Reform of the European Citizens' Initiative is a step forward

Press release from EFA MEP J-M Terricabras (ERC)

Catalan MEP Josep-Maria Terricabras (Greens/EFA) has welcomed today's vote in the European Parliament in favour of reforming the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI). The vote passed with 535 votes in favour, 90 against and 41 abstentions. Terricabras is spokesperson for the Greens/EFA gro...

ECJ ruling a victory in the fight for health, transparency and the environment

Glyphosate

The European Court of Justice has ruled that the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) must publish all studies around the cancer risks of glyphosate.

Palm oil

Quote Bas Eickhout

"The battle is not over, the proposal is under consultation for the next four weeks so we, along with civil society and the public, still have time to close these loopholes and clamp down on destructive palm oil entering the EU. Green victories never come without a fight." Bas Eickhout, Greens/EFA rapporteur on the file and leading candidate of the European Green Party in the European elections

EU bans single use plastics in an early Christmas present for the planet

Plastic

Today's agreement to ban certain single use plastics is an early Christmas present for the planet and our future on it. With every plastic bottle that washes up on a beach and each bird that chokes to death on our plastic waste, the need to act on plastic pollution is ever more pertinent.

EU-wide class action law suits will hold companies to account

Consumer rights

Today, the majority of the members of the Legal Affairs Committee today voted in favour of greater consumer protection and for the possibility of EU-wide class action law suits. Representative entities, such as consumer organisations, will be able to bring collective redress before the courts if infringements affect people in several EU countries.

Greens/EFA demand debate on medical devices

Implant files

The "Implant Files", a cross-border investigation by journalists into how medical devices on the EU market, such as pacemakers, artificial hips and contraceptives, which may have caused pain, injury or even death among patients, must be debated by the European Parliament, according to the Greens/EFA group.

More compensation and greener commuting for rail passengers

Passenger rights

MEPs voted for rail passengers throughout the EU to have a greater entitlement to compensation without the loophole of force majeure, for full rights even when travelling with several railway providers, and to be able to take bicycles on the train.

Pesticides found in hair samples

We tested people's hair and the majority of participants from 6 EU countries had pesticides in it! Share to tell the EU that pesticides don't belong in our bodies and we need to be stricter on pesticide rules!

Our hair, testimony of our overall exposure to pesticide residues

Pesticides

Environmentalists in the European Parliament are launching a campaign on pesticide contamination. They used an independent institute that performed capillary tests for 30 pesticides reported as endocrine disruptors. Results: The laboratory detected one or more of these 30 pesticides for two thirds of the samples.

Pesticides found in hair samples

Pesticides are ubiquitous in our environment and food

The Greens/EFA set up a campaign to measure human exposure for a selection of 30 pesticides, reported as endocrine disruptors, among the EU population. The analyses detects toxic pesticides such as fipronil but also chlorpyrifos. Read more

Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 22-26 October 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included COP 24 – Climate; COP 14 - Convention on Biological Diversity; Reducing plastic pollution; The use of Facebook users’ data by Cambridge Analytica and the impact on data; Charging of heavy goods vehicles; Use of antibiotics in farming; Drinking water directive and open letter; Decision on Sakharov Prize winner 2018; Future of Europe debate with Klaus Iohannis, Romanian President; Debate on EU-wide breaches of REACH chemicals regulation; Killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Drinking Water Directive

Quote from Benedek Jávor MEP

Members of the European Parliament have just voted on the Drinking Water Directive, after 1.68 million citizens called on the EU to recognise access to safe water as a basic human right in the first-ever successful European Citizens Initiative.