UK Office of the European Parliament

EP News, June 16th, 2008 (No. 363)

European Parliament session, 16-19 June 2008

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

• Energy markets - Electricity (1st reading: Tuesday debate; Weds vote)
• Waste Directive - 2nd reading (Debate Monday; vote Tuesday)
• Illegal non-EU immigrants - 'Returns' Directive (Debate Tuesday)
• Sheep & goat farming (Report - debate Wednesday)
• New Italian Commissioner - French Commissioner new remit (Vote Weds).

Energy markets

Reform of the EU’s electricity markets takes centre stage on Tuesday afternoon. Welsh Labour MEP Eluned Morgan will lead the debate on the proposed directive looking to increase competition in the market.

Among the issues raised in Eluned Morgan’s report, as adopted in committee:

• A commitment to complete unbundling of electricity markets, with no alternative 'independent system operators' as proposed by the European Commission;
• New wording to emphasise consumer rights and, for the first time, an emphasis on the need to deal with 'energy poverty' at the EU level;
• Definition of the respective roles of national regulatory authorities and the new European regulatory body;
• Funding for energy efficiency measures and incentives for local, micro-generation.

Also part of the package of legislative proposals: the legal basis for co-operation between European energy regulators, with a report from South West Conservative MEP Giles Chichester; Regulations on access to networks and on a European Charter for Consumer Rights.

This is the 1st reading in the codecision procedure where the European Parliament has equal decision-making powers with the Council of Ministers. Unless the Council accepts all amendments adopted by the Parliament at 1st reading, the proposals will return for a 2nd reading at a later stage.

For the report and amendments on electricity markets, please use the links below:

Report by Eluned Morgan (A6-0191/2008) - Internal market in electricity
Report by Alejo Vidal-Quadras (A6-0228/2008) - Conditions for access to the network for cross-border exchanges in electricity
Report by Giles Chichester (A6-0226/2008) - Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators
Report by Mia De Vits (A6-0202/2008) - Towards a European Charter on the Rights of Energy Consumers

Waste Directive

South West Conservative MEP Caroline Jackson will lead Monday afternoon's first debate, on the proposed Waste Directive. Among the main issues agreed at committee stage: Clarification on definitions of waste, re-use, recycling, recovery, disposal, to avoid continual recourse to the European Court of Justice to interpret what these terms mean; recycling targets of 50% for paper, metal and glass from households by 2020; and 70% for non-hazardous construction and demolition waste; laying down energy efficiency requirements which would mean that only the most energy efficient incinerators could be classified as 'recovery' operations.

This is the 2nd reading of the proposed Directive - any amendments at 2nd reading must achieve 393 (i.e. 50% + 1) votes. The package of amendments being put forward is the result of informal negotiations with the Council, however, and it is expected to be agreed by both Parliament and Council. Different aspects of the Directive would come into effect at different times over the next 12 years.

In the debate at 1st reading (12 February 2007), the following UK MEPs spoke: Caroline Jackson (SW, Cons); Jill Evans (Wales, Plaid); Bairbre de Brún (Nthn Ireland, Sinn Feín); Jim Allister (Nthn Ireland, Ind.); Tom Wise (Eastern, Ind.).

Illegal immigrants - 'Returns' Directive

The UK is not opting in to one of the major pieces of legislation due for adoption in Strasbourg: this is the directive setting up common standards for dealing with non-EU citizens residing illegally in the territory of Member States (sometimes known as the 'Returns' Directive). Ireland has joined the UK in not opting in to the proposal.

The Directive, as adopted in the Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee, sets out maximum periods of detention for illegal immigrants (6 months, extendable to 18 months); it imposes a ban on re-entry into the EU within 5 years; but it also sets out basic rights, especially for unaccompanied minors, with provisions on legal aid and the establishment of an EU Return Fund.

Sheep & goat farming

The report on sheep and goat farming from the Parliament's Agriculture Committee has already had a fair amount of coverage in the UK media. Among the reports' recommendations: a rethink on plans for compulsory electronic-tagging of sheep; new financial support for the sector, including per capita sheep premiums; EU labelling for sheep meat products.

For the full text of the report and resolution adopted in committee, please use this link. Debate: Wednesday evening.

European Commissioners

Former MEP Antonio Tajani has been nominated as the next Italian member of the European Commission. On Monday evening (7.15pm UK time) he will appear before the Parliament's Transport Committee. The Committee will then recommend whether or not to approve his nomination before a vote in the full Parliament on Wednesday.

Commissioner Barrot from France will appear before the Civil Liberties Committee on Monday (4.30pm UK time) so that his remit can shift from transport to civil liberties, justice and home affairs. (Vote also on Wednesday).

The committee hearings will both be broadcast live via the European Parliament website.

Other legislation

Water quality - 2nd reading

New environmental standards for water quality are set to receive their 2nd reading with debate on Monday (vote on Tuesday). 33 pollutants - mainly pesticides and heavy metals - are to be covered by the new rules, given the threat they pose to animal and plant life. This is the final piece in the jigsaw of legislation under the Water Framework Directive.

Inventories of pollutants and maps of river basins are already foreseen for completion by 2009 under the existing Water Framework Directive. The new directive further defines which pollutants are to be considered as priority substances or hazardous substances. It also sets out what to do about so-called 'mixing zones' - close to sources of pollution - where it will not be possible quickly to comply with the environmental quality standards. On timing, Member States are to have made progress towards complying with the new standards by 2018.

In the 1st reading on this proposal, the only UK MEP to speak in the debate (21 May 2007) was Eastern Region Conservative Robert Sturdy.

