Tomorrow the EU Parliament will vote on the EU-Singapore trade agreement. Among other things, the agreement creates a loophole for investors in government bonds in the event of debt rescheduling in an EU country. The Dutch non-governmental organisation SOMO recently pointed this out in a study. The spokesperson for Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in the […]
On lobby transparency, Finnish embassy to the EU leads by example: other government representations need to follow!
Since early 2019, the Finnish Permanent Representation (PermRep) to the EU is the first to proactively publish lobby meetings online: https://finlandabroad.fi/web/eu/meetings (translated below). Meetings of the Finnish Permanent Representative and his deputy are published, those of the 90 other staff so far not. 3 other PermReps sent their lobby meetings upon request to the NGO […]
New study by Transparency International: Eurogroup is the EU’s black hole
Commenting on today’s Transparency International study on the Eurogroup’s lack of transparency, accountability and democratic scrutiny, Sven Giegold, the European Parliament’s rapporteur for transparency, accountability and integrity in the EU institutions, said: “The study by Transparency International puts its finger into the wound of European democracy: the Eurogroup is the EU’s black hole. It […]
Deutsche Bank & BaFin: Disrespectful refusal to provide information
Stephan Wilken, Head of Anti Financial Crime and Deutsche Bank’s Group Anti Money Laundering Officer, and Dr. Jens Fürhoff, Head of Money Laundering Prevention at the Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority), testified today at a hearing in the European Parliament’s Special Committee TAX3 (Financial Crime, Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance) and debated with […]
European Parliament demands fundamental overhaul of EU competition policy
Today the European Parliament adopted its annual own-initiative report on EU competition policy by a large cross-party majority. With this report, the European Parliament takes a stand on current developments in competition policy and calls for a fundamental overhaul of EU competition policy for the first time. The report was drafted by the Austrian Green […]
Groundbreaking success for lobby transparency: European Parliament decides clarity on lobbyists’ influence on laws
Dear friends, Dear interested, After years of a long conflict, we achieved today in the European Parliament a great success for more transparency in lobbying: For the first time, Parliament has adopted binding rules on lobby transparency. MEPs involved in new parliamentary decisions must publicly list their meetings with lobbyists (legislative footprint). The decision of […]