PLENARY FLASH; Greens/EFA Priorities 5 to 8 October
Greens/EFA Co-Presidential elections: Press point on Tuesday, 6 October |
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On Tuesday, the Greens/EFA Group will elect the Group's Co-Presidents. They will be holding a press point in front of the group´s meeting room in the European Parliament in Strasbourg after the elections at around 6:15pm. |
Affordable Housing Act |
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On Tuesday, MEPs will debate the Affordable Housing Act. The text recently proposed by the Commission fails to match the scale and urgency of the housing crisis and mostly focuses on the functioning of the market rather than people’s access to affordable housing. The Greens/EFA call for a stronger Affordable Housing Act that recognises speculation and financialisation as well as significant and growing investment gap in social and affordable housing as key elements of the housing crisis. The Act must preserve municipalities’ ability to effectively address rising rents and housing costs, regulate short-term rentals, and strengthen public and non-profit housing, thus ensuring that public action, and any housing-related investment, serve people rather than property speculation.
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Urgent need for a tax on super profits of polluters: protecting people’s health and lowering energy bills in times of the climate crisis |
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The Greens/EFA Group has selected the next week's topical debate, which will focus on the urgent need to tax the profits of polluters. In times of war, insecurity and rising energy prices, it is completely unacceptable that mega polluters such as oil and gas and energy suppliers are raking in huge profits at the expense of consumers. These super profits must be taxed fairly and these resources should be used to support homes and individuals as we head into another difficult and costly winter. The Greens/EFA Group are calling for a tax on the super profits of polluters to address the cost of living crisis and to move away from fossil fuels and save our water supplies.
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Workers' protection from exposure to hazardous substances at work |
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Next Tuesday, MEPs will vote on the agreement reached with the Council on the sixth revision of the Carcinogens, Mutagens and Reprotoxic Substances Directive (CMRD). Cancer is the leading cause of work-related deaths in the EU. The Greens/EFA are looking forward to the adoption of this legislation that should prevent around 1 700 occupational lung cancer cases and 19 000 other illnesses over the next 40 years. Europe’s regulations need to protect people and workers.
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MFF |
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Next week, the Parliament will debate the current state of play ahead of negotiations with the Council on the EU’s long term budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF). Member States are currently negotiating on the Council’s position on the MFF. The Parliament agreed its position back in April, with support across the democratic majority in the house. The EU needs an ambitious long-term budget fit for the geopolitical challenges we face and Europe's global responsibilities. The MFF needs new own resources, and the ability to take on the challenges we face including the climate crisis, biodiversity, and the drastic housing situation in Europe. The Greens/EFA Group are calling on negotiators to stick firmly to the Parliament’s position in the upcoming discussions with the Council.
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AGILE defence innovation programme |
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On Tuesday, MEPs will vote on AGILE, a one-year €115 million programme to support rapid defence innovation in Europe. The programme aims to help SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups bring civilian-origin technologies into the defence sector more quickly and efficiently. Throughout the negotiations, the Greens/EFA Group pushed for the exclusion of lethal autonomous weapons systems from the programme. The Greens/EFA Group welcomes that this exclusion is now in the final text, ensuring that speed and innovation do not come at the expense of meaningful human control in the use of force. Moreover, thanks to Greens/EFA pressure, the final text includes stronger safeguards on transparency and oversight, security of supply, support for SMEs and links to Ukraine’s defence needs.
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“Sexualised AI Deepfakes of MEPs: New Findings and the Way Forward” Lena Schilling and Benjamin Shultz (Agora Digital Transformation) will present new findings on deepfakes of MEPs and the Way Forward right ahead of the opening of the plenary on Monday. Benjamin Shultz is author of last week´s study on deepfakes of parliamentarians across the EU, which provides the first systematic analysis of the extent to which politicians across the EU are affected by AI-generated sexualised violence. The researchers identified 147 politicians from national and European level on relevant deepfake websites, most of them are women (138 cases). Greens/EFA MEP Lena Schilling is among those affected.
Nature restoration On September 1st, EU Member States were due to submit their Nature Restoration Plans, under the Nature Restoration Law. The Parliament will debate nature restoration next week in Strasbourg. In order to prevent climate fires, protect wildlife, biodiversity and our natural environment, the Greens/EFA Group are calling for serious ambition and action from European governments.
Implementation of the Methane Regulation The EU Methane Regulation requires oil, gas, and coal industries to measure, report, and reduce their methane leaks and therefore, to lower greenhouse gas emissions. Suspending the implementation of the Methane Regulation for a year will neither increase the flow of gas to Europe nor lower people´s heating bills.
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