The following spoke: Edward McMillan-Scott, who pointed out that President Musharraf had pardoned Mirza-Tahir Hussain, one of Mr McMillan-Scott's constituents, who had been sentenced to death in Pakistan.
2. Ombudsman's 2005 annual report (debate)
Report on the report on the Ombudsman's 2005 annual report (2006/2117(INI)) - Committee on Petitions. Rapporteur: Andreas Schwab (A6-0309/2006)
Nikiforos Diamandouros (Ombudsman) spoke.
Andreas Schwab introduced the report.
Margot Wallström (Vice-President of the Commission) spoke.
The following spoke: Manolis Mavrommatis, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group, Proinsias De Rossa, on behalf of the PSE Group, Diana Wallis, on behalf of the ALDE Group, David Hammerstein, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group, Willy Meyer Pleite, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group, Marcin Libicki, on behalf of the UEN Group, Witold Tomczak, on behalf of the IND/DEM Group, Robert Atkins, Inés Ayala Sender, Mairead McGuinness, Thijs Berman, Andreas Schwab, on Mairead McGuinness's remarks, Richard Seeber, Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg, Marie Panayotopoulos-Cassiotou and Nikiforos Diamandouros.
Report on the White Paper on a European communication policy (2006/2087(INI)) - Committee on Culture and Education. Rapporteur: Luis Herrero-Tejedor (A6-0365/2006)
Luis Herrero-Tejedor introduced the report.
Margot Wallström (Vice-President of the Commission) spoke.
The following spoke: Michael Cashman (draftsman of the opinion of the LIBE Committee), Gérard Onesta (draftsman of the opinion of the AFCO Committee), Doris Pack, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group, Guy Bono, on behalf of the PSE Group, Karin Resetarits, on behalf of the ALDE Group, Diamanto Manolakou, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group, Zdzisław Zbigniew Podkański, on behalf of the UEN Group, Thomas Wise, on behalf of the IND/DEM Group, Philip Claeys, Maria da Assunção Esteves, Christa Prets, Frédérique Ries, Alessandro Battilocchio, Péter Olajos, Maria Badia i Cutchet, Marian Harkin, Luca Romagnoli, Reinhard Rack, Andrew Duff, Alejo Vidal-Quadras and Margot Wallström.
The President announced, pursuant to Rule 57(1), that the following common positions had been received from the Council, together with the reasons which had led to their adoption, and the Commission's position on:
- Common Position adopted by the Council on 14 November 2006 with a view to the adoption of a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (2008) (14153/2/2006 - C6-0422/2006 - 2005/0203(COD)) referred to responsible: CULT
- Common position adopted by the Council with a view to the adoption of a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the submission of statistical data on landings of fishery products in Member States and repealing Council Regulation (EEC) No 1382/91 (14283/1/2006 - C6-0421/2006 - 2005/0223(COD)) referred to responsible: PECH
- Common position adopted by the Council on 14 November 2006 with a view to the adoption of a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a programme of Community action in the field of consumer policy (2007-2013) (13241/1/2006 - C6-0420/2006 - 2005/0042B(COD)) referred to responsible: IMCO
The three-month period available to Parliament to adopt its position would therefore begin the following day, 17.11.2006.
IN THE CHAIR: Antonios TRAKATELLIS Vice-President
5. Statement by the President
The President confirmed that Mirza-Tahir Hussain had just been pardoned in Pakistan (see Minutes of 16.11.2006, Item 1) and expressed his satisfaction that the efforts Parliament had made with a view to achieving this had been fruitful.
6. Voting time
Details of voting (amendments, separate and split votes, etc.) appear in the 'Results of votes' annex to the Minutes.
6.1. EU-Mauritania fisheries agreement * (vote)
on the proposal for a Council regulation on the conclusion of the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the European Community and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (COM(2006)0506 - C6-0334/2006 - 2006/0168(CNS)) - PECH Committee
Hans-Gert Pöttering, José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra, Elmar Brok, Ioannis Kasoulides and Tokia Saïfi, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group,
Martin Schulz, Pasqualina Napoletano, Véronique De Keyser, Hannes Swoboda and Carlos Carnero González, on behalf of the PSE Group,
Chris Davies and Marios Matsakis, on behalf of the ALDE Group,
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Hélène Flautre, Margrete Auken, Angelika Beer, Caroline Lucas, Alyn Smith, Jill Evans and David Hammerstein, on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group,
Francis Wurtz, Luisa Morgantini, Adamos Adamou and Miguel Portas, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group
6.4. A Baltic Sea Strategy for the Northern Dimension (vote)
Report on a Baltic Sea Region Strategy for the Northern Dimension (2006/2171(INI)) - Committee on Foreign Affairs. Rapporteur: Alexander Stubb (A6-0367/2006)
6.5. The implementation of the European Security Strategy in the context of the ESDP (vote)
Report on the implementation of the European Security Strategy in the context of the ESDP (2006/2033(INI)) - Committee on Foreign Affairs. Rapporteur: Karl von Wogau (A6-0366/2006)
- Helmut Kuhne, on behalf of the PSE Group, who moved an oral amendment to amendment 7/rev., which was incorporated.
