The 16-year old Swede, who inspired the worldwide “School Strike For Climate” movement, addressed MEPs in an Environment Committee meeting in Strasbourg on Tuesday. In her opening statement, Greta Thunberg called for “permanent and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” to combat the breakdown of the climate and eco systems. This includes reducing CO2…
A respected international academic has questioned the legality of removing parliamentary passes for ExxonMobil employees. It comes after the Greens/EFA group in parliament claimed that ExxonMobil refused to attend a recent parliamentary hearing on the company’s alleged role in funding climate change denial. The group sent a letter to Parliament’s President Antonio Tajani and the…
Still living in exile in Belgium, Carles Puigdemont the independent Catalan politician chose the Brussels Press Club as the venue to announce today his candidature for election to the European Parliament in the 23 May elections. Flanked by four colleagues from the party “Junts per Catalunya” Gorka Knorr, Erika Casajoanna, Calara Ponsati and Toni Comin,…
I met with Ekaterina Tsaranok the Founder of the Modern Education & Research Institute, based in Brussels, which is dedicated to the modernisation of the teaching profession and to the adaptation of professors to the quickly changing educational environment. The members of the Institute are universities and individual professors from the countries of Central Asia, the Eastern…
We publish here in full the text of a letter to the President of the European Parliament, and to the Leaders of the Parliamentary Political Groups, from Dan Radu Rușanu. My name is Dan Radu Rușanu and I have been a PNL member (Romanian National Liberal Party) since January 1990. During the period 2000-2013, I was Vice-President…
Whichever candidate emerges from Ukraine’s election must be ready to show a “real commitment” to tackling corruption and human rights issues, according to one of the country’s leading advocates. The first round of the key election on Sunday (31 March) left TV comedian Vladimir Zelensky well ahead of the incumbent Petro Poroshenko. The two men…
Developers of creative content and news publishers will be empowered to negotiate with internet giants thanks to new copyright rules which also contain safeguards on freedom of expression. MEPs adopted the directive in plenary by 348 votes in favour, 274 against and 36 abstentions. This marks the end of the legislative process for the European…
The military threat posed by Islamic State may have receded but the threat posed by terrorist groups of all colours has not gone away. That was one of the key messages to emerge from a high-level conference in Brussels which focused on the fight against terrorism. Last week’s terrorist atrocity in Christchurch which…
“I presented my Peace Plan in the European Parliament, here in Brussels. It is clear, and it consists of concrete steps. It is completely in accordance with the framework of both the Minsk and Normandy formats. It has great popularity and support in Ukraine. I run for the presidential office in order to achieve peace…
