Agenda plenary session from 18th-21st May 2015, Strasbourg

MEPs will give their views on the European Agenda on Migration presented by the Commission on 13 May in a debate with Commission Vice-president Frans Timmermans and the Council presidency on Wednesday at 9.00. The four pillars are a stronger common asylum policy, including an EU-wide resettlement scheme and relocation inside the EU in emergencies, fighting trafficking and preventing irregular migration, managing external borders, and a new policy on legal migration.

The ultimate owners of companies will have to be listed in central registers in EU countries, open both to the authorities and to people with a “legitimate interest”, such as journalists, under a Parliament/Council deal to be debated on Tuesday and put to a vote on Wednesday. The new anti-money laundering directive aims to help to fight money laundering, tax crimes and terrorist financing. New rules to make it easier to trace transfers of funds will also be put to a vote.

MEPs will debate the situation in Hungary with Commission Vice-president Frans Timmermans late on Tuesday afternoon. The debate follows Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s remarks on the possibility of reinstating capital punishment in Hungary and a public consultation on immigration launched by the Hungarian government.

A draft law to help stem the flow of revenue to armed groups from sales of tin, tantalum and tungsten, their ores, and gold will be debated on Tuesday and put to a vote on Wednesday. The draft, already approved by the EP Trade Committee, provides for mandatory certification of EU smelters and refiners and voluntary certification of operators who buy, process and use these minerals and metals to make mobile phones, washing machines, fridges, etc.

The new EU digital single market strategy, tabled by the European Commission on 6 May, will be analysed in a debate on Tuesday morning. The strategy, which sets out 16 initiatives, including proposals on e-commerce, geo-blocking, telecoms and copyright, will be presented by Commission Vice-President for the digital single market, Andrus Ansip. VAT rules for ebooks and epapers will be debated separately, on Monday.

A draft resolution setting out measures to improve patient safety, inter alia by tackling growing microbial resistance to human and veterinary antibiotics, will be discussed on Monday and put to a vote on Tuesday. The draft also sets out MEPs’ concerns about healthcare infections, which reportedly affect 8-12% of patients admitted to hospitals in the EU.

Should the EU’s anti-counterfeiting “tobacco agreements” with four major producers be killed off? Some MEPs say they were rendered obsolete by better tracing and tracking tools introduced by the EU’s new tobacco directive. MEPs will debate the issue after a Commission statement on Monday. The first tobacco agreement expires in July 2016.