Commenting on the situation of women on the occasion of International Day Against Violence Against Women, Swedish GUE/NGL MEP, Eva-Britt Svensson, who chairs the Parliament's Women's Rights and Gender Equality Committee said "It is distressing to see how we still fail to protect women against violence."

However, she said it is a "complex problem which involves protecting the integrity of individual victims of crime but also protecting important common social interests, such as freedom and democracy."

With only 16 votes in it (306 - 322), the European Parliament today rejected a joint resolution on ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) tabled by four political groups and adopted a resolution tabled by the right.

"This is a very small majority", GUE/NGL MEP Helmut Scholz said, "and this shows that the Commission failed to convince Parliament that the serious problems MEPs raised in March have been met".

Scholz considers that "the MEPs who voted against the joint resolution are refusing to allow Parliament to use its new powers on trade matters".

Speaking during this morning's Parliamentary debate on the results of the recent European Council and the results of the Van Rompuy-led Task Force on economic governance, Portuguese GUE/NGL MEP Ilda Figueiredo (Portugal) said "Today, in Portugal, we are experiencing the biggest general strike in 20 years. This struggle follows other very important actions in several EU countries such as Greece and France."  And what is the response of the leaders of the Council and the European Commission?, she asked.

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in the European Parliament is very concerned by the persistent blockage in the Council concerning the 2011 budget. All elements are now on the table for an agreement with the Parliament which is taking its responsibilities seriously. All political groups agree on restricting payment appropriations to that requested by Member States as long as they commit to collaborate with the Commission and Parliament on the stable financing of the EU and its common policies beyond 2011.verhofstadt90-3.jpg

New report from 1.2 million-worker chemicals sector engages EU2020 jobs and skills agenda

BRUSSELS, November 24, 2010 – Europe’s future engineers and scientists will need a more broad-based education in order to speed up future innovations in the
chemical industry and remain competitive in a global market, according to results of
the first-ever, sector-led skills needs study released today by Cefic.