Today, 3 November 2020, the European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) presented its long-awaited report on the role of the German financial supervisor BaFin and the German Financial Reporting Enforcement Panel (FREP) in the Wirecard accounting scandal. In Germany, BaFin and FREP are jointly responsible for the enforcement of financial reporting. ESMA publishes guidelines aimed at […]
Start of the Tax Subcommittee in the European Parliament: Lift the blockade for tax justice in Europe
Today, Sept. 23 at 9am, the constitutive meeting of the new Tax Subcommittee of the European Parliament took place. In this meeting the committee Chairpersons were elected. The Chairman is Paul Tang (S&D). Kira Peter-Hansen is the third Vice-Chair for the Greens. Sven Giegold is coordinator for the Greens/EFA group in the new subcommittee. MEP […]
Call for experts on the hearing of Commissioner-designate Mairead McGuinness before the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Dear colleagues, Dear friends, Last week, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen nominated the Irish Mairead McGuinness as future Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union. She is to succeed Valdis Dombrovskis from Latvia, who has been in charge of the portfolio since 2016 and is now expected to become Trade […]
Important step towards a regulation of Bitcoin, Libra & Co.
Dear friends, Dear interested, Yesterday, on 10 September 2020, the European Parliament gave a strong signal to finally tackle the overdue regulation of Bitcoin, Libra & Co. at European level. At the moment these so-called crypto-assets are subject to insufficient or no rules at all, which has made them a romping place for criminals and […]
Announcement: Olaf Scholz in the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on 2 September from 2:15 pm
Dear friends, dear interested, Tomorrow, 2 September from 2.15 pm, Olaf Scholz will appear before the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) on behalf of the German presidency. The hearing can be followed live here. The following questions and topics could be relevant in the hearing with Olaf Scholz: How can large […]
Our letters to the Commission: Chemical Strategy for Sustainability must not be weakened
Dear friends, dear interested, Recent press reports suggest that the European Chemical Strategy for Sustainability might be substantially weakened by the Commission’s Directorate-General for industry matters (DG GROW). Together with my colleagues Maria Arena (Social Democrats) and Frédérique Ries (Liberals) I have written letters to the Commission on this issue. Our letters addressed Commissioners Sinkevičius […]