Rights and freedoms

The Greens/EFA Co-Presidents' briefing

LIVE press conference 11 September 2018 10:30-10:50

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

What's coming up in Parliament

Strasbourg Flash - plenary session 10-13 September 2018

A look ahead to next week's session in the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the Greens/EFA priority issues on the agenda

Hungary: Q&A on Sargentini Report on the rule of law

On Wednesday 12 September, the European Parliament will vote on the report on Hungary by the Dutch Green MEP Judith Sargentini. If a two-thirds majority supports Sargentini’s conclusions, then for the first time in history the European Parliament will conclude that in an EU country there is a clear risk of a serious breach of democracy, fundamental rights and rule of law.

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.

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.

Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 2-6 July 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included: Austrian presidency of the EU, debate on the Future of Europe with the Polish Prime Minister, declaration of Italy's Interior Minister on Sinti and Roma, reform of the electoral law of the European Union, transport workers need dignified work conditions, digital copyright, European Citizens' Initiative

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.

Hands off minority schools!

EFA MEP Miroslavs Mitrofanovs on minority education

'Hands off Russian minority schools in Latvia!' This was the slogan of a demonstration held outside the European Parliament building in Strasbourg on Wednesday 4 July, to highlight the threat to the system of minority education in Latvia. Demonstrators included schoolchildren and socia...

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.

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).

HDP and democracy in Turkey

Statement from EFA MEP Jordi Solé (Catalonia)

EFA MEP Jordi Solé, a member of the European Parliament's Turkey delegation, has praised the performance of the pro-minority HDP party in Turkey's recent presidential and parliamentary elections. The party was able to increase its parliamentary representation, and field a candidate...

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...