Fianna Fáil MEPs welcome breakthrough in negotiations on the crucial mortgage credit Directive Fianna Fáil MEPs have welcomed this week’s breakthrough, after months of negotiations, on the Mortgage Credit Directive and the protections it entails for consumers. Currently two-thirds of the loans in portfolios are mortgages. The Directive will ensure that the mortgage credit providers [...]

Read in full »

Long and short-term EU budgets: EP to set out its stance Parliament’s mandate to negotiate the multiannual EU budget for 2014-2020 with member states will be set out in a resolution to be voted on Wednesday 13 March. The long-term budget proposal needs Parliament’s assent. Also on Wednesday, Parliament will vote on general guidelines for [...]

Read in full »

President François Hollande invited to debate with MEPs MEPs to debate EU’s 2014-2020 budget ahead of decisive summit MEPs will debate the EU’s budget for 2014-2020 with the Irish presidency and the European Commission on Wednesday at 9.00 CET. They are likely to warn member states that the more they cut the initial proposal, the [...]

Read in full »

Towards clearer, fairer, credit ratings New rules to discourage automatic reliance on agencies’ credit ratings of sovereign debt or share issuers will be put to a vote on Wednesday 16 January.  Agencies could issue unsolicited sovereign debt ratings only at specific times and their shareholdings in rated entities would be capped to prevent conflicts of [...]

Read in full »

2012 Sakharov prize to be awarded on Wednesday EP president Martin Schulz will on Wednesday 12 December present the 2012 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which this year has been won by two Iranian human rights activists; lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and film director Jafar Panahi. The laureates have designated five representatives to receive the [...]

Read in full »

Long-term budget: EU’s future at stake Drastic cuts in the EU’s budget for 2014-2020 could paralyse it for a decade. That is the warning MEPs will give to EU leaders in a debate on Wednesday 21 November with Commission president Barroso and Cypriot deputy minister for European affairs, not to let “net payer” member states [...]

Read in full »

EU budget 2013: payments shortfall looms Payment funding cut from the Commission’s EU 2013 budget proposal must be reinstated to enable the EU to pay incoming bills for services supplied in member states, says the EP’s budgets committee. The issue will be debated on Monday and put to a vote on Tuesday. EU budget 2014-2020: [...]

Read in full »

Brian Crowley MEP will be in Kerry tomorrow, September 21st to meet local people, groups and businesses.  Brian will be in Kilgarvan at 12 noon, Kenmare at 1.30 pm, Sneem at 7.30 pm and Caherdaniel at 9.00pm. “This helps me prioritise changing local issues that affect people, their families and employment creators.  As a member [...]

Read in full »

Brian Crowley MEP will be in Cashel next Saturday September 15th to meet constituents and groups in Tipperary.  He will hold similar meetings across Munster over the coming months. “It is important to conduct these local meetings on an on-going basis, to prioritise changing local issues that affect families today”, said Brian Crowley. He will [...]

Read in full »

Barroso State of the Union speech Commission president José Manuel Barroso will present his flagship plans to Parliament in his annual State of the Union speech on Wednesday 12 September. He is expected to focus on measures to tackle the euro zone crisis and make the case for an ambitious, growth-driven, long-term EU budget. A [...]

Read in full »