Today the European Parliament plenary adopted a draft regulation on a classification (taxonomy) of sustainable investments with a majority of Christian Democrats, Liberals and Greens, while Social Democrats abstained. This uniform classification sets criteria for the definition of environmentally “sustainable” financial products. On the initiative of Christian Democrat and right-wing MEPs a narrow majority voted […]
Fiscalis programme: Deal reached for better cross-border cooperation between tax authorities
Today, the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission reached a conclusion in the Fiscalis programme negotiations for improving cross-border cooperation between tax authorities. The Fiscalis programme helps tax authorities in the exchange of information, development of IT tools and common tax audits. This is key to the fight against tax evasion and avoidance […]
EU’s tax haven blacklist starting to have an impact
European Union Finance Ministers (ECOFIN) have just agreed to further expand the list of jurisdictions included on the EU’s tax haven blacklist and which countries will remain on the grey list for further scrutiny. The blacklist, which is designed to promote a responsible tax policy worldwide and to ensure that the European Union’s international partners […]
Trialogue agreement: breakthrough for whistleblower protection
An agreement on European whistleblower protection has just been reached midnight in the trialogue between the European Parliament, Commission and Council. Many years of Green campaigning for the protection of whistleblowers end in success. The German and French governments had tried for a long time to block this agreement. It was intense public criticism that […]
Whistleblower: Public pressure makes agreement likely tonight
At tonight’s trilogue meeting of the European Parliament, EU Commission and Council of Member States on whistleblower protection, a deal is considered likely. The crucial point is whether whistleblowers are forced to report internally in order to be guaranteed legal protection in the event of subsequent external reports to supervisors, or later to press or […]
The pro-European party CDU says farewell to European democracy
CDU Chairwoman Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (AKK) has outlined guidelines for her European policy in a guest article in the newspaper Die Welt. She called for intergovernmentalism and the European community method to be regarded as equal. MEP Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group commented: “This is a breach of tradition that […]