European Parliament

Plans to update EU type approval rules and emission limits for internal combustion engines in non-road mobile machinery (NRMM), such as lawn mowers, bulldozers, diesel locomotives and inland waterway vessels, were backed by the Environment Committee on Wednesday. These plans had already been agreed with the Dutch Presidency of the Council. 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

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : The European Parliament hosted a conference in Brussels on Tuesday 26 April, focussing on the role of women in tackling radicalisation and promoting de-radicalisation in Europe. Participants also assessed national and European strategies on the ground and held an open discussion on the way forward.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

The European Commission's proposal for automatic exchange of corporate tax information among national tax authorities was welcomed by Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee MEPs on Tuesday as a positive step in the fight against aggressive corporate tax planning. But MEPs also advocated adding further safeguards in the text to ensure that competition in the single market is not distorted by advantageous national tax deals with multinationals.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

New rules to curb the growing influx into the EU of plant pests such as Xylella fastidiosa, which has been devastating Italian olive groves in 2013, were endorsed by the Agriculture Committee on Tuesday. Factors driving this influx include increased trade and climate change. The draft rules, informally approved by Parliament and Council negotiators in December 2015, would govern preventive measures for imported plant pests and rapid response mechanisms for high-risk ones.
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : MEPs scrutinise how money has been spent by the European Commission and the other EU institutions and agencies in a procedure known as discharge. Over the years, the procedure has become a very important tool to check how public funds have been spent and EU projects carried out. The European Parliament has the exclusive right to approve the budget implementation of the EU institutions. On 27 April MEPs debate the discharge of the 2014 annual budget and vote on it the following day.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : If you use Facebook and Google your personal data such as photos and email are usually stored in US data centres. Sending Europeans' data across the Atlantic is legal provided American companies commit themselves to respecting EU privacy standards. On Thursday, MEPs discussed a new mechanism for transferring data across the Atlantic with experts. Read on to find out why it was created and watch the interview with Max Schrems who was responsible for getting the previous arrangement scrapped.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Committee meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Talks with Turkey on dealing with the refugee crisis should not be linked to the country’s efforts to join the EU, warned Martin Schulz. The EP President addressed European heads of state and government at the start of the EU summit on 17-18 March dedicated to the migration crisis and economic priorities. “Turkey won’t get any discounts on media freedom and minority protection, the separation of powers or the rule of law,” he said, calling them “non-negotiable issues”.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : The conflict in Syria, which started five years ago this month, has led to the world's largest humanitarian disaster since World War II. Last month two groups of MEPs visited Turkey to see for themselves the living conditions of some of the 2.5 million Syrian refugees there. They were led by EP Vice-President Sylvie Guillaume and budgets committee chair Jean Arthuis. In a chat with EP's Facebook followers this week the two MEPs spoke of the importance of solidarity in tackling the influx.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : The European Parliament will once again mark "Earth Hour" by switching off lights in all its buildings on Saturday 19 March from 20.30h to 21.30h. "Earth Hour" is a global environmental initiative, begun in Sydney in 2007, to raise awareness of the need to act to fight climate change.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Congratulations to Christian Brothers College, Sidney Hill, Wellington Road, Cork who are this year's Irish national winners of the European Charlemagne Youth Prize.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

The new “Privacy Shield” framework on EU-US transfers of personal data by private firms, which is to replace the former "Safe Harbour" one, will be debated by Civil Liberties Committee MEPs in a hearing on Thursday afternoon. Austrian citizen Max Schrems, whose court case against facebook led to Safe Harbour's downfall, the US lead negotiator, the EU Data Protection Supervisor, representatives from the Article 29 Working Party, the European Commission and others will all be quizzed on the deal.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : The terrorist attacks in Paris last November have led to the European Commission proposing updated rules to prevent guns ending up in the wrong hands. However, could these new rules have unintended consequences? The internal market committee debated the proposals and their possible impact with experts during a hearing on Tuesday 15 March.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

To dissuade refugees from putting their lives at risk by entrusting them to people smugglers, EU consulates and embassies should be allowed to issue humanitarian visas to persons seeking international protection, said Civil Liberties Committee MEPs voting on an update of the EU Visa Code on Wednesday. These visas would enable holders to enter the country issuing the visa in order to apply for asylum.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Google, Apple, Inter-IKEA Group and McDonald's would welcome more clarity and certainty about their tax liabilities in the EU, but they are concerned about the administrative compliance costs and reluctant to see tax data being made public. So said their representatives at a public hearing, held by Parliament's Special Committee on Tax Rulings II on Tuesday, to elicit their views on recent and upcoming proposed legislation on corporate tax.
Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect (TAXE 2)

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

The failure to date of the EU asylum system to cope with ever-rising numbers of migrant arrivals calls for a radical overhaul of the so-called Dublin rules, said Civil Liberties Committee MEPs on Wednesday. They propose establishing a central system for collecting and allocating asylum applications. The scheme, which could include a quota for each EU member state, would work on the basis of “hotspots” from which refugees would be distributed.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

EU-Turkey cooperation on migration should be uncoupled from the EU accession negotiating process, say Foreign Affairs Committee MEPs in a repor voted on Tuesday. MEP praise Turkey for hosting the largest refugee population in the world, and note that it remains a "key strategic partner for the EU" but nonetheless call for progress on rule of law and fundamental values and "a more structured and frequent political dialogue on key thematic issues".
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Interested in the refugee crisis? Then join our Facebook chat with Parliament Vice-President Sylvie Guillaume and budgets committee chair Jean Arthuis on Wednesday 16 March from 14.00 CET. The two MEPs led delegations to Turkey in February where they visited refugee camps and met political leaders and representatives from NGOs. Find out their findings and ask them about their views during our chat.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Stocktaking debates on progress in EU trade talks with two major partners – Canada and the USA – were discussed in the International Trade Committee on Monday afternoon. The recently updated investment rules in the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) deal with Canada and latest developments on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), with the US, including the follow-up to Parliament’s requests, were the key topics of debate.
Committee on International Trade

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP