Greens/EFA Debriefing

Plenary weeks July I and II 2019

We are back !  After the green wave of the European elections in May, political groups were formed and the new European Parliament had its first two plenary sittings in Strasbourg.  The topics on the agenda were mainly about the election of the Presidents of the European Parliament and of the European Commission.

European Commission’s New Proposals on Rule of Law Fall Short Once Again

The European Commission - and its new President, Ursula Von der Leyen - has promised that “there can be no compromise” when it comes to upholding the rule of law across the European Union. Yet despite the urgency of the situation, both Von der Leyen’s promises and the concrete proposals presented today by the European Commission remain deeply insufficient.

Greens/EFA Vice-Presidents will push for more transparency, ethics and openness

Heidi Hautala & Marcel Kolaja elected Vice-Presidents of European Parliament

Today, the European Parliament voted to confirm key positions in the Bureau of the European Parliament. The Greens/EFA group had two Members elected for Vice-President positions, Heidi Hautala, Green MEP from Finland and Marcel Kolaja, European Pirates MEP from Czech Republic. Our MEPs will push for more transparency, ethics, openness and digitisation and protection from harassment for staff.

Time to guarantee ethics and integrity in the EU

Ending conflicts of interest

A new political term is a new chance to upgrade the EU’s ethics systems to make sure any risks of conflicts of interest or corruption are completely stamped out. In a Union that is under constant attack, the best form of defence is to act with the highest standards of ethics, transparency and integrity. Citizens deserve no less.

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.

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.

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.

Why dangerous hormone-disrupting chemicals are still everywhere

...and why we need to reform comitology

In your shampoo, in your sports bottle, in your bathroom air freshener, in your cleaning products, in your food and its packaging, in the pesticides the local farmer uses near your children’s school, even in nappies... endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are everywhere, omnipresent, like a monster from a horror movie. And a broken EU decision-making process is letting them slip through and continue to poison us.

GREENS/EFA Proposals on Media Freedom in the EU

Media freedom, pluralism and independence across Europe are being undermined in many ways. Although the European Union institutions may claim to have limited competence to defend media freedom and pluralism across the region, the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament is convinced that more can, and should be done.