EU Summit on the Long-Term Budget Fisheries Policy President Hollande Just one second Endangered Species European Semester Sound level of Motor Vehicles Central Securities Depositories

EU Summit on the Long-Term Budget

Fisheries Policy
President Hollande
Just one second
Endangered Species
European Semester
Sound level of Motor Vehicles
Central Securities Depositories

EU Summit on the Long-Term Budget

EU leaders will meet at the end of the week with the main aim of reaching agreement on the next seven-year budgetary framework of the EU.

Before the meeting, MEPs will discuss with the council and commission the outcomes they wish to see. ECR group chairman Martin Callanan MEP will call for an EU budget that reflects the mood of austerity across the Continent by freezing the budget and fundamentally reprioritising resources towards areas that add value such as research and development, and supporting new Member States.

Mr Callanan will also be available at the Justus Lipsius for reaction during the summit.

Contact: James Holtum on +32 473 861762

Debate: Wednesday @ 09.00
Summit: From Thursday afternoon

Fisheries Policy
The parliament will vote on the overarching reform report on the Common Fisheries Policy, which will create a far improved Common fisheries Policy (CFP) than at present. In particular, the proposals aim to end the micromanagement of fisheries by Brussels so that national governments, regional bodies and fishermen can have more of a say over their own water basins. The report also aims to introduce a ban on fishing discards (where edible dead fish is jettisoned overboard owing to rigid quotas), and it gives more support to small-scale fisheries.

ECR fisheries spokesman Marek Grobarczyk believes the report is a good balance and a vast improvement on the current regime. In 2011, ECR MEPs adopted the ‘Windsor Declaration’ which set out key principles the ECR would work for in a future CFP. View it here:

The Windsor Declaration

ECR Vice-President of the fisheries committee, Struan Stevenson, was the parliament’s lead member on a complimentary part of the fisheries reform package looking at the organisation of the marketplace and labelling.

Contact: John Furbisher on +32 498 984760
Contact: Mateusz Kochanowski on +32 498 582781

Vote: Wednesday @ 12.00

President Hollande

French President Francois Hollande will address MEPs and hold a general debate with the parliament’s group leaders. ECR President Martin Callanan will pay tribute to the bravery of French and other European nations’ troops in the ongoing Mali operation, and address the recent domestic policy decisions made by the President.

Contact: James Holtum on +32 473 861762

Debate: Tuesday @ 10.30

Just one second

Edvard Kožušník will present his time-lapse video project called Just One Second. This short movie composed of one second shots covering the period of one year is meant as a response to a frequent question “What does a MEP actually do?”. According to Edvard, the movie is also a part of the Single Seat campaign as quite a large part of MEPs´ life consists of travelling between the two EP seats in Brussels and Strasbourg.

Contact: Jan Krelina on +32 493 214346

Press Conference, room N1 201: Wednesday @ 11.00

Endangered Species

Ahead of the 16th meeting in March of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the parliament will vote on a resolution on the EU and its Member States’ position. In particular, MEPs want to see changes in measures related to shark species and African elephants, and the committee will support proposals put forward by Denmark to reduce the use of secret ballots in the decision-making process. ECR environment committee spokesman Anna Rosbach has co-sponsored the resolution.

Contact: Peter Hansen on +32 489 844796

Vote: Wednesday @ 11.30

European Semester

The European Parliament economic committee’s annual report on EU economic policy coordination – known as the European Semester – was due to be adopted by the full parliament in this session.

However, at a voting session on 22nd January the committee voted to reject the report. Therefore, at its meeting this week the economics committee will attempt to find a version of the report that can muster a majority. ECR shadow rapporteur on the report, Derk Jan Eppink, worked with other groups to form a centre-right alliance in the committee which aimed to remove its ‘socialist wish list’ elements. He will continue to work to make the report more targeted towards proposals that encourage economic growth and sound public finances, instead of ideological wish lists.

Contact: Luc Rochtus on +32 479 734567

Vote in committee: Monday
Vote in plenary: Thursday

Sound level of Motor Vehicles

The European Parliament economic committee’s annual report on EU economic policy coordination – known as the European Semester – was due to be adopted by the full parliament in this session.

MEPs will vote on the Commission proposed regulation on the sound level of motor vehicles. The proposal aims to introduce new testing methods as well as new noise limit values for different categories of vehicles. The ECR rapporteur Miroslav Ouzky wants to see a realistic regulation which takes into account public health and environmental protection, but has no negative impact on the car industry.

Contact: Jan Krelina on +32 493 214346

Vote: Wednesday @ 11.30

Central Securities Depositories

The economics committee will vote on legislative proposals led through the parliament by ECR spokesman Kay Swinburne on regulating the infrastructure that enables 900 trillion Euros of securities transactions to be settled every year – so-called Central Securities Depositories which enable the settlement of virtually all securities transactions.

Since the financial crisis began the EU has assessed every stage of the trading cycle in the attempt to strengthen our financial structures and prevent further crises occurring in the future. This proposal addresses the final stage in the process, including post-trade infrastructure and services.

Dr Swinburne MEP has looked closely at the current post-trade settlement systems to assess where improvements can be made to best serve the needs of all investors. Further objectives include the encouragement of new entrants and increased competition in the market, reduction of cross-border settlement costs and the mitigation of counterparty and intra-day liquidity risk.

Contact: John Furbisher on +32 498 984760

Vote in committee: Monday evening

Contact

ECR spokesman: James Holtum on +32 473 861762
UK delegation: John Furbisher on +32 498 984760
Czech delegation: Jan Krelina on +32 493 214346
Polish delegation (PiS): Mateusz Kochanowski on +32 489 582781
Latvian delegation: Roland Petersons on +32 228 41545
Danish delegation: Peter Hansen on+32 489 84 47 96
Belgian delegation: Luc Rochtus on +32 479 73 45 67
Netherlands delegation: Maarten van de Fliert on +31 652 24 44 64

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