Press Releases | Greens/EFA

For a Europe that protects human dignity — ECRE / R. Carvalho

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Commission plans will not prevent another Moria disaster

Migration Pact

The Commission's Pact won't stop another Moria, despite promises to the European Parliament last week. The EU must end the systematic suffering at its borders but this plan doesn't do that. EU Member States need to share responsibility for asylum through relocation and show solidarity with both refugees and border countries.

Toxicwaste ©Dianne Maire

Time to do away with recycling toxic waste

Recycling

"Dirty recycling must be stopped and toxic substances should be put on a black list," says Davor Škrlec, member of the Greens/EFA group.

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Budapest - Hungary © Jaap Hart — © Jaap Hart

EFA President welcomes EP vote on Hungary

Press release by EFA MEP J-M Terricabras (Catalonia)

Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya MEP and President of the EFA Group in the European Parliament, Josep-Maria Terricabras, has strongly welcomed the European Parliament's decision to recommend to the Member States to apply article 7 of the Treaty on European Union, because it believes that there ...

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Internet http

EU copyright reform needs more work

Press release from EFA MEPs Ian Hudghton & Alyn Smith (Scotland)

The European parliament today, by 438 votes to 226 against with 39 abstentions, voted to approve the negotiating mandate for the next stage of complex negotiations over the reform of Copyright in the digital Single Market. MEPs Ian Hudghton and Alyn Smith, supported a workable compromise betwe...

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Vote Sargentini report on Hungary

European Parliament votes to defend the rule of law in Hungary in historic vote

Hungary

In an unprecedented move, Members of the European Parliament have voted in favour of starting procedures against the Hungarian government for breaching European values on the rule of law. The resolution by Greens/EFA rapporteur Judith Sargentini was supported by over two-thirds of MEPS.

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Copyright sign © alengo Copyright sign — © alengo

Parliament approves upload filter with cosmetic changes

Copyright reform

The majority of MEPs are satisfied with cosmetic changes and have ignored the loud protests from across science and civil society. Upload filters endanger a free internet.

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Catalonia Protest — Sasha Popovic (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

#SOTEU – Catalonia – 'Europe needs to be part of the solution'

Press release from EFA MEP Jordi Solé (Catalonia)

EFA MEP Jordi Solé (Catalonia) has invited European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to visit the nine political prisoners currently being held in Catalan jails, including two former MEPs. Solé was speaking in the keynote debate on the State of the Union in the European Parl...

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European flag 530x390 — © Alexander Briel

We have power when we stand together

State of the European Union

If Europe loses its democracy it will lose itself. Europe has promised democracy, the rule of law and civil liberties to all its citizens. It is dangerous for Europe that political leaders such as Viktor Orbán in Hungary are now increasingly undermining this promise

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Victory for language equality in the European Parliament

Press release from EFA MEP Jill Evans (Wales)

The European Parliament has overwhelmingly endorsed a report by Plaid Cymru MEP Jill Evans which calls for action at the EU level to bridge the digital language divide. The report looks at the use of languages in digital technology and makes a number of recommendations for action by the European ...

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hungary grunge flag by syndikata np-d5n3fbs

Vote on rule of law in Hungary

Quote from Ska Keller

The vote on Hungary is a decisive moment for every political group and each individual Member of Parliament. We must not leave the playing field open to right-wing nationalists

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Killer robot — Picture credit Pavel Korr - Istock

European Parliament to call for a ban on killer robots

Killer Robots

"Autonomous weapons systems must be banned internationally, the power to decide over life and death should never be taken out of human hands and given to machines," says Bodil Valero MEP, security policy spokesperson for the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament.

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Social rights and protection ©andrea laurita — ©andrea laurita

We need a social Union

Debate on the Future of the European Union with Greek Prime Minister

In Greece, Europe broke one of its fundamental promises, to bring prosperity to its citizens. Instead it brought poverty. Europe didn’t find a solution based on solidarity and solidity. Our lesson from this needs to be that we finally create a social union. So far we have only vague declarations on how nice social policies would be, but that’s not enough

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Ambitious targets for clean cars

CO2 Regulation

Members of the European Parliament demand clear and ambitious targets for cleaner cars, according to the Environment Committee which has just voted on the European Commission's proposal for European CO2 regulation for cars and light commercial vehicles.

