Plenary focus - March

The fact that thousands of refugees are now stranded in northern Greece and are suffering in horrifying conditions is very worrying. What is even more worrying is that this situation has been brought about by Austria using its influence in the region to have countries like FYROM close their borders for refugees. This sort of action is harmful both for Greece and the EU as a whole – what we need instead is increased support to the Greek government in handling the refugees, safe passage for refugees and a binding and massive relocation scheme within the EU

The current EU migration and asylum policy must be replaced by a human rights based approach. Such an approach must also ensure the rights and safety of women refugees and asylum seekers. It requires safe and legal ways to enter the EU, the right of women to lodge claim for asylum independent of their spouse, and to define gender-based violence as a valid reason for seeking asylum in the EU, as well as putting an end to detention

In 2013, the Commission asked for the opening of the port services market. The European Parliament is now going to disagree with promoting a new framework with no reference to liberalisation. Port workers have opposed these liberalisation processes and we owe a lot to their struggles. GUE/NGL supports their efforts to safeguard their working rights. In the current hostile market environment, GUE/NGL asks that a precondition for enhancing the general operation of ports must be better and safer working conditions in all sectors of port services. The new Port service draft regulation now offers this minimum basis.

The Animal Health package is a very complex piece of legislation, merging 50 basic Directives and Regulations and 400 pieces of secondary legislation into one single Regulation. The aim was to improve standards, to provide a common system to better detect and control diseases and tackle animal health risks in a coordinated way. Although this is not an animal welfare law, the Regulation underlines the strong link between animal welfare and animal health.