Gender Balance on Corporate Boards

Women on corporate boards

The European Parliament’s  Women’s Rights and Legal Affairs Committees has backed talks with the Council of the EU on a bill to increase gender balance on corporate boards. Once confirmed by plenary, negotiations can move forward on the draft legislation aimed at ensuring gender parity on boards of publicly listed companies in the EU. Parliament…

Pay Transparency

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen

Kira Marie Peter-Hansen, Greens/EFA MEP and European Parliament rapporteur for the Pay Transparency directive in the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, comments: “With today’s vote, the Parliament is sending a clear signal that we want to close the pay gap. It should be a thing of the past that women are paid less than men,…

Global Minimum Corporate Tax Rate

minimum corporate tax

Following the OECD deal on a global minimum corporate tax rate, the Socialists in the European Parliament say that the EU must now ensure a rapid and ambitious implementation.  EU ministers are expected to adopt an agreement tomorrow, but according to media reports they will postpone the implementation to December 2023. The Socialists and Democrats say…

Use of Pegasus Spyware Condemned by EP

Pegasus Spyware

The European Parliament has voted to set up an inquiry committee to investigate the use of  surveillance spyware against citizens, activists and journalists. This follows revelations from a group of journalists that many governments, including from EU Member States, have been using the NSO group’s Pegasus spyware against citizens. The Greens/EFA Group strongly condemns the…

Sustainability of batteries

sustainable batteries

The European Parliament has adopted a set of comprehensive and ambitious rules on sustainability, safety, labelling and information on batteries.  The future of batteries in Europe must be socially and environmentally sustainable. Now the ball is in the Council’s court to match our ambition and finalise its position in order for the new Batteries Regulation…

Human Rights in Myanmar

Myanmar Human Rights

On Thursday, the European Parliament adopted three resolutions on the respective human rights situations in Myanmar, Mexico and Nagorno-Karabakh. More than a year after the coup d’état in Myanmar on 1 February 2021, Parliament reiterates that it strongly condemns the military junta’s violent seizure of power and the ensuing heinous atrocities carried out against the…

EU Environment Action Programme

Grace O'Sullivan MEP

A large majority of MEPs have voted to adopt the General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030 (8th EAP) in the European Parliament. The decade-long environment legislation sets out the EU’s main priorities, together with strong monitoring and governance provisions to ensure these priorities are achieved.  Climate mitigation and adaptation, circular economy, biodiversity protection and…

Towards a Sustainable Recovery

European Semester

The Socialists and Democrats in the European parliament have called for fundamentally reorienting the European Semester away from the austerity matrix to putting the wellbeing of people first. Driving the transformation towards sustainable development requires a new governance approach and new rules and instruments: a Sustainability Pact. Irene Tinagli, Chair of the economic and monetary affairs…

What Does Parliament Need to Do to Improve the Lives of Women?

Improving women's lives

Key demands of women for MEPs are tackling human trafficking and sexual exploitation, fighting mental and physical violence against women and addressing the gender pay gap. For International Women’s Day on 8 March, the European Parliament commissioned a dedicated survey among European women assessing the impact of the pandemic on various aspects of women’s lives….

The Carbon Footprint of Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency

MEPs have voted on regulating markets in crypto assets (MiCA) and the carbon footprint of cryptocurrency. Eero Heinäluoma, MEP and S&D negotiator on crypto assets, said, “Cryptocurrency uses up as much energy as electric cars do. Bitcoin mining alone consumes more energy than countries the size of Austria or Portugal. With such a heavy carbon footprint,…