Things we learnt in the July plenary

2013-07-05, 15:35

Published in Politics

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Croatia was welcomed as the 28th member state in an another eventful plenary, while Lithuania replaced Ireland at the helm of the European Union. Parliament voted in favour of Latvia joining the eurozone, gave the green light to a political deal on the EU's long-term budget and selected Emily O'Reilly as the first woman to be EU ombudsman. Other hot topics included Hungary, Bulgaria and Prism, while Cuban dissident Guillermo Fariñas finally picked up his 2010 Sakharov Prize in person.

Newly selected Croatian MEPs took their seats in the European Parliament and the Croatian flag was hoisted among the 27 already flying outside the building in Strasbourg on 1 July. As Martin Schulz said, it was a great day for Europe and Croatia. On the same day, Lithuania took over the presidency of the European Union, promising to focus on financial stability, economic growth and jobs.

Latvia should join the euro next year, according to a resolution approved by MEPs on Wednesday following a European Commission recommendation and political backing from EU heads of state and government.

Emily O'Reilly was elected European Ombudsman on Wednesday 3 July. She will be the first female European Ombudsman when she takes over in October. The Ombudsman is responsible for investigating people's' complaints concerning how they have been treated by the EU institutions.

Guillermo Fariñas,who won the Sakharov Prize for freedom of Thought in 2010,was finally able to collect the award in person on Wednesday after Cuban authorities granted him permission to travel to Europe.

The US should come clean over allegations that it has been spying on the EU, said MEPs on Wednesday. They also stressed the need to urgently reform EU data protection rules.

Parliament endorsed the outcome of its negotiations with the Council on the EU's budget for 2014-2020 on Wednesday. On the same day, MEPs also pushed for a comprehensive tax on financial transactions.

Plans to freeze the auctioning of some CO2 permits to encourage firms to invest in low-carbon innovation were backed by Parliament on Wednesday.

Bank board members must be personally liable for mistakes and banks' riskier trading activities must be clearly separated from their more conservative lending ones, MEPs said on Wednesday in a resolution setting out Parliament's priorities for a broad overhaul of EU banks

Hungarian authorities must swiftly remedy any breaches of key EU values, said MEPs on Wednesday after discussing the matter with the country's prime minister Viktor Orbán. The political crisis in the Bulgaria and the need for fresh elections in that country was also debated.

Parliament adopted a resolution on Thursday to express its deep concern over the situation in Egypt following the military intervention and call for a rapid return to the democratic process.

www.europarl.europa.eu

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