MEPs veto allegedly misleading new food labeling rules

A majority of MEPs voted a resolution opposing Commission’s proposed changes to nutrition labeling that would have allowed new “percentage less” claims on sugar, salt and fat content. The ECR group and part of the EPP Members voted against Parliament’s position, however.

In accordance to the rules of the Regulatory Procedure with Scrutiny (RPS), the Commission’s proposal is now rejected and cannot be implemented. Click here for more information.

EPP, Greens / EFA, GUE/NGL push through a proposal for a common EU standard for colour-coding categories of waste for sorting and recycling

In a non-binding resolution related to the application of the Waste Management Directive, the three groups supported Paragraph 15 that stated: ”[EP] Proposes that a common EU standard for colour-coding categories of waste for sorting and recycling be agreed so as to facilitate and improve citizens’ participation in and understanding of the waste process, and considers that this may assist Member States’ efforts to increase recycling rates significantly and quickly”. The S&D, ALDE, ECR and EFD groups opposed this provision, but failed to vote it down.

The votes of the MEPs in the two largest groups were influenced by nationality. In the EPP group, the Swedish and half of the German MEPs voted against, while the Hungarians and Austrians abstained. In the S&D group, the votes against came from the British, German, Dutch and Swedish delegations, as well as from some MEPs from France, Italy and Poland.

EP threatens to block amendment of partnership agreement with Uzbekistan

The House voted a highly critical resolution regarding the negotiation for a new EU-Uzbekistan Partnership and Cooperation Agreement, stating that the Parliament will withhold its consent until minimum conditions concerning child labour are fulfilled. Furthermore, the resolution asks that Uzbekistan should allow a ILO observer mission that would have full freedom of movement and timely access to all locations and relevant parties, including in the cotton fields, in order to assess the implementation of the ILO Convention. The EU is one of the main trading partners and importers of Uzbek cotton.

While in the final vote all political groups voted in favour, a number of provisions generated important disagreements. A key vote was cast on Recital F. The original text stated that ”whereas the Government of Uzbekistan is in the process of taking important steps to achieve democracy”, while amendment 1, which was supported by the centre-left (S&D+Greens/EFA+GUE/NGL), provided that ”whereas the Uzbek political regime still has important steps to take in order to achieve democracy”. The amendment was defeated by a centre-right coalition (EPP+ALDE+ECR).

MEPs call for better defence policy coordination between member states

MEPs passed a non-legislative resolution that calls for a better coordination of the defence budgets of the Member States to avoid duplication in research and technology, as well as a tighter cooperation between the EU and NATO. The resolution also expresses concern over the cut of spending on defence, pointing out that all EU Member States combined spend about 200 billion per year on defence, which represents only a third of the US defence budget.

The resolution was passed by the three largest political groups (EPP, S&D, ALDE), while the GUE/NGL, Greens / EFA and ECR groups voted against.

One key vote was cast on paragraph 60, part 1, in which offset practices (special agreements in which the seller of weapons commits to buying other goods from the client in exchange) were considered as beneficial for the development of the European defence industrial base: “[The EP] Notes, however, that offset practices may in certain cases help domestic industries become more efficient and contribute to the development of the European defence industrial base, as well as that intra-Union offset contracts can lead to the creation of jobs and the re-start of national industries;”. This part was rejected by a majority formed of most the EPP members, as well as the GUE/NGL and Greens / EFA groups.

EPP opposes new rules on transparency

While amending, within the co-decision procedure, Regulation 1049/2011 that regulates public access to documents held by EU institutions, the Parliament inserted a number of provisions aimed at making it easier for citizens to access documents. Among other things, the MEPs have broadened the definition of a “document”, stating that any data content, whatever its medium (written on paper or stored in electronic form or as a sound, visual or audiovisual recording), concerning a matter falling within the sphere of responsibility of an EU institution, body, office or agency would be considered a document.

A similar occurrence took place at the vote for paragraph 22, part 2, that stated: "[Points out that gender-balanced participation in decision-making covering all phases and aspects of funding is essential;] calls on the EU to strive for female representation of at least 40% in all relevant bodies." Here again, the centre-left succeeded in securing a majority.

Conversely, the centre-right EPP+ECR+EFD reached a majority to take out paragraph 38, that stated that "[the EP] calls on the EU to define and create a separate budget line for climate financing so as to ensure that climate financing is indeed new and additional". The majority was secured due to 8 defections in the ALDE group, all from the German FDP.

A majority of MEPs adopted the Framework programme of the European Atomic Energy Community for nuclear research and training activities, with only the Greens / EFA and the GUE / NGL groups voting against at the final vote.

