European Parliament

Plenary sessions : A new agreement establishing police cooperation between Europol and Bosnia Herzegovina to step up the joint fight against organised crime, terrorism and other forms of serious international crime was approved by Parliament on Wednesday.

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Plenary sessions : "Raif Badawi was brave enough to raise his voice and say no to their barbarity. That is why they flogged him," said Ensaf Haidar, the wife of jailed Saudi human rights activist Raif Badawi, accepting the 2015 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on his behalf in Strasbourg on Wednesday 16 December. Badawi was honoured by the European Parliament for his fight for freedom of speech and thought in Saudi Arabia.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : Ireland will get EU aid worth €400,000 for 108 redundant aircraft repair workers to help find new jobs, following a vote in Parliament on Wednesday. On 15 December, Parliament agreed to provide similar EU aid worth €2.6 million for 1,200 redundant IT workers in Finland. The two instances of European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF) aid were approved by the EU Council of Ministers on 14 December.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

General : Forty years of ACP-EU cooperation, migration, the post-election situation in Burundi, and COP21 were among the topics discussed by the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly at its 30th session, which closed on Wednesday, in Brussels.

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General : MEPs and parliamentarians from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries discussed migration, human rights and refugees during the 30th EU-ACP parliamentary assembly in Brussels on Tuesday 8 December. Most agreed that the roots of migration, such as poverty, war and a lack of human right,s need to be addressed while some also warned that we need to prepare for climate refugees.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

General : Recent events in Europe have brought the issues of marginalisation and extremism to the forefront of public debate. On 7 December Parliament's culture committee adopted a report on the role of intercultural dialogue, cultural diversity and education in promoting EU fundamental values. Ahead of the vote, we spoke to report author Julie Ward, a UK member of the S&D: "We have one world and we have to find some way of being mutually respectful and tolerant of each other."

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

The Paris climate change agreement should not leave out aviation and shipping, two sectors whose emissions are rocketing and, if left unregulated, could account for up to 40% of all global emissions by 2050, (according to a European Parliament study), said the EP delegation on Tuesday. MEPs also advocate earmarking carbon market revenues as a possible solution for financing climate efforts.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

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Ever been hit by a computer virus? You are not the only one. More than one million people are affected by cybercrime every day. Cybercrime costs the global economy more than $400 billion (about €368 billion) a year. Find out about the different types of cyber threats out there in our infographic.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Transport and energy companies will have to ensure that the digital infrastructure that they use to deliver essential services, such as traffic control or electricity grid management, is robust enough to withstand cyber-attacks, under new rules provisionally agreed by internal market MEPs and the Luxembourg Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers on Monday. Online marketplaces like eBay or Amazon, search engines and clouds will also be required to ensure that their infrastructure is secure.
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

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The EU Commission should investigate why Google offers its “Android” operating system only in conjunction with other Google services and also why manufacturers allegedly may not pre-install rival products; MEPs say in a response to the Commission’s annual competition report for 2014.
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs

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General : Officials from nearly 200 countries have been meeting in Paris since late November to negotiate a new climate change agreement for after 2020. This week a delegation of 15 MEPs also takes part in the COP21 conference. Members are participating in background talks with NGOs and delegations from across the world, while the EU commissioner for climate action Miguel Arias Cañete will brief them on the progress of the talks on a daily basis. Live updates from Paris are available on our Storify page.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

General : A delegation of 15 MEPs heads to Paris this week as world leaders gather at COP21 to hammer out a global agreement to fight climate change. Back in Brussels members of the civil liberties committee discuss the current situation concerning so-called migrant "hotspots" in Greece and Italy. In addition MEPs meet their counterparts from African, Caribbean and Pacific countries in Brussels, and Parliament's political groups prepare for the final plenary session of the year in Strasbourg next week.

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General : "Faced with the atrocities committed in certain parts of the world, we must play our part in worldwide solidarity", said Co-President Louis Michel (ALDE, BE) at the opening of the 30th session of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly (JPA) in Brussels on Monday. " ‘Fortress Europe’ is not a solution and is unworthy of the humanist values that Europe defends", he insisted, adding that it must "shoulder its duty of humanity towards refugees fleeing war, violence or dictatorship".

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Following the Justice and Home Affairs Council confirmation of the deal on the EU Passenger Name Record (PNR) directive, the Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee lead negotiator, Timothy Kirkhope (ECR, UK), said:
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

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A delegation of 15 MEPs will take part in the UN climate conference in Paris, France, from Monday to Friday. The European Parliament says that the 2015 Protocol must be legally binding and ambitious from the outset, with five-year commitment periods. In a resolution voted in October, MEPs also proposed that a share of revenues from the EU carbon market allowances should be earmarked for climate finance, and that aviation and shipping sectors should initiate measures to curb their emissions.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

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Political group and committee meetings, Brussels

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General : EP President Martin Schulz and the leaders of the political groups visited the Netherlands on 3 December to discuss the country taking over the Council presidency on 1 January 2016. "We are facing turbulent times, never before now the situation was as difficult as it is and the level of acceptance of the European Union is at its lowest level," Schulz said. "In this context the next six months become crucial and all the institutions, European Parliament and Council included, must deliver."

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

General : In the wake of the terrorists attacks in Paris on 13 November, the fight against terrorism remains at the top of the European Parliament's agenda. On Monday 30 November and Tuesday 1 December, the civil liberties committee discussed how the EU's strategy could be improved.

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Plenary sessions : The European Parliament has done its work on a draft EU directive to ensure that by 2020 at least 40% of non-executive directors on listed company boards are women. Now it is up to the Council of Ministers to agree a position on the draft and start negotiations with Parliament, reiterated many MEPs in Wednesday’s debate, with a view to a Council meeting on 7 December.

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Plenary sessions : The EU Commission sees no systemic threat to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary, although it has brought several procedures against it for infringing EU laws, said Commissioner Vera Jourová in a debate with MEPs on Wednesday.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP