Briefing
Newsletter - 10-13 June 2013 - Strasbourg plenary session
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MEPs get their final say on the architecture of the Common European Asylum System in a vote on Wednesday. This system will lay down common procedures and deadlines for handling applications, create a basic set of rights for asylum seekers arriving in the EU and stop transfers of asylum applicants to member states that are unable to cope. Some 330,000 asylum applicants were registered in EU countries in 2012.
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Schengen compliance inspectors would be empowered to pay unannounced visits to prevent illegal border checks by national authorities at internal borders, as part of a reform package to be voted on Wednesday. Free movement is the most positive outcome of 50 years of EU integration, 62% of respondents told a recent Eurobarometer survey.
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Parliament will vote Wednesday on the budget and participation rules for the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived. MEPs on the social affairs, budget and agriculture committees all voted to keep the fund at its current level €3.5 billion, to pay for food and clothes to meet the basic needs of Europe's poorest citizens in 2014-2020.
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Large oil, gas, mineral and logging firms could be forced to disclose full details of their worldwide payments to governments for every extraction project if Parliament endorses a draft law, already informally agreed with the Council, in a vote on Wednesday.
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The EU's ability to cope with cross-border health threats such as the coronavirus, the 2011 E coli outbreak or the H1N1 flu epidemic in 2009 will be strengthened by a draft law to be debated and voted on Tuesday. The legislation, already agreed with the Council, provides for a Europe-wide health emergency to be declared, with a provision to facilitate bulk ordering of vaccines for member states.
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A Commission proposal to allow the use of EU air passengers' personal data such as addresses or credit card details in investigating serious crimes and terrorist offences will be put to a plenary vote on Wednesday. The Civil Liberties Committee rejected the proposed text by 30 votes to 25.
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Rules on the labelling and content of baby milks and foods for special medical purposes will be better defined in order to protect consumers and distinguish more clearly between foods for normal consumption and foods for specific groups, says a draft law to be voted on Tuesday. The draft, agreed by Parliament and Council negotiators, also covers some low-calorie diets.
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The share-out of MEPs' seats among EU countries for 2014-2019 will be put to a final vote on Wednesday. Under plans tabled by MEPs in March and since backed by the Council, 12 EU countries would each lose one seat at the 2014 European elections. They are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Romania.
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In the run-up to the EU's 27-28 June summit in Brussels, on Wednesday morning MEPs will debate the Commission's country-specific budgetary and structural reform recommendations with its President José Manuel Barroso and the Irish Presidency of the Council. At noon they will vote a resolution on youth unemployment and another that is likely to urge heads of state or government at the summit to step up investment in order to spur growth and job-creation.
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The Slovenian president, Borut Pahor, will deliver a formal address to the European Parliament on Tuesday at noon. He is likely to focus on the current situation in Slovenia and the accession of its neighbour country Croatia as the 28th member state of the EU on 1 July.
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Portugal's President Aníbal Cavaco Silva will deliver a formal address to the European Parliament on Wednesday at noon. He is likely to focus on Portugal's experience with its bailout programme and its relations with the EU.
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Parliament votes Wednesday on the nomination of Croatia's Neven Mimica as European Commissioner-designate for consumer policy, after a hearing held on 4 June by the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee and the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee.
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The violent crackdown on anti-government protests in Turkey and curbs on fundamental rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech and freedom of the media, will be in the spotlight during the debate between MEPs and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Wednesday. The unrest has spread following the use of force by police in response to a protest aimed at saving Istanbul's Gezi Park.
Contacts:
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Andrew BOREHAM
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Mary BRAZIER