Quote of the week
“We stand for a Europe that sticks together and invests in the future for the many, not just for the friends of the business club”
Gianni Pittella
Past activities
The Commission’s Working Programme, Turkey, the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Sustainable Development Goals, Africa - these have been just a few of the topics on the agenda this past week for our Group.
We are also looking forward to hearing the Estonian proposal for its presidency of the EU Council.
Activities
The upcoming week will be a full one for our committees. We are looking forward to a vote on EU accession to the Istanbul Convention concerning the fight against violence against women, updates on fight against cybercrime and climate change are just a few of the topics on our agenda.
We are, also, getting ready for our next Europe Together event in Valencia scheduled to take place mid-September.
Upcoming activities
This weekend the G20 Summit in Hamburg will be on our agenda. “Unregulated globalisation has created enormous wealth for multinational corporations and some individuals but has failed too many ordinary workers and families. The world’s eight richest people are now wealthier than half of world’s population, while ordinary workers too often face unfair competition and middle-class families are seeing their wages stagnate. The scandal of tax fraud and tax evasion aggravates this situation even further. It is high time the benefits of globalisation are more widely and fairly shared to tackle this growing inequality” our MEP Jeppe Kofod has stated earlier this week.
Follow us on Twitter for more reactions to the summit.
Next week, the Parliament begins to gear up for the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union – with meetings taking place between various Parliament committees and representatives from the new Presidency.
The Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs committee will vote on a report on the fight against Cybercrime and on a uniform format for residence permits for third country nationals.
Discussions with the Council and the Commission will begin on July 13 about the EU budget for 2018 – with a final agreement expect in the autumn. The S&D Group is calling for more funding to boost growth, enhance cohesion and tackle the many challenges the EU is facing.
Also on our agenda - ambitious and robust LULUCF regulation would ensure that the EU fulfils its global commitment as a part of a comprehensive effort of all sectors to fight climate change, as agreed in the UNFCCC Paris Agreement in December 2015, given that land use (agricultural, livestock, forest and other land use) has significant cost-effective potential for mitigation and enhancing resilience while sustainable forest management has an important role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
