Dear correspondents, For the first time, the European Parliament has the opportunity to vote on binding rules for lobby transparency instead of broadly ignored voluntary recommendations. However, after political and legal roadblocks have been cleared, the European Peoples’ Party (EPP) group tries every trick in the book to block binding transparency rules. The EPP decided […]
Citizenships and visas: EU Commission must set and comply with binding minimum standards against the sale of citizens’ rights
Today, Wednesday, the European Commission warned EU Member States of the controversial “golden passports and visas” programmes that grant residence permits and even citizenship to non-EU citizens in exchange for money and investment. The report of the European Commission published today finally creates more transparency and is also a success of our demands in the […]
European system of financial supervision: EU ministers must not bury progressive reform
Today, the EU’s economic and finance ministers will decide during the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) whether to separate the anti-money laundering part from the rest of the legislative package to revise the European system of financial supervision. If they take this decision, ministers will conclude the money laundering part of the interinstitutional dialogue […]
Groundbreaking decision of the EU Parliament: Sanctions to defend democracy and the rule of law in the member states
Today at noon, the European Parliament has adopted a new instrument to defend democracy and the rule of law in the Member States. Those who undermine systematically the rule of law shall no longer benefit from EU funds. A broad pro-European majority (397 yes vs 150 no) of Christian-Democrats, Social-Democrats, Liberals and Greens supported the […]
Invitation: Conference on Brexit and the future of tax havens
Brexit must become an exit from British tax dumping. The rejection of the Brexit agreement by the British House of Commons has made the modalities of the Brexit even more incalculable. However, for the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament it is clear that any future agreement between Britain and the EU must put an […]
European Parliament: Lobby transparency must not be a secret matter
On 31st January, the European Parliament will vote for the first time on binding rules for the lobbying transparency of MEPs, as part of a reform to amend the European Parliament’s rules of procedure. Last Wednesday, the Christian-Democrat EPP Group decided to vote by secret ballot on this change to the Rules of Procedure. Politico […]