Hearing of Wopke HOEKSTRA 2023

Hearing of Maroš ŠEFČOVIČ 2023

MEPs elected Roberta Metsola (EPP, MT) on January 2022 as President of the European Parliament until 2024.

Roberta Metsola won the election in the first voting round, where she received an absolute majority of 458 votes out of 690 cast in the remote secret vote, among three candidates.&nbsp;

President Metsola is leading the Parliament in the second half of the current legislative term, until a new Parliament is constituted following the 2024 European Elections.

Born in Malta in 1979,&nbsp; Roberta Metsola who has been an MEP since 2013, is the youngest EP President ever elected. She became First Vice-President in November 2020, and was Parliament’s acting President after President Sassoli passed away on 11 January.

She is the third female President of the European Parliament, after Simone Veil (1979-1982) and Nicole Fontaine (1999- 2002).

Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament

Have a look at the 2021 and 2022&nbsp;stockshots with illustrative pre-edited broadcast quality video footage. These editable stockshots are clean (raw), with natural sound (no voice-over), produced to illustrate priority EU dossiers and parliamentary work. They are intended to help audiovisual media produce their own programs, for example, editing of news reports or documentaries.

Infoclips - Illustrative footage

Pollution harms our health and our environment. It is the largest environmental cause of multiple mental and physical diseases and of premature deaths, especially among children, people with certain medical conditions and the elderly. It&nbsp;is also one of the main reasons for the loss of biodiversity.

The&nbsp;zero pollution vision for 2050&nbsp;is for air, water and soil pollution to be reduced to levels no longer considered harmful to health and natural ecosystems. It includes a series of 2030 targets to speed up reducing pollution at source.

On 12 May 2021, the European Commission adopted the&nbsp;Zero Pollution Action Plan: "Towards a Zero Pollution for Air, Water and Soil"&nbsp;- a key deliverable of the European Green Deal.&nbsp;

Air pollution

Since October 2020, the EU has&nbsp;progressively imposed restrictive measures&nbsp;against Belarus in response to the fraudulent nature&nbsp; presidential elections in&nbsp;2020, and the&nbsp;intimidation and violent repression&nbsp;of peaceful protesters, opposition members and journalists.&nbsp;

The democratic opposition, including the opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, was awarded the&nbsp;2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

The Belarusian regime has became an ally&nbsp;with Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine. This includes the so-called referendum reinstating the country’s nuclear status, but also that Belarus has allowed Russian troops and weapons to move through its territory, use its airspace, refuel and store military ammunition.

Therefore, the EU has extended the sanctios package against Russia to Belarus. The EP has recently called that "all EU sanctions issued against Russia must be strictly mirrored for Belarus and implemented appropriately".

EU - Belarus

The United Nations defines violence against women as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life."

The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, also known as the Istanbul Convention, is the first legally binding international instrument on this issue. It establishes a comprehensive framework of measures for preventing such violence, supporting victims and punishing perpetrators.&nbsp;

MEPs have voted during May 2023 plenary to approve the European Union’s accession to the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women, concluding Parliament’s role in the process. Six years after the EU signed the Istanbul Convention - it has still not been ratified because of the refusal of a few member states, despite&nbsp;Parliament’s multiple calls to this end.

However, the EU&nbsp;Court of Justice’s opinion of 6 October 2021&nbsp;confirmed that the European Union can ratify the Istanbul Convention without having the agreement of all member states. The Court found that the appropriate scope for the EU’s accession is asylum, judicial cooperation in criminal matters, and obligations of the EU institutions and public administration.

The EU’s accession to the Istanbul Convention does not exempt member states from ratifying it themselves, MEPs have repeatedly said, urging the remaining six countries - Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia - to ratify the Convention without delay, so that it can protect women to the full extent of the Convention’s intended scope

Violence against women

Spain holds the presidency of the Council of the EU for the fifth time since 1 st of July.&nbsp;The motto: 'Europe, closer' highlights Spain's commitment to advancing in European unity, bringing citizens closer to the decisions present in our day-to-day lives.

Spain has identified four priorities for the work under its presidency of the Council: reindustrialise&nbsp;the EU, advance in the&nbsp;green transition, promote&nbsp;social and economic justice and strengthen&nbsp;European unity.

