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

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...

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.

Quote from Josep Maria Terricabras

European Citizens' Initiative reform

The European Parliament's Constitutional Affairs committee has today voted on the reform of the European Citizens' Initiative, with the majority blocking all meaningful improvements.

The battle for a more democratic Europe heats up as we push for meaningful reform of the European Citizen’s Initiative

Despite the concerns raised by more than 60 NGOs as part of the #EPforgetusnot campaign, tomorrow’s vote on the reform of the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) looks like it will fail to address the democratic aspirations of the 9,000,000,000 citizens who already signed an ECI in the hopes of having their voices heard by the European Commission. Read and take action

Reaction to Antoine Deltour ruling from Benedek Jávor

LuxLeaks

The Luxembourg Court of Appeal has today ruled on the case of Antoine Deltour. The Court has acknowledged his status as a whistleblower but gave him a “suspension du prononcé” for downloading documents related to the LuxLeaks, for which he receives a €1 fine.

EU needs to stop conflicts of interest from undermining climate policy

Revolving doors

"There is a revolving door between politics and the fossil fuel lobby all across Europe. It’s not just a handful of cases – it is systematic," comments Max Andersson, Greens/EFA MEP attending the UN Climate Change Conference in Bonn today.

Report on revolving doors in the fossil fuel industry reveals widespread potential for conflicts of interest to undermine climate policy

Conflicts of interest in climate policy

A report published today by the Greens/EFA Group on revolving doors between the public sector and the fossil fuel industry in Europe concludes that there is a widespread problem when it comes to the potential for conflicts of interest to dominate climate policy-making.

Support for independent journalism is the best antidote

Fake News

Well-funded independent journalism with high professional standards is key to addressing disinformation and propaganda, says Josep Maria Terricabras, Vice President of the Greens/EFA group.

How to deal with fake news

Supporting good journalism is the only solution to fake news that prevents despots from curbing freedom of expression

As the European Commission unveils its plans to tackle the “fake news” phenomenon, the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament has a different perspective on how to deal with “fake news” in a manner that avoids giving questionable powers to governments to regulate what is true and what is false.

Victory for whistleblower rights campaigners

Commission Whistleblower proposals

After a long campaign for the protection of whistleblowers in the EU, the Greens/EFA group has welcomed the publication of the European Commission’s proposals. The Greens/EFA group has been consistently pushing for a directive and published its own draft proposal in May 2016, which was updated earlier this month following a public consultation.