This Thursday, 5 July, MEPs voted by a large majority in favour of the own-initiative report “recommendations to the Commission on a Statute for social and solidarity-based enterprises”. Only the right-wing opponents of Europe voted against. With the approval in plenary, a strong “legislative own-initiative report” has been presented, which puts the Commission under an […]
EU Ombudswoman’s final report: ECB risks its credibility and independence with Draghi’s G30 membership
Today EU Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly presented her final decision on the membership of ECB President Mario Draghi in the Group of Thirty (G30). The ECB had rejected the request of the EU Ombudsman to end Draghi’s membership of the G30. O’Reilly now acknowledges the ECB’s “continuing maladministration”. The Group of Thirty is an opaque association […]
Lack of transparency for MEP expenses: public pressure leads to re-start of the reform
Sir, Madam, dear journalists, On Monday, the Bureau of the European Parliament stopped a reform of the General Expenditure Allowance (GEA) by a narrow majority. Today, the Conference of Presidents (CoP) has critically discussed the Bureau’s decision and decided to reinstate the Bureau working group that drafted the reform proposal that the Bureau had suspended […]
ECB gets a carte blanche on clearing and payment systems
Today, the European Parliament adopted an amendment to Article 22 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank, which confers to the ECB regulatory powers over clearing systems. In 2009, the G20 agreed to clear all standardised over-the-counter derivatives through a central counterparty. Brexit threatens to place […]
EU Lobby Register: European Parliament takes a big step towards lobby transparency
On Wednesday 27 June, the European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents of the political groups adopted a package for more lobby transparency. Members of the European Parliament can now sign a declaration committing to follow the “systematic practice” of meeting only registered lobbyists. MEPs can make these declarations and their meetings with lobbyists transparent in their […]
Success: EU develops its own black list of money laundering havens
The EU is now developing its own black list of money laundering par havens. Last Tuesday, the European Commission published its methodology to identifying high-risk third countries for money laundering and terrorist financing. Since the Fourth Money Laundering Directive, adopted in 2015, the Commission has had the task of adopting, through delegated acts, a […]