The presidency of the Council rotates among the EU member states every 6 months. During this 6-month period, the presidency chairs meetings at every level in the Council, helping to ensure the continuity of the EU's work in the Council.&nbsp;

Spanish Presidency

In the annual State of the European Union debate, MEPs quizzed President von der Leyen on the Commission’s work in the past and its plans until the June 2024 elections.



Opening the debate, EP President, Roberta Metsola&nbsp;said: “The European Union today is stronger, and more united than ever before. The world is changing and Europe must adapt and change with it too. We must keep striving to make our Europe a place of equality of opportunity, of access, of prosperity - where everyone can reach their potential. We must keep reforming. We should always keep people’s concerns at the centre of all our actions.“



Commission President von der Leyen said that the EU has undergone a substantial transformation since she first presented her programme in 2019, adding: ”We have delivered over 90% of the political guidelines I presented” back then. 



On the Green Deal, the decarbonisation of Europe’s industry while maintaining its competitiveness, she announced an anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese electric vehicles. ”We must defend ourselves against unfair practices” she said. 



President von der Leyen stressed the importance of a fair transition for farmers, families and industry and that “Europe will do ’whatever it takes’ to keep its competitive edge.” She announced a competitiveness check by an independent board for every new legislation.



With regard to Artificial Intelligence, Ms von der Leyen said that AI will improve healthcare, boost productivity and help to address climate change. The Commission’s “number one priority is to ensure AI develops in a human-centric, transparent and responsible way” she said, also calling for an international panel of experts similar to the IPCC on climate change to steer its development. 



On Ukraine, she announced that the Commission will propose the extension of the EU’s temporary protection to Ukrainians and an additional 50 billion euros over four years for investment and reforms. “Our support to Ukraine will endure.” 



The Commission President also referred to the rule of law, enlargement, migration, EU-Africa relations, the Global Gateway initiative, climate change, food security, and an upcoming Social Partner Summit.

State of the European Union 2023

The alleged attempts to influence MEPs unveiled loopholes in Parliament’s internal rules, alongside other issues, says&nbsp;Special Committee on Foreign Interference. Interference attempts are a “widespread phenomenon that must be countered as vigorously as possible”, warn MEPs, expressing their “deep shock and condemnation of the allegations of corruption, money laundering and participation in a criminal organisation” by three MEPs, one former MEP and one parliamentary assistant.

The committee has identified “numerous loopholes in Parliament’s integrity and transparency rules” and calls for President Metsola’s&nbsp;14-point proposal to&nbsp;reform Parliament’s rules to be put into concrete actions as soon as possible.

MEPs demand also that compliance with the six-month cooling-off period for former MEPs should be monitored by the new&nbsp;EU ethics body. Parliament should introduce a monitoring system and rules for revoking access for former MEPs who lobby on behalf of high-risk countries beyond the cooling-off period.

Parliament has also reacted to corruption&nbsp;allegations &nbsp;with immediate changes and demands for measures to close loopholes in existing transparency rules. In&nbsp;&nbsp;December 2022,&nbsp;Parliament&nbsp;adopted a resolution on the suspicions of corruption by Qatar and the broader need for more transparency in the EU institutions.

Fight against corruption

As part of the European Green Deal, with the European Climate Law, the EU has set itself a binding target of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. This requires current greenhouse gas emission levels to drop substantially in the next decades. As an intermediate step towards climate neutrality, the EU has raised its 2030 climate ambition, committing to cutting emissions by at least 55% by 2030.

On 18 April 2023, MEPs&nbsp; adopted the reform of EU´s Emissions Trading System including for aviation and the maritime sector, the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and a new Social Climate fund. The&nbsp;deal on the reform of the Emissions Trading System (ETS)&nbsp;increases the ambition for 2030, phases out free allowances to companies and creates a separate new ETS II for fuel for road transport and buildings that will put a price on emissions from these sectors by 2027.

According to the&nbsp;agreement with EU countries, an EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will be set up to ensure that importers of goods covered by the EU ETS would have to pay any price difference between the price paid for carbon in the country of production and the price of carbon allowances in the EU ETS. This will incentivise non-EU countries to increase their climate ambition and ensure that EU and global climate efforts are not undermined by production being relocated from the EU to countries with less ambitious policies.

A separate deal with member states&nbsp;sets up an EU Social Climate Fund to ensure that the climate transition will be fair and socially inclusive. Vulnerable households, micro-enterprises and transport users who are particularly affected by energy and transport poverty will benefit from the fund. When fully in place, it will be funded from auctioning ETS II allowances up to an amount of €65 billion, with an additional 25% covered by national resources (amounting to an estimated total of €86.7 billion).

