Quote of the week by Simona Bonafè, S&D Group vice-president

“Only if we are courageous and ambitious, will Europe emerge unscathed from this crisis. Despite the efforts of the Commission to present this recovery plan, we still don’t have any clarity. We send out a clear message to the Commission and Council: we are here for Europe’s citizens. We need an ambitious recovery plan, of at least 2 trillion euros, primarily through grants, not loans, that has to be in place as soon as possible. Our economies need these resources now.”

 

Ahead of the Commission’s proposals for the Recovery Plan, the S&D Group this week supported a united European Parliament position that demands a strong and ambitious recovery plan. You can read the S&D Group’s plan here.

With the tourism and travel sector in the EU coming to a near standstill, earlier this week S&D MEPs sent a letter to EU leaders asking for swift measures to save the industry through a European Travel Guarantee Fund and respecting travellers’ rights.

While Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán refused to attend a debate in the European Parliament on the government’s oppressive and undemocratic emergency measures, S&D president Iratxe Garcia said, “silence is complicity” from the EU. Watch the full speech here.

This week, MEPs also recognised the 70th anniversary of the Schuman declaration in a special plenary debate. Watch the S&D Group’s Europe Day celebration video.

The week ahead

Sunday is International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia. Our message is Europe must be a homophobia, transphobia and biphobia free zone where everyone is equally respected.

You can see how we celebrate IDAHOBIT 2020 on Sunday on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

The core activities of different parliamentary committees and the S&D Group continue next week with a remote Group meeting for all S&D MEPs on Wednesday 20 May and a meeting of S&D Bureau members on Tuesday 19 May.

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