “catch-all” clause to allow checks on dubious new ones.
Committee on International Trade

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Parliament should not endorse spending by the European Council and the Council of the EU for 2013 because they have failed to provide the information and documents requested, the budgetary control committee said on Tuesday. Parliament has refused toclear the Council´s accounts every year since 2009.
Committee on Budgetary Control

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General : Parliament, as one of the EU's two legislative bodies, is closely involved in shaping legislation in every field the EU is responsible for, from agriculture to banking. The debt crisis in Greece and scandals involving tax rulings that help multinationals ease their tax burden have thrust economic issues into the foreground. This week MEPs question five financial ministers as well as the president of the European Central Bank about the latest developments.

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The civil liberties committee discusses on Tuesday 22 September new proposals by the European Commission to tackle the refugee crisis. Proposed measures include a permanent relocation mechanism, a common EU list of safe countries of origin and an effective return policy. Ahead of the debate, we asked Parliament’s political groups for their views on the crisis. Watch the debate live on our website on Tuesday from 9.00 CET and check out the main migration routes in the infographic.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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General : Alexis Tsipras's Syriza party has emerged victorious from Sunday's snap elections in Greece, but what does the road ahead look like for the country? MEPs Danuta Maria Hübner (EPP, Poland), Maria Arena (S&D, Belgium) and Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL, Germany) share their views.

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General : A common response to the current refugee crisis is needed, said Martin Schulz, president of the European Parliament, during a meeting today with French President François Hollande in Paris. "We should welcome refugees," Schulz stressed ahead of the extraordinary European Council on the refugee crisis taking place in Brussels on Wednesday.

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The fight against tax avoidance and tax evasion as well as preferential tax treatment for large multinational corporations will be discussed when the finance ministers of France, Germany, Italy and Spain as well as a representative from the Luxembourg presidency of the EU Council appear before Parliament's tax rulings committee. Watch it live online on Tuesday 22 September from 17.00 to 19.30 CET.
Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect

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General : The European Commission's latest proposals to solve the refugee crisis will be discussed by the civil liberties committee this week, while the economic affairs committee will question Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, on the state of the euro zone. In addition the tax rulings committee will discuss tax policies with the finance ministers of Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Luxembourg.

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"The current system of corporate tax rules is unfit for purpose and unjust. Some companies are losing out, whereas others win by hiding behind a variety of national rules", Commission President Jean Claude Juncker told MEPs at a joint meeting of the committees for Tax Rulings and for Economic and Monetary Affairs on Thursday. "We need a better insight into how multinational companies behave and how they make use of the differences between countries. Then we should create some order!", he added.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect

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Plenary sessions : An emergency proposal to relocate 120,000 asylum seekers from Italy, Greece and Hungary among EU member states was backed by Parliament on Thursday. The first temporary emergency rules for relocating an initial 40,000 over two years from Italy and Greece only were approved by Parliament on 9 September.

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Plenary sessions : The Commission's €500 million aid package revealed last week is a step in the right direction but it might be not enough to get farmers struggling with falling prices back on their feet, many MEPs told Commissioner Phil Hogan in a debate on Wednesday. Crisis management instruments should be improved, and the position of farmers in the food supply chain strengthened, said MEPs. Some also ask the Commission to immediately increase intervention prices to tackle the current crisis.

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Plenary sessions : A clear political vision to tackle the challenges of energy supply, climate change, transition to a digital society, job creation, migration, the rule of democracy and fundamental law should be at the core of the 2016 Commission's work programme. So say MEPs in a non-legislative resolution, voted on Wednesday, which sets out Parliament's recommendations for the European Commission’s 2016 work programme.

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The economic affairs committee and the special committee for tax rulings will discuss the European Commission's proposals for transparent and efficient taxation of multinational companies with President Jean-Claude Juncker and Taxation Commissioner Pierre Moscovici on Thursday 17 September. This will be followed by a separate discussion with Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager. Watch the debates live from 10.15 CET.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect

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Plenary sessions : An emergency proposal to relocate 120,000 asylum seekers from Greece, Italy and Hungary to other EU member states will be put to a vote, as a matter of urgency, at 10.00 on Thursday. This recourse to the urgency procedure (Rule 154) was proposed by President Schulz and approved in a plenary vote at the opening.

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Plenary sessions : Countries will this year shape and adopt the development agenda that will build on the Millennium Development Goals. A Parliament delegation will take part in the UN Sustainable Development Summit in New York where countries will approve the new goals. Ahead of the plenary debate on Wednesday 16 September, we spoke with development committee chair Linda McAvan, a UK member of the S&D group, about future goals and what has been achieved so far. Watch the debate live from 16.30 CET.

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Europe's drones sector offers exciting opportunities for growth, however new rules are needed to ensure they can be used safely, but without deterring investment. The transport committee adopted a report on this on 15 September. Find out more about the opportunities, the need for proper training and what should be done about the privacy issue in our video interview with Jacqueline Foster, who is in charge of steering the new rules through Parliament.
Committee on Transport and Tourism

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Draft rules to cut emissions of major air pollutants from non-road mobile machinery (NRMM), ranging from lawn mowers to bulldozers, tractors and inland waterway vessels, were backed by Environment Committee MEPs on Tuesday. NRMM engines account for about 15% of all NOx and 5% of particulate emissions in the EU.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

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