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Let us talk for a sec about how the EU affects our daily life or is about to 🔊
This week gave us 🇪🇺
📌 MEPs urge EU leaders to work out a solution to the current impasse on migration and asylum and stress their readiness to start talks to reform existing rules 🚧🛶
📌 When is the next EU enlargement? 🤔🌍
📌 Hungary and the respect for EU values: Draft proposal to trigger article 7 against the Hungary ⛔️❗️
📌 MEPs: Helping migrants is not a crime 🆘🆘
📌 European Commission and four online marketplaces sign a Product Safety Pledge to remove dangerous products 💻🛍
📌 European Solidarity Corps: from pilot project to reality 🌪🔥🙋♀️🙋♂️
📌 Cheaper euro transfers in the making: Council agrees its negotiating stance 🔮💳
📌 15.000 18-year-olds have been selected to receive free travel passes 🚝💺☀️
MEPs urge EU leaders to work out a solution to the current impasse on migration and asylum and stress their readiness to start talks to reform existing rules 🚧🛶
➡️ MEPs have repeatedly called on the Council to show real political will to move ahead with the reforms and put an end to people dying in the Mediterranean while trying to reach Europe. Parliament has already adopted their position on all of the legislative files related to the reform of the EU asylum policy and is ready to start talks with EU Ministers.
When is the next EU enlargement? 🤔🌍
➡️ Accession decisions on EU membership for Albania and Macedonia has been postponed to June 2019, at the Foreign Affairs Council this week. The member states France, The Netherlands, and Denmark are all against the enlargement.
Hungary and the respect for EU values: Draft proposal to trigger article 7 against the Hungary ⛔️❗️
➡️ Hungary is at clear risk of a serious breach of EU values and the Council should intervene to prevent it, the Civil Liberties Committee said on Monday. The Committee has voted to propose that EU ministers activate the so-called Article 7 mechanism against a member state for the first time, due to a risk of a serious breach of EU values. Article 7 of the EU Treaty provides for a procedure to enforce EU values and can go as far as imposing sanctions, including the suspension of voting rights The LIBE Committee in the EP voted 37 for 19 against a proposal to trigger article 7.
🔜 The proposal for a Council decision will be put to a vote by Parliament as a whole in September. To be adopted, it needs the backing of an absolute majority of MEPs, i.e. 376, and two thirds of the votes cast.
MEPs: Helping migrants is not a crime 🆘🆘
➡️ The EU should ensure that helping migrants for humanitarian reasons is not punishable as a crime Civil Liberties Committee MEPs said on Monday. The MEPs call on EU countries to include this exemption in their national laws, to ensure that individuals and civil society organizations who assist migrants for humanitarian reasons are not prosecuted for doing so.
🔜 The non-binding resolution prepared by the Civil Liberties Committee will be put to vote by the whole Parliament on Wednesday 4 July in Strasbourg, as a wrap-up to a plenary debate with the EU Commission on Tuesday.
European Commission and four online marketplaces sign a Product Safety Pledge to remove dangerous products 💻🛍
➡️ More and more people in the EU are shopping online, Alibaba (for AliExpress), Amazon, eBay, and Rakuten - France have signed a commitment for faster removal of dangerous products sold on their online marketplaces, thanks to a dialogue facilitated by the European Commission.
🔜 The online marketplaces and the European Commission will assess the progress made on the commitments every six months, publishing a report. The European Commission encourages other online marketplaces to follow the good example of the four companies taking the lead today and sign up and contribute to improving product safety online for consumers in the EU.
European Solidarity Corps: from pilot project to reality 🌪🔥🙋♀️🙋♂️
➡️ The European Parliament and the Council have reached a political agreement on the Commission's proposal to provide the European Solidarity Corps with its own budget and legal framework until 2020, offering volunteering opportunities around the EU
🔜 Now that the agreement has been confirmed by EU ambassadors on behalf of the Council, the regulation will be submitted to the European Parliament for a vote at first reading, and will subsequently go back to the Council for adoption. The new rules will enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union and will apply from 1 October 2018. On 11 June 2018, the Commission tabled a further proposal for the ESC beyond 2020 with an increased budget of €1.26 billion and a target of at least 350.000 participants. The proposal will now have to be agreed on by the European Parliament and the Council.
Cheaper euro transfers in the making: Council agrees its negotiating stance 🔮💳
➡️ The Council endorsed the Commission's proposal to align the charges for cross-border payments in euros for services such as credit transfers, card payments or cash withdrawals with the charges for corresponding national payments of the same value in the national currency of the Member State where the payment service provider of the payment service user is located.
🔜 Negotiations with the European Parliament can proceed as soon as the Parliament has agreed its stance
15.000 18-year-olds have been selected to receive free travel passes 🚝💺☀️
➡️ More than 100,000 young people from all Member States applied during a two-week period which closed on 26 June at 12:00. The final list of winners was confirmed, and 15.000 Young people will receive travel tickets according to a quota set for each EU Member State. DiscoverEU is an EU initiative based on a proposal from the European Parliament, which secured its funding for 2018 through a Preparatory Action. The initiative focuses on young people turning 18 as this marks a major step towards adulthood.
Next week is the last Plenary week before the Summer. Expect fire.
Both Austria’s Kurtz and Poland’s Morawiecki will stop by the European Parliament in Strasbourg. On the agenda next week you will also find: Climate diplomacy, mobilisation of EU’s globalisation fund, reform of the electoral law, opening of negotiations for an EU-Turkey Agreement of the exchange of personal data for fighting serious crimes, posted driver, participation of persons with disabilities in the European elections, and much more more!
🔥 If you want to be updated too we suggest the European Parliament's press service http://