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31 October 2014
EU DOCUMENTS IN THE SEJM

In October 2014 the EU Affairs Committee (SUE) held 9 meetings: no. 287-295. During these meetings the Committee:

  • scrutinised 62 EU documents:
    • pursuant to Art. 7(4) of the Cooperation Act – 7 EU draft legislative acts concerning i.a. EU budget for 2014, protection against injurious pricing of vessels and the import into the EU of agricultural products originating in Turkey,
    • pursuant to Art. 151(1) of the Sejm Standing Orders and Art. 3(2) of the Cooperation Act – 29 European Commission documents (17 reports, 11 communications and 1 white paper) concerning i.a. energy prices and costs in Europe, European Research Area and more effective EU merger control (white paper),
    • pursuant to Art. 11(1) of the Cooperation Act – EU documents, which were to be discussed by Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council, Economic and Financial Affairs Council, Agriculture and Fisheries Council and Environment Council,
    • pursuant to Art. 8(2) of the Cooperation Act – 21 EU draft legal acts concerning i.a. mobilisation of the EU Solidarity Fund, EU–Georgia partnership and cooperation agreement, fishing opportunities for certain fish stocks applicable in the Baltic Sea,
  • considered information on the cooperation between EU Affairs Committee and Polish Members of the European Parliament (mtg no. 291),
  • examined and adopted positive opinion (opinion no. 62) for the Public Finance Committee on the draft budget act for 2015 within the scope of the Committee competence (mtg no. 294),
  • heard information on the activities of the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union (FRONTEX), presented by Gil Arias-Fernández, FRONTEX Executive Director.

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In October 2014 information on and documents of SUE meetings no. 287-290, 292-294, provided by the EU Affairs Committee secretariat, were published in the EDL-S (European Legislative Documents in the Sejm) and IPEX databases.

WORK IN COMMITTEES

 Agriculture and Rural Development Committee

  • 08.10.2014, considered the information of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD) on the participation in the activities of the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in September 2014 (mtg no. 211);
  • 09.10.2014, rejected the motion of MP Robert Tulus (Law and Justice) on rejection of the information of ARD Minister on the Government actions in order to eliminate the consequences of the Russian embargo on the import of food products from the EU; issued a negative opinion for the Marshal of the Sejm on the motion of the Parliamentary Club of the Law and Justice for presentation on the plenary sitting of the Sejm the information of the Prime Minister on the Government actions in relation to: African swine fever, the introduction of the Russian embargo on the import of food products and unequal conditions of competition for Polish farmers in the Single European Market (mtg no. 212).
IMPLEMENTATION OF EU LAW - UST DATABASE
In October 2014
  • the following bills implementing EU law have been referred to the first reading [papers no.]:
    • Government bill amending the act on vocational and social rehabilitation and employment of disabled persons [2853],
    • Government bill amending the act - Code of Civil Procedure and the act on court costs in civil cases [2847].
  • the following acts implementing EU law have been adopted [paper no.]:
    • Act of 23 October 2014 amending the act on prevention of marine pollution from ships [2748],
    • Act of 10 October 2014 on protection of and support for victim and witness [2653],
    • Act of 10 October 2014 amending the act on health care benefits financed from public funds and and some other acts [2293].
  • the following acts implementing EU law have been published [paper no.]:
    • Act of 10 October 2014 amending the act on health care benefits financed from public funds and and some other acts [2293],
    • Act of 29 August 2014 amending the act on corporate income tax, act on personal income tax and some other acts [2330],
    • Act of 29 August 2014 amending the act on batteries and accumulators and some other acts [2244].
SUBSIDIARITY CHECK IN NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS

Subsidiarity scrutiny in October
(Information from IPEX database as of 06.11.2014)

Draft legislative act
Deadline for subsidiarity scrutiny
Adoption / transmission of reasoned opinion
Chamber / parliament (country)
COM(2014) 379 6.10.2014  -  -
COM(2014) 397 *
6.10.2014 6.10.2014 / 6.10.2014 Croatian Parliament (Croatia)
1.10.2014 / 2.10.2014 Senate (Czech Republic)
COM(2014) 476  20.10.2014  -  -
COM(2014) 556 11.11.2014 - -
COM(2014) 581 21.11.2014 - -
COM(2014) 465 25.11.2014 - -
COM(2014) 557 26.11.2014 - -
COM(2014) 558
27.11.2014 - -
COM(2014) 666
25.12.2014 - -
ALL REASONED OPINIONS OF NATIONAL PARLIAMENTS IN IPEX

In October 2014 9 draft legislative acts were subject to subsidiarity scrutiny. As of 6 November 2014, the national parliaments submitted 2 reasoned opinions on the non-compliance of these draft acts with the subsidiarity principle.

* In September to the document COM(2014) 397 one reasoned opinion was submitted - see the previous Biuletyn OIDE.

INTERPARLIAMENTARY COOPERATION
26-27 October 2014, Rome, Meeting of Chairpersons of the Committees Specialised in Agriculture, Industrial Development and SMEs
- The European way to quality food: land protection, eco-friendly organic farming and protection of traditional products
- Internationalization of SMEs
- Industrial Renaissance and SMEs: How can the objective of 20% of GDP by 2020 be attained?

24-25 October 2014, Narva (Estonia), Informal consultations of the Committees on European Affairs of the Parliaments of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland
- Energy security
- EU-Russian relations
- Agenda of COSAC meeting
- Latvia's EU Presidency
- Conclusions of the meeting

14-16 October 2014, Hernádvécse (Hungary), Meeting of the European Affairs Committees of the Visegrád Group Countries
- Taking stock of the implementation of the Europe 2020 Strategy
- Energy efficiency and its contribution to energy security and the 2030 Framework for climate and energy policy
- Debate and adoption of the Conclusions

13-14 October 2014, Rome, Meeting of Chairpersons of the Committees Specialised in Fundamental Rights
- Enforcing fundamental rights to combat exclusion
- Data protection and new rights in the digital era
- Towards a true European common migration and asylum policy
- New tools to combat discrimination

RECENT PUBLICATIONS
New books in the Sejm Library Przegląd Sejmowy Kronika Sejmowa (EN)

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LATEST DEBATES - COMMENTS

 Articles on the current political and economic issues in the EU from the specialist periodicals available on-line (accessed 07.11.2014)