European Parliament session 24-27 September 2007

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Highlights of next week's European Parliament agenda in Strasbourg include:

• Railways (debate Monday; vote Tuesday);
• European Technology Institute (Debate Tuesday - vote Weds);
• Immigration - legal and illegal (Debate Wednesday);
• Dangerous toys from China (Tuesday debate)

 

Railways

Three pieces of legislation affecting the EU's rail networks are due for debate and adoption in Strasbourg (debate Monday evening; vote Tuesday).

• Compensation for rail passengers on international and domestic rail journeys will come into effect in all EU Member States from 2009. For cross-border services, if the operator can be held responsible for the delay, compensation will be 25% of the fare for 60 minutes or more, and 50% for a delay of 120 minutes or more. The new rules also deal with issues such as the right to take a bicycle on a train, but Member States can grant domestic services an exemption for five years (renewable).
  
• International passenger services within the EU will be opened up to competition from January 2010, with an assessment to be made within two years as to whether domestic services in all Member States should also be liberalised.
  
• From 2009, train drivers will have to have a certificate stating that they meet minimum levels of medical fitness, education and professional skills. Within 18 months, the European Railway Agency will identify any other groups of railway staff who should be subject to a similar European licensing system.

This is the 3rd reading of the proposed railways legislation. The texts resulting from negotiations between MEPs and the Council of Ministers can be seen here. A majority of MEPs needs now to support the negotiated texts for them to become law. Formal approval of the Council of Ministers would then follow. At the 2nd reading stage, the following UK MEPs spoke in the debate (January 2007): Mike Nattrass (UKIP, West Midlands); Jim Allister (Ind., Northern Ireland); Gary Titley (Labour, North West).

 

European Technology Institute

The proposal to set up a European Institute of Technology receives its 1st reading, with debate on Tuesday and vote on Wednesday. At committee stage, MEPs adopted 76 amendments to the European Commission proposal. These include:

• to rename the EIT the European Institute of Innovation and Technology so as to reflect the need to focus on innovation;
• a Governing Board to select higher education institutions, research bodies, private companies and other stakeholders to form partnerships known as 'Knowledge and Innovation Communities';
• rejection of the proposal that the EIT should award its own degrees and diplomas;
• a pilot phase to be up and running within two years of the adoption of the proposed Regulation.

Other amendments discuss the overall budget of the Institute and the public-private mix of funding sources.

For a link to the report and amendments adopted by the Industry Committee see this link to Europarl.

A feasibility study commissioned by the European Parliament on the EIT (published in March 2007) is available on the Industry Committee homepage; as is the evidence presented at a committee hearing on 2 May 2007.

 

Immigration

Immigration is the subject of Wednesday morning's key debate. Two reports are due for discussion: one on a proposed policy plan on legal migration; the other setting out policy priorities for the fight against illegal immigration.

According to the EU statistical office Eurostat, about 18.5 million non-EU nationals are legally resident in the 27 EU Member States (compared to 9 million EU citizens living in a Member State other than their own). Among the proposals supported in the Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee is the notion of a 'blue card' EU work permit to facilitate the free movement of 'brains' within the EU.

The report on illegal immigration notes conflicting figures on the numbers of non-EU citizens staying illegally in Member States: anything from 4.5 million to 8 million. The Civil Liberties Committee's report firmly opposed the setting up of holding centres outside the EU's borders. The full Parliament will adopt two non-binding resolutions on Wednesday.

 

Dangerous toys

MEPs are due to debate the recent recalls of dangerous toys manufactured in China (Tuesday). Some of the toys affected include Batman toys, characters from Sesame Street and accessories for 'Barbie' dolls. When MEPs met the European Commissioner responsible for consumer protection last week, Internal Market Committee chair Arlene McCarthy (Labour, North West) asked whether parents could be reassured that safer toys would be available in time for Christmas.

RAPEX is an EU-wide alert system for dangerous products other than food. It is coordinated by the European Commission and links market surveillance authorities from 30 different European countries. The next RAPEX report is due out in October. The European Commission will respond to Tuesday's debate and MEPs will adopt a resolution setting out the Parliament's views on the subject on Wednesday.

 

UK MEPs

> Farming - 'set aside'

As chair of the European Parliament Agriculture Committee, South West MEP Neil Parish (Conservative) will lead Tuesday's debate on the proposal to suspend so-called 'set-aside' in relation to cereal crops. Since 1992, farm payments have been directly linked to farmers keeping a percentage of their land out of production. With the worldwide supply of cereals now severely reduced, it is proposed to reduce set-aside to 0% in time for autumn 2007 and spring 2008 sowings. The final say on the change remains with the Council of Ministers but the European Parliament has to be consulted. This new item is being tabled under an urgency procedure to enable the reforms to be adopted this month.

