'Åland ruling'

Stop Climate Change Blog - European Court of Justice confirms the compatibility of national support schemes for renewables with the EU Treaty

Early July, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided on the Ålands Vindkraft case (C-573/12) and reaffirmed the conformity of the Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) with the EU Treaty, notably on the prerogative...

Greens/EFA Roundup

Debriefing of the Strasbourg plenary week 1-3 July 2014

Table of contents New Greens/EFA group meets in StrasbourgUlrike Lunacek elected European Parliament Vice-PresidentVoices from UkrainePlenary speeches by our Co-Presidents Outside the Plenary Open hearing for European...

EP Presidency

Democracy is about choices

  We need a real choice for the European Parliament's presidency. The President for the coming two and half years of the European Parliament's legislative term should be chosen by MEPs in an open and tran...

Up-to-date list of the MEPs for the new legislative period

Here you can find the list and names of MEPs of our group who will enter into office in July

25 years after Tiananmen

Beijing remains unaccountable

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square. The Chinese Government's policy of cover-up has however hardly changed over the years, according to  Green Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Hu...

GMO-free EU under threat

Misleading proposal from Greek Presidency agreed in Coreper

Permanent representatives of Member States agreed today on a misleading proposal from the Greek Presidency that pretends to give Member States more freedom to ban GMOs on their territory. With a very weak premise and ...

2014 EUROPEAN ELECTIONS

Results on European level and per country

You can follow online the European election night with the Greens. Video connections, press statements, projections of the composition of the new Parliament and election results will be available throughout the night

GMO (In)digest

Issue 13 of the GMO Campaign Newsletter

EU Work: New GMO video animation from the Greens/EFA group in the EP The group has created a new animated video called “You don't want GMOs in Europe? Neither do we.” that shows how important it is to vote for a GMO...

Energy Union

Greens call for EU energy policy to be based on efficiency and renewables

The current situation in Ukraine demonstrates once again the EU’s dependence on fossil fuel imports to feed its economies. As with the situation five years ago, the EU has been taken hostage by its biggest supplier, as...

LobbyCloud

Greens welcome launch of new website fostering lobbying transparency

Lobbycloud, a new website aimed at enhancing transparency of lobbying activities in the European Parliament, was presented today at the re:publica 14 internet conference in Berlin by its developer OpenDataCity. This ne...

e-fa: News Round Up

News Bulletin from the European Free Alliance Group in the European Parliament

March/April 2014 Round-Up The European Free Alliance (EFA) draws together political parties fighting for democracy and self-determination for the stateless nations and regions of Europe. European Free Alliance MEPs sit i...

Green Quiz

Take up the challenge !

Will you be able to answer key questions on ecology, food, climate, employment and youth issues? Are you more of a newbie than a real activist? Test your Green knowledge!

Greens/EFA Round-up

Debriefing of the plenary week Strasbourg 14-17 April 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg plenary included politicisation of EP administration posts and Martin Schulz; monster trucks, pollution and safety; EU airport noise rules; transparency and the lobby register; banking resolution and taxpayers' exposure; regulating investment markets and products; plastic bags; saving migrants' lives at sea; Dany Cohn-Bendit's departing speech; honey, GMOs and EU labelling; scrapping EU data retention rules; EU rules on posted workers; waste shipments and the EU's responsibility.

Food and feed law:

Learning from past mistakes to improve transparency and independence of controls

There is currently an extensive set of European rules to prevent, eliminate or reduce risk to human, animal or plants health along the food chain. To ensure that these rules are enforced by the Member States in a harmoni...

Join the Food Revolution Newsletter

Issue n°3 April 2014

IN THIS ISSUE - Revision Organic Farming Regulation: Reaction to EU organic label proposals - Food and feed law: learning from past mistakes to improve transparency and independence of controls. - Give Bees a Chance Action week: counter the industry pro-pesticide propaganda. - Caritas Europa Food Report: The EU role to end hunger by 2025 Your Guide to EU Funding: focus on the instruments for Rural and Coastal development - Every month food actors who joined the 'Join the Food Revolution' network share their story, showing the way to take back control over your plate – - Upcoming Events

Grand majority of Parliament votes in favor of a regulation on investor-state lawsuits

Greens criticize the result sharply

Investor-state dispute settlement ( ISDS ) has come into the focus of critics since the start of negotiations on a free trade agreement with the US (TTIP). ISDS means that foreign investors can sue the states hosting the...

Strasbourg Flash

Weekly preview of the Greens/EFA group - 14-18 April 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary include reports on politicisation of EP administration posts and Martin Schulz; monster trucks, pollution and safety; EU airport noise rules; transparency and the lobby register; banking resolution and taxpayers' exposure; regulating investment markets and products; plastic bags; saving migrants' lives at sea; honey, GMOs and EU labelling; scrapping EU data retention rules; Ukrainian crisis and Europe’s role; saste shipments and the EU's responsibility

Greens/EFA Round-up

Debriefing of the Brussels plenary session 2-3 April 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the Brussels plenary session included Car engine noise; EU nuclear safety rules; Europe's Magnitsky law; Emissions from aviation; Net neutrality; Clinical trials for medicines; outside the Plenary: Putin's Russia: USSR reloaded?; Bee Week 2014

Launch of the new Bee2Bees Project

Open Data for Healthy Bees

WHY DO WE CARE ABOUT BEES? • Bees play a crucial role as pollinators: a third of our foods depend on them (apples, oranges, peaches, pears, all kind of berries, cherries, broccoli, onions, nuts, almonds, etc.). • ...

Bee Week 2014

Greens/EFA actions to Give Bees a Chance!

Bees and pollinators are bio-indicators of biodiversity and food security: when they start dying in huge numbers then something is seriously wrong with the system. As part of 2014’s European Week of bees and pollina...

GMO (In)digest

Issue 12 of the GMO Campaign Newsletter

EU Work: GMO video animation from the Greens/EFA group in the EP The group has created a short (3mn55s) animated video that shows the reasons for our opposition to the cultivation of GMOs in a very plain and understa...

Revision of Organic Farming Regulation

Reaction to EU organic label proposals

Today the European Commission has published long-awaited proposals to revise EU legislation on organic farming, following a presentation to the Council yesterday. Greens firmly believe that organic agriculture is and...

Join the Food Revolution Newsletter

Issue n°2 March 2014

  GREEN INSIGHT INTO EU FOOD POLICY Seed regulation: Heading off a serious threat to biodiversity and long term food production Reports on plant breeding and the horticulture sector: the agro-chemical lobby charm...

Greens/EFA Round-up

Debriefing of the Strasbourg plenary week 10-13 March 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg plenary included the Plastic bags and the environment; Remembering Fukushima; EU seed legislation; EU financial supervision; Money laundering; Genetic resources and benefit sharing; Data protection; NSA surveillance and fundamental rights; Phasing out super greenhouse F-gases; Shale gas, fracking and environmental impact; Nanomaterials and EU labelling; EU-IMF Troika Inquiry; Ukrainian crisis and Europe's role; TTIP Beware: EU-US Trade Agreement

Brussels Agenda

Weekly preview of the Greens/EFA group - 17-21 March 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the week include preventing the spread of mega trucks, clamping down on corporate tax evasion, nuclear safety, EU communications legislation and net neutrality, posted workers, waste shipments, honey labels, bee health and GMOs, emissions from global aviation, Ukrainian crisis and the EU's response, right to water citizens' initiative, EU climate and energy policy in the balance

Martin Schulz's Twittergate

Stop the Twitter heist

The Greens/EFA group has previously highlighted its concerns about Martin Schulz continuing to remain in office as European Parliament president, whilst concurrently campaigning as the European Socialist candidate for EU...

Seed regulation

Heading off a serious threat to biodiversity and long term food production

Today, the EP voted for a resolution asking the Commission to withdraw its proposal and come back with a new one after the elections.

Report on the horticulture sector

a case study in lobbying strategies aimed at weakening EU pesticide laws

  Adopted by the Agriculture committee last January and up for approval of the whole EP, this non-legislative report is full of agro-chemical industry myths and slogans, and states that fruit and vegetables n...

Strasbourg Flash

Weekly preview of the Greens/EFA group - 10-13 March 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary include reports on plastic bags, EU seed rules, EU financial supervision, money laundering, genetic resources and benefit sharing, data protection, NSA surveillance and basic rights, greenhouse F-gases, EU climate and energy policy to 2030, shale gas, fracking and environmental impact, nanomaterials and EU labelling, the EU-IMF Troika, Ukrainian crisis and Europe's role, EU-US trade and investment negotiations, Fukushima 3rd anniversary, mass torture in Syria

Protection for Snowden

MEPs to vote on Green call to grant whistle blower protection

Edward Snowden has shown the world that our privacy is breached intentionally, repeatedly and brutally by the NSA. He is now a wanted man, for the crime of exposing the truth. The European Parliament as a whole will ...

Greens/EFA Round-up

Debriefing of the plenary week Strasbourg 24-27 February 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg plenary included the European Parliament’s inquiry into the Troika’s response to the economic crisis; the testimony from Edward Snowden; CO2 emissions from cars; aid for the most deprived; railway safety and EU rules; privacy concerns with eCall vehicle tracking; EU-Switzerland relations; youth unemployment and the youth guarantee; tobacco and public health; use of armed drones; EU judicial cooperation and basic rights; Indonesian rainforests and climate change; Ukrainian crisis and Europe's role; extreme weather and climate change.

e-fa: News Round Up

News Bulletin from the European Free Alliance Group in the European Parliament

February 2014 Round-Up The European Free Alliance (EFA) draws together political parties fighting for democracy and self-determination for the stateless nations and regions of Europe. European Free Alliance MEPs sit in a...

Plant breeding

Report outlines the worst option for increasing quality and yields

Despite the opposition of the Greens/EFA MEPs, the Agriculture Committee voted with a huge majority in favour of this report, which misguidedly promotes the potential of new breeding techniques, such as GMOs and gene sta...

Join the Food Revolution Newsletter

Issue n°1 February 2014

GREEN INSIGHT INTO EU FOOD POLICY EU rules on the labelling of meat: European Commission sent back to the drawing board Committee rejects draft seed regulation: 1st positive signal for seed diversity and food security G...

Strasbourg Flash

Weekly preview of the Greens/EFA group - 24-27 February 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary include Troika's flawed role under scrutiny, testimony from Edward Snowden to MEPs, tackling cars' climate impact, EU economic governance, aid for the most deprived, railway safety, privacy concerns with eCall vehicle tracking, EU-Switzerland relations, youth unemployment and the youth guarantee, tobacco and public health, EU judicial cooperation and basic rights, Indonesian rainforests and climate change, Ukrainian crisis and Europe's role, extreme weather and climate change

Brussels Agenda

Weekly preview of the Greens/EFA group - 17-21 February 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the week include EU rules on money market funds, posted workers, cloned animals and EU food law, money laundering, terrorism funding and the financial system, protecting migrants' lives in Mediterranean. Among Greens/EFA events : hearing on right to water - first successful EU citizens' initiative, conferences on plastic bags, on social cohesion in times of recession and on afrophobia in the EU

Committee rejects draft seed regulation

1st positive signal for seed diversity and food security

Today the Committee for Agriculture and Rural Development sent a positive signal in support of seed diversity and food security by voting in favour of a resolution calling for the rejection of the draft regulation on S...

Greens/EFA Round-up

Debriefing of the plenary week Strasbourg 3-6 February 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg plenary included fighting homophobia, smart grids and decentralised renewables, enforcing EU law, insider trading, trade dumping, EU climate and energy policy to 2030, air passenger rights and compensation, securing basic rights for seasonal workers, winding up failing banks, fatal pushback of refugees, the Ukrainian crisis and the EU’s role and the progress report on Macedonia.

Brussels Agenda

Weekly preview of the Greens/EFA group - 10-14 February 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the week include seed diversity and EU rules, preventing the spread of mega trucks, tackling airport noise, shale gas, fracking and environmental impact assessments, labelling nano-materials in food, mass surveillance scandal and the EU response, money laundering, terrorism funding and the financial system, a more coherent EU financial supervisory system, regulating shadow banking, Ukrainian crisis and the EU's role, genetically modified maize authorisation

Peace Prize for Snowden

Nomination of Edward Joseph Snowden for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize

To the attention of the Norwegian Nobel Committee: We hereby wish to nominate Mr Edward Joseph Snowden (born 21 June 1983) for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for his unique contribution to the advancement of democratic...

Bank rescue "made easy"

Right now the European Parliament and the Council are negotiating how a future bank collapse should be handled. The resulting Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM is supposed to be smooth machine for the rapid clean-up of co...

Strasbourg Flash

Weekly preview of the Greens/EFA group - 3-7 February 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary include tackling homophobia, enforcing EU law, smart grids, clamping down on insider trading, winding up failing banks, trade dumping, EU climate and energy policy to 2030, air passenger rights and compensation, basic rights for seasonal workers, Ukrainian crisis and the EU's role, refugee deaths and the role of Greece

e-fa: news round-up

News Bulletin from the European Free Alliance Group in the European Parliament

January 2014 Round-Up The European Free Alliance (EFA) draws together political parties fighting for democracy and self-determination for the stateless nations and regions of Europe. European Free Alliance MEPs sit in a ...

TTIP Washing

Commission makes mockery of Sustainability Impact Assessment of TTIP

The decision by the European Commission (EC) to contract a firm behind a report that over-states the benefits of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) for an Impact Assessment makes a mockery of the w...

Public Eye Awards 2014

Bees thank you for the massive support!

The Public Eye Awards call on people all over the world to choose the worst case of offences against the environment and human rights Once again this year, the Berne Declaration (BD) and Greenpeace presented the awards. ...

Brussels Agenda

Weekly preview of the Greens/EFA group - 27-31 January 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the week include Europe's banking sector, F-gases' climate damage, emissions trading, pollution from shipping, airline emissions, data protection and Europol. Greens/EFA events will deal with human trafficking and smuggling, seed diversity, food security and the role of industry, greening regional policy, LGBT rights

Greens/EFA Round-up

Debriefing of the plenary week Strasbourg 13-16 January 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg plenary included, carbon capture and storage, CO2 emissions from vans, plastic waste in the environment, honey labels and GMOs, public procurement, public services and innovation, Spain's new abortion law, free movement for all EU citizens, data protection and EU-US relations, EU passports for sale, Serbia and Kosovo and the EU's role, EU-ASEAN relations, new GMO authorisation, investment products and commodity speculation and the troika's flawed role under scrutiny.

Brussels Agenda

Weekly preview of the Greens/EFA group - 20-24 January 2014

Greens/EFA priorities for the week include EU climate and energy policy to 2030, shale gas, fracking and EU rules, data protection and EU-US cooperation, EU enlargement and the Balkans, tobacco rules, meat origin and clear labels, waste shipments and EU rules; genetic resources and benefit sharing, money laundering, terrorism funding and the finance system, preventing trade dumping and ensuring social and environmental standards

Carbon capture and storage technology

Not the solution to Europe’s fossil fuel addiction

Europe at heart

Film competition for filmmakers and enthusiasts

What is going on with the European project? Whereas a lot of Europeans feel at lost and in distress regarding the EU, many outsiders still see Europe as a place of refuge and longing. New hopes alternate with feelings of despair among many in the European Union. New and old cleavages between North and South are opening up. Is the project threatened? Can it reinvent itself?