Brexit, Ireland first
As British Prime Minister Theresa May tried to dance to her party’s tune in Birmingham, MEPs in Strasbourg gave their full support to Michel Barnier’s EU Brexit negotiating strategy.
"Ireland first," declared European Commission Chief Jean Claude-Juncker to a full house of MEPs on Tuesday as they debated the EU’s Brexit strategy.
"We want to have a deal," he said.
But he added: "When it comes to the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, we are sticking to the point of view we have expressed so many times - Ireland first."
The head of the Parliament's Brexit Steering Group Guy Verhofstadt also said they supported Mr Barnier’s strategy.
"Without such a backstop, the European Parliament would not be in a position to give its consent to the Withdrawal Agreement," Mr Verhofstadt said.
Cleaning up cars
MEPs voted in favour of cleaner cars.
By 2030, manufacturers will have to cut their fleet-wide CO2 emissions by 40%.
The EU Commission recommended that new cars emit 30% less CO2 by 2030, but MEPs on the parliament's Environment Committee wanted the target increased to 45%.
In the end, MEPs backed a compromise to set the target at 40% less emissions by 2030.
Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan, who sits on the committee, welcomed the move towards tougher CO2 targets.
Fine Gael MEP and Vice President of the Parliament Mairead McGuinness said the vote would also benefit the agriculture sector.
"The significant CO2 reductions necessary to meet our climate targets cannot be borne by agriculture alone and ambitious reductions in the transport are crucial," she said.
Zero rate VAT
MEPs also backed a move to give member states the flexibility to set VAT at 0% on certain items, including medical equipment and sanitary towels.
The vote was welcomed by Independent MEP Marian Harkin, who has campaigned for items such as defibrillators to benefit from a zero VAT rate.
"Many community groups fund raise to buy defibrillators for local areas, villages and clubs etc ," she said.
"The fact that an additional 23% of VAT had also to be raised was an unfair imposition and I now call on the Irish Government to immediately prepare for the authority to remove VAT when the relevant measure is implemented at EU level."
Palestine
There was broad criticism of the recent US decision to end all funding for the UN’s agency for Palestinian refugees.
The US announced on 31 August it would end all funding for UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestine refugees.
During the plenary debate, European Commissioner Johannes Hahn said: "Without UNRWA and the prospect of a two-state solution, there would just be chaos and violence for both the Israeli and Palestinian people."
New EU broadcasting rules
MEPs voted on plans to overhaul EU broadcasting rules for the internet era by introducing new requirements for online streaming websites.
Members voted in favour of updating rules on audiovisual media services to protect children with stricter rules on advertising.
The rules will also mean on-demand online platforms will have to feature a 30% quota of European content.
Once member state agree on the updated legislation, it will apply to broadcasters, but also to video-on-demand and video-sharing platforms, such as Netflix, YouTube or Facebook, as well as to live streaming on video-sharing platforms.
