European Parliament news

Europeans throw out nine million tonnes of electronic and electrical waste a year, a potential boon for recycling companies who are teaming up with appliance manufacturers to turn waste into value added.

If you can't beat them, join them. Many artists are now offering their works for free online, in an effort to control the profligacy of piracy.

Join us for a heated debate about artists' rights on the internet. Or, about 'old industries sticking to their old models', as our guest, MEP Christian Engström of Sweden's Pirate Party claims. Cécile Despringre from the Society of Audiovisual Authors rebuts.

The new proposal for an agreement with the US on European banking data is the old one, says the German Green MEP.

The upcoming site of the European Parliament's own web TV - a sneak preview

MEPs looked into banning dangerous substances in electrical goods. The EU is hoping to get everyone online by 2020 with it's digital agenda. MEP Carl Schlyter talks about a report into pharmaceuticals grip on health.

12.3 million tonnes of electrical waste is what we can expect by 2020 in the EU. To stop hazardous substances from polluting the environment and affecting public health MEPs are looking to change a directive dating back to 2003.

Internet access for all by 2020. That's the ambitious aim of Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes. Anyone should be able to access the internet in the next 10 years. But to achieve this Europe will have to invest heavily in new technologies, but the payback should be worth the investment.

Reform of farming policy is back on the agenda. Can Europe meet its food needs without harming the environment? Is science the answer? From the food we eat to food for the soul – the Europeana digital library collates Europe’s cultural heritage online. Eighteen months after its launch we look at its progress.

The Americans seemed to have mastered both. Europeana was set up to rival Google’s digital library, but 18 months after its launch content in the US library outstrips its EU counterpart and generates 7 billion dollars in turnover. Greater interest and funds could help Europeana break Google’s monopoly.

The EU and the US are fighting terrorism hand in hand - or not. Questions over methods remain, whether they be bulk transfers of banking data or body scanners at airports. Some fear that these measures invade our privacy and are in fact so repressive that they become counter-productive. In this programme, two MEPs fight it out with a US journalist and a Danish studio audience.

Europe wants its own monetary fund to avoid future eurozone crises. Jean-Pierre Audy joins us in the studio to discuss its inner workings. The counter-feiting negotiations (ACTA) have been shrouded in mystery and MEPs have demanded more transparency. And animal welfare is back in the spotlight for infringements of rules regarding slaughterhouses.

Your computer might be seized if you download illegally. International talks on computer piracy kept secret by the Commission and EU governments will decide on citizens’ future rights. The Parliament intends to lift the veil of secrecy and ensure its voice is heard.

The poster girl of the parliamentary campaign against the SWIFT deal - which gave the US the power to monitor Europeans’ bank data - explains that she doesn’t want the Parliament to become a rubber stamp for US policy. Some think the EP’s rejection of the agreement damaged transatlantic relations, but the Dutch MEP says she favours strong EU-US cooperation.

Bargain hunters are flocking to the internet as the economic crisis bites into pockets. But what rights do they have if and when things go wrong? EPTV’s panel of experts discuss how and what to include in a reform of consumer rights.

Is a world wide welcome to all types of content the only way to go? Is it realistic to even think we can control access to the internet? Would regulation be effective in deterring paedophiles and fraudsters? EuroparlTV goes out on the streets to get your views.

Is a world wide welcome to all types of content the only way to go? Is it realistic to even think we can control access to the internet? Would regulation be effective in deterring paedophiles and fraudsters? EuroparlTV goes out on the streets to get your views.

Is internet access a fundamental human right? How should copyright be protected online? How about personal data? Are we facing a society addicted to social networking applications like Facebook? EuroparlTV talked to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web (WWW), about his hopes and fears for the future of internet.

Is internet access a fundamental human right? How should copyright be protected online? How about personal data? Are we facing a society addicted to social networking applications like Facebook? EuroparlTV talked to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web (WWW), about his hopes and fears for the future of internet.

Tim Berners-Lee, inventer of the World Wide Web (www), was in Brussels to discuss the importance of internet for all. On the anniversary of the www, he called for MEPs to protect the net from control by big companies and national governments. He deems it the only way to preserve the nascent participative online democracy.