Quote of the week

The time has come to avoid permanent division of Europe and revive the Helsinki process by again bringing opponents together at the same table - Gianni Pittella & Knut Fleckenstein in the joint Declaration "40 years Final act: reviving the Helsinki spirit"


Events

Next week our attention will be focused on important topics, such as the contact ban our Group has set on uncooperative multinationals, 40 years after the Helsinki conference, Digital Data in the EU, education of the young generation and gender equality. Not to mention we are getting ready for one of this autumn's biggest events, the Africa Week!

We've made our point, and now they've changed their minds about cooperating! 11 of the 13 multinational companies which had originally declined our invitation to transparency have reconsidered and are now ready to work with us. Therefore, on Monday, November 16, representatives of Amazon, Facebook, Google and Ikea will answer questions of MEPs during a special Tax Committee meeting. Our spokesperson for this Committee, MEP Peter Simon and Elisa Ferreira, as the European Parliament's co-rapporteur, will be there to make sure our requests are fulfilled.

40 years after the Helsinki Final Act, Europe is, once again, facing a challenging crisis. While we do not claim to hold the answers to all the questions, we know that only by cooperating we can achieve our common goals. This is why on Tuesday, 17 November we're organising a new call for dialogue. 1975-2015: 40 years Helsinki Final Act is our attempt to debate the role of the EU on the world stage.
A press point will be organised in front of room A3G-3, at 13.45, where S&D Group President, Gianni Pittella and Knut Fleckenstein will be available to take some questions.
The event will also be webstreamed, so join us on www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu from 10.00 to 17.30!

Digital Data in the EU - Happily Ever After or Content Unavailable is another interesting conference hosted by our Group next week. On Wednesday and Thursday (November 18 - 19) MEPs Tanja Fajon, Marju Lauristin, Josef Weidenholzer and Evelyn Regner will be covering debates alongside experts on Big Data in the EU, the Copyright reform and Geoblocking and Portability.
The event will take place in room A3G-3 in the European Parliament, and it will also be webstreamed.

Investing in young people and in their education has always been one of our Group's priorities. This is why on Thursday, November 19 we're organising a conference on Winning the fight against child poverty: Towards a European Child Guarantee. MEPs Jutta Steinruck, Javi Lopez, Vilija Blinkevičiūtė and Maria João Rodrigues will be debating hot topics such as the impact of the economic crisis on child well-being and the establishment of a European child guarantee.
The event will take place in the European Parliament, in room A3G-2 from 10.00.

On the eve of The International day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, the S&D Group is organising The Women's Voice Project: Make Do and Mend on Wednesday, November 18. Gender equality will always be an important issue for us, as you can see in the video below.
Join the debate with MEP Iratxe García Pérez in room A5G003 in the European Parliament, at 15.30.

One of the Group's biggest events this autumn is only two weeks away! The S&D Group Africa Week will take place from November 30 to December 3, both inside and outside the European Parliament and will bring together a series of conferences, debates, exhibitions, screenings and concerts aimed to celebrate EU-Africa relations and to put them in a new perspective.
You can join our events by registering or follow our dedicated hashtag #4Africa on social media and our live streaming.