Following today's vote in plenary, where an overwhelming majority has approved a compromise resolution on the integrity policy of the Commission, in particular the appointment of the Secretary-General of the European Commission, the S&D Group underlines its deep disappointment with the method used and calls on the Commission to not only come up with new more transparent rules by the end September 2018, but also to reassess the post.

S&Ds and The Greens call on EU energy ministers to raise the 2030 targets on efficiency and renewables.

 

EU energy ministers will meet in Sofia on Thursday 19 April in order to take stock of ongoing trilogue negotiations related to the Clean Energy Package. Ahead of these discussions, José Blanco López, Miroslav Poche, Michèle Rivasi and Claude Turmes declared the following:

 

Today, the European Parliament hold the debate on the escalating war in Syria, after the chemical  weapons attack in Douma - a suburb of Damascus.

 

 

The Socialists and Democrats welcome the Commission’s recommendation to open accession negotiations with both Albania and the FYR of Macedonia. In recognition of efforts made by both countries to carry out reforms, we call on the member states to approve the Commission’s recommendation. We are disappointed by the status quo over Turkey.

 

 

Socialists and Democrats are strongly committed to delivering on the promises made in Paris at the COP 21 UN summit on climate change. The S&D Group is pushing for ambitious binding targets on greenhouse gas emissions reductions, as well as for more precise mechanisms for monitoring and reporting emissions. However, when it comes to the Effort Sharing Regulation the EU Council was not willing to come close to the Parliament's ambitious position that was negotiated by S&Ds and other progressive groups.