6.6. Succession and wills (vote)
Report with recommendations to the Commission on succession and wills (2005/2148(INI)) - Committee on Legal Affairs. Rapporteur: Giuseppe Gargani (A6-0359/2006)
Maria Berger, on behalf of the PSE Group, who moved oral amendments to amendments 3 and 1, which were incorporated.
6.7. Women in international politics (vote)
Report on women in international politics (2006/2057(INI)) - Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality. Rapporteur: Ana Maria Gomes (A6-0362/2006)
Report with a recommendation to the Council on fighting trafficking in human beings - an integrated approach and proposals for an action plan (2006/2078(INI)) - Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs. Rapporteur: Edit Bauer (A6-0368/2006)
Report on the White Paper on a European communication policy (2006/2087(INI)) - Committee on Culture and Education. Rapporteur: Luis Herrero-Tejedor (A6-0365/2006)
- Marc Tarabella and Vittorio Agnoletto, on the way in which the vote on paragraph 44 had appeared on the screens.
7. Explanations of vote
Written explanations of vote:
Explanations of vote submitted in writing under Rule 163(3) appear in the Verbatim Report of Proceedings for the sitting.
8. Corrections to votes and voting intentions
Corrections to votes and voting intentions appear on the 'Séance en direct' website under 'Votes'/'Results of votes'/ 'Roll-call votes'. They are published in hard copy in the 'Result of roll-call votes' annex.
The electronic version on Europarl will be regularly updated for a maximum of two weeks after the day of the vote concerned.
After the two-week deadline has passed, the list of corrections to votes and voting intentions will be finalised so that it can be translated and published in the Official Journal.
(The sitting was suspended at 13.10 and resumed at 15.05.)
IN THE CHAIR: Miroslav OUZKÝ Vice-President
9. Approval of Minutes of previous sitting
The Minutes of the previous sitting were approved.
10. Agenda
At its meeting of 16.11.2006, the Conference of Presidents had decided to propose the following changes to the agenda of the sittings of 29 and 30.11.2006:
Wednesday
The reports by Geoffrey Van Orden and Pierre Moscovici on the accession of Bulgaria and Romania would be discussed in a joint debate.
Deadline for tabling amendments: extended to Monday, 27.11.2006, noon.
The report by Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing the European Globalisation adjustment Fund (A6-0385/2006) would be taken after the report by Hélène Flautre and Edward McMillan-Scott (A6-0376/2006).
Deadline for tabling amendments: Thursday, 23.11.2006, 15.00.
The two joint debates on the implementation of the Seventh Framework Programme would be merged into a single joint debate.
Thursday
The debate on AIDS would be wound up with motions for resolutions.
The tabling deadlines had been established as follows:
- motions for resolution: Wednesday, 22.11.2006, 18.00
- amendments and joint motions for resolution: Monday, 27.11.2006, noon
The following reports, which had been adopted under the procedure laid down in Rule 131, would be put to the vote during voting time at 11.00:
- Report: Romano Maria La Russa - A6-0389/2006 (LIBE) Preventing and fighting crime (2007-2013)
- Report: Romano Maria La Russa - A6-0390/2006 (LIBE) Prevention, preparedness and consequence management of terrorism (2007-2013)
- Report: Duarte Freitas (PECH) Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the EC and Cape Verde
- Report: Ingo Friedrich - (AFCO) Revision of Rule 139 of the Rules of Procedure. Transitional arrangement concerning languages.
° ° ° °
Parliament agreed to the changes.
The agenda was thus modified.
11. Famagusta/Varosha (debate)
Oral question (O-0106/2006) by Marcin Libicki, on behalf of the PETI Committee, to the Commission: Incorporation of the return of Varosha to its lawful inhabitants into the comprehensive measures to end the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community (B6-0446/2006)
Marcin Libicki moved the oral question.
Olli Rehn (Member of the Commission) answered the oral question.
The following spoke: Panayiotis Demetriou, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group, Maria Matsouka, on behalf of the PSE Group, Marios Matsakis, on behalf of the ALDE Group, Kyriacos Triantaphyllides, on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group, Kathy Sinnott, on behalf of the IND/DEM Group, Charles Tannock, Mechtild Rothe, Jaromír Kohlíček, Bernd Posselt, Panagiotis Beglitis, Zbigniew Zaleski and Olli Rehn.
The debate closed.
12. Debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law (debate)
Adam Bielan, Marios Matsakis, Ana Maria Gomes, Michael Gahler and Alyn Smith introduced motions for resolutions.
The following spoke: Karin Scheele, on behalf of the PSE Group, Marcin Libicki, on behalf of the UEN Group, Ryszard Czarnecki and Olli Rehn (Member of the Commission).
Jaromír Kohlíček, Frédérique Ries, Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg, Thomas Mann and Gérard Onesta introduced motions for resolutions.
The following spoke: Charles Tannock, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group, Marek Aleksander Czarnecki, on behalf of the UEN Group, Kathy Sinnott, on behalf of the IND/DEM Group, and Olli Rehn (Member of the Commission).
