The Week ahead

The EPP Group insists that the European Union must deliver on financial aid and the release of €50 billion in EU funds for Ukraine. EU leaders will convene in Brussels for an emergency summit on Thursday in another attempt to agree on the bloc’s budget and financial aid for Ukraine. "Failure next week is not an option," says the Chairman of the EPP Group Manfred Weber MEP. "This is money well spent by European taxpayers to stabilise Ukraine." As promised, Brussels must also deliver one million NATO 155 millimetre calibre artillery shells by spring, Weber adds. Strengthening the air defences, especially for the Odesa region in southern Ukraine, is also extremely urgent.
 

In the run-up to the 2019 European elections, the EPP Group called for Europe to step up in its fight against cancer, and we were the driving force behind the creation of the Parliament's Beating Cancer Committee (BECA). Achievements include the right for cancer patients to freely access loans, mortgages, and life insurance, with the 'right to be forgotten' now enshrined in EU law. On Wednesday, the European Commission will present a new element of its Beating Cancer Plan - the Prevention Package, which will include new measures on smoke-free environments and on vaccine-preventable cancers. "Through prevention, early detection and treatment, we want to understand why cancer develops and treat it before the patient gets symptoms, and we want to support research into this. Only by bringing the best minds together and working together can we make progress," says Peter Liese MEP, the EPP Group's spokesman on cancer.

The EPP Group wants better protection for children online and strongly advocates for making cyber-bullying a criminal offence right across the EU ("Coco’s Law“), as violence, abuse, and racism threaten our children online every day. On Wednesday, 31 January from 14-16 hrs CET, the EPP Group will host a hearing with Silke Müller, author of the bestselling book 'We're Losing Our Children', and representatives from TikTok, Meta, Snapchat and the European Commission to discuss how to deal with the digital threats that children are exposed to when they have access to smartphones, reflecting on real student experiences (programme here). The event will be webstreamed here.