COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION-EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT latest

Motion for a resolution on nuclear security and non-proliferation - B8-2016-1120

20-10-2016 08:10 AM CEST

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
to wind up the debate on the statement by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
pursuant to Rule 123(2) of the Rules of Procedure
on nuclear security and non-proliferation
(2016/2936(RSP))
Geoffrey Van Orden, Charles Tannock, Angel Dzhambazki
on behalf of the ECR Group

Draft agenda - Monday, 24 October 2016 - PE 592.318v01-00 - Committee on Foreign Affairs

19-10-2016 08:43 PM CEST

Draft agenda - Thursday, 20 October 2016 - PE 592.193v02-00 - Committee on Foreign Affairs

19-10-2016 08:42 PM CEST 

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

19/10/2016 Tripartite Social Summit, 19 October 2016 The Autumn Social summit held a discussion on "Addressing Europe's common challenges: generating growth, creating jobs and ensuring fairness". More particularly, participants at the Summit expressed their views on the following sub-themes:  the main challenges in view of the annual growth survey 2017; putting the New Skills agenda for Europe into practice: the key role of the social partners; the integration of refugees into the labour market and society: lessons learnt so far.  In his opening statement, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, underlined that: " The Brexit referendum had some characteristics unique to Britain. But we would be foolish to dismiss what the vote told us about the popular view of globalisation. It is a very negative assessment also widely shared across Europe. Responding to this is the key motivation behind the Bratislava declaration. Bratislava means a necessary shift of emphasis away from lecturing citizens about the benefits of European integration and taking far more seriously their genuine fears about security. Both in the hard sense of securing borders and public order, but also in a soft sense, of securing people's prosperity and way of life. We need a Europe that protects its citizens, a Europe which they can look to as a place of shelter. The summit was also clear that the European Union has a shared responsibility to create a promising economic future for all." The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker stressed: "The EU has a clear roadmap and a strong commitment to deliver jobs, growth and social fairness in Europe. Many actions have been undertaken over the last two years - from the Investment Plan for Europe, the deepening of the Single Market based on clear and fair rules, the roll-out of the Youth Guarantee, the launch of a new Skills Agenda, to the ongoing consultation on a European Pillar of Social Rights. Unemployment is decreasing but there is still a long way to go. Social partners have a key role to play and the recent agreement on a "new start for social dialogue" should pave the way for further actions at EU and national level. We look forward to discussing EU priorities at this important point in time."  From the side of the rotating presidency, Slovakia's Prime Minister, Robert Fico, said that "We need to improve the communication with each other - among Member States, with EU institutions, but most importantly with our citizens. We should inject more clarity into our decisions. Use clear and honest language. Focus on citizens' expectations, with strong courage to challenge simplistic solutions of extreme or populist political opposition in our countries. Social dialogue can contribute to social harmony and to implementation of the commitments which we set ourselves at the Bratislava Summit. We offer to our citizens in these months a vision of an attractive EU they can trust and support. Today's tripartite social summit will allow us to become familiar with the opinions of the social partners on this important subject. The social partners in particular are in direct contact with working people, employees, and they know the situation on the labour market as well as the business environment, which can help to address today's challenges".  BusinessEurope's President, Emma Marcegaglia, representing employers, said " Europe is at a crossroad. We need strong and efficient EU institutions pulling in the same direction to strengthen the EU three key economic pillars: the single market, the common international trade policy and the euro. Delivering trade agreements negotiated in compliance with the mandates given to the EU is essential for the credibility of the EU and for job creation. Productive private and public investment must increase. We therefore support the extension of the Juncker investment plan and urge the EU and all its member states to remove obstacles to investment. The EU social partners also underlined that companies and workers must not pay the price for Brexit. Our aim is to maintain as close as possible economic relations between the European Union and the United-Kingdom, while preserving the integrity of the Single Market. Cherry-picking between free movement of goods, services, capital and people is not an option".  For the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) General Secretary, Luca Visentini, said “Trade unions and employers agree that European solutions are needed to the many crises facing Europe. We call for more public and private investment across Europe to drive growth and quality jobs. Such investment requires a golden rule to exclude it from EU deficit and debt targets, and call on the European Commission to develop an ambitious industrial policy for Europe. We support the closest possible economic relations between the EU and the UK without compromising the single market and the free movement of people. We want to engage with the negotiators to find solutions that minimise the damage to companies and workers, and workers' rights. The EU needs to strengthen social protection, and give social Europe the same importance as the EU's economic governance.”  The views cited in this text are those of the individual / organization concerned and do not collectively constitute the point of view of the Council or the European Council. ./. 19/10/2016  EU budget for 2017: Council calls on EP to draw the right lessons from 2016 On 19 October 2016, the Slovak Presidency of the Council called on the European Parliament to take the most recent implementation figures for 2016 into consideration when adopting its amendments to the 2017 EU budget.  "We have to face reality: the 2016 EU budget is way in excess of actual needs. We must learn from this and align the 2017 EU budget as closely as possible to the most realistic forecasts for expenditure next year", said Ivan Lesay, state secretary for finance of Slovakia and President of the Council after a trilogue-meeting with representatives of the Parliament and the Commission.  On 30 September the Commission proposed to reduce payments in the 2016 EU budget by €7.27 billion to align it more closely to the latest estimates of needs.  Outlook for 2017  The lower than expected needs in 2016 are mainly due to the fact that some of the programmes of the 2014-2020 period are not yet fully up and running. This concerns in particular the area of economic, social and territorial cohesion, where the programmes are unlikely to reach cruising speed even in 2017. That is why in its draft 2017 EU budget the Commission estimated the payment needs for this policy area to be more than 23% lower than in the 2016 EU budget as adopted. Even after bringing this year's budget in line with actual needs, the amounts proposed by the Commission for 2017 are still more than 10% lower than in 2016.  With regard to the 2017 EU budget the presidency is concerned that the amendments currently being discussed by the Parliament go completely into the opposite direction. The Parliament is in particular considering to increase payments and commitments for almost all policy areas way beyond the expenditure ceilings of the EU's multiannual financial framework (MFF). This neither reflects current needs nor respects the MFF agreement.  Focus on top priorities  The presidency called on the Parliament to direct the available resources towards the EU's current two top priorities. These are measures to address the migration crisis and its root causes, such as strengthening border controls, providing food, health and education to refugees stranded in Greece and Bulgaria and supporting countries of transit and origin. The other top priority is to help the EU economy to become more competitive and to create new jobs.  The presidency also invited the other EU institutions to use EU taxpayers' money in the most responsible way, which includes reducing their staff by 5% by 2017 as committed in 2013.  The presidency also recalled that the 2017 EU budget negotiations and the mid-term review of the MFF for 2014-2020 are two different exercises which should be dealt with separately.  Next steps  The Parliament is expected to vote on 26 October on its amendments to the Council's position for the 2017 EU budget. On 28 October a three-week conciliation period will start which is aimed at bridging the gap between the positions of the Council and Parliament by 17 November.  Background  The €7.27 billion reduction in the 2016 EU budget results in a payment level of €136.61 billion. This is significantly below the €146.46 billion that the Parliament asked for in last year's negotiations on the 2016 EU budget and also well below the €142.12 billion proposed by the Council at that time.  Draft amending budget no.4 for 2016