Quote of the week by President Iratxe Garcia on corruptive political interference:
“Since the first day the Qatargate scandal broke in December, I have been determined to act with absolute transparency to regain citizens’ trust in our group and in the European Parliament as a whole.
As the judicial investigation continues and sheds light on the crimes committed by some persons, our Group has engaged in a thorough reflection on how we can better protect our work and our independence from corruptive political interference.
After a good consultation with all the delegations of our Group, we have adopted 15 measures that will be implemented by our Group to enhance our existing rules, so that we lead by example in our commitment with ethics, transparency, and accountability. We hope the Parliament will take also them up for the institution.
Regarding our internal inquiry, I am thankful to Silvina Bacigalupo and Richard Corbett for bringing their knowledge, expertise and time to improve our work. We believe it is a strong tandem to lead a revision of our internal procedures in order to prevent any potential wrongdoing and strengthen transparency and integrity.”
Details on our 15-point plan to prevent and combat corruption here.
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Coming up next week
Tuesday will be a full day of committee work for our members in the European Parliament.
Thus, MEPs in the industry and research committee (ITRE) are set to vote on Dan Nica’s report on the CHIPS Act. The adoption of this report is a big step towards real technological autonomy for the EU from third counties in an extremely turbulent world.
In the internal market and consumer protection committee (IMCO), members will adopt a report on transparency and targeting of political advertising. Our shadow negotiator, Maria Manuel Leitão Marques, did great work in improving the legislative proposal by the European Commission by creating a European repository for all online political ads. It will contain copies of the ads and detailed information on the identity of sponsors, amount spent on the campaign, and also engagement metrics.
The committee on the environment, public health and food safety will vote on a number of issues including batteries and waste batteries. Our group, which has been leading the file, has pushed for ambitious proposals to make current environment and climate-damaging batteries more sustainable. While these are needed for the digital and energy transition, it is urgent to drastically reduce their ecological footprint.
Tuesday is also the day when the Parliament’s employment committee will vote on the resolution on the adequate minimum income. When the European Commission presented its recommendation on this matter last September, we warned that this was not enough to tackle the social crisis, and that we need a binding European minimum income scheme. We then called for European legislation on this issue in our winter solidarity plan to #BringTheBillsDown. Now, we are fighting to include this call in the Parliament’s resolution as well.
The Parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs will also vote on the new EU banking package. The new rules should ensure better resilience of EU banks to future economic shocks, while contributing to the green transition and post-pandemic recovery.
On the same day, we will closely follow an exchange of the Parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs with the Commissioner for financial services, financial stability and capital markets union, Mairead McGuinness. The focus will be on the much-awaited proposal on the retail investment strategy, expected later this year. We will urge the Commissioner again to propose a full inducement ban, which would end conflicts of interests in financial advice. Europeans must have access to bias-free investment advice.
On Wednesday, in a joint vote in the committee on civil liberties and the committee on women’s rights and gender equality, our members will cast their vote on an interim resolution to welcome the signature of the Istanbul Convention by the European Union. We demand that the European Union recognises violence against women and girls as a serious crime in the treaty’s catalogue of crimes with a cross-border dimension, and finally accedes to the Istanbul Convention; the most comprehensive international treaty to fight violence against women. Follow us on Twitter for reactions on the day of the vote.
On Thursday, the European Parliament will hold a special plenary sitting in remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust. Follow the live streaming and interventions from MEPs here.
Also on Thursday, members in the special committee on foreign interference will discuss recent developments regarding malicious foreign interference in the work of the European Parliament.
Next week, there is a series of votes across various committees on the new draft EU rules on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence. We are committed to making responsible business conduct the norm and we want to improve the Commission’s proposals so that companies identify the risks they pose to human rights, the environment and good governance across the entire value chain, and stop any activities that are likely to cause harm. S&D MEP Lara Wolters is leading the negotiations on due diligence.
And don’t forget to stay updated on all our initiatives and reactions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and TikTok!