 

> Brazil

South East Region Greens MEP Caroline Lucas is among the signatories to an oral question for the European Commission on the EU's relations with Brazil and other Latin American countries.

 

> European Parliament - voting rights

Any EU citizen has the right to vote or stand in European Parliament elections in the EU Member State where he or she resides. Since this right was laid down in the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, it has been possible, for example, for UK citizens living in France or Spain to stand for the European elections and to vote in those countries; equally, any EU citizen living in the UK can vote or stand for election to the European Parliament in one of the UK's electoral regions. (n.b. These rights do not extend to general elections, however).

A report tabled by Eastern Region Liberal Democrat MEP Andrew Duff recommends ways to remove administrative obstacles which have made it difficult in practice for people to benefit from these rights. Among the proposals in the report adopted by the Constitutional Affairs Committee is that there should be no prohibition on standing for election in more than one Member State, provided the country of residence permits multiple candidatures.

 

OTHER ISSUES

• Sugar sector reform: The reform of the sugar sector, launched in 2006, has had mixed results. Financial incentives were put in place to encourage less competitive producers to leave the sector, but the 2.2 million tonnes reduction in production is far short of the 2010 target of 6 million. The European Commission has tabled proposals to speed up the reform. The Council of Ministers has the final say on the new regime, but Tuesday's debate is the European Parliament's chance to have its say. When the initial reform package was debated in January 2006, the following UK MEPs spoke: Glenys Kinnock (Lab, Wales); Jeffrey Titford (UKIP, Eastern); David Martin (Lab, Scotland).
  
• Death penalty: Tuesday sees a debate on the proposed moratorium on the use of the death penalty. European Parliament resolutions in February and April 2007 called for a universal moratorium and for 10 October to be declared European Day against the Death Penalty. MEPs will discuss this again as not all EU Member States governments have signed up to the idea.
  
• Renewable energy: Renewable energy is on the agenda for Monday. A non-binding resolution will make recommendations on offshore wind energy; biofuels; and realistic binding targets in a future proposal for European legislation.
  
• Foreign policy and energy: Monday's discussion of EU foreign policy on energy is not designed to respond to this week's European Commission proposals for reform to the energy markets. The issues overlap, however, so the new proposals are almost certain to enter into the debate. This report from the Foreign Affairs Committee advocates the creation of a 'High Official for Foreign Energy Policy'. It also sees the Energy Charter Treaty as the cornerstone of energy relations with Russia and other third parties.
  
• Digital libraries: MEPs will set out their views on the proposal for a European Digital Library in Wednesday's debate. The idea is to create a network of national libraries with a view to preserving as much of Europe's cultural heritage as possible online.
  
• Urban transport: The European Commission will make a statement (Tuesday) on its planned Green Paper on urban transport, due for publication later this autumn. The Green Paper will address both passenger and freight transport and will look at all forms of transport from motor vehicles to cycling and walking. The idea is to see whether there is any consensus among stakeholders for coordinated EU action to improve urban transport.
  
• CIA flights: MEPs will hear statements from the European Commission and the Portuguese Presidency on the latest information available concerning secret detention and illegal transfers of prisoners by the CIA in Europe. The European Parliament adopted its report on the subject in February 2007. The Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty met the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee in July 2007, following publication of his own report.
  
• Education statistics: Proposed new rules will be adopted on what statistics should be compiled to enable better comparisons of lifelong learning in the 27 Member States. (Vote Tuesday).
  
• Race discrimination: The Race Equality Directive of 2000 extended protection against racial discrimination from the workplace to cover also goods and services. All Member States should have implemented this by July 2003, but its impact has varied tremendously across Member States. A report from the Civil Liberties Committee will be debated on Thursday morning.

Full information can be found in "The Briefing" at: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/expert/tous_les_briefing/default/default_en.htm

 

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Note to readers: Where available, a link to the factsheet on the European Parliament's Legislative Observatory (the 'OEIL') is included in the right-hand column: OEIL files often contain a summary of the successive stages of the legislative procedure, and links to the original proposal. [ For a quick reminder of the different types of European laws, please check this link on the Commission's website, Europa ].

