Brussels, 05/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering will be in Tunis at the end of next week in his capacity as vice-president of the EuroMed Parliamentary Assembly (EMPA) for a meeting of the Bureau, on Saturday 10 February. The main aim of the meeting is to decide on the agenda for the EMPA annual session (in Tunis from 16 - 18 March). The meeting will then be extended to the chairpersons of the parliamentary committees that make up the EMPA. Each will present its latest activities and specific draft resolutions to be submitted to the March plenary.
The political committee has begun preparing texts to be presented (on terrorism, the Middle East, landmines, etc) and to be finalised at its next meeting scheduled for 1 March in Brussels. In the meantime, the EMPA Bureau will look at the initiative for amending the regulation on the composition of delegations (see EUROPE 9354). If the Bureau gives its go-ahead, a drafting committee will be formed to negotiate the terms of this amendment with the working group on regulations, chaired by MacMillan Scott, MEP (EPP-EP, UK). The economic committee is, for its part, preparing a report on economic development in the EuroMed region with reference to the Millennium Goals, as well as a report on funding cooperation (the future of the financial instrument managed by the EIB, FEMIP, and its possible transformation into a regional development bank). The culture committee is expected to finalise its texts to be submitted to the plenary during the meting in Rome on 26 February. Another point on the agenda is also foreseen: the members of the sub-committee on women's rights, established by temporary mandate, are calling for it to be changed into a permanent structure. We also recall that the European Parliament should have a draft resolution fixing the common position of its groups for the EMPA session in Tunis. A text could be put to the vote during the plenary session in Strasbourg on 14 February. (fb)