A key vote was cast on amendment 36, drafted by the Greens / EFA group, that aimed at underlining the view that EU should renounce nuclear energy at the soonest. The amendment was supported by the GUE / NGL and Greens / EFA, as well as by two thirds of the S&D members and almost half of the ALDE MEPs. However, it failed to reach the majority of votes, as the EPP, ECR, EFD groups, as well as most of the ALDE MEPs voted against it.

EP voted into law a regulation to curb short selling and trading in credit default swaps (CDS), in a move aimed at preventing speculation on a country's default. The regulation comes as part of EU's actions to fight volatility of markets in the context of the financial crisis. The law was adopted with an overwhelming majority, but the ALDE and ECR groups abstained.

The EP adopted a recast of the 2001 EU Directive aimed at integrating the railway infrastructure. A European Railways Regulatory body will require Member States to ensure the proper conditions for stimulating competition in this sector both internally and cross-country. Parliament asks the European Commission to table a proposal by the end of 2012 to complete the separation of rail infrastructure management from the operation of rail transport services and open up national rail passenger transport markets to competition.

The legislative resolution was adopted with large support from most of the political groups. However, the GUE/NGL voted against, the Greens/EFA abstained, while the ECR group was split perfectly in half, with the British delegation voting against and the Polish and Czech delegations voting in favour.

The EP has voted a non-legislative resolution calling on the Commission to put forward the legal framework for strengthening the activities of services of general interest. The report points out the need to take into account the diversity of social services, notably through further exemptions from notification and a specific rule exempting small compensation payments from state aid rules. While most of the political groups supported the report, the ALDE and ECR groups voted against it.

Implementation of Professional Qualifications Directive

A non-legislative resolution calling for a more integrated EU labour market was passed by the House. While the aim of the document is to provide guidelines on how legislation should be designed to reduce barriers against cross-country free flow of skills and talent, it also includes a number of safeguards, in particular with regard to low-skilled workers. The document was adopted with a comfortable majority, despite the fact that most of the EPP members voted against it.

Deep disagreements over carbon tax: Centre-left (ALDE+S&D+Greens/EFA+GUE/NGL) succeeded in pushing through article 69, which calls for a global tax on carbon, despite the opposition expressed by the EPP and ECR groups.

Centre-right defends Standard & Poor's: Recital W of the resolution, which contained explicit criticism of S&P's activity, was taken out of the text by a majority formed of the EPP, ALDE and ECR groups who voted against it.

The adoption of the Parliament's position on the Union's 2012 budget saw important disagreements between the MEPs. The ECR and GUE/NGL groups voted against, while ALDE and Greens/EFA groups abstained at the final vote, as they found the scope was not ambitious enough. A majority of MEPs in both main groups (EPP and S&D) voted in favour of Parliament's position, thus ensuring it was passed.

Centre-left fails to block continuation of research on nuclear energy: an amendment by the Greens/EFA (am 18, part 2), and supported also by the S&D and GUE/NGL groups, calling for a cut of spending on nuclear energy research was defeated by a centre-right coalition (EPP+ALDE+ECR).

Centre-right defends tobacco industry aid: an amendment by the GUE/NGL (am. 37), and supported by the Greens/EFA, ALDE and most of the S&D members, calling for an end to aid given to tobacco industries in developing countries, was defeated by an opposing majority made up of the EPP group and a defecting faction of the S&D group.

Fewer business class airplane tickets for MEPs: deep divisions among members: an amendment (am. 26) calling on the Parliament to save money by reducing the number of business class airplane tickets it pays for MEPs was adopted with strong support from the centre-left and the ECR, while most of the EPP, as well as half of the ALDE group voted against it.

The centre-left group, the S&D, supported only one of the six proposals, that on Prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances.

The Greens/EFA group supported three of the proposals, but voted against the remaining three.

While the positions of MEPs within the ECR group were split, only one proposal found a majority in that group: Requirements for budgetary frameworks of Member States.

The radical left group, GUE/NGL, voted against all six proposals, while the EFD was split.

Detailed information regarding the breakdown of votes, texts of the proposals and summaries can be found by clicking the links below:

Surveillance of budgetary positions and surveillance and coordination of economic policies (text, breakdown of votes).

Budgetary Surveillance in the euro area (text, breakdown of votes).

Enforcement measures to correct excessive macroeconomic imbalances in euro area (text, breakdown of votes)

Prevention and correction of macroeconomic imbalances (text, breakdown of votes)

Implementation of excessive deficit procedure (text, breakdown of votes)

Requirements for budgetary frameworks of Member States (text, breakdown of votes)

Click herefor a summary of the legislative package.

New trade policy for Europe 2020

A non-legislative report setting the guidelines for the new EU trade policy within the framework of the Europe 2020 strategy was adopted with a large majority (EPP+S&D+ALDE+ECR). However, the Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL and EFD groups have voted against it. Click to see the breakdown of votesor the text of the report.