The Week in the European Parliament: Latest News

 

Port services

MEPs voted by 532 votes to 120 (with 25 abstentions) to reject the proposed directive on market access to port services. In responding to the vote, Commissioner Barrot said that he would consult his fellow Commissioners before deciding whether to withdraw the proposal.

The following UK MEPs took part in the debate on Tues 17 January: Stephen Hughes (Lab, North East); Ashley Mote (Non attached, South East); Jeffrey Titford (UKIP, Eastern); Philip Bradbourn (Conservative, West Midlands); Sajjad Karim (Lib Dem, North West); Richard Howitt (Labour, Eastern Region).

 

Equitable Life

Seven MEPs from the UK will take part in the European Parliament's new committee of inquiry in the Equitable Life case. They are: Sir Robert Atkins (Conservative, North West); Godfrey Bloom (UKIP, Yorks & Humber); Sharon Bowles (Lib Dem, South East); Michael Cashman (Labour, West Midlands); Ashley Mote (Independent, South East); Peter Skinner (Labour, South East); Diana Wallis (Lib Dem, Yorks & Humber).

The committee's mandate is to investigate the way in which the UK authorities applied the relevant EU directives, examine whether the European Commission properly monitored the transposition of Community law and assess allegations that UK regulators consistently failed to protect policy holders through rigorous supervision of accounting and provisioning practices at Equitable Life.  The committee has twelve months to complete its work and submit a report to Parliament.  An interim report will be delivered after four months.

 

CIA flights

Baroness Ludford (Lib Dem, London); Claude Moraes (Labour, London) and Charles Tannock (Conservative, London) will be the three UK MEPs who will sit on the European Parliament's new temporary committee to look into allegations that the CIA transported and illegally detained prisoners on EU territory.

The temporary committee's mandate will be to collect and analyse information on:

• whether the CIA have carried out abductions, detentions at secret sites, torture, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners on EU territory or in acceding or candidate countries, or have run flights to or from such countries;
• whether such actions, even if carried out as part of the fight against terrorism, violate the EU Treaty, the European Convention on Human Rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights or other international agreements, including EU-US agreements on extradition;
• whether EU citizens, people from the candidate countries, or any other person entitled to protection from the EU have been detained;
• whether EU Member States or institutions have been involved.

 

EU budget 2007-2013

MEPs voted by 541 to 56 (with 76 abstentions) to reject the proposed deal on the EU's budget for 2007-2013. The resolution adopted on Wednesday criticised the levels of funding agreed by heads of government in December 2005 as insufficient to comply with policies already adopted by the Council of Ministers itself.

The so-called Financial Perspectives (Budget 2007-2013) can only take effect with the agreement of the three EU institutions (Council, Parliament and Commission). A series of trilateral meetings began on Wednesday (with further meetings planned in the coming weeks) between Parliament President Josep Borrell, Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Council President Wolfgang Schuessel. On 1 February, the European Commission is expected to present its draft Inter-institutional agreement - the final agreement must be adopted by the whole Parliament (and seven years ago, a further €2bn were added to the Council's position following discussions at a similar stage).

 

Chair of Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee

Arlene McCarthy MEP (Labour, North West) has been nominated to take over the chair of the European Parliament's Internal Market & Consumer Protection Committee, following the sudden death in December of Phillip Whitehead. The next meeting of the committee, at which her appointment must be formally ratified, takes place on Tuesday 24 January 2006.

 

MEPs vote for new EU Bathing Water Directive

The European Parliament has approved new EU rules on minimum standards for the quality of bathing water. Whether heading for one of the UK's beaches or to one of the other 20,000 recognised bathing waters across the EU, holidaymakers will benefit from clearer, more up-to-date information on water quality as a result of today's vote.

How will the new EU directive affect bathing waters in the UK and the rest of the EU?

• It simplifies the water tests, focusing on the two most important types of bacteria, instead of 19 under current rules;
  
• It will classify beaches as either 'excellent', 'good', 'sufficient' or 'poor', the 'sufficient' category being new with stricter standards thanks to the European Parliament (from 2015);
  
• It means water will be tested more frequently, especially when a beach is classified as 'poor' or 'sufficient';
  
• Information will be posted on the internet almost instantly, instead of being up to one year out-of-date under the current system (from 2013);
  
• New, standard signs will be devised which must be placed at all bathing sites to indicate the quality of the water (from 2015).

Today's vote is the culmination of discussions between the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, in which MEPs stressed the need to tighten standards for the new 'sufficient' category and the need for quality information to the public.

The new standards will replace the existing 1976 Directive. This bathing water management programme will be introduced over a 13 year period, starting in 2008.

For further details, see: http://www.europarl.eu.int/news/public/default_en.htm?language=EN

 

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DIARY DATES

• 1 January -30 June 2006: Austrian Presidency - http://www.eu2006.at/
• 1 July -31 December 2006: Finnish Presidency
  
  
• 1-2 February 2006: European Parliament plenary session, Brussels
• 13-16 February 2006: European Parliament plenary session, Strasbourg
• 13-16 March 2006: European Parliament plenary session, Strasbourg
• 22-23 March 2006: European Parliament plenary session, Brussels
• 3-6 April 2006: European Parliament plenary session, Strasbourg
• 26-27 April 2006: European Parliament plenary session, Brussels
• 15-18 May 2006: European Parliament plenary session, Strasbourg
• 31 May -1 June 2006: European Parliament plenary session, Brussels
• 12-15 June 2006: European Parliament plenary session, Strasbourg.
  
• Link to the European Parliament's session calendar 2006: http://www.europarl.eu.int/activities/expert/staticDisplay.do?id=118

 

FURTHER INFORMATION:

Simon Duffin, sduffin@europarl.eu.int, European Parliament UK Office, tel 020 7227 4300