Highlighting drastic squeezing of farmers' incomes, particularly for small-, medium-sized and family farms in today's European Parliament debate on farm input and food supply chains, Portuguese GUE/NGL MEP João Ferreira said problems such as greater concentration among large-scale producers and increasing speculation on the global food market required a total rethink of agricultural and trade policy and the single market.

Pavillon d'honneur, Salon Expolangues
1er au 4 février 2012 - Paris Expo, Porte de Versailles

After a presence of several years, EurActiv Hungary, the EurActiv Network partner in Budapest, has halted its operations. Christophe Leclercq, EurActiv's Founder, stated: "The EurActiv Network withdraws from Hungary for economic and political reasons, related to the way the media are treated in this country. Few clients currently feel it is possible to support public debates in Budapest. And also the political climate was at times inhibitive to our normal functioning.”

Electrical and electronic waste is a major global environmental problem given our society's growing dependence on such goods and the high turnover rate as new products come to market. Although it is difficult to quantify e-waste, we do know that large amounts are ending up in places where processing occurs at a very unprofessional level. This raises concerns about resource efficiency and also the concerns of the dangers to humans and the environment. ALDE insists on high standards for collection, recycling, treatment and re-use of electronic waste (mobiles, computers, TVs).

Addressing Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Danish Prime Minister and President-in-Office of the Council, the Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, Joseph Daul, called for a political Danish Presidency, not just a technical Presidency, a crisis Presidency, and not a business-as-usual Presidency.