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European Council Meeting and Brexit
Debate: Wednesday
Vote: Aucun
A chaotic Brexit this week has been postponed. But we still need to know what our colleagues in the House of Commons really want! After nearly two years of negotiations between Brussels and London, a proposal for a Withdrawal Agreement was made that includes the backstop - an insurance for the North of Ireland - as a compromise. It is important to the Left that the Good Friday Agreement is fully protected in all of its parts, and that people in the North of Ireland will retain their rights with no hard border on the island of Ireland. Equally, the rights of European citizens in the UK and British in the EU27 must be safeguarded. Yes, the House of Commons has already rejected this proposal twice. But the MPs have made no new proposal that allows for an agreement. We want an orderly Brexit. If the House of Commons rejects the deal again, a chaotic Brexit remains a real possibility. That means continuous uncertainty to the detriment of EU and UK citizens.
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TAX3 report
Debate: Monday
Vote: Tuesday
The TAX3 report contains plenty of positive elements. It addresses the serious damage caused by tax fraud to our society, as well as criticisms over the role of intermediaries such as banks and tax advisors by calling for serious sanctions against them. The report also acknowledges that EU law has often served to help maintain tax fraud schemes.
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Single-use plastics
Debate: Wednesday
Vote: Wednesday
Single use plastic has a massive impact on our environment and health - a product of unregulated capitalism driven by the fossil fuel industry. This directive, although failing to radically change the plastics economy, introduces important obligations on the producers of plastic products and bans some highly problematic ones, including oxobiodegradable plastic: the first step in starting a new plastics economy.
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Copyright reform
Debate: Tuesday
Vote: Tuesday
The proposed copyright reform is unbalanced. Article 13 may censor the internet. By pretending to fight fake news, freedom of expression is being breached. The internet must remain a free platform for the exchange of ideas and opinions.
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Internal market for electricity
Debate: Monday
Vote: Tuesday
It is great that member states will maintain the right to keep regulated prices in their electricity markets which helps to fight energy poverty. Equally, it’s good that the rights of the ‘energy community’ are included for the first time in European legislation. That said, GUE/NGL has been fighting to ban the disconnection of electricity supply to customers, unfortunately the majority in the Parliament and Council voted against it.
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Interoperability between EU information systems
Debate: Wednesday
Vote: Aucun
The interoperability regulation will connect several EU databases such as SIS, VIS, Eurodac as well as Europol’s databases so that they can be searched through one single interface. Meanwhile, it creates the Common Identity Repository - a massive database containing the biometric data of several hundred million people. That means another €450m funnelled into the global surveillance industry. No!!
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European Regional Development Fund
Debate: Tuesday
Vote: Wednesday
If the EU is serious about the Paris Agreement and UN Sustainable Development Goals then at least 40% of Cohesion funding must be included for green and inclusive ‘just transition’ projects. Fossil fuel technology and other ‘dirty investment’ projects must not be eligible. The social inclusion of all disadvantaged groups including migrants, irrespective of their legal status, remains at the heart of GUE/NGL’s demands.
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Neighbourhood, Development & International Cooperation Instrument
Debate: Tuesday
Vote: Wednesday
Merging existing instruments won’t lead to more policy coherence for development. Rather, it subjugates the financing of development to security, migration flows control, plus the geopolitical and economic interests of the EU. At the same time, it reduces transparency and parliamentary control and weakens broader democratic scrutiny over the EU’s external action.
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Neighbourhood, Development & International Cooperation Instrument
Debate: Tuesday
Vote: Wednesday
With this merger, we strongly reject the inclusion and financing of military actors and so-called partner armies, and the misusing of development aid for security and migration policy. This new instrument will neither fight poverty nor make the world more peaceful. Instead, it cements the EU’s dramatic shift towards more military and less neutral civil engagement.
Plenary focus
March II
Gabi Zimmer – European Summit: Brexit
Miguel Urbán – TAX3 report
Lynn Boylan – Single-use plastics
Jiří Maštálka – Copyright reform
Cornelia Ernst – Internal market for electricity
Cornelia Ernst – Interoperability between EU information systems
Martina Michels – European Regional Development Fund
Lola Sánchez Caldentey – Neighbourhood, Development & International Cooperation Instrument
Sabine Lösing – Neighbourhood, Development & International Cooperation Instrument
March II 2019
PDF · 22 / 03 / 2019