EP News, May 25th, 2005 (No. 213)
The European Parliament sits in Brussels this week for its next plenary session. Highlights of the agenda include:
Issues being led by UK MEPs:
(debate Weds, Vote Thurs)
False, ambiguous and misleading health claims on food labelling are targeted in the main piece of EU legislation to be debated by MEPs this week in Brussels. A proposed EU Regulation sets down the types of claims which can and cannot be made and the interplay between the European Commission and the Food Standards Agency (in the UK) in authorising any claims.
MEPs will vote on over 70 amendments passed at committee stage. These generally tighten up the need for scientific proof of any claims, but are less restrictive than the proposals from the European Commission. If MEPs get their way, there will be an 18 month transition period before the Regulation takes effect.
For a link to the proposal, text of the amendments and report adopted at committee stage, see the Legislative Observatory at http://www2.europarl.eu.int/oeil/file.jsp?id=235102
After this week's vote, the proposal goes to the Council of Ministers. Unless the Council accepts all of the amendments adopted by the European Parliament, the proposal will return to the Parliament for a 2nd reading at a later date. This is under the codecision procedure, where any legislative text must be jointly agreed by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers.
Food safety is also the subject of another piece of legislation receiving its 1st reading this week: MEPs will tackle the subject of vitamins and minerals added to food. The proposed Regulation sets out a positive list of 100 vitamin formulations and mineral substances which may be added to foods - they cannot, however, be added to fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, fish or drinks with an alcoholic volume greater than 1.2%.
At the committee stage, MEPs proposed to exempt tonic wines, sold mainly in the UK. Other amendments to be voted on this week oblige manufacturers to state a recommended daily intake of the additives and to publish a warning not to exceed that. The list of authorised vitamins and minerals would be amended at a later stage by the European Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health.
For a link to the proposal, text of the amendments and report adopted at committee stage, see the Legislative Observatory at http://www2.europarl.eu.int/oeil/file.jsp?id=237822
This proposal is being taken under the codecision procedure. If the Council of Ministers rejects any of the amendments adopted by Parliament this week, the proposed Regulation will return for a 2nd reading.
MEPs will be debating a new money laundering directive which would expand the current rules so that they cover funding of terrorism. The original 1991 money laundering directive set up a warning system to prevent financial transactions being used for money laundering, mainly by imposing on financial institutions the obligation to identify their customers. The new proposal declares the financing of terrorist activities a criminal offence, like money-laundering, and brings it within the scope of the directive.
Banks, credit companies and other financial institutions will have to check a customer's identity when they open an account or whenever the customer carries out a transaction of €15,000 or more. The only exception will be for lawyers representing a client in legal proceedings.
Although this is only the 1st reading under the codecision procedure, informal negotiations with the Council of Ministers make it likely that the directive will be adopted at 1st reading.
For a link to the proposal, text of the amendments and report adopted at committee stage, see the Legislative Observatory at http://www2.europarl.eu.int/oeil/file.jsp?id=5207062
Wednesday's debate on seat belts will be all the more poignant in the light of this week's tragic coach crash in the Republic of Ireland. The package of legislation to be voted on by MEPs this week will see the compulsory fitting of seat belts in minibuses, coaches, light commercial vehicles and lorries. Amendments are likely to be adopted exempting conference buses from a ban on side-facing seats. But aside from that, MEPs are largely in agreement with the Council of Ministers and the package of measures is likely to be adopted at 2nd reading. The measures would come into force over the next 6-18 months.
Also due for adoption this week, the 1st reading of a directive on frontal protection systems on cars, usually 'bull bars'. The proposed directive, aimed at improving protection for pedestrians, details the tests necessary for approving all frontal protection systems. Bull bars already in place are not covered by this legislation; nor are vehicles over 3.5 tonnes.
Nigel Farage MEP (UKIP, South East) has tabled a motion of censure, signed by 76 other MEPs, against the European Commission. The motion asks the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, to explain the gift he received from a billionaire businessman, who subsequently received a regional aid grant from the European Commission. The motion will be debated on Wednesday with Mr Barroso himself, but any vote on censure will not take place before the next Strasbourg session of the Parliament in June.
The leaders of the four largest political groups in the European Parliament, including Graham Watson MEP (Liberal Democrat, South West) issued a statement opposing the motion of censure which they considered 'unjustified and disproportionate'.
Peter Skinner MEP (Labour, South East) will lead the debate on the proposed EU re-insurance directive, which sets up a common system for regulating the re-insurance market across the EU. Major issues have been the levels of solvency required for companies to offer re-insurance contracts and the need for collateral to be posted before re-insurance can be offered. The latter has affected also EU companies trying to enter the US market. This is the 1st reading in the codecision procedure. However, following informal negotiations with the Council of Ministers, it is hoped that the directive can be adopted formally later this summer, coming into effect 2 years later, with an additional one year transition for those markets unable to adapt immediately.
For a link to the proposal, text of the amendments and report adopted at committee stage, see the Legislative Observatory at http://www2.europarl.eu.int/oeil/file.jsp?id=243432
Claude Moraes MEP (Labour, London) will present his report to the European Parliament on anti-discrimination and the protection of minorities in the enlarged EU. The report focuses in particular on Member States' slow implementation of the EU anti-discrimination directives; it pays special attention to Romany minorities and to women, while condemning in general attacks on Muslim and Jewish communities across different Member States.
It addresses three politically sensitive issues: the procedure to be used if an individual Commissioner has a conflict of interest; the consequences of a no-confidence vote by Parliament against a Commissioner and the steps to be taken to replace a Commissioner in the middle of his or her term of office.
The latest session agenda is available at www.europarl.eu.int/plenary/default_en.htm
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