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veolia money drain

Czech PM Andrej Babiš and potential conflict of interest

Quote from Philippe Lamberts

On the news that Transparency International Czech Republic has complained to the European Commission about potential conflict of interest surrounding Czech PM Andrej Babiš and his personal business dealings, Philippe Lamberts President of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament comments.

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EP-Strasbourg-hemicycle

European Elections - Manfred Weber to run for Commission President

Quote from Ska Keller

On the news that Manfred Weber will run for President of the European Commission, Ska Keller, President of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament comments.

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Brexit

Scotland legislates to include EU nationals post-Brexit

Press release from EFA MEP Alyn Smith (Scotland)

Scotland's government has announced that it will bring forward legislation to ensure that all EU nationals resident in Scotland maintain their Scottish voting rights in the event that Brexit takes place. The measure, announced as part of the Programme for Government, builds on the existing po...

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riot police © Brandon Laufenberg

Romania: Police violence against peaceful protestors

Quote from Greens/EFA Co-Presidents Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts

Greens/EFA Co-Presidents Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts comment regarding the recent events in Romania.

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Crops Sprayed — CC Chafer Machinery

A victory for food safety and the environment: ECJ ruling on new GMOs

GMOs

Today, the European Court of Justice ruled that organisms obtained by mutagenesis, otherwise known as "new breeding techniques" by the biotech industry, are in fact Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), and are subject to the 2001 EU GMO Directive and all its obligations. Despite heavy lobbying by the industry looking for ways to circumvent the GMO Directive, the Court's ruling is a victory for European food safety and the environment.

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Shipping containers stacked on a ship leaving San Francisco Bay — PD

An agreement that perpetuates mistakes

EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (JEFTA)

Tomorrow (17/07/2018), the EU and Japan will sign the biggest bilateral trade deal in history, covering almost one third of global GDP with implications for over 600 million people. Once ratified, JEFTA will be incredibly difficult to amend.

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nuclear

Quote from Benedek Javor MEP

ECJ ruling on Hinkley Point

On Thursday (12 July) we expect the European Court of Justice to rule on lawsuits against the financing of the construction of the new Hinkley Point nuclear power plant in the UK.

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Fair trade not trump trade — OG Picture: Gage Skidmore (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Strengthen Europe as a civil power

NATO summit

"NATO cannot be about satisfying Donald Trump. We can only rely on the American President to a very limited extent. The European Union must make its own contribution to security and stability," said Reinhard Bütikofer MEP.

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Black silhouettes lobby business institutions — Black silhouettes lobby business © nico_blue

MEPs' outside activities show it's time to overhaul Parliament's ethics rules

Side jobs

A report by Transparency International EU on the outside activities of MEPs shows that up to 104 MEPs have earned more than €100,000 each over the last four years on top of their salaries as full-time MEPs.

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53531.telecom package internet control — © Benoit Beauregard

Free internet still possible as European Parliament votes for more scrutiny over copyright bill

Copyright reform

Today, the European Parliament decided by to have greater scrutiny over a law that severely threatens how people participate and express themselves online. The European Commission's proposed directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market would see the introduction of a link tax and automatic upload filters and will likely stop people from posting photos, videos and sharing links to news articles as they do today.

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Voting box — © Colonel

EFA MEPs criticize changes to European electoral law

Statement from EFA MEPs J-M Terricabras & Jordi Solé (Catalonia)

MEPs from the European Free Alliance (EFA) Group in the European Parliament, which represents Europe's stateless nations, regions and minorities, have expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of today's vote to reform European electoral law. They are concerned that the changes run contr...

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21962.cooperate and undertake 01 — © Trista Weibell

We need a Europe of solidarity and humanity

Press release from EFA MEP Jordi Solé

Commenting after the address to the European Parliament of Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on the future of Europe, Catalan MEP Jordi Solé (Greens/EFA) was critical of the Polish PM's narrow vision of a Europe of nation states. Instead Solé called for a 'Europe of s...

