Писмени обяснения на вот - 8-ми парламентарен мандат Siôn SIMON

Labour MEPs are strongly committed to the transition to a low-carbon economy that will save money for consumers through lower fuel costs; contribute to curbing climate warming and improve human health; and ensure EU and UK manufacturers lead the way in industrial and technological innovation.
Labour MEPs also backed social measures to make sure that no one is left behind during this transition. Targeted programmes at EU, national and regional levels for re-skilling of workers, as well as education and job-seeking initiatives in regions and communities most affected by the transition.
With time running out in the fight against climate change, this legislation can ensure investment in new, innovative developments in low-carbon technologies, which can foster economic growth, boost job creation, and improve citizens’ health and wellbeing.

More than 700 000 plastic bottles are littered in the UK every day, many of which end up in our oceans. New sources of plastic leakage, such as single-use plastic products and microplastics, are on the rise, posing new potential threats to animal and human health. Labour MEPs support efforts to reduce plastic waste and with legislation to reduce single-use plastics, the European Union will be the first in the world to adopt a blueprint to put an end to plastic litter, both on land and sea.
This is in stark contrast to the UK government, from whom we continue to see numerous consultations, but no concrete proposals on how it plans to reduce plastic waste. Unless the UK agrees to mirror EU action on plastics after Brexit, the Tories risks turning the UK into a dumping ground for cheap, non-recyclable, plastics.

For the S&D Group, the main objective is to ensure circulation of fertilising products in the internal market in a way that safeguards human, animal and plant health, protects the environment, and creates incentives for the reuse of materials that are currently being disposed of as waste, in line with the principles of the circular economy.
The outcome of the trilogue negotiations overall respects this position and represents a significant improvement in comparison to the current Fertilisers Regulation, but it is shameful that the Member States have nor prioritised the protection of human health and the environment, and that they have rather followed economic arguments in favour of the established fertiliser industry.

Today’s vote is a further step to protect millions of workers from exposure to carcinogenic and mutagenic substances. This will improve the working conditions for workers across the EU and prevent thousands of cases of ill health at the workplace.

Thanks to our S&D colleagues and the European Parliament Labour Party, we pushed for a phase-out of polluting subsidies for power generation, improved consumer rights and promoted more affordable electricity for all.

The UK Labour Delegation, along with the S&D Group, supports ACER’s enhanced role in the energy market and in the area of security of supply. This deal contributes to the completion of the Energy Union.

. ‒ The UK Labour Delegation, along with the S&D group, back the Commission’s proposal to strengthen solidarity and ensure interoperability in the responses to any crisis. We strongly support the principle of mandatory solidarity and co-operation among Member States in times of electricity crises.

. ‒ The directive on Digital Content provides for consumers across the EU to have a high level of rights when it comes to purchasing forms of digital content, such as downloading apps, songs, or signing up for websites. S & D fought hard to ensure that this legislation keeps up with the changing realities of the digital single market and this means that consumers who provide data to companies as a means of payment should realise that they are doing so; there is no reason for consumers to have a lower standard of protection online than offline. These harmonised provisions will make it easier for both consumers and businesses to buy and trade across borders, ensure that content meets the required standard and if it does not then a range of remedies are available to the consumer. The burden of proving that content is of the required level will now be on suppliers for a longer period rather than consumers – making it easier and quicker for citizens to cancel a contract and get a refund.

. ‒ Thanks to the efforts of the S & D Group, the reform of rules on tangible goods, particularly for the ‘Internet of things’, which are goods that function with software or which connect to the internet like smartphones or smart TVs, will be considerably more consumer-friendly than originally envisaged by the Commission and the Council. This will contribute to the smooth functioning of the single market and promote greater consumer trust in cross-border purchases. In turn, it will assist SMEs in their efforts to attract more cross-border business. Consumers will be entitled to receive software updates in order to maintain the cyber security of their smart goods and keep them functioning properly, as well as a right to repair or replacement if something goes wrong. This is a key element to avoid early obsolescence. For all types of goods, it will now be up to the seller to prove that the product was not faulty when it was sold for at least the first year after purchase and countries with a longer period of burden of proof in place will be able to retain the provisions in their national law. Overall, this constitutes an improvement in consumer sales law and is why our Group could support the agreement.

. ‒ Labour MEPs fully support the alignment of environmental reporting obligations, which will make environmental reporting simpler and will provide more transparency to NGOs and the public.

