What's coming up next week in Parliament

Priorities

• Ryanair: statement on flight cancellations
• Brexit negotiations: sufficient progress not yet made
• Preparation of the European Council 
• 2017 UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn(COP23)
• Endocrine Disrupters: Parliament to vote on objection
• Fight against (VAT) fraud: European Public Prosecutor's Office
• Sakharov Prize: Greens/EFA nominee visits European Parliament

Greens/EFA events

• Press briefing with Greens/EFA co-presidents

Ryanair: statement on thousands of flight cancellations
Council and Commission statement, Tuesday

On a Greens/EFA initiative, the European Parliament will hear Council and Commission statements in response to Ryanair's recent cancellation of thousands of flights. The scandal raises serious questions about Ryanair’s practices and their impact on both their employees and customers. The next round of cancellations will affect the travel plans of a further 400,000 people. The European institutions need to respond to the lack of respect shown for the rights of consumers and European citizens.

Brexit negotiations: sufficient progress not yet made
Commission statement and debate on Tuesday, vote on Wednesday

The Greens/EFA co-presidents, alongside their counterparts from ALDE, EPP, S&D and GUE/NGL, have co-signed a draft motion for a resolution on the state of play of negotiations with the United Kingdom. Sufficient progress has not yet been made on citizens' rights, Ireland and Northern Ireland, and the settlement of the UK's financial obligations. Unless there is major breakthrough in all three areas, the Council should postpone its assessment on whether sufficient progress has been made.

Preparation of the European Council
Council and Commission statements, Wednesday

Alongside Brexit, other topics include Migration, Defence and Digital Europe. European leaders are meeting today at a Digital Summit in Tallinn. The Greens/EFA group wants to avoid over-reliance on automated filtering tools and has called for the establishment of European mandatory standards.

2017 UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn(COP23)
Debate Tuesday

This resolution sets out the European Parliament's position for the next Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC, COP23, taking place 6-17 November 2017 in Bonn under the Presidency of Fiji. The draft resolution adopted by the Environment Committee recognises that global carbon emissions need to be phased out by 2050 and that this means that most sectors in the EU need to achieve zero emissions considerably earlier. Greens would have liked to see also more ambitious commitment to revise EU targets for 2030.

Endocrine Disrupters: Parliament to vote on objection
Plenary vote on Wednesday

On Thursday of this week, the European Parliament's Environment Committee backed a Greens/EFA objection to the European Commission's proposed criteria for defining endocrine disrupters. As a result there will now be a vote in next week's plenary in Strasbourg. The European Parliament can veto the proposed criteria if it achieves an absolute majority. The Commission's criteria would make it very difficult to identify endocrine disrupters, meaning that few if any products would be removed from the market. Endocrine disrupters have the capacity to interfere with tissue and organ development and function and have been linked to health problems, including cancer and fertility issues.

Fight against (VAT) fraud: European Public Prosecutor's Office
Debate Wednesday, Vote Thursday

The European Public Prosecutor's Office is an example of where European collaboration is both necessary and can reap major rewards for the public. The European Commission estimates there is around €50 billion annual loss of EU money to cross-border VAT fraud. By recovering taxpayers’ money illegally obtained by fraudsters, the EPPO can together with national prosecutors help improve the trust of citizens in the EU. It represents a big step on the way to a real European Security Union and shows that European cooperation against major cross-border criminality is possible.

Sakharov Prize: Greens/EFA nominee visits European Parliament

Aura Lolita Chavez Ixcaquic, known as Lolita, is a Maya K’iche educator and human rights defender from Guatemala. Lolita is a leader of the Council of K’iche’ Peoples in Defence of Life, Mother Nature, Earth and Territory (CPK), an organization that brings together 87 indigenous communities and their traditional elders who work to protect their lands and its resources. Lolita serves on the Council of K’iche’ Peoples’ political commission which has defended her people’s right to their lands under international law and against the exploitation by large-scale mining and hydroelectric projects. The fight against mining and hydroelectric plants in her region has pitted indigenous communities and their defenders, like Lolita, up against powerful interests. We recently held a Facebook Live conversation with Emma Achilli from the NGO Front Line Defenders on the risks faced by environmental rights defenders, particularly in Latin America, which can be viewed here.

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Co-presidents press briefing

Tuesday 3 October– 10.30-10.50, EP press room LOW N -1/201

Press briefing with Greens/EFA co-presidents Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts on the key issues of the session for the Greens/EFA group. Also live-streamed on our website.