Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists & Democrats
Strasbourg : Plenary session from 17 April 2012 to 20 April 2012
Human rights in the world and the European Union's policy on the matter including implications for the EU's strategic human rights policy
Tuesday 17 April 2012
The European Parliament Rapporteur is emphasising that in order to be a credible actor in external relations, the EU must act consistently, and in accordance with its Treaty and "acquis" obligations. Furthermore, the Rapporteur underlines the need for the EU to avoid double standards between its human rights policy and other external policies, between its internal and external policies, and in the conduct of its relations with third countries.
The Rapporteur also calls for swift, transparent and inclusive progress to be made towards an ambitious final EU Common Strategy for Human Rights, which should include clear actions, timetables and responsibilities. The report commits the European Parliament to contribute positively along with the Council to this inter-institutional process which should clearly delineate each institution's roles and responsibilities, and which should continuously evaluate their implementation, including in relations to the guidelines.
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Negotiations of the EU-Armenia Association Agreement
Wednesday 18 April 2012
The report includes withdrawal from occupied territories of Azerbaijan surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh. For the first time, a European Parliament report expresses concerns about Armenian settlement activity on the occupied territories and calls on Armenia to stop sending soldiers to serve in Nagorno-Karabakh.
The European Parliament welcomes progress made by Armenia in negotiations on the Association Agreement and calls on it to deepen reforms in order to fulfil the European aspirations of Armenian people.
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Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB)
Wednesday 18 April 2012
The legislative proposal provides for a common consolidated corporate tax base, meaning that companies and groups of companies operating in the internal market will be given the possibility to fill in a single tax file, effectively reducing red tape. The revenues of the tax will be allocated amongst the different Member States through an apportionment formula which takes into account three factors: employment, assets and sales.
There are 2 main achievements of the report:
1. The CCCTB will be made compulsory for "European Companies" and "European Cooperative Societies" two years after entry into force of the Regulation. It will be made compulsory for non-SMEs (small and medium enterprises) five years after entry into force.
2. Review clause: Five years after entry into force the Commission shall prepare a report analysing the impact on tax revenues and tax collection for Member States; the possibility of also making the system mandatory for SMEs and the advantages of introducing a minimum tax rate.
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Negotiations of the EU-Azerbaijan Association Agreement
Wednesday 18 April 2012
The most controversial issue in this report, as in the resolution on Armenia, is the question of Nagorno-Karabakh. The compromise was reached on the basis of the S&D proposal to link the negotiations on the association agreements with both Azerbaijan and Armenia to credible progress on the resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in line with demands of the European Parliament report on South Caucasus of 2010 and OSCE Minsk Group basic principles.
The EU is interested in developing closer relations with Azerbaijan, a strategically important country of the Eastern Neighbourhood. However, in order to deepen these relations, Azerbaijan should effectively address concerns about the deteriorating situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the country.
Contact
ARLACCHI Pino+ 33 3 88 17 56 06
+ 33 3 88 17 96 06
+ 32 2 284 56 06
+ 32 2 284 96 06
pino.arlacchi@europarl.europa.eu
Taxation of energy products and electricity
Wednesday 18 April 2012
The report is a major achievement in reshaping green taxation by introducing the right incentives and schemes - all whilst sparing households and concerned industries of major painful adaptations during the crisis by using a very gradual introduction of the principles.
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EU/USA Agreement on the use and transfer of Passenger Name Records (PNR) to the US Department of Homeland Security
Thursday 19 April 2012
The report concerns the consent procedure on the EU/US agreement on the processing and transfer of Passenger Name Records (PNR) data to the US for the fight against terrorism and serious crime. Negotiations have been ongoing since 2009, when the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty made it necessary to submit the old agreement of 2007 to the European Parliament for consent. Given the strong unanimous criticism raised by the European Parliament on the 2007 agreement (based on a set of unilateral US commitments) the US and Commission accepted to renegotiate a new international agreement.
In May 2011, the US and the Commission came to an agreement on a draft text, on which criticisms on three main points were particularly expressed by the S&D Group:
1. Scope: the scope was too wide: apart from terrorism, it included all crimes punished with a 1 year penalty and borders and customs protection was set as an autonomous purpose.
2. Retention period: 15 years of retention for all crimes
3. System of transmission by carriers: although PUSH was set as the compulsory transmission system (air carriers push data to the US), in exceptional circumstances PULL (US accesses data in carriers' databases) was still foreseen.
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European Parliament's right of inquiry
Thursday 19 April 2012
The report uses the European Parliament's new right of initiative under the Lisbon Treaty to propose changes to the powers of European Parliament's Temporary Committees of Inquiry, in line with their political role and importance.
If implemented, this report will give the European Parliament substantial new powers in dealing with possible contraventions of or maladministration in the implementation of Union law.
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EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights
Thursday 19 April 2012
The EU accession to the European Convention of Human Rights is facing severe resistance from some of the Member States in the Council which has lead to a worrying delay in ensuring the EU compliance with the Lisbon Treaty obligation of the EU to acceding to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) (Article 6 TEU - "The Union shall accede to the ECHR").
The Commission has been negotiating since the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty and a draft agreement has been reached, however it is now being contested by some Member States Governments, in turn risking the accession.
At the same time, serious concerns arise on the recent proposals on the "reform" of the European Court of Human Rights, which would weaken the Court as well as citizens' rights to the protection of their fundamental freedoms via the ECHR.
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Modernising Europe's Higher Education Systems
Friday 20 April 2012
This own-initiative report is in response to the Commission's Communication on "Supporting growth and jobs - an agenda for the modernisation of Europe's higher education systems". It follows S&D MEP Luigi Berlinguer's recent report on the Bologna Process in addressing the third-level education landscape in Europe.
Modernisation of European Higher Education Systems must encourage people from different age groups and from all social strata to avail themselves of the opportunity to further their education and knowledge to allow the EU to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Contact
NEVEĎALOVÁ Katarína+ 33 3 88 17 54 86
+ 32 2 284 54 86
martisova@europoslankyna.sk
katarina.nevedalova@europarl.europa.eu
