STRASBOURG © Achitecture Studio © Achitecture PLENARY SESSION PRIORITIES – GUE/NGL GROUP IN THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 4 -7 February 2013 summit preparations ACtive & healthy ageing THIS WEEK gabi Zimmer kartika liotard GUE/NGL Press Briefing Tuesday 14:30 gue/ngl president netherlands Summit preparations Gabi Zimmer; Active ageing, 1bn rising campaign Germany The austerity measures lead- Kartika Liotard; Fisheries João Ferreira; Some Member States, includ- ing to cuts in healthcare and European Semester Marisa Matias social security result in health ing Germany, stick to their radi- Press ConferenCE wednesday 9:30 cal savings plans, regardless of inequalities and social exclu- Tunisia: Democratic transition in recession and growing unem- sion, especially for the older generation. Active danger Marie-Christine Vergiat & Fathi ployment. President Van Rompuy now negotiates and healthy ageing means ensuring solidarity be- Chamkhi (ATTAC Tunisia) with governments only about further cuts, the tween the generations. It means the current eco- Press ConferenCE wednesday 17:00 EP is out. The rich nations want to cut inter alia nomic/financial crisis should in no way negatively Kurdish-Turkey peace Jürgen Klute the Structural and Cohesion Funds, despite the affect basic human needs and dignity.I t means we crisis and growing social divisions. Although the need a clear and unambiguous strategy to safe- Kurdish issue in turkey EU already cannot pay 16 billion euros for the guard social cohesion, to improve overall health year 2012, we need to strengthen a social EU with outcomes and to tackle health inequalities. JÜrgen klute solidarity because of the crisis. Germany Debate: Monday; In 2012, fighting between Debate: Wednesday Vote: Wednesday Turkey and Kurdish guerilla forces left 500 dead. Out of Common fisheries poliCY european semester - growth international media attention, the Kurdish conflict is the most violent armed JOÃO ferreira marisa matias conflict in Europe. New talks between the Turk- portugal portugal ish government and imprisoned PKK leader There is a wide consensus when The European Parliament is ex- Abdullah Öcalan have been creating hope for characterising the results of pected to present its opinion a peaceful solution recently. GUE/NGL put this the current Common Fisheries on the Annual Growth Survey question on Parliament’s agenda and asks EU in- Policy (CFP): the current CFP is 2013 proposed by the Commis- stitutions to push conflict parties towards truth- disastrous – from an environ- sion. The policy coordination ful political talks. Debate: Wednesday mental, social and economic point of view. The between Member States must support invest- Commission proposal persists with a centralised ment policies promoting sustainable growth and european semester - Jobs management of the CFP, ignoring the huge diver- employment, as the only route toward sustainable inÊS Zuber sity among countries and insisting on a sweeping fiscal consolidation .T o tackle the deepening re- portugal definition of ‘overcapacity’, without specifying in cession, the eurozone needs a real commitment This report aims to made rec- detail or on the basis of quantified indications among Member States to reduce the macroeco- ommendations for the Euro- where the overcapacity exists. Moreover, the nomic imbalances, by increasing the domestic pean Semester bearing in mind problems and specificities of small-scale fisheries demand in all economies, especially in the surplus the social problems in many are not duly taken into account. ones, and a differentiated and backloaded path for Member States, such as youth employment. Debate: Tuesday; Vote: Wednesday deficit and debt reduction. However it doesn’t make any real break with Debate: Tuesday; Vote: Thursday the current neoliberal policies. It says fiscal con- agriCulture in the outermost regions solidation, in a growth friendly manner, must continue and seeks to increase the retirement younous omarJee franCE age, flexicurity in the labour market.T he crisis is The POSEI is a programme for outermost regions. It was set up in 1991 to support used as a justification to reduce workers’ rights. agriculture in French overseas departments and the outermost regions of Portugal Debate: Tuesday; Vote Thursday. and Spain. POSEI plays a key role in supporting and developing farming in these regions. Revised by MEPs it will now have three objectives: one aiming to secure the long-term future and development of crop diversification, a second aiming to strengthen the competitiveness of traditional agricultural activities, and a third aiming to compensate additional costs related to the extreme remoteness of these regions. Debate: Monday; Vote: Tuesday EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARY GROUP PRESS: Gay Kavanagh +32473842320 David Lundy +32485505812 Gianfranco Battistini +32475646628 www.guengl.eu.