15 April 2019
This week our MEPs are in Strasbourg for the final time this mandate before campaigning for the European elections at the end of May. They will be debating the outcome of last week's Brexit European Council, the Future of Europe with the Latvian Prime Minister, as well as voting on important legislation, including new online rules that will set a one-hour time limit for internet platforms to remove terror-related content from their sites. Read below for more details.
European Council – Brexit
ECR Group co-Chair Syed Kamall will take the floor during the debate on this week’s European Council meeting where an extension to Article 50 until 31st October 2019 was agreed.
Debate: Wednesday @ 9:00
Contact: Robert Taylor, robert.taylor@ep.europa.eu, +32 498 984 760
Removing terrorist content from the internet
New legislation to prevent terrorist organisations spreading their vile propaganda across the Internet will be voted on Wednesday afternoon. The proposals, which include a one hour time limit for such content to be removed, strike a balance between stopping the spread of terrorism-related material while protecting freedom of expression and providing flexibility for smaller platforms to implement the rules.
Vote: Wednesday @ 17:00
Press officer to contact: Robert Taylor, robert.taylor@ep.europa.eu, +32 498 984 760
Future of Europe debate with Latvian Prime Minister
On Tuesday afternoon Parliament will continue its series of debates on the Future of Europe with Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš. ECR MEPs will continue to press the case for an EU that treats all its Member States equally - large or small, and does less but better by focussing core specific issues such as security, migration and competitiveness.
Debate: Wednesday @ 10:00
Contact: Gareth Goldsmith, gareth.goldsmith@ep.europa.eu, +32 476 66 80 50
New research and innovation programme
The next iteration of the EU’s successful research and innovation programme will be endorsed by MEPs on Tuesday. With a proposed budget of €120bn over seven years, Horizon Europe will continue to fund breakthrough research in areas such as health, energy and technology while also remaining open to global partners and doing more to boost participation in the programme throughout the EU.
Debate: Tuesday @ 15:00, vote @ 12:30
Contact: Gareth Goldsmith, gareth.goldsmith@ep.europa.eu, +32 476 668 050
New visa rules linked to readmissions
Updates to the EU visa code that will see a link made between visa facilitation and cooperation on readmission will be voted on Wednesday. From now on the EU will have a mechanism to use visa policy to encourage third countries to cooperate on the readmission failed asylum seekers or migrants. This provision has long been resisted by the left of the parliament and its ultimate inclusion was a major victory for the centre-right and ECR Group shadow rapporteur Helga Stevens.
Debate: Wednesday @ 15:00, vote @ 18:00
Contact: Yannick Vanderveeren, yannick.vanderveeren@ep.europa.eu, +32 473 80 64 46
Updating consumer protection rules
New measures forcing greater clarity in online reviews and price comparison sites, a ban on the resale of event tickets bought by bots and a mobile friendly website providing a single source of advice and dispute resolution for consumers all feature in legislation being voted on by Plenary. ECR rapporteur Daniel Dalton also addresses the issue of dual quality products. In future the ingredients of identically branded products could only vary if there was a legitimate reason, such as the local availability of raw materials, and consumers must be informed.
Vote: Tuesday 12.30pm
Press officer to contact: Robert Taylor, robert.taylor@ep.europa.eu, +32 498 984 760
Relaunching the EU’s space programmes
Next week MEPs are expected to endorse an overhaul of the EU space policy that will combine the existing programmes into one single framework. The EU’s well-established space systems Galileo and Copernicus, designed for the satellite navigation and Earth observation, will form part of the overarching system along with the new GovSatCom branch that aims to pool and share secure satellite communications capacities for Member State governments.
Vote: Wednesday @ 12:30
Contact: Jan Krelina, jan.krelina@europarl.europa.eu, +32 493 214 346
New framework for covered bonds
The European Parliament will debate and adopt the new legislative framework for covered bonds which will provide issuing banks with more flexibility when securing collateral. ECR MEPs Bernd Lucke is parliament’s rapporteur on the proposals that will facilitate the re-financing of banks and allow them to lend more in the real economy while also creating a single definition of the structural features of covered bonds in European Law.
Debate: Wednesday @ 18:00, vote @ Thursday @ 12:00
Contact: Michael Strauss, michael.strauss@ep.europa.eu, +32 470 88 2348