Pedestrian safety - Report by Mr Ferrari

Italian MEP Francesco Ferrari will be leading Tuesday evening's debate on pedestrian safety. This is the 1st reading of a proposed Regulation setting out tougher safety standards for cars and light goods vehicles.

Many of the amendments to the proposal adopted by the Transport Committee bring forward the dates by which various new standards have to be brought in, first for new vehicle types and then for all new vehicles. The Regulation would also replace the existing Directive on Frontal Protection Systems. One amendment aims to encourage development of efficient anti-collision systems for pedestrians.

For the report and amendments adopted in committee, please use this link.

Food safety - amendment to the rules

Reducing consumer exposure to drug residues is the aim of a proposed amendment to existing EU rules on food safety. The main concern is to limit the level of veterinary medicine residues in food of animal origin. 44 amendments to the proposal were adopted at committee stage. These lay down: risk assessment procedures, checks and tests on food of animal origin; a time-frame for such tests; what can and cannot be placed on the market; and a ban on food imports with traces of pharmacological substances forbidden in the EU.

For the report and amendments adopted in committee, please use this link.

Road infrastructure safety - 1st reading

The proposed directive on road infrastructure safety management was first proposed in 2006, but was rejected at committee stage in the Parliament in 2007 as MEPs felt that most of the provisions would be more appropriately laid down at national level. The new 1st reading report now due for debate on Wednesday evening (vote Thursday) has come up with a set of guidelines rather than requirements which will apply to Trans-European Networks and to motorways, leaving Member States to decide whether they should apply to other roads. The criteria for identifying roads with high-accident rates are set out, along with guidelines on road signage aimed at improving safety. The aim is to arrive at a EU-wide set of road safety standards.

The text of the report and amendments adopted in the Transport Committee can be seen via this link.

Dangerous goods transport - 2nd reading

Proposed changes to the existing rules on inland transport of dangerous goods are due for their 2nd reading on Wednesday evening (vote Thursday). The changes are needed because inland waterways are not included in the current legislation and the easy transfer of goods between different modes was therefore put at risk.

All of the amendments adopted by the European Parliament at 1st reading were subsequently accepted by the Council of Ministers. The Council did, however, insert two new technical clauses, which is why the proposal has returned for 2nd reading. In the 1st reading debate, two UK MEPs spoke: Brian Simpson (Labour, North West) and Alyn Smith (SNP, Scotland) - 4 September 2007.

OTHER ISSUES

• EU Summit: The result of the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty is likely now to dominate proceedings at the next EU Summit (19-20 June). Wednesday morning's key debate gives MEPs a chance to air their views before the Summit begins. As usual, the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, will make a statement at the opening of the summit on Thursday in Brussels. Two UK MEPs lead their respective European political groupings and are therefore likely to take part in Wednesday morning's debate: Graham Watson (Lib Dem, South West) and Nigel Farage (UKIP, South East).
  


• Fuel prices: Commission and Council statements on recent oil and diesel price rises follow immediately after discussion of the EU Summit on Wednesday morning. With fuel protests from truck drivers in Spain and Belgium, industrial action from some petrol tank delivery drivers in the UK, and protests by French and Spanish fishermen, the issue has become a hot topic across the EU.
  


• Sovereign Wealth Funds: Should there be an EU approach to the issue of Sovereign Wealth Funds and how should the EU act on the global stage when it comes to discussion of these Funds? These are two parts of the Oral Questions being put by MEPs to both the European Commission and the Council on Wednesday afternoon.
  


• 2010 - European Year against Poverty: On Monday evening, MEPs will discuss the proposal to make 2010 the European Year against Poverty and Social Exclusion. Much of the focus of the Year is likely to be on combating child poverty. €17m is being proposed to fund projects and activities, with just over a third of that money to be spent on preparatory activities up to December 2009. This is the 1st reading of the formal legal Decision on setting up the Year; MEPs at committee stage adopted 66 amendments, fine-tuning the basic tenets of the Year and the criteria for funding. Unless the Council of Ministers accepts all amendments adopted in Strasbourg, the proposal will return for a 2nd reading at a later stage.
  


• Poultry carcasses: Poultry imports into the EU made it on to the agenda of the EU-US summit this week in the wake of reports that the ban on poultry treated with chlorinated water could be lifted. This ban effectively prevents all imports into the EU of US poultry meat. The European Commission is proposing changes to the current restrictions; MEPs will debate this issue on Tuesday evening, with a vote on a resolution (Wednesday).
  


• 'Intelligent Car': Progress towards safer, cleaner and more efficient motoring is the topic of Thursday morning's only debate, as MEPs discuss a report on the 'Intelligent Car' initiative. Better anti-skidding devices and faster development of the e-Call emergency system are on the cards. But MEPs are calling for better publicity and for such developments to be more cheaply available to all.
  


• Russia: The next EU-Russia Summit will take place on 26-27 June in Siberia. It will be the first summit attended by the new Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev. Energy security is likely to be one of the main themes when MEPs discuss preparations for the summit on Wednesday.
  


• European Ombudsman: The rules governing the European Ombudsman's access to information are set to be amended this week (vote: Wednesday). Changes adopted in the Constitutional Affairs Committee include deletion of the current clause saying that information may be refused on 'grounds of secrecy'. Instead, new text proposed at committee stage spells out how classified information obtained by the Ombudsman should be handled. In the debate on this report held in Strasbourg on 21 April 2008, two UK MEPs spoke: Eastern Region Liberal Democrat Andrew Duff MEP and Yorks & Humber Labour MEP Richard Corbett.

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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