Greece

Financial assistance must not be at the cost of labour rights

The European Parliament will today debate the labour market reforms and labour relations in Greece. The European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are pushing to make financial assistance conditional on the liberalisation of labour laws, despite the fact...

The Greens/EFA Co-Presidents' briefing

13.12.2016

LIVE press conference 13 December 10:30-10:50

Greens/EFA co-president Philippe Lamberts present the key issues of the plenary session and of the European agenda for the Greens/EFA group

Tax shopping

Exploring Zara's tax business

 The countdown to Christmas is well underway and for most of us, December is the month of shopping fever. While you are wondering what to get Grandma for this special day (and praying you won’t get that ugly pullover again this year), others have been tax shopping. And this is a much less...

Corporate Tax Avoidance

Zara caught tax shopping

The Greens/EFA group has today presented a report on the tax avoidance strategies of Inditex, the Spanish based owner behind clothes retailer Zara (1). Research commissioned by the group shows that Inditex avoided at least €585 million in taxes for the period 2011-2014, by using aggressive avoidan...

After the Panama Papers: towards fair corporate taxation in Europe

03.12.2016

After the Panama Papers the Green Group in the European Parliament pushed hard for political action and played a leading role in obtaining an inquiry committee, which started working in July 2016. There are also several national and regional inquiry committees to examine current tax practices of mem...

Football Leaks

Latest scandal shows need for urgent tax reforms

According to information obtained by the European Investigative Collaborations (EIC) consortium, several big football stars, including player Cristiano Ronaldo and manager Jose Mourinho, may have avoided large sums of tax through the use of tax havens. Commenting on the reports, Green economic an...

Labour market reforms

Letter by Green MEPs to EU Commission

Greens urge the European Commission to refrain from contributing to proposals for Greece that run counter to the European social model and avoid making debt relief measures conditional upon reforms that bring Greece further away rather than closer to the rest of Europe

Greece

Eurogroup reform proposal on collective bargaining is against EU law

This week has seen a series of meetings between Greek government officials and representatives of the institutions as part of the second bailout review negotiations. These talks take place ahead of the Eurogroup meeting of 5 December, where discussions on an agreement on the restructuring of Greek p...

Time to get tough on money laundering crimes

Lessons from the Panama Papers

What is the link between Russian President Vladimir Putin’s best friend, the international football player Lionel Messi, and Andrew M., an American citizen suspected of running a child prostitution network? At first glance, not much. But they all appear in the Panama Papers.  All three – an...

Greens/EFA Round up

Debriefing of the Strasbourg plenary week 21-24 November 2016

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary included: Occupational retirement provision; EU-Turkey relations; Conflict minerals trialogue; Council/Commission Statements on outcome of COP22; EU Parliament refuses to refer CETA to the ECJ; Commission considers Code of Conduct changes; Emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants; Renewing the approval of the active substance bentazone; Sign language and professional sign language interpreters; Umbrella deal on EU-US data protection; Dieselgate hearing with French Minister, Ségolène Royal; EU accession to the Istanbul Convention on preventing and combating violence against women.

Divestment makes its way into EU pension law

The European Parliament has today backed a report on improving provision of workplace pensions (1). The Greens/EFA group has secured a number of key amendments, which will introduce social and environmental measures into pension risk assessment and bring divestment into EU legislation. Commenting...

The Greens/EFA Co-Presidents' briefing

22.11.2016

LIVE press conference 22 November 10:30-10:50

Greens/EFA co-presidents Rebecca Harms and Philippe Lamberts present the key issues of the plenary session and of the European agenda for the Greens/EFA group