Society

A Greens/EFA take on the plenary week

13-17 January 2020

Greens/EFA priorities for the plenary week included the European Green Deal, the Sustainable Investment Plan, Just Transition Fund, Roadmap on Social Europe, the Council hearings on the rule of Law in Hungary and Poland, Czech PM Andrej Babiš' conflicts of interest, Convention on biodiversity, ...

Parliament calls for more ambition in green transition

European Green Deal

A majority of MEPs have voted in favour of a cross-party resolution on the European Green Deal, initiated by the Greens/EFA group. The Greens/EFA group have succeeded in including demands for more biodiversity protection, more climate financing and a more social approach to tackling the climate crisis.

Bland declarations on employment will not solve inequality

Roadmap for a Social Europe

We were waiting for a roadmap that could curb inequalities and tackle the scourge of poverty, but instead the Commission has offered bland declarations on employment. The Commission Roadmap reduces the social agenda to the issue of employment and leaves out issues such as poverty and social exclusion.

This week in the European Parliament

Greens/EFA priorities - plenary session 13-17 January 2020

A look ahead to the plenary session in the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the Greens/EFA priority issues on the agenda

50 Housing Solutions for the Locked Out

Widespread cuts in housing prices and social budgets mean more and more people are "locked out" of the housing market. A collection of 50 innovative and daring examples of housing solutions for the locked out in the EU will be presented during this event.

Breakthrough for climate budget

EU budget 2020

The European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission agreed on a green EU budget for the year 2020. The climate budget is finally becoming real under pressure from the Greens/EFA and the European Parliament. The ambitious fight against youth unemployment threatened to fail because of national egotisms in the Council. Yet, in the end, the European Parliament prevailed.

ECJ rules Poland in breach of EU Treaties for rules on judges

Quote from Terry Reintke MEP

The European Court of Justice has just ruled that Poland is in breach of the EU Treaties for measures aimed at lowering the retirement age of judges, at different ages for men and women, and for allowing the Minister of Justice discretion to prolong judges' service. The Greens/EFA group have long argued that this amounts to political interference in the independence of the Polish judiciary and runs counter to the rule of law and European values.

Affordable and adequate housing for all

Access to housing is a fundamental right. No one should have to choose between a place to sleep and a meal to eat. We call for an EU wide target of at least 3% of GDP to be spent on housing.

EU must change from a kerosene tax paradise to a global pioneer for climate action

Aviation/CO2 tax

The non-governmental organisation "Transport and Environment" today published a study, kept secret by the European Commission, on the consequences of a kerosene tax on aviation.

Greens/EFA call for strong new law on social rights

Social Union

On the 1st of May, all over Europe we will celebrate worker’s and social rights. On this occasion, the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament are putting on the table a series of demands for a real Social Union.

Greens/EFA demands for a Social Union

Greens/EFA are convinced that we urgently need clear steps towards the sustainable transformation of our economy and the creation of quality, long-term jobs. Europe needs a plan to face the challenges of climate change and a just transition roadmap that fairly distributes the benefits as well as the effort required to get to a resource-efficient future economy.

New rules wasted opportunity to tackle dual quality of products

Consumer protection

The European Parliament voted on better enforcement and modernisation of EU consumer protection rules. While there are some improvements on current consumer protection legislation, today's changes are a wasted opportunity to tackle the dual quality of products.