#EUNews - Let’s talk about what the EP actually does 🔊getting ready for 2019 with money, food and Brexit gossips
📌#FutureOfEurope: President of Cyprus urges EU to listen to citizens and to focus the budget on their needs 🇨🇾📣🔮
📌2019 EU budget: MEPs have secured better support for students, unemployed youngsters and researchers 💰🔍👶
📌Food safety: following a successful Citizens’ Initiative, MEPS propose first step towards more transparency and better risk prevention 🗒️📣😋
📌Brexit: after moving the vote in the HoC, MEPs state that they are not open to renegotiate the deal 🇬🇧⁉️😟
#FutureOfEurope: President of Cyprus urges EU to listen to citizens and to focus the budget on their needs 🇨🇾📣🔮
➡️The President of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades debated with MEPs, urging them to listen to citizens to understand underlying reasons for the low participation levels in the European elections. The EU’s long-term budget must tackle modern challenges, as well as focus on improving the citizens’ quality of life. He sees the need to balance traditional policies and modern needs and sees this accomplished through the completion of the Banking Union and defence of the common market. He spoke in favour of a European defence and military cooperation and a revised common European asylum system.
He thanked the Parliament for its unrelenting support in finding a solution for his divided state and reassured the House that he was working towards a comprehensive solution and reunification of the island.
2019 EU budget: MEPs have secured better support for students, unemployed youngsters and researchers 💰🔍👶
➡️Parliament approved a deal on the 2019 EU budget, boosting funds for growth and jobs, namely Erasmus+, climate protection, research, tackling migration and youth unemployment. For next year’s budget, a total commitment total of €165.8 billion; and a payment appropriations total of €148.2 billion is planned. After Council formally approved the conciliation agreement with Parliament on the 2019 budget on 7 December, Parliament approved the budget and signed it into law.
Food safety: following a successful Citizens’ Initiative, MEPS propose first step towards more transparency and better risk prevention 🗒️📣😋
➡️As a follow-up to the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) on glyphosate, MEPs formulated a proposal aiming to make the authorisation process for substances and food stuff more transparent. This especially respects the concerns raised in the ECI, that the scientific studies used to evaluate pesticides were not independent enough and not accessible to the public.
🔜Parliament will now enter into negotiations with EU Ministers for a first reading agreement.
Brexit: after moving the vote in the HoC, MEPs state that they are not open to renegotiate the deal 🇬🇧⁉️😟
➡️Since the vote on the negotiated withdrawal agreement in the British parliament was not held on Tuesday, the parliamentary group leaders gathered to formulate an opinion on the state of play of Brexit. According to them, the Withdrawal Agreement is fair and balanced and the only deal possible. Next to naming the implementation of citizens’ rights as a top priority, they stressed that renegotiating the backstop was not possible since it guarantees that there could be no hardening of the border on the island of Ireland. MEPs stressed their support for a close future EU-UK relationship so that the deployment of the backstop would not be necessary, but will not consent to the Withdrawal Agreement without it. A failure to ratify the Withdrawal Agreement would mean no transition period following the exit from the EU. MEPs called on the Commission and the Member States to continue and intensify their work on no-deal planning.
🔥 If you want to be updated, too, we suggest the European Parliament's press service http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room and the European Commission's news room https://europa.eu/newsroom/home_en