Newsletter

A new deal on the transfer of EU air passengers' personal data to the US Department of Homeland Security will be put to a vote on Thursday. It lays down legal requirements for, inter alia, data storage periods, the purpose of data use and data protection safeguards. MEPs have concerns about the data protection standards enshrined in the agreement, which is to replace another that has applied provisionally since 2007.

Parliament will urge the European Commission to table rules to step up monitoring of internet censorship by autocratic regimes in Wednesday's vote on Parliament's human rights report for 2010. The"Arab Spring" showed the potential of the internet and social networking for exercising the right to freedom of opinion and expression, notes the draft.

MEPs will debate "Means to combat the economic crisis, particularly in the Eurozone" with Commission President José Manuel Barroso on Wednesday, starting at 15:00. Immediately thereafter, the Council and Commission will make statements on "measures to combat tax fraud and tax evasion."

MEPs will discuss recent developments in Syria, Mali, and Myanmar, and also the EU's Black Sea strategy, with EU foreign policy High Representative Catherine Ashton on Tuesday. Ms Ashton will also make a statement on Syria. The debate starts at about 18:00.

MEPs will debate employment rights in the EU with the European Commission on Wednesday morning, further to two draft laws, tabled by the Commission on 21 March, on the temporary posting of workers to other EU Member States.

King Abdullah II of Jordan will deliver a formal address to the European Parliament on Wednesday at noon. His last visit was in December 2007.

As the EU failed to meet its 2010 biodiversity target, higher political priority should go to preserving and restoring damaged ecosystems, say MEPs in a draft resolution to be voted on Friday. Other EU policies should include biodiversity targets, and environmentally harmful subsidies should be named and phased out by 2020, they add.

Air hostesses and stewards would be subject to the social security rules of the country in which they usually start and end their work, and self-employed cross-border workers who are entitled to unemployment benefits in the country where they work could get them even after they return to their home country, under new EU-wide coordination rules to be voted on Wednesday.

Fuels should be taxed at rates reflecting their energy content and polluting potential, which means diesel could lose its tax advantage over petrol, says a draft opinion on a Commission proposal to be put to a vote on Thursday. Many EU Member States oppose the plan, as did many MEPs in committee, so the plenary vote is likely to be close.

Using a common consolidated tax base should be made compulsory for companies, says a report to be put to a vote on Thursday. In its original legislative proposal, the Commission had suggested a voluntary scheme.

Allegations that France has granted over 500,000 biometric passports that could be based on fake documents, and concerns over the reliability of fingerprints taken in the Netherlands, have prompted two parliamentary questions to be put to the European Commission on Thursday.

Europe's universities must modernise to compete worldwide, says a draft resolution to be voted on Friday. Only 200 of its 4,000 higher education institutions rank among the world's top 500, notes the draft, which stresses the need to step up investment in student mobility programmes and improve cooperation with potential employers.

Stalled regional development projects in crisis-hit countries could be kick-started by sharing their investment risks between private and public investors, under plans to be voted on Thursday. Sharing risks should stimulate recovery, by providing capital and overcoming banks' unwillingness to bear risks alone.

The forthcoming EU-Armenia and EU-Azerbaijan association agreements must contribute to a peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which is "hampering the full development of the European neighbourhood policy", say MEPs in two draft resolutions to be voted on Wednesday.

Parliament is set to call for tougher measures to protect the environment and ensure that energy and natural resources are used more efficiently, in a draft resolution on the EU's forthcoming seventh Environment Action Programme (EAP), to be put to a vote on Friday. Environmentally harmful subsidies should be phased out by 2020, adds the draft.

Parliament is set to grant its consent to forest protection agreements with the Central Africa Republic and Liberia in a vote on Thursday. These agreements would commit both countries to export to the EU only verified legal timber products. In exchange, the EU would promote favourable access to its markets for wood products covered by the agreements.

On 17 April in Strasbourg, the European Parliament will welcome 12 "observer" members from Croatia, appointed by the Croatian parliament, to prepare for Croatia's EU accession, currently expected in 2013.