The Week Ahead 7-13 December 2009

Committee meetings and political groups week – Brussels Source : © European Parliament
Dan Carbunaru “Suntem pe calea cea buna, dar mergem prea incet”
Jeremy RIFKIN “Merita sa mori pentru visul american, pentru visul european merita sa traiesti”

Committee meetings and political groups week – Brussels Source : © European Parliament
Everyone can fight climate change by not eating meat one day a week, urged Sir Paul McCartney at a European Parliament public hearing on “Global Warming and Food Policy: Less Meat = Less Heat” on Thursday. The panel of global warming and food policy experts, including Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri, urged legislators to encourage people to do more individually to fight climate change.
The principle of “differentiated responsibility” for reducing greenhouse gas emissions should be ratified by the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, says a resolution adopted by the Joint Parliamentary Assembly of African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) MPs and Members of the European Parliament in Luanda (Angola) on Thursday. The JPA also condemned a coup d’état in Madagascar and debated the institutional crisis in Niger. Source : © European Parliament
A tax on financial transactions is probably not the best way to curb speculation and find extra revenue to bail out failing banks, MEPs heard on Wednesday at a public hearing held by the EP Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee. Source : © European Parliament
Unemployed car and construction workers in Sweden, Austria, and the Netherlands are to get €15.9 million in EU Globalisation Adjustment Fund aid for training, self-employment and professional orientation services under plans backed by the Budgets Committee on Wednesday.
MEPs began acting on their new Lisbon Treaty power to co-decide fisheries policy with Member States on 1 December – the day the treaty took effect – with a Fisheries Committee indicative vote on three legislative proposals: a long-term management plan for Bay of Biscay anchovy, a multi-annual management plan for Atlantic horse mackerel and control and enforcement measures in the North-East Atlantic fisheries.
Jerzy Buzek, President of the European Parliament delivered a speech in the Portuguese capital at the commemorative event marking the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon. Source : © European Parliament
Maternity leave should be extended from 14 to 20 weeks, says MEP Edite Estrela (S&D, PT) in a report, debated by Womens’ Rights Committee MEPs on Tuesday, on proposals to update the EU “maternity leave” directive.
xxx Source : © European Parliament
On Thursday 3 December the European Parliament hosts a major event on global warming and food policy when the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Dr Rajendra K. Pachauri and environmental activist Sir Paul McCartney will urge legislators and experts to focus on what an individual can do to fight climate change, for example by eating less meat. Source : © European Parliament