MEPs disrupt EU charter signing
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Eurosceptics in the European Parliament stage a noisy protest at the signing of the new EU charter of rights.
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Downing Street has indicated the treaty that emerges from next week's EU summit will not be put to a referendum
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European Union leaders were to resume debate Friday on a package of sorely-needed reforms after failing to bridge major differences overnight, with Britain and Poland notably resisting an agreement.
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The incoming head of the European Commission has been trying to end a dispute which threatens to leave the EU without an executive.
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However, their celebration of unity has been marred by uncertainty over its ratification and turmoil over the stalled European Commission.
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Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced accusations Wednesday that he was running scared from Europe, by missing the official signing of the new European treaty because of a diary clash.
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The EU has again failed to ratify the software patent directive after a crucial last-minute intervention, and opponents of software patents are celebrating.
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Britain&#39;s Europe minister said on Sunday that future prime minister Gordon Brown had not ruled out holding a referendum if an EU treaty agreed later this week included significant changes, in a move seen by some as a threat to block any major treaty.
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Gordon Brown has struck a deal to derail Brussels plans for a rapid expansion in the EU&#39;s budget, wresting back control for the finance ministers of member states.
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THE European Union was thrown into political turmoil yesterday after parliamentarians forced the incoming president of the European Commission into a humiliating climbdown over his choice of commissioners.
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PM makes light of decision to sign treaty hours after the other 26 heads of EU member states
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(InfoWorld) - The European Parliament has delayed a vote on how to react to the U.S.' growing appetite for personal information about European citizens, in order to intensify its opposition. The delay follows a debate Wednesday evening in which the two other European Union lawmaking institutions both hardened their positions on the sensitive issue. The groups are drawing up a strategy for how toÂ renegotiate an agreement, over which they have been divided, with the U.S. over theÂ transfer of European air passenger data. The Parliament opposed the original agreement reached in 2004 to share the data -- 34 facts about every European entering or transiting through America by air, including credit card details and information about how and where a plane ticket was purchased. Even though the European Commission -- the E.U.'s executive branch -- and national governments in the 27 E.U. countries support strict European data protection laws, they negotiated an exemption from the rules in order to allow the U.S. to better protect itself from potential terrorist attacks. The European Parliament took the Commission and the Council of Ministers to the European Court of Justice over the passenger data agreement and forced a re-drafting of the law late last year. This agreement expires at the end of July and the E.U. will soon have to renegotiate the deal. While the Parliament is unlikely now to call for the complete scrapping of the agreement, it may well demand a shorter list of categories of data to be handed over. It may also demand that only U.S. immigration officials be granted access to the information. In a debate at the European Parliament Wednesday, Germanyâs deputy foreign minister, Guenther Gloser warned that negotiations with the U.S. will be âtortuous.â Germany holds the six-month rotating presidency of the 27-nation bloc. The European commissioner in charge of justice and home affairs issues, Franco Frattini told Parliamentarians that he has demanded an explanation from his counterparts in Washington D.C. about an apparent misuse of Europeansâ data that flouts both the original passenger rights' agreement as well as its replacement agreed last year. Frattini's concerns focus on the U.S. Automated Targeting System, which has been assessing millions of people since 2002. Some members of the U.S. Congress and privacy advocates believe the program is even illegal under the more lax U.S. data protection laws. "The right to privacy for me is nonnegotiable. It has to be respected," Frattini told the parliamentarians. Frattini's and Gloserâs speeches took many members of the Parliament by surprise, according to one Parliament official actively involved in civil liberties issues. "The MEPs were due to vote on an agreed position regarding the new round of negotiations with the U.S. today, but they have agreed to postpone the vote until the next plenary session in Strasbourg," she said, asking not to be named. The next plenary session is Feb. 12-15. "There is a mixture of joy and skepticism among the parliamentarians after hearing the strong language expressed in defense of Europeans rights to privacy," she said. "It would seem that the Commission and the Council of Ministers are both coming around to the Parliament's way of thinking on this urgent issue." The text is likely to take an even stronger line as a result of the delay, she said. The U.S. has threatened to fine airlines that fail to hand over the records, and to strip them of their landing rights in the U.S. Without any agreement, the airlines will be put in a difficult position: punished if they don't hand over the information, or sued for breaching European data protection laws if they do.
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Centre-left and liberal MEPs unite to prevent a far-right bloc in the European Parliament getting positions of power.
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Business & money: Â·  European parliament blocks EC initiative Â·  Businesses and unions unite in denunciation
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Approved by two thirds of the MEPs, the Barroso II Commission is due to take office on 22 November. Eurosceptic MEP Nigel Farage took the shine off the subsequent celebrations by attacking French Transport
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Slovakia's opposition threatens to block ratification of the EU treaty in a vote in parliament.
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Enac, the Italian Civil Aviation Authority, said it had suspended the order on condition that the European Commission acted swiftly to pass legislation that would outlaw similar moves by other member states.