EU

#EuropeanParliament this week: Future of EU, bees, fight against tax avoidance

Published

8 years ago

February 27, 2018

MEPs will this week debate the future EU budget and composition of the Parliament as well as vote on measures to fight tax avoidance and protect the EU's apiculture sector.

MEPs take part in a plenary session in Brussels this week as well as in meetings by parliamentary committees this week.

Plenary sessions

Future of the EU

On Wednesday (28 February), MEPs debate the conclusions of the informal summit of EU leaders last Friday (23 February) on the future of Europe. The Parliament and EU heads of state or government have different positions on the EU’s long-term budget after 2020 and the Spitzenkandidaten process for the European in 2019 but share similar ideas on the new composition of the Parliament.

Fight against tax avoidance and tax evasion

On Thursday, MEPs debate and vote on measures to make service providers report schemes of cross-border tax evasion to authorities. On the same day, MEPs also vote on proposals to set up a new special committee to investigate financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance.

Protecting bees

Measures to protect bees, support EU beekeepers and safeguard Europeans from counterfeit honey will be debated on Wednesday and voted on Thursday. The EU's 600,000 beekeepers and 17 million beehives produce about 250,000 tonnes of honey per year in the EU, making it the world´s second biggest producer.

Poland

Last December the European Commission called on EU governments to determine if there was a clear risk of a serious breach of the rule of law in Poland. MEPs will debate the situation of rule of law in Poland and the Commission's decision to trigger Article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, which could lead to certain membership rights being suspended, on Wednesday, and vote on a resolution the following day.

Terrorism financing

On Thursday, MEPs debate and vote on a report with recommendations to cut the sources of income for Jihadists.

New vice president

MEPs will on Thursday elect a new Vice-President to replace Ryszard Czarnecki, who saw his term of office terminated last plenary due to “serious misconduct”.

Committee meetings

Less waste

The environment committee votes Tuesday (27 February) on a new agreement with EU leaders to cut landfilling and set up higher recycling targets for municipal and packaging waste.

The economic affairs committee debated on Monday the latest developments in the EU economy with Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, and exchangd views with Luis de Guindos, who is been put forward to become the bank's vice-president. The committee votes on his appointment on Tuesday.

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