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 […]
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 […]
Banca Carige: In depth state aid investigation needed
The ECB took over control of the Italian lender Banca Carige after several attempts to stabilize the struggling bank failed. MEP Sven Giegold, financial and economic policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group commented: “The take over of the management of Banca Carige raises serious questions which need a European investigation. Only a few […]
Excessive deficit procedure against France: Oettinger’s demand is premature showmanship
The German EU commissioner Günther Oettinger (CDU) has demanded via FOCUS interview the initiation of an excessive deficit procedure against France because of its planned higher deficit for 2019. At the same time, the EU Commission has been encouraging the Italian government to make substantial short-term concessions to its new spending plans through robust talks. […]
European Parliament: Those who undermine European values must not profit from EU funds
Today, the Plenary adopted a resolution against the conflict of interest of Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš in negotiating as head of government and at the same time in private massively profiting from EU funds. Greens in the region had helped investigations and Greens in the European Parliament had asked for this resolution. Babis is […]
Racist statement of Parliament’s president Antonio Tajani is unworthy of his office
In an interview with the Italian medium Rai News in the context of the rejected Italian state budget, the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, made the following statement: “The citizenship income will end up in the pockets of Roma, of foreign citizens — from the EU and non-EU — and certainly not in […]