Tag: European Parliament

A summertime spat between British MEPs triggered by a blog post published yesterday (25 July) foreshadowed a tough EU electoral campaign as mainstream parties struggle to contain the popularity of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Amid growing concerns about sexual attacks on women in Africa’s Sahel region, a European Parliament report urges the Commission to press governments receiving EU aid to do more to protect women and girls.

World Population Day is a day for the human rights of the girl child, women and mothers. The European Parliament currently has two chances to make a difference, argues French MEP Véronique Mathieu Houillon.

Campaign groups have accused EU decision-makers of weakening a regulation designed to end the practice of “beaching” old ships in foreign countries, saying the new law offers loopholes to shippers and would “unilaterally exempt” European vessels from international rules barring the export of hazardous materials to developing nations.

The European Parliament's Environment Committee has given its support to a compromise plan to boost the price of allowances on the EU's carbon market.

SPECIAL REPORT / The European Parliament needs more science and less emotion in making decisions on chemicals, pesticides and other contentious legislation, an MEP said on Tuesday (11 June), arguing that lawmakers were influenced by "scaremongering" and environmental lobbying in recent votes.

The European Union agreed early today (30 May) to put an end to decades of over-fishing and rebuild dwindling stocks by 2020, as part of a deal to overhaul of fisheries policy.

The Arab Spring has been a wake-up call for the EU as it showed that the Union has not always been coherent and consistent in its foreign relations, Dick Toornstra told EurActiv in an interview.

European Union plans forcing companies to change accountants regularly were watered down on Thursday (25 April), providing some relief for the "Big Four" auditors that check most large company books.

With a far broader range of stakeholders than in former times and more decisionmaking power for the European Parliament, there was hope that the CAP debate would lead to reforms that would meet the current and coming challenges for agriculture. Yet the EU could be on course for a disappointing outcome, say Cordula Rutz and Jörg Schramek.

The European Parliament Development committee regretted the cuts to the EU's 2014-2020 budget, estimating them at  €10 billion, but admitted that much bigger cuts had been anticipated.

The European Parliament has approved out-of-court systems for dealing with consumer complaints, in a drive to save some €22.5 billion by reducing the number of lengthy court actions.

Bowing to criticism that it was “undemocratic”, the European Parliament’s agriculture committee agreed Monday night (11 March) to allow the full house to vote on hundreds of amendments to the EU’s future farm policy, many of them aimed at reversing the panel’s earlier decisions. EurActiv reports from Strasbourg.

The right to choose your partner is vital for achieving global gender equality and development: It is the EU’s duty to take the lead in ending forced child marriage, say MEPs Véronique Mathieu and Katarína Neveďalová.

If the EU leaders' agreement on the long-term EU budget does not respect the red lines spelled out by MEPs, namely flexibility, a mid-term review clause and more money for growth and investment, the European Parliament might decide to reject the proposal and revert to annual budgets, says Hannes Swoboda, leader of the Socialists and Democrats group.

The European Parliament will vote by secret ballot on the EU's 2014-2020 budget, its centre-left President Martin Schulz and Joseph Daul, the leader of the centre-right European People’s Party, said yesterday (7 February).