Monday's plenary: Ingrid Betancourt, budget 2009 and Roma

Hans-Gert Pöttering welcomed the liberation of Ingrid Betancourt and told the House that he last week invited her to the EP as soon as she has recovered. Mr Pöttering appealed to Farc and all terrorist organisations to "release their prisoners" and "seek a peaceful solution".

 

 

Later on, MEPs debated planned new measures by the Italian Government regarding the collection of fingerprints of Roma people and the creation of a special database for identifying and registering of Roma families in larger cities.  Concerns have been expressed as to the compatibility of these procedures with EU non-discrimination rules and fundamental rights as well as the promotion of integration measures.

 

In the debate, numerous members across a range of political groups expressed serious concerns over the possible nature of the measures envisaged by the Italian authorities, suggesting that they could breach fundamental principles of the EU, particularly as concerns discrimination by race. Other members intervened to defend Italian government action and complained that the debate was being exploited in order to use the European Parliament in pursuit of a national political agenda.

 

Towards the end of the debate, Martin Schulz, leader of the PES group, informed the House of a call he had received from Franco Frattini, Italian Foreign Minister, to provide reassurances that the Italian government was in consultation with the Commission and would ensure that all action taken would of course be in accordance with both the Italian Constitution and the relevant EU laws and fundamental principles.

 

 

The Parliament held its first discussion based on the formal draft EU budget for 2009. Parliament and Council share responsibility for adopting the budget with Parliament however having the last word.

 

MEPs in the Budgets Committee (report by German Socialist MEP Jutta Haug) call for finances to be available for the EU to respond to new financial needs, for the budget to include a proper reflection of the climate change priority and for the budget to be easier for EU citizens to understand. A vote will be held Tuesday on the proposals.

 

 

MEPs also debated the Airbus/Boeing WTO disputes over subsidies (where a resolution will follow Tuesday) and 4 proposals (co-decision recommendations for with a 2nd reading vote to be held Tuesday), on rules for authorising food additives, flavourings and enzymes. The new procedures will assist the free movement of food within the EU and also give better health and consumer protection, including clearer labelling of certain food colourings.

 

You can watch all the debates live from Strasbourg here on the Parliament's website.