Round-up of Strasbourg session 12-15 January

Published: 20 January 2009 y., Tuesday

Strasbūras
Last week's first Parliamentary session of the year opened with Members dealing with key international issues such as the crisis in Gaza and the Russia-Ukraine gas dispute. The week also saw MEPs vote to ban certain pesticides to protect safety.

With the death toll rising in Gaza last week Parliament's President Hans-Gert Pöttering led calls for an “immediate end of violence on both sides”, with fellow MEPs echoing these sentiments all week.
 
The start of the year also saw many homes in eastern and central Europe without gas as Russia and the Ukraine became locked in a fierce dispute over gas supplies. Throughout the week MEPs voiced condemnation of the whole debacle, with a resolution having now being passed.
 
A decade of the euro was also marked with MEPs being joined by the President of the European Central Bank Jean Claude Trichet and Europe's Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquín Almunia to debate the impact of the currency.
 
The first session of the year also saw the Czech Republic's PM Mirek Topolánek come before the House to set the priorities of his country's 6-month presidency of the EU.
 
In other debates the House passed the resolution to ban harmful pesticides in a bid to increase safety. Also discussed was the introduction of biometric passports, humane animal transport across Europe and the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet.
 

Šaltinis: europarl.europa.eu
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

The most popular articles

Jacques Delors: Europe needs a "soul"

Europe needs a secular "soul" and the European project is running into trouble through a combination of individualism, globalisation and a lack of interest from national governments. more »

Regional policy must be more flexible and focus on job creation

EU cohesion policy not only needs adequate funding, it should also be more flexible to reflect regional differences, says Parliament in two resolutions adopted on Thursday on cohesion policy priorities after 2013. more »

Opening of Brussels plenary session: support for Hungary following toxic flood

At the opening of today's plenary session in Brussels, Parliament's President Jerzy Buzek made reference to Monday's flood of toxic waste in Hungary, the anniversary of the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and the EP's support for abolition of the death penalty. more »

Taking stock of Europe's relations with China

China and the European Union will hold their annual meeting in Brussels on 6 October. more »

Climate: 30% emissions target would favour EU economic growth, says Environment Committee

The EU would be acting in its own economic interest if it raised its 2020 CO2 reduction target to 30%, says Parliament's Environment Committee in a resolution, approved on Tuesday, which also highlights climate aid commitments to developing countries as critical to progress in upcoming international talks in Cancún, Mexico. more »

Commissioners Malmström and Füle visit Libya to reinforce EU-Libya cooperation

Cecilia Malmström, Commissioner for Home Affairs, and Štefan Füle, Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, travel to Libya on 4-6 October where they will meet representatives of the Libyan government to discuss the state of bilateral relations, two years after the start of negotiations on an EU-Libya Framework Agreement. more »

Republic of Moldova - Restrictive measures against theleadership of the Transnistrian region

The Council today1 adopted a decision concerning restrictive measures (visa ban) against the Transnistrian leadership (13623/10). more »

EU Engagement in South Africa

South Africa, with approximately 50 million inhabitants, has the 25th largest population in the world, and occupies a position of geo-strategic importance in the Southern hemisphere. more »

The U.S. President thanked the Lithuanian President for active participation in the UN’s activities

President of the Republic of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaitė attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York attended lunch hosted for heads of states by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. more »

Koran burning plan condemned

US and NATO officials stepped up calls for a US pastor to drop his plans to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. more »