Quote of the week by President Iratxe García on the European Council:
“I hope that national leaders understand that crises will not fade away. We are living in rapidly changing times and in a state of multiple crises, so we need to be better prepared to react. This demands vision and commitment to our policies, and investments to make our societies and our economic system more resilient.
"This Council meeting is a missed opportunity to start ambitious reforms and to build up our crisis resilience ... this should be the time to finally adopt a new Migration and Asylum Pact that is in line with the values of human dignity and solidarity stated in our treaties. The Parliament is ready to work on it, and I hope the Council is too.”
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Upcoming activities
On Monday, 27 March, a possible final round of negotiations will take place on the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation. Thanks to the endorsement of the plenary, this regulation is to play a key role in the Fit for 55 package and in the transition towards a successful decarbonisation of the transport sector. Our MEP, Ismail Ertug, is the European Parliament’s negotiator on this file, advocating for framework conditions for climate-neutral transport in Europe.
The votes for four key legislative files in the Pact on Migration and Asylum will take place next Tuesday, 28 March, in the civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee. Socialists and Democrats have been negotiating for an agreement based on solidarity both towards those seeking protection and between member states, so that the individual right to asylum is protected and so that each member state takes its fair share of responsibility. S&D LIBE coordinator, Birgit Sippel, is the rapporteur for the screening of third country nationals at the external borders, while LIBE chair, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, is the rapporteur for the Crisis and Force Majeure Regulation. S&D MEP, Pietro Bartolo, is shadow rapporteur for the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation and S&D MEP, Sylvie Guillaume, is shadow rapporteur for the Asylum Procedure Regulation. You can follow updates on the vote next week on our social media channels and online.
Also on Tuesday, the European Parliament’s economic and justice committees will vote on an important anti-money laundering package, including the establishment of a new EU agency to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism. This new legislation is set to unify existing national rules that are too fragmented and badly coordinated, with the aim of strengthening our collective fight against money laundering.
We are gearing up for a European Parliament plenary session in Brussels on 29 - 30 March. The first item on the agenda, on Wednesday, is the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. An achievement of historic significance, the agreement must be preserved. Recently, under our Group’s lead, the European Parliament welcomed – with a significant majority – the so-called Windsor Framework, a new joint understanding that allows more flexible and more effective implementation of the trading arrangements for goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain, so that both the EU’s Single Market and the Good Friday Agreement can be fully safeguarded. Reactions on the day here.
With deliberate backsliding of democracy by several EU governments, the rule of law is back on the agenda in next week’s mini-plenary session. On Thursday, MEPs will ask the Commission to start giving concrete recommendations to offending governments and to set out a timeline for change. If governments fail to comply, there must be consequences.
Also on Thursday, the European Parliament will vote on pay transparency rules to close the gender pay gap, which still remains too high. On average, women in the EU earn 14.1% less than men in comparable positions do. It is our long-standing demand to have strong, binding EU rules on pay transparency. Our negotiators, Evelyn Regner and Marc Angel, secured strong provisions on penalties and fines for non-compliance, which will be key in ensuring that companies actually take the new pay transparency rules seriously.
And don’t forget to stay updated on all our initiatives and reactions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and TikTok!
