In a plenary debate this morning in the European Parliament, GUE/NGL President Gabi Zimmer set out the Group's expectations for the Lithuanian Presidency.

Following Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė's opening address where she set out her top Presidency priorities, MEP Zimmer commented: "I welcome the fact that with your Presidency an eastern European country will be taking over for the next six months and I hope that you will be an honest broker between the different EU institutions."

Ahead of tomorrow's European Parliament vote on fundamental rights in Hungary, GUE/NGL MEP Marie-Christine Vergiat has said that the "stakes are high" for this report as it represents an opportunity for the EU to enter a period of universal respect for fundamental rights in all member states.

A conference was held on 21 June 2013 in the Benedictine Novalesa Abbey in the Italian region of Piemonte (Piedmont) with the participation of European experts on the protection of sacred monuments involved in the transnational project THETRIS (THEmatic Transnational church Route development with the Involvement of local Society).

The social partners of the European metal, engineering and technology-based industries, industriAll Europe and CEEMET, welcome Commission’s focus on apprenticeships, but stress the need to properly involve sectoral and local level social partners and caution against oversimplifying benefits of dual systems. They furthermore stress the need for ensuring that apprenticeships offered are of high quality and facilitate the entry into the labour market for young people.

European Socialists are turning a blind eye to glaring breaches of human rights. Montesquieu and his theory on the separation of powers have gone out the window.

"For the European Socialists, human rights can be violated if they are violated by a Socialist government," said Vice-Chairman of the EPP Group Manfred Weber MEP, referring to the Bulgarian Socialist-led government.