European Union

Plenary sessions : MEPs overwhelmingly approved a resolution setting out Parliament's priorities for the negotiations concerning the UK's withdrawal from the EU during this week's plenary session in Strasbourg. In addition MEPs urged European authorities to establish new checks to prevent car emissions fraud and also approved stricter rules to ensure the safety of medical devices as well as plans to enable more flexibility regarding the EU's long-term budget.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : MEPs overwhelmingly approved a resolution setting out Parliament's priorities for the negotiations concerning the UK's withdrawal from the EU during this week's plenary session in Strasbourg. In addition MEPs urged European authorities to establish new checks to prevent car emissions fraud and also approved stricter rules to ensure the safety of medical devices as well as plans to enable more flexibility regarding the EU's long-term budget.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk received the letters of credentials of the following Ambassadors:

H.E. Mr Od Och Head of the Mission of Mongolia to the European Union
H.E. Mr Abdulrahman bin Mohammed Sulaiman Al-Khulaifi, Head of the Mission of the State of Qatar to the European Union
H.E. Mrs Jacqueline Marie Zaba /Nikiema,  Head of the Mission of Burkina Faso to the European Union 
H.E. Mr Raúl Fernandez Daza, Head of Mission of Chile to the European Union
H.E. Mrs Julia Emma Villatoro Tario, Head of Mission of the Republic of El Salvador to the European Union

DRAFT REPORT on EU political relations with India
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Cristian Dan Preda

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

The EU condemns in the strongest terms the air strike that hit the town of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib province on 4 April 2017, which has had horrific consequences, causing the deaths and injuries of scores of civilians including children and relief workers, with many victims displaying symptoms of gas poisoning.

The EU urges the United Nations Security Council to come together, strongly condemn the attack on Khan Sheikhoun and ensure a swift, independent and impartial investigation of the attack.

The OPCW's Fact Finding Mission (FFM) is in the process of gathering and analysing information from all available sources. While the investigation into this attack is ongoing, the EU is deeply worried to note that the Syrian regime has previously used chemical weapons in 2015, as identified in the August and October reports of the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism, and which the EU strongly condemned at the time. In this context, the EU reiterates that as a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Syrian regime has explicitly obligated itself to refrain from the use of chemical weapons and that the Syrian regime has the primary responsibility for the protection of the Syrian population. The EU therefore calls on the regime's allies, notably Russia, to exercise appropriate pressure on the Syrian regime to this end.

The use of chemical weapons or chemical substances as weapons amounts to a war crime. Their use in Syria, including by the regime and Da'esh, must stop and identified perpetrators must be held accountable for this violation of international law.

Those guilty of violations of international law and the use of chemical weapons have to be sanctioned accordingly. In March, the EU added 4 high-ranking Syrian military officials to the sanctions list for their role in the use of chemical weapons against the civilian population, in line with the EU's policy to fight the proliferation and use of chemical weapons.

The EU will continue to support the efforts of the OPCW in Syria with regard to the investigation of the use of chemical weapons and considers that such efforts have to be continued in the future by the international community.

This attack constitutes a flagrant violation of the ceasefire. It underlines the urgent need for a real and verified ceasefire. The EU calls on Russia, Turkey and Iran to live up to their commitments as guarantors in this regard.

Attacks of this kind only reinforce the urgent need for a genuine political transition in Syria and the EU's will to support UN efforts to broker a political solution to the Syrian conflict through the intra-Syrian talks in Geneva, as reaffirmed at the International Conference "Supporting the future of Syria and the region" that the EU hosted in Brussels on 5 April 2017.

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Senegal and the EU have developped a close partnership which includes a structured political dialogue, strong trade relations, a fisheries agreement, and technical and financial cooperation in support of the country’s populations. It involves a sustained partnership as much with government authorities and public institutions as with civil society and the private sector.

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Plenary sessions : The European Commission and most EU countries failed to prevent car manufacturers from cheating emissions test, according to the final report by Parliament's inquiry committee investigating the car emissions scandal. It was set up in December 2015, a few months after Volkswagen admitted to falsifying test results in their diesel cars. In the report adopted on 4 April, MEPs propose a set of measures to prevent dishonest practices by car manufacturers in the future.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : The European Commission and most EU countries failed to prevent car manufacturers from cheating emissions test, according to the final report by Parliament's inquiry committee investigating the car emissions scandal. It was set up in December 2015, a few months after Volkswagen admitted to falsifying test results in their diesel cars. In the report adopted on 4 April, MEPs propose a set of measures to prevent dishonest practices by car manufacturers in the future.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

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EU Finance Ministers of the eurozone are meeting on 7 April 2017 in Valletta to be briefed on progress achieved in the second review of Greece's economic adjustment programme and on the second post-programme review in Cyprus. It is discussing how to boost investment in the euro area and hearing annual reports by the banking union's supervisory and resolution authorities.

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Plenary sessions : New rules allowing the US National Security Agency (NSA) to share private data with other US agencies without court oversight, recent revelations about surveillance activities by a US electronic communications service provider and vacancies on US oversight bodies are among the concerns raised by MEPs in a resolution passed on Thursday.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : New rules allowing the US National Security Agency (NSA) to share private data with other US agencies without court oversight, recent revelations about surveillance activities by a US electronic communications service provider and vacancies on US oversight bodies are among the concerns raised by MEPs in a resolution passed on Thursday.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

DRAFT REPORT containing a motion for a non-legislative resolution on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the European Union, of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Cuba, of the other part
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Elena Valenciano

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

DRAFT RECOMMENDATION on the draft Council decision on the conclusion, on behalf of the Union, of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Cuba, of the other part
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Elena Valenciano

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

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Few expected the professors of Budapest’s Central European University to push back so strongly when their turn came in the form of a bill rushed through parliament on Tuesday, which may force its closure.

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Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : Ukrainian citizens will be exempted from EU short-stay visa requirements, after Parliament endorsed an informal deal with the Council on Thursday.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : Ukrainian citizens will be exempted from EU short-stay visa requirements, after Parliament endorsed an informal deal with the Council on Thursday.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : The new EU Solidarity Corps (ECS) initiative, which aims to create 100,000 volunteering and job placement opportunities for young people, needs proper legislation and funding, say MEPS in a resolution passed on Thursday. Its funding should under no circumstances be at the expense of the Erasmus+ or other EU programmes, they add.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

Plenary sessions : The new EU Solidarity Corps (ECS) initiative, which aims to create 100,000 volunteering and job placement opportunities for young people, needs proper legislation and funding, say MEPS in a resolution passed on Thursday. Its funding should under no circumstances be at the expense of the Erasmus+ or other EU programmes, they add.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP