At the start of the Maltese EU Presidency, the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament has today presented a study on the country’s tax practices. The study, written by the Italian-British academic, Tommaso Faccio, shows that Malta would be included in the list of tax havens if the criteria developed by the European Commission for […]
The jury is still out on Günther Oettinger
Three parliamentary committees questioned Commissioner Günther Oettinger last night to assess his suitability for a new portfolio including responsibility for the EU budget and human resources. The hearing attracted extra attention following a speech in which Oettinger referred to Chinese people as “slitty-eyed rascals” and questions about the Commissioner’s interaction with unregistered lobbyists. It was […]
Pro-Europeans win against Verhofstadt: Liberal flirt with eurosceptic 5-Stars is over
Minutes ago the liberal ALDE group stopped the negotiations with the eurosceptic 5-star movement of Beppe Grillo to join their group. Few days ago a detailed draft agreement between liberals and 5-stars had surfaced and the 5-stars voted today in favour of this deal. MEP Sven Giegold, spokesperson of the German Greens in the European […]
Italian bail-out: Dangerous precedent for EU banking union
The Italian government has decided to launch a new banking bail-out scheme for the troubled Italian bank Monte dei Paschi Di Siena. Earlier this year, banking bail-outs became illegal without ensuring creditor liability by bailing in at least 8% of total liabilities before any public funds may be used. The Italian government has been pushing […]
Greece: Financial assistance must not be at the cost of labour rights
The European Parliament will today debate the Labour market reforms and labour relations in Greece. The institutions are pushing to make financial assistance conditional on the liberalisation of labour laws, despite the fact that collective bargaining is protected under the Charter of Fundamental Rights. It would also run counter to the 2015 memorandum of understanding […]
Rules of Procedure: EU Parliament strengthens its efficiency and transparency, but fails to toughen integrity rules
Today the European Parliament revised its internal rules of procedure, which govern both its day-to-day functioning and the ethics standards for MEPs (“Corbett report”). Debates focused on minority rights in the Parliament, lobby transparency and stricter rules on integrity. The Greens presented a “plan for integrity and transparency in the European Parliament” consisting of […]