"Customers who place money with investment funds through financial service companies guilty of committing crimes like fraud or which are insolvent should receive a higher compensation," according to Olle Schmidt MEP (Folkpartiet, Sweden) author of a report for the European Parliament on investor-compensation schemes due to be discussed on Monday evening at a meeting of the Economic and Monetary Affairs committee.

"I welcome today's decision of the European Parliament's executive body to give a green light to the EURONEST Parliamentary Assembly. We can now progress within the Eastern Partnership by launching its parliamentary assembly. The agreement was founded on the suspension of Belarus from the Assembly until the undemocratic development in the country has been reversed", commented Gunnar Hökmark MEP, EPP Group spokesperson on the Eastern Partnership, during today's decision by the Conference of Presidents to proceed towards a constituent Assembly this spring.

The European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee today approved Turkey's 2010 progress report sending a strong message of support for further reforms ahead of Turkey's general elections this June.

LAMBSDORFF_90.pngAlexander Graf Lambsdorff MEP (FDP, Germany), ALDE shadow rapporteur for accession negotiations with Turkey, said:

"We continue to support the long-lasting and open-ended process of accession negotiations - but we also point to many shortcomings that neither Turkey, nor the EU can be satisfied with.

Brussels – How to ensure that ICT policies reflect the increasingly global environment is the main theme of a Digital Economy Workshop hosted on 9-10 February jointly by ETNO and the European-American Business Council (EABC) in the confines of the EU-US Information Society Dialogue, with the participation among others of Robert Madelin, Director General DG Information Society, William Kennard, US Ambassador to the US, Lawrence Strickling, NTIA and Media.

Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Liberal and Democrat group in the European Parliament today has written to President Barroso, exactly one year since the new Commission mandate began, to urge him to seize back the initiative from the Member States on such important policy areas as economic governance and competitiveness that are vital to restoring Europe's future growth prospects.

Last week, ahead of the European Council meeting in Brussels, a Franco-German initiative launched proposals for strengthening economic policy coordination and strengthening competitiveness in the EU.