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Hungary should respect the EU's basic values, say MEPs

Parliament will draw up a report on whether EU laws and values are respected in Hungary, it decided on Thursday. Further to this report, it will then decide whether to activate EU Treaty Article 7, which is used to investigate a clear risk of a serious breach of EU common values. Its resolution also calls on the European Commission to monitor closely the changes to some of Hungary's laws and how it puts them into practice.

The Hungarian authorities should comply with the recommendations, objections and demands of the Commission, the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission and amend the laws concerned, respecting the EU's basic values and standards, says the resolution, tabled by the S&D, ALDE, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups and approved with 315 votes in favour, 263 against and 49 abstentions.

www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20120216...

© European Union 2012 EP/Pietro Naj-Oleari

Hungary should respect the EU's basic values, say MEPs

Parliament will draw up a report on whether EU laws and values are respected in Hungary, it decided on Thursday. Further to this report, it will then decide whether to activate EU Treaty Article 7, which is used to investigate a clear risk of a serious breach of EU common values. Its resolution also calls on the European Commission to monitor closely the changes to some of Hungary's laws and how it puts them into practice.

The Hungarian authorities should comply with the recommendations, objections and demands of the Commission, the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission and amend the laws concerned, respecting the EU's basic values and standards, says the resolution, tabled by the S&D, ALDE, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL groups and approved with 315 votes in favour, 263 against and 49 abstentions.

www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20120216...

© European Union 2012 EP/Pietro Naj-Oleari

Binding rules to ensure blind people's access to books

Blind people should have access to books and other published works in special formats, such as Braille, large print or audio. This requires a targeted exception to copyright rules, says a resolution adopted by Parliament on Thursday, calling on the Council and Commission to support a binding international treaty to make it possible. Only 5% of books are currently accessible to the blind in richer countries, and fewer than 1% in poorer ones.

www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/pressroom/content/20120216...

© European Union 2012 EP/Pietro Naj-Oleari

MEPs have called Eurobonds a source of stability for the Eurozone in the medium term in a resolution approved on Wednesday. The resolution also welcomes the European Commission's green paper on Eurobonds, which was published last year in response to several Eurozone countries having to pay high interest rates to borrow on the international markets. But what are these bonds actually all about?

www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/content/20120126...

© European Union 2012 EP/Pietro Naj-Oleari

...who got to play a match against Garry Kasparov!

Chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov presented the "Chess in European Schools" program to the EP

www.europechess.net/index.php?option=com_content&view...

© European Union 2012 EP/Pietro Naj-Oleari