European Parliament

The three films competing for the 2015 LUX Prize were announced on 24 July in Rome by EP vice-president Antonio Tajani and culture committee chair Silvia Costa, at the Venice Days press conference. The films are: Mediterranea by Jonas Carpignano (Italy, United States, Germany, France, Qatar), Mustang, by Deniz Gamze Ergüven (France, Germany, Turkey, Qatar) and Urok (The Lesson) by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov (Bulgaria, Greece).
Committee on Culture and Education

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Summer recess

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Summer recess

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Summer recess

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

General : We all love to travel, but do you know what to do if things go wrong? When there is an emergency, your flight gets cancelled or you lose your passport? There are EU rules in place to make travellers' lives easier. Here are a few key points to remember.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : While the conflict in Ukraine continues, the country and the EU ratified a bilateral association agreement on 16 September 2014. Read up on all the latest developments in Ukraine with the help of our timeline, from the Euromaidan movement to the historic vote in the two parliaments in September and the parliamentary elections in Ukraine in October.

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The priorities of Luxembourg EU Council Presidency will be outlined to the various parliamentary committees by Luxembourg ministers in a series of meetings to be held during this week.
Committee on International Trade
Committee on Development
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Budgets
Committee on Budgetary Control
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Committee on Legal Affairs
Committee on Culture and Education
Committee on Constitutional Affairs
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Committee on Petitions
Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality
Subcommittee on Human Rights
Special Committee on Tax Rulings and Other Measures Similar in Nature or Effect
Subcommittee on Security and Defence
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
Committee on Regional Development
Committee on Transport and Tourism
Committee on Fisheries
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Delegations

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Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Deliberately destroying and pillaging archaeological sites and trafficking art objects in war zones amount to « cultural genocide » and should be classified as war crimes, argued speakers in a public hearing held by the European Parliament’s Culture and Education Committee on Monday afternoon. MEPs and experts reiterated the need for harmonised international legislation in this area.
Committee on Culture and Education

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

The proportion of female researchers and students might be increasing in Europe, yet they remain underrepresented in scientific careers and disciplines. A report adopted by the women's rights committee on 14 July sets out how women could be helped to overcome the barriers preventing them from progressing in science, research and the technology sector. Check out our infographic to find out how many men and women graduated in science over the past decade.
Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

General : Quotas to relocate refugees arriving in Greece and Italy, GMOs and limits on emissions of air pollutants are on the agenda this week in the European Parliament. Plans to introduce EU-wide rules for collecting and processing the data of air passengers will also be discussed.

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Committee meetings, Brussels

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Plenary sessions : The Greece debt crisis took centre stage during July's plenary session, as Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras came to Strasbourg to discuss the search for solutions. MEPs also adopted their recommendations for Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and approved a reform of the EU's emissions trading scheme that should boost incentives for green investments. Read on for our summary of what happened in Strasbourg in a busy summer week.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : MEPs call, in four separate resolutions, for the withdrawal of the Cambodian government's law on NGOs and trade unions; the release of Yves Makwambala and Fred Bauma in the DRC; the release of human rights defender Nabeel Rajab in Bahrain; and of two Christian pastors detained in Sudan, Michael Yat and Peter Yen Reith.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

General : The 10 films competing for this year's Lux Prize have been revealed at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, including five by first-time directors, a mix of genres and the selection's first-ever Icelandic film. The European Parliament awards the prize to the best European film every year. At the end of the month it will be announced which three films have been short-listed for the finals, meaning they will also be screened all over the EU as part of the Lux Film Days.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : Parliament condemned in the strongest possible terms the genocide in Srebrenica of 11 July 1995 and said that "such horrendous crimes must never happen again", in a vote on Thursday. MEPs regret that the UN Security Council failed to pass a resolution commemorating the genocide and call for acceleration of war crimes prosecution at international and domestic level.

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Plenary sessions : Forthcoming proposals to reform EU copyright law for the digital era must ensure a fair balance between the rights and interests of both creators and consumers, said MEPs on Thursday. They called for ways to improve access to online content across borders, while recognizing the importance of territorial licences, particularly for TV and film productions.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : The European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) must return to its original aim of creating an area of prosperity, stability, security and good neighbourliness, Parliament said on Thursday. The EU must go “back to basics” and place these goals at the top of its agenda, say MEPs. They stress that the revised policy must be more political, differentiated and based on EU values and principles, democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : The EU needs to use natural resources more efficiently - a 30% increase in resource productivity by 2030 could boost its GDP by nearly 1% and create an extra 2 million sustainable jobs, say MEPs in a resolution voted on Thursday. But to achieve this growth, it needs binding waste-reduction targets, revamped ecodesign laws and measures to uncouple growth from resource use, they add, calling on the European Commission to table legislation by the end of 2015.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP