EPP Group mourns the passing of Wilfried Martens, as European Parliament debates immigration and extremism, approves tougher tobacco regulation and EU professional IDs

The EPP Group mourned the death of Wilfried Martens, its president and Belgium´s longest-serving prime minister who led the European People´s Party since 1990. His death came at the end of a European Parliament session that saw debate on how the EU should deal with recent arrivals of refugees from Africa and the Middle East. It also debated extremism in Greece and approved a tougher smoking directive that would require cigarette makers to list the ingredients that would be subject to testing for safety. The parliament also approved plans to create an EU professional ID card that would allow Europeans to take their skills across Europe´s internal borders, supporting the EU´s single market.