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fence — © paule858

Racism and hatred towards minorities must not become socially acceptable

Italy

The announcement by the new Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini to have a register of Sinti and Roma people will be debated today by Members of the European Parliament at the initiative of the Greens/EFA Group.

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Road Transport — Rolf van Melis | CC

Transport committee told to try again after MEPs reject mobility package

Workers’ rights

The fight for the rights of lorry and bus drivers is still alive, after the European Parliament rejected a set of legislative proposals on driving and rest times, posting of workers, and cabotage.

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Democracy©-Tobias-Keckel — ©-Tobias-Keckel

Electoral thresholds will damage the diversity of our parliament

EU electoral law

The European Parliament has today given consent to the reforms to the electoral law of the European Union. The reforms introduce an obligatory threshold of 2 to 5 % for constituencies with more than 35 seats (impacting only Spain and Germany).

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Situation in Poland

Polish government leads country away from democracy and civil rights

Poland/Future of Europe debate

Ska Keller, President of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, comments on the Future of Europe debate with the Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

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Welcome Tilly Metz and Romeo Franz

New members of the Greens/EFA Group

Tilly Metz follows Claude Turmes who moved to Luxembourg as State Secretary for Sustainable Development and Infrastructure yesterday (Monday, 2 July). Romeo Franz succeeds Jan Philipp Albrecht, who will be sworn in as Minister for the Environment, Agriculture, the Energy Revolution and Digitisation in Schleswig-Holstein on 31 August.

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Open Arms – 'Saving Life is not a Crime' – MEP Ana Miranda

Press release from EFA MEP Ana Miranda (Galicia)

Greens/EFA MEP Ana Miranda, who is on board the ship Astral operated by NGO Open Arms, has called for action at EU level to prevent the criminalisation of NGOs engaged in search and rescue work in the Mediterranean. The ship which assisted in the rescue of 59 people from the Mediterranean sea ove...

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Austria presidency 2018 — Steindy (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Kurz is fuelling European division

Austrian Presidency

The Presidents of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts, comment on the start of the Austrian EU Presidency.

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Poland: European Commission begins infringement proceedings

Quote from Ska Keller

On the announcement that the European Commission will begin infringement proceedings against Poland, Ska Keller, Co-President of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, comments.

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Tax avoidance

Austria

Open for shady money

Tax loopholes, the sale of passports to dubious figures and inaction against money laundering makes Austria a safe haven for tax evaders, kleptocrats and corrupt cash according to a new report from the Greens/EFA group. The study "Austria - (still) open for shady money" released at the beginning of the Austrian Presidency of the EU shows that while Austria has made some progress on issues of financial secrecy in recent years, the country remains an attractive destination for dirty money.

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Migrants — Migrants © Samuel Aranda

European summit conclusions

Quote from Ska Keller, Greens/EFA Co-President

This summit buries the right to asylum in Europe. In future, refugees will de facto no longer have the possibility for asylum on European soil. The heads of state and government follow the right-wing nationalist agenda.

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European flag 530x390 — © Alexander Briel

Green light for new flagship programme

European Solidarity Corps

The Greens/EFA group has welcomed a breakthrough in the negotiations over the EU’s flagship solidarity programme, European Solidarity Corps. The Council had originally refused to provide fresh funds to make the programme viable in the current budget period. However, after consistent pressure from the European Parliament, the Council finally backed down and agreed to provide more than €75m in additional money to fund this new flagship programme.

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Hungary

European Parliament calls on the EU to take a stand against Viktor Orban's assault on democracy

Hungary

The European Parliament has backed a report from Greens/EFA MEP Judith Sargentini for EU Member States to trigger Article 7 sanctions procedures against Hungary. Since Prime Minister Viktor Orban's re-election in April the Hungarian government has continued its authoritarian crack down on civil society, academia and freedom of speech. Last week the Hungarian government passed the "Stop Soros" package of laws which aim to single out NGOs working on migration in the country and will make it almost impossible for organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to continue their operations in Hungary.

