Quote of the week

“We are at a turning point because for the first time Europe is realising the necessity of putting Africa at the heart of EU strategy, both in the short and long term. We have called for this repeatedly over the last few years. We need both measures to stabilise the flow of refugees into Europe and sustained investment in the regions where these migrants arrive from. This will help boost the economies and address the underlying reasons causing people to flee - wars, violence, poverty and exploitation.”

Gianni Pittella

 

Activities

This month’s first plenary session, in Strasbourg, has been a full one for the S&Ds. From Tax justice to respecting human rights in the African continent, our MEPs have had their hands on hot topics. Industry, the acceptance of content of public documents, affordable access to medicines, the European Investment Plan, CIA torture and EU-Africa relations have been but a few of the issues on the Group’s agenda.

 

Upcoming activities

On June 14 we are joining our partner, SOLIDAR, in hosting this year’s Silver Rose Awards. The event will take place in the MEP dining room in the European Parliament, from 19.00 until 21.30.

This year’s winners of the Progressive Civil Society Award are:

  • Journalist Union of Turkey (Türkiye Gazeticiler Sendikasi, TGS), to which we dedicate the "Silver Rose for Fundamental Rights". TGS supports jailed journalists and promotes solidarity between journalists in Turkey and abroad – in times where the debate on press freedom is high on the EU's political agenda and more and more journalists in Turkey and elsewhere face severe threats.
  • FairWork, a Dutch organisation, fighting for just and decent work conditions and a slavery-free Netherlands. We dedicate our Silver Rose in the area "Together for Social Europe" to this organisation.
  • Dr. Nagham Nawzat Hasan, an activist and gynaecologist from Iraq. Ms Hasan will be awarded for her outstanding work to provide psychological counselling and health screenings to Yezidi (Ezidi) girls and women, who were enslaved in subsequence of the attacks on the Iraqi city of Sinjar (Shingal), committed by the Islamic State (IS) in 2014. She will get our "Human Rights Silver Rose".
  • La ligue de l'enseignement, a French member of SOLIDAR, which celebrates its 150 years of existence in 2016. The award is given in the category "Building Learning Societies" and honors the engagement of this civic movement for the access of all to education and culture in Europe and worldwide.

Next week the Group is also focusing on a highly sensitive issue - Israel-Palestine relations. In view of that, a seminar is being organised on June 15. Israel/Palestine: Bereaved Parents for Peace - From loss to reconciliation is the topic of the event scheduled to take place from 16.00 to 18.00 in room ASP 5G2 in the European Parliament. A photo exhibition will also be on display at the same time.

The event will be webstreamed on our website.

On June 15 the Group is also joining a conference on fisheries, attended by MEP Isabelle Thomas, and on June 16 we are glad to join the PES Youth event on the Youth Guarantee.

Also, on June 17 - 18 we are joining another one of our partners, The Foundation for European Progressive Studies for their sixth Call to Europe event. This year’s topic is Millennials and Politics, a discussion based on the Country-based surveys to a Global Plan for Progressive action.

Contacto(s) de prensa del Grupo S&D