. ‒ Given that emissions from road transport are projected to grow by 6% in the period 2015-2030, and that no significant progress has been noticed from manufacturers to improve aerodynamics of cabs as a way to achieve compliance with the upcoming CO2 standards for heavy goods vehicle, we very much welcome such initiatives of the Commission’s. CO2 emissions from road transport represent a quarter of all CO2 emissions in the EU and we must act as quickly as possible to prevent any further increase of this figure. Advancing by six month the date of the use of more aerodynamic and safer cabins as already set by the Directive is the first step to take, and that is why we have voted in favour of this report.

The EETS legislation that has been adopted in 2004 has largely failed to achieve interoperability across the EU. The causes behind this are not so much technical, but rather political. Interoperability can be achieved between different technologies and across Member States by the defining communication standards. The issue that is preventing full interoperability at EU level is the lack of a business case for EETS providers. The current set-up puts an immense burden on the EETS provider. The transfer of technical and operational risk to EETS providers and uncertainty about revenue generation is compromising the deployment of EETS. With this report adopted today, we are seeking to provide a toll system for which EU road users could pay with one subscription contract, one service provider and one on-board unit in order to facilitate the wider application of the ‘user pays’ and ‘polluter pays’ principles.

. ‒ I supported this proposal to extend the Pericles programme, an exchange, assistance and training programme for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting, for 2021-2027.

Strengthening regional cooperation within the Western Balkans is a key element for political stability, security, economic regional cooperation within the Western Balkans prosperity and social development in the region. Until today, transport cooperation with the Western Balkans countries had been governed by the South East European Transport Observatory (SEETO) and the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) whose main objectives were to extend the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and related policies to the Western Balkans. If we wish to ensure that the legislation, standards and technical specifications applied by the Western Balkans partners will be compatible with those of the Union in the future, and bearing in mind that the Treaty fosters regional cooperation and is beneficial for the accession processes of these countries, we should give a favourable opinion on its conclusion.

I voted in favour of this report. It embodies our vision of how a robust future cohesion policy – close to and in the interest of our citizens – should look.

The TEN-T network is one of the most visible common projects that shows EU citizens the value of European cooperation. Therefore we should attach great importance to the implementation of the projects, which for the moment is running behind schedule for at least half of the number of corridors. The evaluations of the progress of various core projects had shown different result. While one corridor shows a large number of shortcomings in the implementation of the projects, others bottlenecks that should had been finalised had not even taken off yet. There seems to be a serious lack of cooperation, and coordination between the various national authorities, partly due to the different administrative and regulatory procedures. With this report today, we are calling for TEN-T projects of common interest to get fast-track procedures. To integrate the various permit-granting processes, the authorisation of TEN-T projects is to be handled only by one authority, which would act as a single entry point for project promoters and investors and deliver one comprehensive decision, within defined time limits; while to better coordinate permit-granting procedures across borders, the role of the existing European Coordinators will be strengthened. Finally, public procurement in cross-border projects of common interest would follow only one legal framework.

I voted for this report, which aims to improve the Commission and Member States’ approach to researching, authorising, marketing, standardising and market knowledge of cannabis as a medicinal product. The scientific data we do have suggests that cannabis-based medicinal products can have a positive effect on the treatment of a wide range of severe and chronic conditions.
This report is the first step for the European Union and its Member States to address this data, and put together appropriate research and funding into the potential positive effect that these products can have for quality of life for these patients, within a fully regulated environment consistent with all other medicinal products.

I voted in favour of this report, as it aims to increase fisheries cooperation between the EU and Côte d’Ivoire and to promote sustainable fisheries policies based on the best available scientific advice.

This is an important agreement, given that Côte d’Ivoire is reliant on its fishery imports, and the funding allocated to Côte d’Ivoire should further help to protect the marine environment.

I voted in favour of this agreement, as it puts in place a joint programme of scientific research to increase knowledge of the living marine resources of the Central Arctic Ocean and its ecosystems. This is an important agreement, as it promotes exploratory fishing with a view to gaining a better understanding of the biodiversity and ecosystem of the Central Arctic Ocean, as well as fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the region. Given the issue of melting ice caps, the agreement provides for safety measures, including applying the precautionary principle to fishing, whereby all parties (see above countries) will postpone and prevent any commercial fishing licensing if this is necessary to protect the marine environment. The report therefore hopes to encourage more sustainable fishing in this region.