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Refugee Camp Lebanon — Worldbank (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Results must not be dictated by Orbán and Seehofer

EU (mini) summit

In the run-up to next week's EU summit and the planned mini-refugee summit on migration this weekend, Green/EFA Group Co-Presidents Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts comment.

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tajani© European People's Party — © European People's Party

Cross-party letter to President Tajani

Discrimination in Europe

The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, upon the initiative of Marco Affronte and Philippe Lamberts, has organised a cross-party letter to the President of the European Parliament, calling on him to speak out against the recent racist and discriminatory remarks of some European political leaders.

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Voting box — © Colonel

Quote from Josep Maria Terricabras

European Citizens' Initiative reform

The European Parliament's Constitutional Affairs committee has today voted on the reform of the European Citizens' Initiative, with the majority blocking all meaningful improvements.

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Tax avoidance

Quote from Molly Scott Cato

Luxembourg/Engie ruling

Greens/EFA tax and competition spokesperson Molly Scott Cato comments on the European Commission's decision that Luxembourg gave illegal tax benefits to Engie.

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Copyright sign © alengo Copyright sign — © alengo

"Link tax" and upload filters will cause huge damage to free internet

Copyright reform

The European Parliament's Legal Affairs committee voted to largely approve the Commission's proposed directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market. The Greens/EFA group voted against, citing concerns that the proposals will restrict how internet users can participate online.

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electricity©fre-sonneveld — ©fre-sonneveld

Paris Agreement now enshrined in EU law

Energy Governance

A final text on a European framework law on climate and energy (energy governance) was adopted in trilogue on Tuesday, 19 June. This Regulation is the transposition at European level of the Paris Agreement resulting from COP21.

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energy-rodamap

Europe is taking a step in the right direction

Energy efficiency directive

The Greens/EFA group has welcomed the increase in energy efficiency targets in the EU, but warned that they still fall short of delivering on the Paris climate agreement.

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Lampedusa refugees — UNHCR (CC BY-NC 2.0)

A European solution is not automatically a good one

Merkel/Macron

Greens/EFA co-presidents Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts comment on the outcomes of the meeting between President Macron and Chancellor Merkel.

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Digital-world-©-Nicholas-Monu

Bridging the digital language divide

Press release from EFA MEP Jill Evans (Plaid Cymru)

Greens/EFA MEP Jill Evans (Plaid Cymru) hopes her new report 'Language Equality in the Digital Age' will make an important contribution to bridging the digital language divide. This could lead to Siri speaking Welsh, or Alexa speaking Lithuanian, whilst making it easier for sign language ...

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©Nuno Nogueira

European Commission cannot have carte blanche on foreign affairs priorities

EU foreign policy

The Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament has today expressed strong concerns about the European Commission's proposals to bundle multiple peace-building, defence and security policies under one budget line.

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Workers — @Kristian Auth

Posted workers/transport: weak mandate must be renegotiated

Quote from Terry Reintke

A majority of MEPs have just rejected the negotiating mandate for posted workers in the road transport sector. MEPs voted to overturn the decision made in the Transport Committee, where Social Democrats, Liberals and Conservatives voted against social rights such as minimum wages, adequate rest periods, local collective agreements and legally secure entitlement to allowances for travel, accommodation and food.

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renewables©andrea-boldizsar — ©andrea-boldizsar

Modest success on targets but key decisions pushed back to 2023

Renewable Energy

The European Parliament, Commission and Council came to agreement on the revision to the Renewables Directive late last night.

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Cross-party leaders calls on Commission to take immediate action on Polish judicial reforms

Poland

The Greens/EFA group has organised a cross-party letter calling on the European Commission to take immediate steps to put the brakes on Polish judicial reforms.

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Migrants — Migrants © Samuel Aranda

Refugees in the Mediterranean – MEPs call for solidarity

Press release from EFA MEPs Jordi Solé & J-M Terricabras (Catalonia)

MEPs today held an emergency debate on humanitarian emergencies in the Mediterranean and the need for solidarity. This follows the Italian and Maltese governments' refusal to allow the refugee rescue ship MV Aquarius access to their ports in order to land the 629 people on board. Speaking ...

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