The European Parliament changed the agenda of the plenary session going on in Strasbourg and decided to add a debate today on "the situation of Romanies in Italy and Europe". This was proposed by the Socialist party leader, the German Martin Schulz, who stated: "Romanies are going through a bad patch at the moment in Italy but this applies to all of Europe as well". Then the Assembly will celebrate the first "European Day of the Seas" before the presidents of the EU Parliament, Commission and Council. In addition, Parliament took a common position on the large-scale retail trade, through which it asks the EU Commission "to survey the effects that the concentration of supermarkets is having on small businesses, suppliers, workers and consumers". The MEPs ask for "appropriate measures" to be taken to protect consumers. Special reference was made to the food trade which "is increasingly held by a small number of supermarkets" which are becoming a sort of "market holders" that control "the only real access of farmers and other suppliers to EU’s consumers".
