Socialists and Democrats strongly support the efforts made by the governments of North Macedonia and Albania on the path towards accession to the European Union. This is why the leader of the Socialists and Democrats will be holding high-level meetings in Skopje next Tuesday, and in Tirana on Wednesday.

Ministers from ten African countries will today sign the Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative Declaration, a single set of principles for the responsible production of agricultural commodities in Africa.

The Africa Sustainable Commodities Initiative (ASCI) puts producer countries in Africa at the forefront of defining the principles for the sustainable development of cocoa, rubber, palm oil, coffee and other commodities, in a way that protects livelihoods and protects natural resources, including forests.

The Socialist and Democrats in the European Parliament voted in plenary to include REPowerEU chapters into the Recovery and Resilience Plans of the member states. This is a key EU step forward to contribute to tackling the energy crisis and ensure the immediate supply in the EU with the creation of energy infrastructure and connections, energy renovation and renewable energy productions, while ensuring compliance with the environmental objectives of the Union.

The European Commission’s outline of the reform of the EU fiscal rules heads in the right direction, notably a more tailor-based framework that allows for more investments and other countercyclical measures, underlined the S&Ds in their first reaction to the Commission’s proposals presented today.

Biljana Borzan MEP, S&D vice-president for economic matters, said: