EU energy ministers are gathering today in an extraordinary council meeting to discuss nuclear safety in Europe in the context of the current disaster at Fukushima in Japan. The Greens have expressed concern that the proposed stress tests are being used to divert attention from more fundamental questions on nuclear power, as well as concern with the format and independence of the proposed stress tests. Ahead of the extraordinary council, Greens/EFA co-president Rebecca Harms said:

Brussels, Friday 18th March, 2011: On Thursday, MEP and Vice President of the Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals of the European Parliament Elisabeth Jeggle, sent an Appeal by MEPs to the President and to the Parliament of Romania concerning the voting on the law permitting mass killings of stray dogs. This was initiated by the International Animal Welfare Foundation FOUR PAWS / VIER PFOTEN. With this Appeal, the MEPs urged the Romanian Parliament to respect animals as sentient beings, as set out on the Treaty of Lisbon (Art.

The first prize of the EPACA contest was handed over by European Parliament’s Vice President Silvana Koch-Mehrin to Luis Aguado Alba during EPACA’s Annual General Meeting. 

On Tuesday 8 March the European Commission published its new Energy Efficiency Plan (EEP), focused on closing the gap between current EU performance and its 20% target. The EEP reinforces the Commissions intention that cogeneration should play a significant role in EU energy policy. The Commission will introduce policy changes in the next 8 months which will promote cogeneration more strongly.

With the brutal military suppression of the uprising in Bahrain escalating, the Greens have expressed concern and called for the EU to take urgent steps to stop the bloodshed. Commenting on the situation, Greens/EFA co-presidents Rebecca Harms and Daniel Cohn-Bendit said:

"We are deeply concerned about the escalating violent repression of democracy activists in Bahrain. While the international community is preoccupied with events in Libya, it cannot turn a blind eye to the brutal crackdown by the security forces in Bahrain.