European Parliament

General : Once Brexit negotiations begin the European Parliament will be a responsible and active partner, Martin Schulz told UK Prime Minister Theresa May. The Parliament President met her during a visit to London on 22-23 September. He said the greatest challenges would be trade and the issue of preserving the freedom of movement of goods, people, services and capital. He also discussed why the Parliament believes article 50 should be triggered as soon as possible.

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General : Members of the Euro-Latin American parliamentary Assembly “expect and hope” that the “historic” peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) will be approved in the referendum to be held on 2 October. Once the deal is approved and the definitive and irreversible laying down of weapons is confirmed, they add, the FARC should be removed from the EU’s list of terrorist organisations.

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With around 1.5 million refugees fleeing to Lebanon since the start of the war in Syria, it is clear that the situation in the country is untenable and that substantial help is needed to avoid a complete breakdown, not only in terms of financial assistance, but also through improved resettlement tools, says Civil Liberties Committee Chair Claude Moraes, who this week headed a delegation to Beirut.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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General : Deepening the integration of the EU and Latin America is the best way to respond to common challenges, agreed parliamentarians from both sides of the Atlantic at the opening of the ninth plenary session of the Euro-Latin Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat), on Tuesday in Montevideo (Uruguay). The economic situation, trade relations between the EU and Latin America and between both regions and China, managing migration flows and fighting terrorism are also on the agenda.

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Plenary sessions : Workers do not enjoy the same level of social protection within the EU. Faced with increased competition some businesses resort to social dumping in order to reduce their labour costs. This could lead to workers being exploited as cheap labour. During last week’s plenary session, MEPs called for this unfair practice to be ended. They also discussed measures to help reconcile work, private and family life and minimum income schemes.

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General : Over the course of its existence, the European Parliament has transformed itself from an assembly with limited powers to a decision-making body directly shaping EU policies. It has been a long road, but one of the milestones was 20 September 1976, when ministers signed rules allowing direct European elections. The elections, held about three years later, gave new democratic legitimacy to the Parliament and allowed MEPs to seek more powers in shaping European policies.

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General : A delegation of seven MEPs from the civil liberties committee, led by Claude Moraes (S&D,United Kingdom), is visiting ebanon on 19-22 September 2016 to look into the situation of refugees in the light of the ongoing formulation of EU responses to the current refugee crisis, including EU resettlement schemes. This Storify page will cover the visit. The latest updates will appear on top

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General : Following a busy plenary session in Strasbourg, MEPs work this week in their constituency or take part in parliamentary delegations. Parliament President Martin Schulz travels to London to meet among others UK Prime Minister Theresa May, while some MEPs are in Lebanon to assess the country's response to the refugee crisis.

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A 7-strong delegation of Civil Liberties Committee MEPs will be in Lebanon this week to look into the situation of refugees and resettlement. MEPs will visit refugee camps and meet UNHCR, UNICEF, UNRWA, international NGOs and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) staff working with the refugees. They will also meet representatives of the Lebanese Parliament and Minister for Social Affairs Mr Rashed Derbas (tbc).
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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Delegations

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Plenary sessions : Managing global migration flows, trade relations between the EU and Latin American countries, and between both regions and China, plus the setting-up of an EU-CELAC Common Research Area, will be key agenda items at the ninth plenary session of the Euro-Latin American parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat) next week in Montevideo (Uruguay).

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Plenary sessions : The debate on the state of the European Union with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker dominated the plenary session in Strasbourg taking place on 12-15 September. MEPs also exchanged views with Tibetan leader Dalai Lama and supported the Commission’s decision to order Ireland to recover €13 billion in illegal tax benefits from Apple.

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General : Journalist Can Dündar and fellow defenders of freedom of thought and expression in Turkey, the Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzemilev, the Yazidi survivors and public advocates Nadia Murad Basee and Lamiya Aji Bashar as well as Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti are this year's nominees for the Sakharov Prize. The Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize every year to honour exceptional individuals and organisations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. The laureate is selected in late October.

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Plenary sessions : EU countries must honour their pledges to accept refugees relocated from Greece and Italy, to relieve migratory pressure on these two “frontline” countries, and at the same time discourage irregular entries by opening up legal and safe routes to the EU, MEPs said on Thursday.

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Plenary sessions : As wildlife trafficking is now the fourth largest black market and endangers many species, the EU should help curb demand, inter alia with an EU-wide ban on trade in ivory, say MEPs in a resolution voted on Thursday. This sets out MEPs’ priorities for the 17th Conference of Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES, Johannesburg, 24 September–5 October), which the EU will attend for the first time as a party to the convention.

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Plenary sessions : The European Parliament endorsed the candidature of Sir Julian King as Commissioner for the Security Union. He was nominated by the UK government after Lord Jonathan Hill resigned in the wake of the Brexit vote in June.

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Plenary sessions : An EU Commission proposal for a standard European travel document to speed up the return of non-EU nationals staying irregularly in EU member states without valid passports or identity cards was approved by Parliament on Thursday. A key aim for MEPs has been to strengthen the form’s security features and technical safeguards, so as to promote its acceptance by third countries. To enter into force, the new regulation still needs to be formally approved by the Council of Ministers.

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Plenary sessions : Parliament condemns the current wave of extrajudicial executions and killings in the Philippines, deteriorating security and widespread intimidation in Somalia, and growing violence against demonstrators and breaches of human rights in Zimbabwe, in three resolutions voted on Thursday.

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General : The 14th Dalai Lama visited the European Parliament on Thursday 15 September to meet President Martin Schulz and discuss with members of the foreign affairs committee. Upon his fifth visit to the Parliament, the Dalai Lama expressed his admiration for the spirit of the European Union because it worked for the common interest of the people. “I think this spirit of the European Union eventually should spread in Africa and further in the world,“ he added.

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Plenary sessions : Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager won wide support from MEPs, in a Wednesday afternoon debate, for the Commission’s state aid verdict that the tax benefits that Ireland granted to Apple Inc., enabling it to pay substantially less tax than other businesses over many years, were illegal.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP