Proposal to invest EU money in low-carbon technologies (March 11): the Parliament has asked the Commission to invest more money in innovative technologies that would help cut greenhouse emissions by 20% by 2020. The resolution was supported by political groups at the center (EPP, S&D, ALDE, ECR), while the left (GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA) voted against, believing that the goals are not ambitious enough. Also, the right wing (EFD) voted against it, considering that such investments should be made at national and not European level (see distribution of votes and text).
Red-tape reduction for micro-firms (March 10): very small companies could be exempted from having to draw up annual reports, but this decision is still left to be taken by each member state. The proposal was carried by a center-right majority, while most of the socialist (S&D) and radical left (GUE/NGL) MEPs voted against the text, as they fear this will lead to less transparency by the companies (see distribution of votes and text).
Europe 2020 agenda (March 10): the document, setting the guidelines for the EU integration and development agenda during the coming decade, as viewed by the pro-integration majority, was opposed by the right and left wing euro-skeptics (EFD and GUE/NGL, respectively), as well as by the Greens/EFA group, while the ECR group chose to abstain (see distribution of votes and text).
'NO' to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement - ACTA (March 10): the EP has adopted, by a large majority, a resolution criticizing the Commission and the Council for the allegedly non-transparent way of conducting international negotiations on this matter (see distribution of votes and text).
New General System of Preferences (GSP) requested by the Parliament (March 10): taking into account that the current GSP will expire at the end of 2011, the Parliament has called on the Commission to come up with a new proposal for regulation. The resolution adopted in this regard was carried in the form proposed by a center-left majority (ALDE+S&D+Greens/EFA+GUE/NGL) (see distribution of votes and text).
Implementation of Goldstone recommendations on Israel/Palestine (March 10): the EP has called for an active role of the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in monitoring the implementation of the Goldstone recommendations. The resolution was adopted in the form proposed by a center-left majority (ALDE+S&D+Greens/EFA+GUE/NGL) who previously voted down an alternative proposal made by the EPP group (see distribution of votes and text).
All votes from the current plenary session are available here.
VoteWatch.eu report: this report shows the voting patterns of the European Political Groups in the first six months of the new European Parliament.
