Coming up in the committees: MEPs vote on the confiscation of criminal assets, a fund to help Europe's most deprived, and honour the 2005 Sakharov Prize laureates.

On the Agenda: Organised crime, poverty & Sakharov 2005

but let's take a look at what's happening  next week at the Parliament in Brussels.

The EU wants to clamp down  on tax cheats and offshore accounts

that lose it almost one trillion euros a year.  If that money was recovered,

debt could be wiped out in eight years.  Imagine that!

Hot on the heels of the Commission's  action plan on tax evasion and avoidance,

the EP's Budgetary Control Committee  will vote on an opinion

drafted by one of its members on Tuesday.

Recommendations include updating the list  of tax havens in Member States

Over 40 million people living here in the EU  do so in absolute poverty.

The EU wants to halve that number  by 2020.

A new initiative worth 2.5 billion euros,

the Fund for European Aid  to the Most Deprived,

hopes to strengthen the fight against  food deprivation, homelessness,

The Employment Committee votes  on the draft report on Monday.

Cars can be so much more convenient  than, say, taking a tram.

But our favourite gas guzzlers  account for more than 15%

of all CO2 emissions in the EU.  Targets to reduce CO2 emissions

to 95 grams per kilometre by 2020  from new passenger cars

are part of the EU's commitments under  the Kyoto Protocol to fight climate change.

The Environment Committee will vote  on the report on Wednesday.

Parliament is set to honour  laureates from the 2005 Sakharov Prize

who weren't able to leave Cuba  to attend the ceremony.

In 2005, the Sakharov Prize  for Freedom of Thought was awarded

to three laureates including the Cuban  protest movement Ladies in White.

The Ladies in White were five women  who fought for the freedom of 75 detainees

of the 2004 Black Spring,  a crackdown on Cuban dissidents.

But finally on Tuesday afternoon the Cuban  laureates will receive their award.

And the EP's Civil Liberties Committee  will be voting to adopt new measures

on the confiscation of criminal assets  on Wednesday

to make it easier for Member States  to seize and manage those assets.

And that's all we have for this Agenda.  Take care and enjoy the week.