ECB - Independency or Transparency?

Strasbourg, 17 April 2013

Should the European Central Bank continue its "price stability mandate" or should she loose it's "courage to refuse” European Union member states that need to be bailed out? Does Europe need a central bank that does "everything for everybody at anytime" or do we want a bank that follows a strict regulation ensuring the financial stability?

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Statement zum Liese-Bericht A7-0060/2013

Straßbourg, 16. April 2013

„Bericht über die vorübergehende Abweichung von der Richtlinie 2003/87/EG über ein System für den Handel mit Treibhausgasemissionszertifikaten in der Gemeinschaft.“

Luftfahrtgesellschaften aus Drittstaaten sind seit 2008 in das europäische System für Treibhausgasemissionszertifikate (ETS) aufgenommen und müssen sich an diesen Zertifizierungen beteiligen. In Folge dieser Entscheidung des Rates gab es teils heftige Gegenwehr aus einigen Drittstaaten, obgleich die ETS-Auflagen als sehr moderat bezeichnet werden können.

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Food distribution to the most deprived people

Strasbourg, 15 February 2012

Today in plenary the European Parliament agreed to a regulation on food distribution to the most deprived people. The programme is endowed with an annual ceiling of 500 million euro and shall benefit 18 million people in the EU.

Originally, the programme was developed in order to efficiently use overproductions of the European agriculture. Today, however, such "intervention stocks" hardly exist any more. Therefore, in the last years additional foodstuffs had to be acquired.

The new regulation assures that this will be possible also in the future and that the programme can be continued. Against the backdrop of the current economic crisis it is necessary to support the weakest in our society.

I particularly welcome the principle of EU origin which has been included into the revised programme: Primarily, there shall be distributed foodstuffs which are grown or produced in the EU.

* In this section I explain why I have voted in favour, against or with abstention on specific topics on the agenda during Plenary Sessions.