Quote of the week by Carlos Zorrinho on the upcoming ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly:
“Climate change, humanitarian crises, displacement of poor people, terrorism, food insecurity, price hikes due to the Russian war against Ukraine, and the veto to the approval of the Post-Cotonou Agreement held hostage by first the Hungarian and now the Polish government – there is a word well-suited to describe these correlating challenges and threats: disproportion. There is no better solution other than global cooperation.”
Upcoming activities:
The 43rd session of the Joint Parliamentary Assembly among the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the European Union (ACP-EU JPA) is about to kick off in Brussels. As of Saturday the 24th until the 28th, the summit will raise animated debates and put forward possible common solutions to face global crises like climate change, terrorism, food security, poverty, and human rights. The S&D Group’s delegation will make sure the assembly tackles the challenges ahead with a progressive approach centered on multilateralism, democracy, and rule of law. We are confident that this ACP-EU could trigger a strong push to unblock the approval of the Post-Cotonou Agreement, a powerful tool to facilitate multilateralism over conflicts and breaches of international law.
On Tuesday, 27 June, the environment committee (ENVI) of the European Parliament will resume its votes on the Nature Restoration Law - led by S&D MEP César Luena, as there was not enough time to vote through the more than 2,300 amendments last Thursday. Despite the EPP’s attempts to reject the proposal, our S&Ds together with like-minded groups succeeded in ensuring that the rejection amendment did not gather a majority. However, the final vote remains to take place on Thursday. Nature restoration is crucial to fight climate change, protect the environment, and reverse biodiversity loss in the EU, as more than 80% of our land and sea are deemed in poor state. It is an important part of the Green Deal and paramount for the Union in honouring the international commitments to restore at least 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030 as agreed at COP15 in Montreal last year. After the vote in ENVI, the Nature Restoration Law is foreseen to be voted on in plenary in July.
On the same day, members in the environment committee will also vote on the Air Quality Directive. Led by S&D MEP Javi López, we have made sure that the law aligns with the latest guidelines of the World Health Organisation, beyond the European Commission’s proposal. Worryingly, air pollutants like sulphur dioxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide, but also particulate matter are responsible for a growing rate of respiratory diseases and an increasing number of premature deaths – over 300,000 in 2020 according to the European Environment Agency. It is therefore essential that the committee endorses the ambitious report that we have spearheaded, so that Europeans can breathe again!
Also on Tuesday, the committee on legal affairs will vote on a report on the protection of journalists and human rights defenders from manifestly unfounded or abusive court proceedings. The anti-SLAPPs directive by rapporteur Tiemo Wölken aims to protect journalists, NGOs and rights defenders against unfounded and abusive legal proceedings aiming to intimidate them. The report will be debated and voted on during the upcoming plenary session in July.
On Monday 26 June at 10am, MEP Tiemo Wölken will brief journalists ahead of the committee vote. Those interested can join online.
Also on Tuesday, the foreign affairs committee is called to vote on the Recommendations to the Council, the Commission, and the Commission’s Vice President / High Representative on Relations with the Palestinian Authority. The Israeli occupation of Palestine has been ongoing for 56 years. The Palestinian Authority still lacks key statehood competences, including border control and full tax collection. To make the things worse, the new extreme right Israeli coalition government has made it its top political priority to advance and develop the occupation. This is a threat to the livelihood of Palestinians, but also to international law and fundamental agreements between Israel and the EU. In our Recommendation, that will be finally voted on in plenary in July, we call for:
- a multiannual action plan for EU assistance to Palestine;
- a commitment to the two-state solution and the recognition of Palestinian statehood;
- targeted measures addressing settlement expansion in the West Bank; and
- EU measures to be mobilised against settlement products.
Gender-based violence and domestic violence are crimes. These serious human rights violations disproportionately affect women and they must not go unpunished. On Wednesday, 28 June, the women's rights and gender equality (FEMM) and civil liberties, justice and home affairs (LIBE) committees will adopt a position on the Directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence in the EU. After national governments recently failed to include the crime of non-consensual sex as rape in the Council position, next week’s joint committee vote will send a strong message that non-consensual sex must be a crime in the EU in the final legislation. S&D MEP Evin Incir is the co-rapporteur on the LIBE committee and Pina Picierno is the shadow rapporteur for the FEMM committee.
On Wednesday, we are glad to welcome PD Secretary Elly Schlein to our Group. We look forward to a discussion and strengthening our collaboration.
Upcoming events:
On Wednesday, 5 July, join us in the European Parliament for a seminar on cross-border families and recognition of parenthood. Our MEPs Maria Manuel Leitão Marques and Iban García del Blanco will host a debate with several specialists, in order to tackle this issue affecting scores of European families. Registration is open here and the event starts at 14:30.
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