MEPs grill foreign policy chief on spending, push for cross-border harmonisation of qualifications and begin updating data protection for online users.

Foreign spend / Qualifications / Data protection

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/16180424/n001-130110-002-en.srt

Running a foreign diplomatic service  doesn’t come cheap.

Certainly not with the crises  there’ve been in the Middle East

and the row with Iran over suspicions  it’s developing a nuclear weapon.

Not to mention maintaining ties  with trusted partners around the world.

Before signing off such sums,  the budget control committee in Parliament

wanted reassurances  from the EU’s chief diplomat

that it was being spent  well and transparently.

I hope you'll accept that I've tried to set out  the relationship in a very transparent way.

At its core, Europe is supposed to be about  the free movement of people and labour.

But what if certain practical obstacles  get in the way?

Like the failure of one state to recognise  the professional qualifications of another,

preventing people  working away from home?

It comes crashing down,  according to Constance Le Grip,

French MEP steering  corrective measures through the EP.

We really want to simplify, improve,  to make the procedures more efficient,

faster, less burdensome  and less bureaucratic.

to provide this ability to move  within the EU,

because we think it's important to create  a genuine European labour market.

First steps for new legislation  to protect people

who submit often vast amounts  of personal data online

without really understanding  who’s using it and what for.

Despite massive advances  in digital technology,

the laws governing data protection  are 15 years old

and according to Jan Philipp Albrecht,  managing the issue for Parliament,

There should be more transparency  and information about what is happening

for example with the profiling of  my personal data that is taking place.

and to take an informed decision  if I want to expose my data or not.