Welcome to my Strasbourg Roundup. This is a very brief update to let you know what happens at the plenary meetings of the European Parliament.

This month's Strasbourg session was a busy one, dealing with several important issues. MEPs debated and / or voted on the following:

• Waste Framework Directive - Myself and colleagues voted on a report which aims to cut down the volume of municipal and construction waste currently being dumped into landfills across the EU. The Directive will require Members States to ensure that waste is prevented in the first instance and, where that is not possible, it should be recycled. The Directive will set binding targets for recycling: in the UK recycling must increase by 20% to 50% by 2020. For construction and demolition waste the recycling target will be 70%. This report has been drafted against the background of the alarming increase in European waste since 1995. The waste generated by the UK, for example, could fill Albert Hall in London in less than two hours.
• Electricity Directive - Myself and colleagues voted on a report by fellow Labour MEP, Eluned Morgan, on the future of Europe's electricity market. This report aims to tackle the soaring energy prices seen throughout Europe in the past year which have plunged some vulnerable citizens, such as the elderly, into severe energy poverty. Eluned's report argues for the full separation of control of electricity networks from the big electricity producing companies that currently own the networks. This proposed separation addresses the lack of market competition through making it easier for new companies to enter the market thereby keeping prices down. The Directive will now aim to offer consumers more choice and clearer and more transparent information about costs and the environmental impact of their choices.

Other matters that came up in Parliamentary and other Institutional business this week included:

• Temporary Agency Workers - On Tuesday the Council of Ministers announced that it had reached a deal to give the same rights to temporary and agency workers as currently afforded to full time employees. This deal ends a six year period of deadlock which has left temporary and agency workers with inferior rights. Labour and other Socialist MEPs will ensure that this deal covers all employee rights such as social protection, health and safety and access to training.
• End of Discrimination in all 27 Member States - The European Commission has decided to bring forward a new all inclusive Directive to combat all forms of direct and indirect discrimination. Labour MEPs have worked hard to ensure that this Directive does not only cover discrimination on the grounds of disability but also on the grounds of age, religion, sexuality and belief. This legislation will prevent discrimination in areas including but not limited to education, housing, healthcare and telecommunication. Labour MEPs will now work closely with the Commission and the Council to ensure that the details of the legislation provide full protection for all European citizens.

• The details of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) between the EU and 35 African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries were discussed by Socialist MEPs from the Trade and International Development Committees in a meeting in Strasbourg this week. Last year the European Commission negotiated new trade deals with these 35 ACP countries. These deals are due to be signed later this year but are currently more commercially than development orientated and many NGOs, trade unions, academics and ACP Ministers have criticised the details of the Agreements. The Socialist Group are committed to making EPAs pro development and fully in line with the interests ACP countries and their economic development strategies. Through close contact with the Commission, Socialist MEPs will push for the reopening of negotiations, the exclusion of talks on the EU's offensive interests such as trade in services and investment and the full participation of ACP parliaments in ratifying the final deals.

The next Strasbourg Roundup will be published shortly after the next plenary session which takes place 7-10 July 2008.