Keres

The IA is convincing on the need and conditions being in place to tackle the unintentional releases of plastic pellets as the main focus of the legislative initiative, although it appears that initially all six main sources of microplastic pollution were considered. The IA draws on extensive scientific evidence, literature and stakeholder consultations. It defines the scale of the problem, its drivers, affected stakeholders and how likely the problem is to persist, referring, inter alia, to global ...

The IA provides a good overview of the problems relating to packaging and packaging waste, and the possible impacts of the various measures proposed to address the problems. In its assessment, which is both qualitative and quantitative, the IA relies on a wealth of data sources and modelling. However, it does not clearly indicate the IA supporting studies and their full references; this would have improved transparency. The IA presents three policy options, which are partially incremental and cannot ...

During its March II plenary session, the European Parliament is scheduled to vote on three Council regulations that complete the architecture of the revenue system of the EU budget. The consent procedure applies to the implementing measures, while legislative opinions (consultation procedure) are to be adopted on the operational provisions. Prior to the votes, Parliament will hold a joint debate on the broader reform of EU own resources, for which a roadmap and guiding principles have recently been ...

This document was prepared by Policy Department for Budgetary Affairs for the Committee on Budgets as a background paper for the Public Hearing on ‘Financing the EU budget: new own resources and possible other revenue’. It provides a summary of the system of EU own resources in the light of the agreement on its revision reached during the negotiations of the 2021-27 MFF. It shows the rationale for the reform including the need to find sources to finance the repayment of the EU borrowing in the framework ...

This study, commissioned by the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs at the request of the Committee on Petitions (PETI), focuses on the pervasive use of plastics and reviews the rising consensus on the potential eco-toxicological impacts of these materials, in particular of smaller plastic particles, dubbed microplastics. It discusses possible mitigation strategies aimed at curtailing the prevalence of (micro)plastics, as well as emerging alternatives ...

The commissioner-designate, Virginijus Sinkevičius, appeared before the European Parliament on 3 October 2019 to answer questions put by MEPs from the Committees on ENVI and PECH. During the hearing, he made a number of commitments which are highlighted in this document. These commitments refer to his portfolio, as described in the mission letter sent to him by Ursula von der Leyen, President-elect of the European Commission, including conserving Europe’s natural environment and prosperous and sustainable ...

In May 2018, the European Commission presented a legislative proposal to tackle marine litter, targeting the top ten single-use plastic items found on European beaches as well as fishing gear, which together make up about 70 % of marine beach litter items in Europe. Interinstitutional negotiations with the Council delivered an agreement in December 2018, on which Parliament is expected to vote during its March II plenary session.