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Dublin System reforms will ensure greater solidarity

Asylum

The European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee has voted on the reforms to the Dublin System, which sets out the criteria for which Member State should examine an asylum claim.

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What's coming up next week in Parliament

Strasbourg Flash 23-27 October 2017

A look ahead to next week's session in the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the Greens/EFA priority issues on the agenda

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Statement from Philippe Lamberts, President of Greens/EFA group

European Council 19-20 October

"This week provided an illustration of a stark contrast. While the European Parliament managed to agree, with broad majorities, on crucial legislation such as on e-privacy, on posted workers and on reforming the Dublin system, the European Council's performance was disappointing," says Philippe Lamberts.

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European Parliament votes for improvements of the Dublin System

Common European Asylum Policy

We need an asylum policy that better reflects the needs of applicants. Family ties, social and cultural connections and language can all have a big impact on people’s ability to integrate into their new community.

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EU Parliament wants strong data protection for WhatsApp & Co

ePrivacy Regulation

"With few exceptions, internet companies and communication providers should only be able to use the data of users with their consent. Users must be able to trust that their surfing and communication behaviour will not be evaluated or passed on," says Greens/EFA MEP Jan Philipp Albrecht.

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European Parliament sets out powerful agenda for defeating money laundering and tax dodging

Panama Papers

"We now have a powerful set of proposals to tackle the illegal and corrupt financial flows unearthed by the Panama Papers," says Molly Scott Cato.

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A herbicide-free future

Considering solutions across Europe

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Glimmer of hope

Accountability of the Council budget may soon be improved, ending seven-year stalemate

A seven-year dispute between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union over whether or not the Parliament should have the right to oversee how the Council spends its budget, may soon be resolved, if all goes according to plan. For the last seven years, the European Parliament ...

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@Erich Westendarp
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Greens/EFA call for glyphosate-free future

Glyphosate

The Greens/EFA group has commissioned a new study on alternatives to glyphosate. The study, which has been produced by PAN Europe, will be published one day ahead of a vote in the European Parliament’s Environment Committee on an objection to the renewal of glyphosate’s EU licence. The resolution calls on the Commission not to extend the licence and to take measures to phase out use of the substance in the EU by 15 December 2020.

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Tragic death of investigative journalist shows urgent need to end opacity and protect sources and whistleblowers

The work done by Ms. Caruana Galizia and her colleagues on the Panama Papers has been crucial for uncovering the murky reality of corruption in Malta. It was thanks to these journalists that the European Parliament was able to secure an EU-wide inquiry into tax avoidance and financial secrecy

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Statement from Philippe Lamberts, President of Greens/EFA group

European Council 19-20 October

"Even more so than the negotiations on Brexit and the future of Ireland, which have been severely damaged by the unbelievable amateurism of the British leaders, the Catalan crisis risks becoming uncontrollable, putting at risk the EU's spirit of integration," says Philippe Lamberts.

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European Ideas Lab - Brussels

01.03.2018

Greens meet Changemakers

DRAFT PROGRAMME    Thursday 1 March 2018   15:00-17:00 European Parliament tour with Greens/EFA MEPs   17:0...

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Regional European Ideas Lab - Dublin

27.10.2017

Greens meet Changemakers

The objectives of the Dublin Ideas Lab are to provide a forum for civil society and NGO bodies from across England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and beyond to meet with MEPs, green political leaders and activists. The aim is to share ideas, experiences and knowledge, discuss specific topics and connect their struggles as well as to facilitate networking

Register

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Alternatives to herbicide in weed management

A report from PAN Europe, commissioned by the Greens/EFA group

The present report aims to emphasise that we already have all the tools necessary to gradually start building a pesticide-free agricultural model and to confirm that weed control is possible using other means than harmful herbicides.

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Minimum income

A social investment to tackle poverty

On the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the Greens/EFA would like to highlight the crucial character of minimum income schemes for all EU Member States. Adequate minimum income schemes are essential to combat poverty and social exclusion. They enable people to be contributing members of society, undertake training and/or look for work.

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Agroecology explained to children

Parents can watch

Our current food and agricultural system isn't sustainable. Increasingly we get locked in a global production model with high social and environmental costs, mainly in the form of a rapid degradation of biodiversity. There is an urgent need to rethink the global food system. Agroecology is the path towards a more sustainable agricultural and food model.

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Plans to deregulate new GMOs continue apace

As the EU Commission and industry push ahead with plans to deregulate new GMOs, EU citizens are still not properly involved in the debate

The issue of new GMOs and whether they should be regulated, or not, has been in the spotlight recently with a high-level event organised by the Commission and a hearing at the EU Court of Justice. A clear outcome of these debates is that the right of citizens to decide which technologies should be used and in which conditions, is absolutely off the radar of the EU Commission. This has to change.

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European Ombudsman Encouraged by Parliament

... to Increase Transparency, Participation and Accountability in the EU institutions

The European Parliament petitions committee adopted its annual report on the activities of the European Ombudsman in which it congratulated the work done by Emily O’Reilly and her team so far to increase the transparency, good governance and accessibility of the EU institutions.

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Aura Lolita Chávez for Sakharov Prize 2017

Greens/EFA nominee is shortlisted

The European Parliament’s foreign affairs and development committees agreed on the shortlist for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for 2017. Aura Lolita Chávez Ixcaquic, a Guatemalan environmental and human rights defender from the Maya Quiché people, was nominated by the Greens/EFA group.

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Monsanto's Tricks

Secret science is not science - get the truth out now!

The Monsanto Papers are secret, internal documents that have now been made public thanks to over 10,000 farmers who have taken Monsanto to court, accusing the company's glyphosate weedkillers of causing them to develop a cancer called non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

© Udo Weber
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Greens/EFA Round up

Debriefing of the Strasbourg plenary week 2-6 October 2017

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included Brexit and the state of play of negotiations with the United Kingdom, the situation in Catalonia, air passenger rights and the cancellation of air flights by Ryanair, objection on endocrine disrupters and on genetically modified soyabeans, 2017 UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn, European Public Prosecutor's Office and the fight against (VAT) fraud,...

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Situation in Catalonia

Plenary speech by Jordi Solé

Catalans are European citizens and we deserve to have our fundamental rights protected and defended by the European Commission

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UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn - COP23

Plenary speech by Max Andersson

The presence of the fossil lobby at the climate conferences is a huge conflict of interest that we need to address. The fossil lobby should not be allowed to pollute climate policy.

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Amazon state aid decision proves there are tax havens within the EU

We need a systemic solution

3/4 of Amazon’s profits remained untaxed in Europe thanks to sweetheart tax deals with Luxembourg. This is what Margrete Vestager, European Commissioner for competition, announced in a press conference together with a decision requiring Luxembourg to collect €250 million in unpaid taxes from the company. Such decision must now be implemented quickly.

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Police violence in Catalonia

Plenary speech by Ska Keller

Europe can't turn a blind eye on the situation in Catalonia. Violence can never be used as a tool for solving political conflicts. Only politics can solve political conflicts.

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European Parliament demands protection for whistleblowers across Europe

Whistleblower protection

The European Parliament will call on the Commission to propose legislation to protect whistleblowers across Europe, no matter how they came across the information or which channel of reporting they use to sound the alarm, according to a report adopted today by the Legal Affairs Committee.

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Challenges faced by environmental rights defenders in the world

Sakharov Prize

Aura Lolita Chávez Ixcaquic, the Greens/EFA candidate to the European Parliament’s Sakharov prize for Freedom of Thought, is a Guatemalan environmental human rights defender.

Greens/EFA Food campaign
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Biofuel stitch-up

An article by Molly Scott-Cato, MEP

A powerful biofuel lobby is behind the recast of the Renewable Energy Directive, and MEPs are inviting them into the parliament for dinner.

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What's coming up next week in Parliament

Strasbourg Flash 2-6 October 2017

A look ahead to next week's session in the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the Greens/EFA priority issues on the agenda

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Lolita Chávez: defending human rights in Guatemala

Greens/EFA Sakharov Prize nominee

It is high time that the European Parliament and the European Union step up their efforts in support of environmental rights defenders around the world, who are on the front line of human rights violence and corporate abuse and have little, if any, support from their national authorities.

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Key Transparency Challenges in the European Union

Right to Know Day, 28th September 2017

The objective of this statement is to highlight key transparency challenges across Europe in order to provide a common basis for future campaigning to improve respect for the right of access to information, to increase citizen participation, and to ensure democratic accountability at both EU and national level.

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Monsanto Papers : proof of scientific falsification

Press conference 27 September 2017

with Michèle RIVASI, Greens/EFA MEP, Kathryn FORGIE, Attorney / Avocate, Cabinet Andrus Wagstaff and Carey GILLAM, journalist, Research Director U.S. Right to Know

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New GMOS

Press conference 27 September 2017

with Bart STAES, Greens/EFA MEP, Dr. Ricarda STEINBRECHER, molecular geneticist and developmental biologist, Daniel EVAIN, French federation of organic farmers and Franziska ACHTERBERG , Greenpeace

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European Commission should promote dialogue

Letter to Vice-President Timmermans on Catalan Referendum

The Greens/EFA group co-presidents have written to European Commission Vice-President Timmermans, calling on the Commission to seek dialogue between Spanish and Catalan authorities.