Edited committee agenda below, with links to full agenda on www.europarl.eu.int, and working documents on the committees' websites:

AFET	SEDE	DROI	BUDG	CONT	DEVE	ECON	EMPL	ENVI	ITRE	IMCO	INTA
TRAN	REGI	AGRI	PECH	CULT	JURI	LIBE	AFCO	FEMM	PETI	CLIM

Committee in charge	Date of meeting	Link to full agenda	Link to Committee
Title of procedure	MEP in charge	Type of procedure	Stage of procedure	Proposed Act / OEIL
AFET - Foreign Affairs [ list ]	24 September 2007	full agenda	committee homepage	-
Committee on Foreign Affairs & Committee on Development Extraordinary joint meeting Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2007: vote on candidates	List of Nominees: read Focus item on Parliament News Page	-	-	-
-	-	-	-	-
SEDE - Subcommittee on Security and Defence [ list ]	1-2 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
DROI - Subcommittee on Human Rights [ list ]	1-2 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
BUDG - Budgets [ list ]			committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
CONT - Budgetary Control [ list ]	3-4 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
DEVE - Development [ list ]	2-3 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
ECON - Economic and Monetary Affairs [ list ]	24 September 2007	full agenda	committee homepage
International Financial reporting Standard (IFRS) 8 concerning disclosure of operating segments	Pervenche Berès (PSE)	-	Consideration of draft motion for a resolution	-
Capital adequacy of investment firms and credit institutions (implementing powers conferred on the Commission)	Pervenche Berès (PSE)	Codecision first reading	Consideration of draft report	Directive - OEIL
Supervision of credit institutions, insurance undertakings and investment firms (implementing powers conferred on the Commission)	Pervenche Berès (PSE)	Codecision first reading	Consideration of draft report	Directive - OEIL
Transparency requirements in relation to information about issuers of securities (implementing powers conferred on the Commission)	Pervenche Berès (PSE)	Codecision first reading	Consideration of draft report	Directive - OEIL
Markets in financial instruments (implementing powers conferred on the Commission)	Pervenche Berès (PSE)	Codecision first reading	Consideration of draft report	Directive - OEIL
The taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions (implementing powers conferred to the Commission)	Pervenche Berès (PSE)	Codecision first reading	Consideration of draft report	Directive - OEIL
Insider dealing and market manipulation (implementing powers conferred on the Commission)	Pervenche Berès (PSE)	Codecision first reading	Consideration of draft report	Directive - OEIL
Prospectus on securities (implementing powers conferred on the Commission)	Pervenche Berès (PSE)	Codecision first reading	Consideration of draft report	Directive - OEIL
Life assurance (implementing powers conferred on the Commission)	Pervenche Berès (PSE)	Codecision first reading	Consideration of draft report	Directive - OEIL
Business registers for statistical purposes	Hans-Peter Martin (NI)	Codecision second reading	Consideration of draft report	Regulation - OEIL
Preparatory report on the broad economic policy guidelines for 2008	Margarita Starkevičiūtė (ALDE)	-	First exchange of views	-
-	-	-	-	-
EMPL - Employment and Social Affairs [ list ]	8-9 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
ENVI - Environment, Public Health and Food Safety [ list ]	2-3 October 2007		committee homepage
-	-	-	-	-
ITRE - Industry, Research and Energy [ list ]	1-3 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
IMCO - Internal Market and Consumer Protection [ list ]	2-4 October 2007		committee homepage
-	-	-	-	-
INTA - International Trade [ list ]	8-9 October 2007		committee homepage
-	-	-	-	-
TRAN - Transport and Tourism [ list ]	8-9 & 11 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
REGI - Regional Development [ list ]	3-4 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
AGRI - Agriculture and Rural Development [ list ]	24 September 2007	full agenda	committee homepage	-
With the Commission	-	-	-	-
Derogation from Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 as regards set aside for year 2008. Exchange of views	-	Consultation	Decision on procedure	-
-	-	-	-	-
PECH - Fisheries [ list ]	2-3 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
CULT - Culture and Education [ list ]	3-4 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
JURI - Legal Affairs [ list ]	3-4 October 2007		committee homepage
-	-	-	-	-
LIBE - Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs [ list ]	2-3 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
AFCO - Constitutional Affairs [ list ]	1-2 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
FEMM - Women's Rights and Gender Equality [ list ]	1-2 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
PETI - Petitions [ list ]	3-4 October 2007		committee homepage	-
-	-	-	-	-
CLIM - Temporary Committee on Climate Change [ list ]	4 October 2007	-	committee homepage
-	-	-	-	-

European Parliament session

Committee Meetings

Diary Dates

Hearings

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European Parliament session

Committee Meetings

Diary Dates

Hearings

Further information

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Hearings

• 3-4 October 2007
  Committee on Budgetary Control
  Governance in the European Commission
  
• 4 October 2007
  Committee on Culture and Education
  The results of the Bologna Process
  
• 9 October 2007
  Committee on Transport and Tourism
  Sustainable European transport policy

Programmes and documents can be found on Europarl.

 

 

Further information