What's coming up in Parliament

Strasbourg Flash - plenary session 22-25 October 2018

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

Allergy risks not properly assessed for a recently authorised GM maize, says EU expert

Shortcuts in EFSA’s evaluation undermines their conclusions

As the European Parliament is set to vote on an objection against a new genetically modified maize comporting several genetic modifications, concerns arises from experts on the quality of the assessment of these so-called "stacked events" GMOs. Dr Jean-Michel Wal, who was until recently the panel’s allergy expert, officially expressed his doubts twice already, with growing alarm.

New GM ‘eradication’ techniques pose grave threat to ecosystems

Why we need an international moratorium on so-called “gene drive”

The European Parliament will vote next week on a call for an international moratorium on a new biotechnology called ‘gene drive’ that has the potential to eradicate entire populations. Supported by more than 200 global food leaders and NGOs, this moratorium is opposed by many private interests.

Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 1-5 October 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included the rule of law in Romania, the CO2-regulation for cars and vans, the money laundering, the UN binding treaty on business and human rights, the Future of Europe debate with Prime Minister of Estonia

Plea for continued support for Palestinian refugees

EFA MEP Jordi Solé defends importance of UNRWA

Greens/EFA MEP Jordi Solé has praised the work done by UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine) in support of Palestinian refugees. Solé was speaking in a European Parliament debate in response t...

What's coming up in Parliament

Strasbourg Flash - plenary session 01-04 October 2018

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

Danske Bank money laundering scandal will be investigated by European supervisor following Greens’ request

Good news! The European Commission has asked the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European “policeman” of banks, to investigate whether Danish and Estonian authorities did not respect EU law in the Danske Bank’s money laundering scandal.

Court Decision against Journalists seeking Transparency of MEP spending shows need for urgent reform

This disappointing decision from the European Court of Justice was in some ways inevitable due to the fact that the European Parliament’s accounting systems are outdated and not done in a way that foresees public scrutiny of how the various Parliamentary Allowances are spent.

Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 10-14 September 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included: The Future of Europe debate with Prime Minister of Greece; Autonomous weapon systems; The rule of law in Hungary; Language Equality in the Digital Age; State of the European Union; Digital copyright; Dual quality of products; Greens/EFA MEPs take EFSA to court over Monsanto studies on glyphosate; European CO2-regulation for cars and vans.

Greens/EFA MEPs to face Monsanto, Cheminova and the EU Food Safety Authority in Court

Glyphosate transparency

A public hearing will be held before the European Court of Justice in a case brought by 4 Greens/EFA MEPs against the EU Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for its refusal to provide the public with access to crucial studies regarding the impacts of glyphosate on human health.

What's coming up in Parliament

Strasbourg Flash - plenary session 10-13 September 2018

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

Rescue and push-back of 108 migrants to Libya

Letters to Juncker, Tajani and Tusk

We are concerned about the direct push-back of over 100 migrants rescued by the Italian vessel Asso Ventotto and immediately returned to Libya. These push-backs are illegal and have to stop. The EU needs a strategy on mi...

Gene editing techniques are GMOs says EU Court of Justice

Time to put them aside and finally invest in true innovation

On Wednesday 25 July, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) published its very awaited ruling on the legal statute of modern mutagenesis, including some of the techniques known as “new breeding techniques”. This ruling confirms what civil society and the Greens/EFA have been claiming from the beginning: these are not “breeding techniques” but GMOs, and they should be treated as such. Now is definitely the time to finally invest on real innovation for our food system!

Challenging Dieselgate Secrecy

Official complaint to EU Ombudsman on lack of transparency

Bas Eickhout has submitted an official complaint to the European Ombudsman to challenge the secrecy of the Commission and Council around the Dieselgate scandal which has been hitting headlines across Europe since 2015. The Dieselgate revelations were a scandal on many different fronts, affecting consumer rights, public health, environmental protection, public confidence in regulators and oversight bodies and also the share price of many car companies.

Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 2-6 July 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included: Austrian presidency of the EU, debate on the Future of Europe with the Polish Prime Minister, declaration of Italy's Interior Minister on Sinti and Roma, reform of the electoral law of the European Union, transport workers need dignified work conditions, digital copyright, European Citizens' Initiative

Hands off minority schools!

EFA MEP Miroslavs Mitrofanovs on minority education

'Hands off Russian minority schools in Latvia!' This was the slogan of a demonstration held outside the European Parliament building in Strasbourg on Wednesday 4 July, to highlight the threat to the system of ...

HDP and democracy in Turkey

Statement from EFA MEP Jordi Solé (Catalonia)

EFA MEP Jordi Solé, a member of the European Parliament's Turkey delegation, has praised the performance of the pro-minority HDP party in Turkey's recent presidential and parliamentary elections. The pa...

Save Your Internet!

Copyright Directive

Unfortunately, the internet as we know and love it is under threat. The European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs voted on 20th June in favour of the European Commission’s proposed Copyright Directive, which will tighten copyright laws and restrict our freedoms, In particular two amendments are the most dangerous.

New GMOs are not progress, but yet another tool of industrial farming

Our food system needs real innovation

Very soon, the EU Court of Justice (ECJ) will publish its ruling concerning the legal statute of a group of biotech. After the ruling, tense negotiations will set the future of the current European GMO regulation. As always, citizens and lawmakers will face the full force of the industry lobbies. Whatever happens these new GMOs will not bring any progress to our food and farming system: innovation is somewhere else.

We need a European solidarity based coalition

Merkel/Macron

Greens/EFA co-presidents Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts comment on the outcomes of the meeting between President Macron and Chancellor Merkel:  "It is good that President Macron and Chancellor Merkel agree on the need for a European solution to the challenge of migration and asylum. But a European solution is not automatically the right one. We need a solution based on solidarity and human rights.

The battle for a more democratic Europe heats up as we push for meaningful reform of the European Citizen’s Initiative

Despite the concerns raised by more than 60 NGOs as part of the #EPforgetusnot campaign, tomorrow’s vote on the reform of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) looks like it will fail to address the democratic aspirations of the 9,000,000,000 citizens who already signed an ECI in the hopes of having their voices heard by the European Commission. Read and take action

Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 11-14 June 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included: Multiannual Financial Framework; Brexit; Iran nuclear deal; Netherlands PM Mark Rutte on the Future of Europe; Poland: independence of the judiciary; Renewable Energy Directive; Circular economy at the heart of cohesion policy; Tax justice: transparency of big companies; FIFA: Play Fair – Fight for the forgotten; Climate change photo exhibition.

FIFA: play fair, fight for the forgotten!

Sign our petition now!

While Russian stadiums will be filled with football fans, more than 150 political prisoners fill prisons all over Russia. FIFA cannot stay silent. We urge the FIFA leadership to engage personally with President Putin and Russian officials to raise this topic and make sure that the fate of these prisoners is not ignored or forgotten.

What's coming up in Parliament

Strasbourg Flash - Plenary session 11-14 June 2018

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

Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 28-31 May 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included: Commission proposals on plastics, sustainable finance, sustainable fishing, Multiannual Financial Framework and cohesion policy, trade dispute on steel and aluminium tariffs, debate with Luxemburgish Prime Minister, posting of workers, reform of the CAP, objections to the authorisation of two GMOs

GMO imported crops continue to enter the EU while the flawed authorisation process undergoes reform

2 objections to GMOs were voted today

Little by little, the European Parliament is trying to install more democracy and transparency into the EU decision processes. by reforming the way the EU approves GMOs, active substances contained in pesticides or any product or substance susceptible of having an impact on human health or the environment. But while the discussions are under way, GMOs continue to enter the EU market.

What's coming up in Parliament

Strasbourg Flash - Plenary session 28-31 May 2018

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

Hey Mark, let's talk!

Mark Zuckerberg is coming to the European Parliament to talk about the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal

Thanks to our initiative, the meeting with Mark Zuckerberg in the European Parliament will be livestreamed. Europeans deserve to have answers about this data scandal! Follow our page for live updates on Tuesday.

A Success for Citizens and Businesses – The New Data Protection Rules

GDPR

It took lawmakers in the European Union more than five years to design a new regulation on data protection, the so-called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). At last, it becomes active on 25th May 2018. With the GDPR, data protection has been modernised for the ever-changing 21st century. It will give citizens control over their own information, and smaller businesses will have an advantage over big international ones. This is cause for celebration on 25th May, and we look at why this is a win for Greens and the public.

World Bee Day

Some tips to help bees every day

1) Replace pesticides Give up chemicals and insect poisons in your home and garden.  Replace these products with more environmentally and bee-friendly alternatives. Natural repellents (e.g. planting mint aroun...

Democracy is dead if we don’t have a free press

World Press Freedom Day

A gloomy prospect indeed. But it is hard to be optimistic when, in the year that has passed since the last World Press Freedom Day, two journalists have been brutally murdered. In the EU.

The situation of EU sugar beet farmers made worse by a GM sugar beet from Monsanto

EU farmers need a true shift to agroecology

European sugar beet producers have been suffering in recent years from a succession of transformations of the sector and low market prices. Some Member States have been using the farmers’ difficult situation as an excuse to lift the EU ban on tbee-toxic pesticides but are yet willing to let imported GM sugar beet flood the EU market.

Report on revolving doors in the fossil fuel industry reveals widespread potential for conflicts of interest to undermine climate policy

Conflicts of interest in climate policy

A report published today by the Greens/EFA Group on revolving doors between the public sector and the fossil fuel industry in Europe concludes that there is a widespread problem when it comes to the potential for conflicts of interest to dominate climate policy-making.

How to deal with fake news

Supporting good journalism is the only solution to fake news that prevents despots from curbing freedom of expression

As the European Commission unveils its plans to tackle the “fake news” phenomenon, the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament has a different perspective on how to deal with “fake news” in a manner that avoids giving questionable powers to governments to regulate what is true and what is false.