©liane-metzler
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Stop tax cheating in football

A statement by MEP Ernest Urtasun

We urge the European Commission to take action to prevent tax evasion in international transfers, image rights schemes and remuneration of agents.

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Caterpillar boycotted the hearing of Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion

Letter by MEP Sven Giegold requesting the withdrawal of their access badges

Caterpillar has to lose its entrance passes to the European Parliament for their refusal to answer questions on their tax avoidance to the public in today’s Parliamentary hearing. Shying away from the European Parliament’s public hearing on Caterpillar’s efforts in tax dumping will not keep such practises under wraps.

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Stop the rogue EU trade talks with Morocco over Western Sahara

EU Commission contravening ECJ ruling and breaching principles of international law, warn Green MEPs

By Florent Marcellesi, Bodil Valero, Barbara Lochbihler, Pascal Durand, Bart Staes and Margrete Auken, Members of the European Parliment from the Green/EFA Group

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Two years after the dieselgate scandal

Green MEPs call for action

Two years after the dieselgate scandal we are calling on the European Commission to take action and protect citizens' health!

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Greens/EFA Round up

Debriefing of the Strasbourg plenary week 11-15 September 2017

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary included: State of the Union speech by Commission President Juncker, Sven Giegold's report on Transparency, Accountability and Integrity in the EU Institutions, aviation emission trading system, arms exports, Fipronil eggs scandal, debate on migration and on Turkey, dieselgate, objection to GM soya, militarisation of development policy,

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State of the Union

Greens/EFA Co-President imagining what Juncker's speech could look like

The best way to build our future together is for the European Union to become a global leader in the transition towards just and sustainable societies.

©the-climate-reality-project
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Conservatives renew attack on civil society

The EPP group has reintroduced its anti-NGO amendments from the ‘Pieper report’

The conservative EPP group in the European Parliament has relaunched its attack on civil society.

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Stronger measures to tackle violence against women

Press release from EFA MEP Jill Evans (Wales)

The European Parliament today voted in favour of ratifying the Istanbul Convention, which is the fir...

©jakob-madsen
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Supporting renewable energy is the right political move

World Nuclear Industry Status Report 2017

"This report is indeed in my view a crucial resource for those engaged in the political debate around nuclear power. Since it began, this document has always provided invaluable facts on which to assess the promises of the nuclear industry. Despite the fact that the nuclear sector continues to claim the opposite, this latest report clearly shows that there is no such thing as a nuclear renaissance..." - Rebecca Harms

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Fighting the EU's hypocrisy on GMOs

The European Parliament will vote tomorrow on whether to allow the import of a new GM soybean into the EU

There is a terrible hypocrisy at the heart of the EU’s policy on GMOs. This is largely invisible from EU citizens, as it does not affect the labelling of food. To discover it, you‘d have to take a dive into the story of the more than 70 GM crops which are allowed to enter the EU to feed our farm animals.

European Union
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What's coming up next week in Parliament

Strasbourg Flash 11-16 September 2017

A look ahead to next week's session in the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the Greens/EFA priority issues on the agenda

@mathyas-kurmann
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Top 10 Green recommendations to improve the PANA Report

Panama Papers inquiry

We take a look at some of the key improvements the Greens/EFA group wants to see to the Panama Papers inquiry report.

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Parliament moving forward on whistleblower protection

Molly Scott Cato’s report adopted by the ECON Committee

The move to protect whistleblowers across Europe continues, thanks to the approval yesterday of a report drafted by Greens/EFA MEP Molly Scott-Cato which calls for ambitious protection of those reporting wrongdoing and illegal activities all across Europe. Emphasising that whistleblowers’ alerts are useful in various sectors, this report focuses on their role in the fight against tax avoidance, in preventing misconduct by multinationals and in ensuring the smooth functioning of the EU’s internal market.

@Kristian Auth
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International Day of the Disappeared

The fate of tens of thousands of people in Syria.

On the occasion of the "International Day of the Disappeared" (30 August) we would like to recall the fate of tens of thousands of people in Syria. Since March 2011, Syrian security forces have had countless people arbitrarily arrested, imprisoned, disappeared, and many of them killed.

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Bayer/Monsanto merger

The Commission recognises that the Bayer/Monsanto merger would be highly problematic

It is clear from the Commission judgement on the potential merger that they share our concerns, as Greens, about risks of further consolidation in the market for seeds and pesticides.