In the light of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris, Lebanon and Mali as well as the Brussels terror alert raised amid imminent` threat of attack, the plenary of the European Parliament convenes on Monday to discuss the 13 November attacks in Paris and subsequent police and military operations.
The plenary will also give their feedback on the 20 November Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting, in a key debate with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Nicolas Schmit, representing the Council Presidency.
Euro MEPs urge member states to step up cooperation and swift exchange of information between national law enforcement bodies and EUROPOL to detect and monitor terrorist suspects or potential “foreign fighters”. In a draft resolution to be discussed on Tuesday afternoon and voted on Wednesday, they also recommend measures such as prompt deletion of illegal content that spreads violent extremism on the internet.
The Parliament’s recommendations to combat aggressive corporate tax planning and tax evasion will be debated on Tuesday, and set out in a resolution to be voted on Wednesday. They will include requiring multinational firms to report their financial data country by country, introducing a common consolidated corporate tax base, taking EU member states’ tax deals with these firms more transparent and doing more to protect whistle blowers.
The Parliament will vote on Wednesday the EU budget for 2016, following a compromise deal between Parliament and Council. Parliament negotiators reversed most of the cuts made earlier by the Council and negotiated more funding for migration front-line countries, humanitarian aid, the EU research and development tool Horizon 2020,small and medium-sized enterprises and students on Erasmus+ exchange
programmes
The EP will also call on Wednesday on member states to stump up as much money as possible to tackle the migration crisis. It wants cash saved from smaller than expected EU budget contributions to go to two EU funds to help refugees and migrants in and near Syria and to tackle the root causes of migration in Africa. MEPs are also to decide on the use of a maximum budget flexibility to provide additional resources for migration management efforts
Terrorism, climate change, economic growth and migration, which dominated the 15-16 November G20 summit in Antalya, Turkey, will take centre stage in a debate with Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini and Nicolas Schmit, representing the Council Presidency on Wednesday afternoon. MEPs will also react to the joint action plan, agreed by EU and African leaders at the 11-12 November Valletta summit, to manage current migration and refugee flows.
President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarrella will also deliver a formal address to the European Parliament on Wednesday at 12.00, for the first time since he was elected twelfth President of the Republic on 31 January 2015.
President Martin Schulz will announce the winner of this year`s LUX Prize on Tuesday, 24 November at a ceremony in the Chamber, in Strasbourg.
This year`s finalists are Mediterranea (Italy, US, Germany, France, Qatar) by Jonas Carpignano, Mustang (France, Germany, Turky, Qatar) by Deniz Gamze Ergüven and Urok (The Lesson) by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov (Bulgarie, Greece).
CNA/EC/MM/2015
ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY