6 June 2011
Newsletter – 6-9 June 2011 – Strasbourg plenary session
Don’t freeze EU budget for 2014-2020
Freezing future EU budgets at 2013 levels – as some Member States demand – “is not a viable option”, says Parliament’s Policy Challenges Committee. Its budget recommendations for 2014-2020 will be debated Wednesday and put to a vote Thursday, ready for future budget negotiations with Member States.
Charging lorries for noise and air pollution
EU Member States would be entitled to set “polluter pays” road tolls to reflect the real cost of noise and air pollution by heavy goods vehicles, under a proposed change to “Eurovignette” rules to be put to a vote on Tuesday.
Vote on Bulgaria and Romania bid to join Schengen area
Parliament will assess whether Bulgaria and Romania are ready to join the Schengen border check-free zone. The Civil Liberties Committee says they are, but also stresses that Parliament must be kept informed of additional measures to be taken in the Bulgaria-Turkey-Greece area to deal with any surge in migration pressure.
Debate on E. coli outbreak in Germany
The outbreak of enterohemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) disease in Germany and other Member States, will be debated with the Commission on Tuesday. By 31 May, 10 people had died from the disease and a further 373 serious cases had been diagnosed, in Germany alone.
Hungary’s new constitution
The Council and the Commission will brief MEPs on Wednesday about how they plan to ensure that the revised Hungarian Constitution does not breach fundamental EU values and principles. Parliament will vote on a resolution at a later plenary session.
MEPs to review plans to ease visa rules with Moscow
The recently agreed roadmap to ease EU’s visa policy with Russia will be a key topic of debate with Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Commissioner Štefan Füle on Wednesday, ahead of the 9 June EU-Russia summit in Nizhny Novgorod (Western Russia).
Other items on the agenda:
- Toughening up credit rating agency rules
- Disproportionate use of the European Arrest Warrant
- EU-Canada free trade deal to be debated
- Court of Auditors: vote on Hans Gustaf Wessberg’s candidature
- Sudan: north-south tensions over disputed border region of Abyei
- Human rights and democracy resolutions
