The European Parliament has today given approval to rules adopted by the Commission under the framework of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), despite widespread concern that it will allow harmful commodity speculation to continue. The Markets in Financial Instruments Directive of 2014 was supposed to introduce strict position limits to curb excessive […]
Madeira Papers: Misuse of free trade zones has to be ended
Research published today by Bayerischer Rundfunk, ORF, Le Monde and the Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia confirms the abuse of free trade zones for tax avoidance. The Portuguese island of Madeira offers companies a 5% low tax rate on company profits, even without substantial investments or jobs on the island. Sven Giegold, Economic and Financial Spokesman […]
German Greens have to stand by their opposition to CETA. The vote in the EU parliament is not the end.
Next week on 15 February the European Parliament will vote on the EU-Canada Agreement CETA. After this vote, the agreement will be applied provisionally and must then be ratified by all Parties to the Agreement, including the 28 EU Member States. The disputed additional protection of foreign investors is expressly excluded from provisional application. […]
Panama Papers committee delegation to Malta: visit without guests
Several Maltese invitees have not yet committed to meet the European Parliament Panama Papers committee (PANA) in Malta on Monday 20th of February. As part of a fact-finding mission to the country, Members of the European Parliament requested a meeting with Members of the Maltese Parliament who so far have not responded. Additionally, PANA asked […]
Tax havens: EU blacklist must not be obstructed
On Tuesday, the EU Council sent letters to 92 countries to draw up a list of ‘non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes’’ by the end of 2017. In November 2016, EU finance ministers agreed on the rough criteria for such an EU blacklist. If a country does not meet the minimum standards of tax transparency and […]
Study on EU politicians: The revolving door to lobbyism throws the gates open for discontent by citizens
Transparency International’s newest study on the careers of 485 former Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and 27 former EU Commissioners shows how many of those politicians afterwards become lobbyists. 30 percent of former MEPs and more than 50 percent of former Commissioners work by now for organisations on the Transparency Register for lobbyists. […]