Democratic decisions cannot be taken in the dark

Reforming “Comitology”

Last year, the renewal of the license to sell glyphosate, the herbicide, in the EU left the wider public frustrated and angry. The Greens/EFA are pushing for more transparency, more democracy and fewer dangerous products on the EU market - to achieve this we have to change the flawed decision-making process that in the EU jargon is called “comitology”.

Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 16-19 April 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included: Future of Europe - debate with President Macron; Selmayr: Commission ethics in question – Discharge of Commission 2016 budget; Money Laundering - New legislation will deliver real benefits for citizens; Organics - Parliament seals the deal on new legislation; Greenhouse gas emissions; The Circular Economy; Energy performance of buildings; Facebook & Cambridge Analytica - Parliament response to scandal; Protection of journalists - resolution following recent murders; Dieselgate - new legislation on type-approval and market surveillance.

We need more transparency and accountability for MEP spending

Every year, almost 40 million euros is spent by MEPs without any accountability, oversight or control. This General Expenditure Allowance (GEA) adds up to almost 200 million euros in one Parliamentary term.   Ever...

Towards an ambitious and ecological re-localisation of protein crops in the EU

It is no news that one of the main problem of the EU farming system is the huge insufficiency of locally grown protein crops. Only 3% of arable lands are dedicated to protein crops in the EU and we import 75% of our vegetable protein supply - soya for the most part, mainly from Brazil, Argentina and the United States. The consequences of this situation go far deeper than a simple trade question. Is the report just voted by the European parliament answering these concerns?

Time for the EU to protect whistleblowers

What the EU legislation on whistleblower protection should look like

The need to protect whistleblowers is increasingly recognised at both European and national level. In a recent public consultation done by the European Commission, an overwhelming majority of 96% of respondents agreed that we need legally binding minimum standards on whistleblower protection across the EU.

Meat, animal feed and the EU's unbearable hypocrisy on GMOs

How GMOs enter the EU unnoticed

NGO Mighty Earth just published a powerful report on the dire consequences of the current EU meat, milk and eggs production system on those countries, especially in Latin America, which produce the feed for farm animals. deforestation, pollution, cancers, are the direct cause of EU’s letting genetically modified protein crops in for feeding our farm animals.

Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 12-16 March 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included: Commission ethics and appointment of the Secretary-General Selmayr, glyphosate saga and first meeting for PEST committee; Brexit and guidelines on the framework of future EU-UK relations, new special committee on taxation, protection of investigative journalists in Europe, EU Multiannual Financial Framework and own resources, Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base

Debating the future of EU-UK relations after Brexit

EFA MEPs Jill Evans & Alyn Smith in key debate

EFA MEPs Alyn Smith (SNP - Scotland) and Jill Evans (Plaid Cymru - Wales), took part in today's European Parliament debate on the future of EU - UK relations after Brexit, with Commission President Jean-Claude Juncke...

What's coming up in Parliament

Strasbourg Flash - Plenary session 12-15 March 2018

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

1000 solutions to solve climate change

An inspiring speech by Bertrand Piccard

During the European Ideas Lab organised by the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament and the European Green Party presented '#1000solutions' initiative for clean, efficient and profitable solutions that can be implemented by lawmakers around the world.

Protection of fundamental rights in the EU

European Parliament calls for more ambition

The Greens/EFA group have fought hard to improve the report’s sections on asylum, migration, economic and social rights, non-discrimination, the fight against terrorism, hate speech, gender-based violence, minority and linguistic rights, and Roma and LGBTI rights. These were either largely ignored or absent from the original text and several amendments on these issues were tabled by our group.

Save the bees

Have your say by answering the consultation

The European Commission is collecting ideas and views on the decline of bees in order to develop an EU initiative on pollinators. This is the chance to play your part! Answer the consultation to save the bees!

Coal Regions in Transition

Speech by Florent Marcellesi at the high-level conference "Coal Regions in Transition Platform: High-Level Dialogue on financing and investments" - Brussels, 27 February 2018.

"In order to talk about financing in the coal transition, I’d like to remind that to achieve a real, just and efficient phase out of coal, we need much more ingredients than money"

Five reasons not to allow the Bayer - Monsanto merger

Why the Commission should stop this "merger from hell"

In September 2016 Bayer and Monsanto announced their intention to merge. If authorised by the European Commission, this would create, in the Commission’s own words, “the world's largest integrated pesticides and seeds company”, and have devastating consequences. Join us in calling on Margrete Vestager, Commissioner for Competition, to stop this “merger from hell”!

Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 5-8 February 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included: Emissions Trading System; Glyphosate: authorisation process for pesticides; Geoblocking; Visit of Croatian Prime Minister; Zero tolerance for female genital mutilation; Transnational lists for European elections; International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) address to Parliament; Rule of law in Romania; Special committee on tax.

Transnational lists for the European elections

Questions & answers

Although the EU Treaties stipulate that "the Parliament is composed of representatives of the citizens of the Union" (i.e. that MEPs represent all EU citizens, not just those of their Member State), European elections are held at national level. Transnational lists would create a common constituency, made up of the entire European Union. This would sit alongside the existing constituencies of Member States.