Plenary round-up – February I 2024

A highlight of the February I 2024 plenary session was the debate on the conclusions of the special European Council meeting on 1 February, at which leaders reached agreement on EU funding, in particular for Ukraine. That was followed by a debate with the Council and Commission on the need for unwavering EU support for Ukraine, after two years of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. Members also debated empowering farmers and rural communities and ensuring sustainable and fairly rewarded EU agriculture.

Further debates took place on the Commission's new communication on the EU2040 climate target, the state of EU solar industry in the light of unfair competition, and water crisis and droughts in the EU and the need for a sustainable, resilient water strategy for Europe. Members discussed the Dentsu tracking case and the Commission's lack of transparency with regard to the tobacco industry. They discussed the situation of prisoners in Hungarian jails, allegations of Russian interference in EU democratic processes and the need to fight rising antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred. Debates took place on quality traineeships in the EU and the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Abbé Pierre's appeal to address homelessness. Other debates took place on international issues: the situation in Haiti on the eve of the deployment of the United Nations Multinational Security Support Mission, further repression against democracy in Venezuela, the state of play of the implementation of the Global Gateway, and multilateral negotiations in view of the World Trade Organization's 13th Ministerial Conference, in Abu Dhabi.

Finally, a 'This is Europe' debate was held with the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis.

Plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques

Plant breeding has changed greatly in the two decades since the EU adopted its rules on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), with advances in biotechnology allowing new ways to introduce genetic changes. Such 'new genomic techniques' (NGTs) can help secure enough food for everyone and reduce waste, for instance by producing bananas that do not go brown. Members debated and adopted a Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) report on plants obtained by certain new genomic techniques, which now sets Parliament's position for negotiations with the Council. The ENVI committee report includes a ban on companies taking out patents on such plants. The proposal categorises the plants as NGT1 (equivalent to conventional plants) and NG2 – which would be subject to EU GMO legislation. The committee's report proposes to strengthen the rules on what can be considered an NGT1 plant, guarantee seed traceability, and create a public database of NGT1 plants. It agrees to maintain GMO requirements for NG2 plants, including compulsory labelling, introduces a fast-track risk assessment procedure, and insists on respect of the 'precautionary principle'. The rules would also ban use of NGT plants in organic agriculture.

Automated data exchange for police cooperation (Prüm II)

The EU's Prüm framework allows EU law enforcement authorities to exchange data on DNA, fingerprints, and vehicle registration. While this has greatly enhanced police cooperation, challenges persist. Members considered and adopted an interinstitutional compromise on a new 'Prüm II' regulation regarding automated data exchange for police cooperation, recently endorsed by its Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE). The scope of data searches will be extended to facial images of suspects and convicted persons, police records (on a voluntary basis), data allowing human remains to be identified and for missing person searches. Parliament has insisted that data matches undergo human review and a proportionality check, to ensure respect for fundamental rights.

Instant payments in euro

To allow us to make secure instant payments in euro, without paying large fees, the Commission has proposed new rules that should also help to fight financial crime. Parliament considered and adopted a provisional political agreement reached between Parliament and Council negotiators that would oblige payment service providers to offer instant credit transfers, processed within seconds, apply standard charges and undertake a number of checks to ensure the money is not used for criminal activities.

Protection of workers: Limit values for lead and diisocyanates

Lead is highly toxic to human health. Many materials used in construction, motor vehicle and furniture manufacturing also contain diisocyanates, which can cause asthma and skin disease. In February 2023, the Commission put forward a proposal for a directive aimed at revising existing limit values for lead, and introducing limit values for diisocyanates. The proposal aims to safeguard people who have to work with these chemicals. Members debated and adopted a provisional agreement, recently endorsed by Parliament's Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), that would update lead exposure rules for the first time in 40 years, limit exposure values for diisocyanates for the first time and better protect female workers.

Waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)

Members adopted a provisional agreement on amending the legislation on waste from electrical and electronic equipment to avoid imposing a retroactive obligation on producers (mainly of solar panels). During interinstitutional negotiations, Parliament's ENVI committee succeeded in amending the proposal to ensure an assessment by the end of 2026, among other things.

Transposing Atlantic tuna fisheries measures

As a contracting party to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), which regulates tuna fisheries, the EU played an important role in deciding new measures to reduce sea turtle bycatch and restrict recreational albacore fishing. During this plenary session, Parliament adopted a provisional agreement (based on a report from its Committee on Fisheries – PECH), on transposing new ICCAT binding provisions into EU law. The agreed text will transpose the 2022 decisions in addition to the 2006, 2016-2019 and 2021 decisions. The agreement amends the Regulation on a Bluefin tuna management plan, seeks to clarify language and to ensure a level playing-field between EU and non-EU operators.

Opening of trilogue negotiations

Members voted to approve a LIBE committee decision to enter into interinstitutional negotiations on a temporary derogation from certain provisions of the ePrivacy Directive for the purpose of combating online child sexual abuse. Four other decisions – from the LIBE committee on judicial cooperation: transfer of proceedings in criminal matters; from the PECH committee on conservation, management and control measures applicable in the area covered by the Convention on future multilateral cooperation in the North East Atlantic fisheries data; from the Committee on Legal Affairs (JURI) on company law: time limits for the adoption of sustainability reporting standards for certain sectors and for certain third-country undertakings; and from the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) on amending certain financial services and investment support regulations as regards certain reporting requirements – were approved without vote.

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