“Today we celebrate the International Day of Families”, said EP President Antonio Tajani at the opening of the Strasbourg plenary session, on Monday. The UN-established Day focuses this year on the role of families and family-oriented policies in promoting education and the overall well-being of family members.

President Tajani said: “This Parliament has always been supportive of families and, in particular, has underlined the importance of ensuring greater balance between family and work.” “We will keep doing this,” he added.

The President also stressed that “family is the core element of our social order and has a fundamental role in the formation of our youth and the transmission of the values on which our common life is founded”

The agenda of the plenary was approved with no change.

Requests by committees to start negotiations with Council and Commission

Decisions by several committees to enter into inter-institutional negotiations (Rule 69c) are published on the plenary website. If no request for a vote in Parliament on the decision to enter into negotiations is made within 24 hours, the committees may start negotiations.

According to the Electoral Commission, almost 90 per cent of those eligible to vote in Scotland are registered. But for people aged 18 to 34 more than a quarter of those who can vote are not registered.

Following the declaration of an Ebola outbreak in the Northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the EU is fully committed to provide all support necessary. 

The national authorities, with the support of the World Health Organisation (WHO), and the European Commission’s experts in the country as well as international medical NGOs, have set in motion initial measures to respond to the situation.

The European Commission’s Emergency response Coordination Centre (ERCC) is taking necessary preparedness measures for a potential EU intervention in case the European Medical Corps and logistical capacities would be needed. In this regard we are in close contact with our Member States.

In these early days of the outbreak our priority must be to maintain close and efficient coordination with the national authorities, the WHO, EU Member States, international partners and NGOs on the ground.

The EU was at the forefront of the response to the Ebola outbreak in Western Africa in 2013-2016. This new outbreak is a stark reminder that we can never let our guard down. 

Vigilance, early warning, coordination and preparedness are the best tools to prevent further spread of the outbreak.

MEPs will urge EU countries on Tuesday morning to accelerate the transfer of refugees from Italy and Greece to other member states, as agreed in September 2015.

Under two Council decisions adopted in September 2015, member states committed to relocate 160,000 asylum-seekers from these two “frontline” countries by September 2017, but only 18,418 persons have been moved (as of 11 May). Following the plenary debate with Council and Commission representatives, MEPs will vote on a resolution on Thursday.

You can watch the plenary debate at 9.00 on Tuesday via EP Live, and EbS+.

Background

Against the background of severe migration and refugee crises in the summer of 2015, the EU adopted two emergency decisions to relocate thousands of refugees.  160,000 asylum seekers with a high chance of being granted refugee status from Italy and Greece were to be relocated by September 2017 to other member states where their applications would be processed.

In a subsequent decision approved by the Council in September 2016 – which was opposed by Parliament – member states agreed that 54,000 out of the 160,000 places could be used for the admission of Syrian refugees from Turkey, as part of the EU-Turkey migration deal, rather than from Italy or Greece.

According to UNHCR data, around 50,000 asylum-seekers are still stuck in Greece, while Italy faced a new record in 2016 with 181.436 new arrivals.