Fit for 55

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, named in honour of the Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, is awarded each year by the European Parliament. It was set up in 1988 to honour individuals and organisations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Each nominee must have the support of at least 40 MEPs, and each individual Member may support only one nominee. Signed nominations accompanied by supporting evidence are then assessed in a joint meeting of the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), the Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) and the Committee on Development (DEVE). A shortlist of three candidates is drawn up through a vote by AFET and DEVE committees, and then submitted to the Conference of Presidents for a final vote. The winner is usually announced in October, and the award ceremony takes place in November/December at plenary sitting in Strasbourg.

Sakharov Prize 2023

Malta joined the European Union 1st May 2004 and it has been a member of the Schengen area since 21st December 2007.

Malta is a single-chamber parliamentary republic with a head of government - the prime minister - and a head of state - the president - whose role is largely ceremonial. The country is divided into 5 regions. Each has its own regional committee, which serves as the intermediary between local and national government.

There are 6 members of the European Parliament from Malta.

EU - Malta

Climate change remains a key challenge. The EU and the European Parliament are working to ensure a more sustainable society and economy through ambitious policies at home and close cooperation with international partners. It is already on track to meet its greenhouse gas emissions reduction target for 2020, and has put forward a plan to further cut emissions by at least 55% by 2030.

By 2050, Europe aims to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent. Alongside reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the EU is also taking action to adapt to the impacts of climate change. By 2050, Europe aims to be a climate-resilient society. Climate action is at the heart of the European Green Deal – an ambitious package of measures ranging from drastically cutting greenhouse gas emissions, to investing in cutting-edge research and innovation, to preserving Europe’s natural environment.

Climate change

The Industry, Research and Energy, and Culture and Education committees questioned Iliana Ivanova, Bulgarian candidate for innovation, research, culture, education and youth. Ms Ivanova was nominated to replace Mariya Gabriel, who resigned on 15 May to become Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister of Bulgaria. During her introductory speech, Commissioner-designate Iliana Ivanova presented her priorities to invest in research and innovation in the EU, boosting skills, promoting the cohesive role of culture and empowering youth.

The EU is a scientific powerhouse, she underlined, however the landscape remains “fragmented” and investments are below the target of 3% of GDP and behind global competitors. She vowed to do the utmost to support the Horizon Europe programme as a tool to ensure that Europe can be “a trailblazer at global level” and attract more resources, including through partnerships, and to facilitate access to funding for SMEs.

The European Parliament during its September session&nbsp;approved the appointment of Iliana Ivanova&nbsp;as Commissioner for innovation, research, culture, education and youth.

Hearing of Iliana IVANOVA, Bulgarian Commissioner-designate

Climate change and environmental degradation are an existential threat to Europe and the world. Therefore in December 2019 the Commission presented a communication on a European Green Deal that sets out a detailed vision to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050, safeguard biodiversity, establish a circular economy and eliminate pollution, while boosting the competitiveness of European industry and ensuring a just transition for the regions and workers affected.

Parliament has played an important role in pushing for more ambitious EU climate legislation and declared a climate emergency on 28 November 2019.&nbsp;

The European Climate Law writes&nbsp;into law the goal to become climate neutral by 2050 and attain the intermediate target of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels).&nbsp;After 2050 the EU will aim for negative emissions. In July&nbsp;2021 the European Commission presented its “Fit for 55 in 2030” package-the legislative tool to deliver on the targets agreed in the European Climate law.

The Commission proposed in&nbsp;June 2022 a regulation on nature restoration to contribute to the long-term and sustained recovery of damaged nature across the EU’s land and sea areas and to achieve EU climate and biodiversity objectives.&nbsp; Parliament &nbsp;adopted its position on the&nbsp;EU nature restoration law in July 2023&nbsp; with 336 votes in favour, 300 against and 13 abstentions. A vote to reject the Commission’s proposal did not pass (312 votes to 324 and 12 abstentions).&nbsp;

The EU must have restoration measures in place by 2030 covering at least 20% of its land and sea areas, accprding to the vote. MEPs underline that restoring the ecosystem is key to combating climate change and biodiversity loss, and reduces risks to food security. They stress that the draft law does not impose the creation of new protected areas in the EU nor block new renewable energy infrastructure as they added a new article underlining that such installations are overwhelmingly in the public interest.

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