Since this afternoon, the European Parliament allows MEPs to publish their lobby meetings on the Parliament’s website. MEPs who co-author EU laws as rapporteurs, shadow rapporteurs or committee chairs are obliged to make their lobby meetings transparent to citizens. The rules, passed in the European Parliament on 31 January in a tight and fiercely contested […]
Strong signal for sustainable finance: EU Commission expert group excludes coal and nuclear power from green financial products
Today, the EU Commission’s Technical Expert Group published recommendations on sustainable finance. Last spring, the EU Commission had presented various legislative proposals as part of its action plan for sustainable finance. The expert group’s recommendations relate to the classification of sustainable investments (taxonomy), a methodology for sustainable benchmark indices, measures for climate-related disclosure obligations and […]
Green study reveals dangerous media concentration in Hungary: 78 percent of news media under Orban’s control
A study by Hungarian media expert Agnes Urban, commissioned by Sven Giegold, calculates the media concentration in Hungary for the first time: “Altogether 77,8% of the political/public affairs market is financed by sources decided by the ruling party.” In the 1990s and 2000s, media in Hungary were not free of political influence, but were subject […]
Impunity for corruption in Romania: Europe’s Social Democrats, Liberals and Christian Democrats must not let this pass
The Romanian Parliament today amended the penal code so that criminal proceedings against high-ranking politicians for corruption could soon be broken off. The ruling Social Democrats and Liberals, as well as opposition Christian Democrats, have voted in favour of the changes. One of the changes shortens the limitation period for some crimes. As soon as […]
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 […]
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 […]