Daniel Strož, Christa Prets, Frédérique Ries, Bernd Posselt, Adam Bielan and Carl Schlyter introduced motions for resolutions.
The following spoke: John Purvis, on behalf of the PPE-DE Group, Józef Pinior, on behalf of the PSE Group, Marios Matsakis, on behalf of the ALDE Group, Marcin Libicki, on behalf of the UEN Group, and Olli Rehn (Member of the Commission)
14. Request for the defence of parliamentary immunity
Mario Borghezio had written to the President requesting that Parliament intercede with the Italian authorities to uphold his parliamentary immunity in legal proceedings pending before a court in Rome.
Under Rule 6(3), the request had been referred to the committee responsible, the JURI Committee.
15. Request for the waiver of parliamentary immunity
The Italian authorities had forwarded a request for Alessandra Mussolini's parliamentary immunity to be waived in the context of a case pending before a civil court in Rome.
Under Rule 6(3), the request had been referred to the committee responsible, the JURI Committee.
16. Membership of committees and delegations
At the request of the PSE Group, Parliament ratified the following appointment:
BUDG Committee: Sorin Dan Mihalache as an observer
17. Transfers of appropriations
The Committee on Budgets had considered the Commission's proposal for transfer of appropriations DEC 40/2006 (C6-0340/2006 - SEC(2006)1280 final).
Having noted the Council's opinion, it had authorised the transfer in full, pursuant to Article 24(3) of the Financial Regulation of 25 June 2002.
18. Decisions concerning certain documents
Authorisation to draw up own-initiative reports(Rule 45)
JURI Committee
- Monitoring the application of Community law (2005) - 23rd annual report (2006/2271(INI)) (Following the Conference of Presidents' decision of 07.11.2006)
- Better law-making 2005: application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality - 13th annual report (2006/2279(INI)) (Following the Conference of Presidents' decision of 07.11.2006)
Referral to committees
ECON Committee
- The future of the European Union's own resources (2006/2205(INI)) referred to responsible: BUDG opinion: AFCO, CONT, REGI, ECON
EMPL Committee
- Housing and regional policy (2006/2108(INI)) referred to responsible: REGI opinion: EMPL
19. Written declarations entered in the register (Rule 116)
Number of signatures obtained by the written declarations entered in the register (Rule 116(3)):
Document number
Author
Signatures
57/2006
Roberta Angelilli, Cristiana Muscardini, Adriana Poli Bortone, Wojciech Roszkowski et Mieczysław Janowski
93
58/2006
Luís Queiró, Jacek Emil Saryusz-Wolski, Vasco Graça Moura, Roberts Zīle et Ewa Hedkvist Petersen
76
59/2006
Alessandra Mussolini
31
60/2006
Alessandra Mussolini
7
61/2006
Amalia Sartori, John Bowis, Françoise Grossetête, Cristina Gutiérrez-Cortines et Thomas Ulmer
357
62/2006
Robert Evans, Eva Lichtenberger, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert et Emanuel Jardim Fernandes
53
63/2006
Bogusław Rogalski
19
64/2006
Robert Evans, Paulo Casaca, David Martin, Sajjad Karim et
Carl Schlyter
42
65/2006
Renato Brunetta
39
66/2006
Oldřich Vlasák
28
67/2006
Mary Honeyball, John Bowis et Caroline Lucas
42
68/2006
Manolis Mavrommatis, Vasco Graça Moura et José Albino Silva Peneda
94
69/2006
Aldo Patriciello
7
70/2006
Alessandra Mussolini et Carlo Casini
15
71/2006
Luca Romagnoli
21
72/2006
Milan Gaľa, Barbara Kudrycka, Zita Pleštinská et Peter Šťastný
67
73/2006
Mario Borghezio
8
74/2006
Manuel dos Santos, Fausto Correia, Jamila Madeira et Emanuel Fernandes
18
75/2006
Sepp Kusstatscher, Eva Lichtenberger, Alexander Alvaro, Lissy Gröner et Thomas Mann
32
76/2006
Andreas Mölzer
16
77/2006
Andreas Mölzer
8
78/2006
Bogusław Rogalski, Bogdan Pęk et Ryszard Czarnecki
13
79/2006
Milan Horáček, Simon Coveney et Christa Prets
64
80/2006
Michael Cashman, Andrew Duff et Richard Howitt
19
81/2006
Alessandra Mussolini
4
82/2006
Stanisław Jałowiecki
23
83/2006
Philip Claeys, Frank Vanhecke et Koenraad Dillen
6
84/2006
Catherine Stihler
10
20. Forwarding of texts adopted during the sitting
Pursuant to Rule 172(2), the Minutes of that day's sitting would be submitted to Parliament for its approval at the beginning of the next sitting.
With Parliament's agreement, the texts that had been adopted would be forwarded forthwith to the bodies named therein.
21. Dates for next sittings
The next sittings would be held on 29.11.2006 and 30.11.2006.
22. Adjournment of session
The session of the European Parliament was adjourned.