This week MEPs gathered to the ordinary plenary session in Strasbourg. On its agenda were the financial transaction tax, better access to structural funds of small and medium-sized enterprises, EU-China trade relations, situation in Ukraine and in Azerbaijan which held the Eurovision song contest this year, equal pay for men and women workers. (Read more...)

Today the European Parliament`s Committee on Foreign Affairs adopted a recommendation to the Council on the appointment and responsibilities of the EU Special Representative for Human Rights just before the Council approves the candidate in June. The main Rapporteurs of the document were the largest EP Conservative Group (EPP), meanwhile the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) was represented by Coordinator in the Subcommittee on Human Rights Leonidas Donskis. (Read more...)

Leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) Guy Verhofstadt, Vice-president of the European Parliament responsible for democracy and human rights and member of ALDE group Edward McMillan-Scott, as well as ALDE Coordinator in the Subcommittee on Human Rights Leonidas Donskis addressed the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton urging her to apply particularly high standards when choosing a candidate for the position of EU Special Representative for Human Rights. (Read more...)

On Wednesday and Thursday MEPs gathered for another plenary session; however, this time in Brussels rather than Strasbourg, where one of the four EP short plenary sessions foreseen for this year took place. On Wednesday MEPs marked Europe Day, and on Thursday the busy agenda saw MEPs voting on more than four dozen documents on the discharge of the EU and its institutions` budget in 2010, among other issues. (Read more...)

Yesterday, 8 May, MEPs Leonidas Donskis (ALDE) and Traian Ungureanu (EPP, Romania) invited to the European Parlament various representatives from the EU institutions and non-governmental organisations, diplomats and experts for a discussion on child rights and their protection in the EU neighbourhood. The event "Making a Difference: Supporting Vulnerable Children in EU Neighbourhood and Enlargement Countries" was held under the initiative of international NGO "World Vision". (Read more...)

Following the tragic events of last year in Zhanaozen, a city in Western Kazakhstan, where weapons were used against a peaceful, unarmed crowd consisting of employees of oil companies, early parliamentary elections which did not meet the international democratic standards and a growing number of arrests of opposition and civil society representatives, the European Parliament continues to observe the situation in the country trying to use remedies which it has in order to try to have a positive impact.  (Read more...)