On June 18, the European Parliament adopted its annual own-initiative report on EU competition policy with a large cross-party majority of Christian Democrats, Socialists, Liberals, Greens and some right-wing conservatives, while the majority of the Left abstained. With this report, the European Parliament takes a stand on current developments in competition policy and calls for […]
Liberals and Greens call for comprehensive reform of EU audit rules
Dear friends, dear interested, In the face of the massive accounting scandal unfolding at German payments service provider Wirecard, Luis Garicano and I as liberal and green coordinators in the ECON committee have published a joint appeal for a reform of the EU rules on statutory audits. Please, see below for our joint statement. […]
European Parliament adopts gift package for banks without any conditionality
Yesterday, the European Parliament adopted the so-called “CRR quick fix”, a far-reaching softening of the capital adequacy rules for banks in the Corona crisis. Since Socialist rapporteur Jonás Fernández has secured the approval of the Council of Ministers for the legislative proposal upfront, it will enter into force promptly. The decision was taken with the […]
European Parliament vote for permanent subcommittee on tax a victory for tax justice
Today, the European Parliament’s plenary has just voted to support a standing subcommittee to look at tax transparency and to tackle tax evasion and avoidance. The Greens/EFA group have long been calling for a permanent subcommittee on taxes, covering the topics of tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance. After years of special committees (TAXE […]
Expert consultation: Digital Finance and Crypto-Assets – Request for contributions
Dear colleagues, Dear interested, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs in the European Parliament is currently working on a “legislative own-initiative report” on Digital Finance. This rather rarely used instrument enables the Parliament to press the EU Commission for new legislative initiatives. The Parliament will prepare the ground for a European framework for FinTechs, […]
Webinar: “Regional Inequalities – The underestimated risk for Europe” with EU Commissioner Ferreira on Tuesday, 23 June 2020, 7-9pm CEST
Dear friends, The European Commission has recently presented their proposals for a revised European budget for 2021-2027 and a recovery package. Therein, regional funds play a fundamental role and should be equipped with additional 82.6 billion Euros. However, large parts of the money should be handed to the member states without strong conditions. May those […]