E-coli outbreak and EU Budget on the table

THE June plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg saw the European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) group set out its stall on proposals for the future EU Budget. This comes ahead of the publication of a European Commission document on the issue in July.
Group President Lothar Bisky said the Left had “particularly high ambitions for the social orientation of EU policies” and welcomed the proposed introduction of a financial transaction tax as well as stricter regulation of financial markets.
Representatives of the Commission faced questioning from MEPs on the E-coli outbreak. With 22 people dead, over 1,200 people contaminated and 600 patients suffering from severe complications, MEP Sabine Wils condemned “the serious problems with the deregulated food production system in the EU” during the debate.
“If profits take precedence over healthcare, this means that food security and quality suffer,” she said. The Left has been highlighting the significance of traceability for the safety of food, arguing that consumers have the right to know how their food is produced and where it comes from. Farmers must also be protected from excessive risk.
Also on the agenda for debate in Strasbourg were proposals to charge lorries for noise and air pollution.
EU member states will be entitled to set “polluter pays” road tolls to reflect the real cost of noise and air pollution by heavy goods vehicles under new rules voted through by MEPs.
The GUE/NGL welcomed the proposals for environmental charging but said the deal as it stood was just a “first step” towards a level playing field between road and rail transport.
Finally, MEPs discussed the revised Hungarian Constitution and its possible breaches of fundamental rights and principles.
“If the revised Hungarian Constitution infringes the spirit and the letter of the treaties, it is an infringement of the values of the other member states,” Portuguese MEP Rui Tavares told Fundamental Rights Commissioner Viviane Reding and Hungarian European Affairs Minister Eniko Gyori.
The Left’s main concerns with the Constitution have to do with discrimination against minorities.