Rights and freedoms

Fighting for EU democracy, defending human rights

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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Turkey Eu Flags
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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...

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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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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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53531.telecom package internet control
© Benoit Beauregard

Save Your Internet!

Copyright Directive

Unfortunately, the internet as we know and love it is under threat. The European Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs voted on 20th June in favour of the European Commission’s proposed Copyright Directive, which will tighten copyright laws and restrict our freedoms, In particular two amendments are the most dangerous.

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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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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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Digital-world-©-Nicholas-Monu
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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sunflower©elijah-hail
©elijah-hail

Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary week, 11-14 June 2018

Greens/EFA priorities for the Strasbourg Plenary week included: Multiannual Financial Framework; Brexit; Iran nuclear deal; Netherlands PM Mark Rutte on the Future of Europe; Poland: independence of the judiciary; Renewable Energy Directive; Circular economy at the heart of cohesion policy; Tax justice: transparency of big companies; FIFA: Play Fair – Fight for the forgotten; Climate change photo exhibition.

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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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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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