European Union

Text: During the meeting on 11 and 12 May, Members of the Foreign Affairs Committee exchanged views with Pekka Haavisto, Foreign Minister of Finland, on Finland's foreign and security policy in the light of the war in Ukraine and with Fawzia Abdulla Yusuf Zainal, Speaker of the Council of Representatives of Bahrain.
They also debated the state of play on the envisaged Association Agreements with Mexico, Mercosur and Chile and held a presentation of a study on "The Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans: Assessing the possible economic, social and environmental impact of the proposed Flagship projects".
During the voting session the committee Members have voted on the Recommendation on the EU's Foreign, Security and Defence Policy after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as well as on draft reports on Montenegro and Turkey and an opinion on the future European Financial Architecture for Development.
Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

In a tense vote in the European Parliament's environmental committee on Wednesday, lawmakers upheld a proposed ban on the sale of polluting vehicles from 2035, but rejected a proposal championed by Renew MEP Jan Huitema to increase the emissions target for cars in 2030 from 55 to 70 percent. The centre-right EPP group rejected the stricter targets and tried to water down the ban on polluting cars in 2035.

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the President of the European Parliament has established a number of measures to contain the spread of the virus and to safeguard Parliament's core activities. The current precautionary measures do not affect work on legislative priorities.

Core activities are maintained to ensure the smooth running of the institution's legislative, budgetary, and scrutiny functions.

The next meeting of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) is scheduled to take place on 17 May 2022.

The meeting agenda and documents will be published here.

SEDE missions:

• A SEDE mission to Iraq will take place from 24-28 May 2022.

• A SEDE mission to Georgia took place from 10-14 April 2022.

SEDE meetings' calendar - first half of 2022
EP calendar 2022 revised
Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

A basic lack of transparency around the EU's vaccines procurement negotiations has prevented effective public and parliamentary scrutiny. It has also made it impossible to answer some of the key questions we put forward here.

Length of video : 167'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

A study out on Thursday by London-based Statewatch, a civil liberties organisation, says the EU has since 2007 spent €341m on research into artificial intelligence technologies for asylum, immigration and border control. The 46-page report says an EU proposal for the artificial intelligence act, currently under talks, fails to safeguard against potential abuse by such technology.

Finnish public support for joining Nato has risen to record figures since Russia's aggression against Ukraine. Finland's historic move puts pressure on Sweden to also move towards joining the military alliance.

There are still over 100 million Europeans who remain unvaccinated or are partially-vaccinated, EU health commissioner Stella Kyriakides told MEPs on Thursday. "It is not the time to relax, it is the time to be prepared," she said while inviting EU member states to increase the uptake of vaccines and have surveillance systems in place in case there is a new variant or a new wave of Covid-19 cases.

REPORT on the implementation of the EU Association Agreement with the Republic of Moldova
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Dragoş Tudorache

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

The EU's Fundamental Rights Agency on Thursday told MEPs that a large percentage of people who are victims of homophobic, racist, and antisemitic crimes do not report it to the police. "They believe police wouldn't do anything or they even fear to be further victimised by police," said Gerald Rosskogler of the agency. "The same is also true for women being victims of physical or sexual violence," he said.

Servizio Elettrico Nazionale and Others
Competition
The Court of Justice sets out the criteria for defining a dominant position in connection with exclusionary practices on the basis of anticompetitive effects of the conduct of an incumbent operator in the context of the liberalisation of the electricity market

W. J. (Changement de résidence habituelle du créancier d’aliments)
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
For the purpose of identifying the law applicable to a maintenance payment, the habitual residence of its recipient is that of the place where the habitual centre of his or her life is located, particularly where it concerns a young child

Luso Temp
SOPO
Compensation in respect of days of paid annual leave not taken and the corresponding holiday bonus pay granted to temporary agency workers must be at least equal to that which would be granted to them if they had been recruited directly by the user undertaking to occupy the same job for the same period of time

Finland must apply for Nato membership without delay, president Sauli Niinistö and prime minister Sanna Marin announced on Thursday. Russia should "look in the mirror" if it wants to know what caused pro-Nato sentiment to grow in Finland, Niinistö said. Sweden is considering a similar move. During a visit on Wednesday, British PM Boris Johnson signed joint security declarations with the two Nordic countries.

Environment Committee MEPs are in favour of a pathway towards zero-emission road mobility in 2035 for new passenger cars and light commercial vehicles.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Ukraine foreign affairs minister Dmytro Kuleba will be in Brussels next week to participate as a special guest in the meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers taking place on Monday (16 May). The sixth package of sanctions against Russia, including the oil embargo, granting Ukraine EU candidate status, and cooperation on war crimes investigations, will be discussed. Kuleba will also meet commission officials to discuss the rebuilding of Ukraine.

Speaking alongside Austria's chancellor and foreign minister in Vienna, UN secretary-general António Guterres said he was "deeply concerned" about worldwide food shortages as the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent global prices for grains, cooking oils, fuel and fertiliser soaring, worsening a food crisis in African countries. He also warned disruption to shipping in the Black Sea risked spreading hunger also becoming "widespread in different parts of the world."

The new draft European Parliament report is an update to the 2018 report which triggered the Article 7 procedure against Hungary, a sanctions probe aiming to rein in member states that break EU rules and values.

The EU aims to diversify supplies and increase imports of renewable hydrogen as part of its efforts to wean the continent off Russian gas — amid a dramatically changed geo-political reality.