Strasbourg, 13/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - At the request of Irish MEPs in particular - Mr De Rossa (PES), Ms Doyle (EPP/ED) and Mr Hyland (UEN) - who insisted on the need to hold a plenary discussion on the latest developments of the foot-and-mouth crisis in the United Kingdom, the Parliament decided to hold a debate on this issue on Wednesday.13/03/2001 (Agence Europe).
The European Parliament rejected, however, with 78 votes to 187 and 6 abstentions, a request by the Greens/ALE and GUE/NGL groups to hold a debate on the Commission's encryption system (see EUROPE of 2 March p.10, 7 March p.9 and 8 March p.12 on the subject of the Perkins affair. Speaking on behalf of the PES group, Mr Swoboda expressed his opposition. While considering that "if only one quarter of what has been said is true, it is still extremely serious", he affirmed that the inquiry must be conducted by the temporary Echelon Committee and that the plenary should give its stance later, in the light of the results of this inquiry.