European Union

The Transparency Standards of the GREENS/EFA Group

The Greens/EFA Group is committed to lobbying transparency and to the equal access of stakeholders to the decision-making process. For this reason, over the years, the Group has put in place different tools to guarantee transparency of our activities and public money spent.

Political groups have been formed

How the new European Parliament looks like

Made up of Green, European Free Alliance, Pirate, independent, ecological and animal welfare MEPs, the GREENS/EFA group counts with 75 Members from 16 countries and 5 regions. It is the fourth group in the European Parliament.

Eurozone budget: small steps will not address flaws of the Euro

Quote from Sven Giegold MEP

The Eurogroup of Eurozone Finance Ministers has agreed on general principles for reforms of the common currency, including on a Eurozone budget as well as a reform of the European Stability Mechanism Treaty.

Greens/EFA group positions elected

New Greens/EFA Bureau

We are pleased to announce that the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament has elected its new bureau, consisting of 9 MEPs, with Ska Keller and Philippe Lamberts continuing as co-presidents.

SNP MEP elected President of EFA Group in the European Parliament

Alyn Smith succeeds Josep-Maria Terricabras

Alyn Smith MEP has today been elected President of the European Free Alliance (EFA) Group in the European Parliament. He succeeds Catalan MEP Josep-Maria Terricabras who stood down at the recent European election. An MEP for the Scottish National Party (SNP) since 2004, Alyn was recently re-el...

Leaders of four main political groups agree on political process

European Parliament/Commission Presidency

As leaders of four political groups of the European Parliament – EPP, S&D, ALDE and Greens/EFA – we met today for the second time since the European Parliament elections.

Greens/EFA demand action from Tusk & Juncker on Czech PM Babiš' conflict of interest

The Greens/EFA group has sent two separate letters to the European Commission and Council demanding they take immediate action on the conflict of interest surrounding Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. Leaked copies of the Commission's audit into the conflict surrounding Babiš' business Agrofert, which received EU subsidies, shows that large sums of EU and Czech money are distributed to Agrofert and will need to be repaid.

Unprecented success for Greens/EFA

Provisional results of the European elections

With currently 74 Members, the GREENS/EFA group achieves its highest representation ever and will be the fourth biggest group in the European Parliament. The Green Wave has swept across Europe and newly elected progressive MEPs are joining our Group

Defending Fundamental Rights and the Rule of Law Requires Political Will...and Courage

GreensEFA Group proposals sent to the European Commission

While the Hungarian Prime Minister gags the press, undermines freedoms, and kicks ‘progressively-minded’ universities out of the country; the Polish government attacks the independence of Constitutional judges or violates the rights of women; the Romanian government attempts to decriminalise corruption offences and while murders of journalists in Malta and Slovakia send shockwaves across Europe, people are looking towards the EU for help, but so far, not enough has been done.

EU Safety Authority decides not to appeal landmark transparency judgement, cementing GreensEFA victory in favour of the environment, public health and the right to know

It’s official. After years of legal battles with the EU Food Safety Authority against their decision to keep essential documents hidden from the public, victory is ours. By ‘ours’, we are referring to the public’s health, the people’s right to know, and the human right to live in a safe and thriving environment.

Thirty six objections and counting

Why the European Parliament opposes new EU GMO authorisations in vain

Thirty six. That is the number of objections that the European Parliament has voted through, against the draft authorisations of genetically modified plants in the EU put forward by the European Commission (the most recent objections against a GM soy and a GM maize). In 24 of these cases, the European Commission has happily ignored both the indecision of Member states (and hence the lack of a clear political majority) and the European Parliament’s clear disagreement and went ahead to authorize the GM plants anyway. Nine additional authorisations are expected in the coming weeks.

How did the car industry manage to undermine EU pollution limits?

The dangers of technocratic decision-making on public health and the environment

Despite an EU law limiting the amount of pollution that cars could emit, the car industry - together with complicit EU governments - managed not only to delay the implementation of the rules, but to insert massive loopholes that essentially rendered the new pollution limits meaningless. How this happened is a scandal that is yet to be fixed.