more … ]]> Although Croatia officially becomes the 28th Member State of the EU on 1st July, the European Parliament's plenary session in Strasbourg, has not been able to adopt today the amending budget of 374 million euros necessary for the country to take advantage of all the common European policies as the Council refuses to endorse it. This new budgetary battle line occurs in a context already fraught by the stalemate in the negotiations on the next Multiannual Financial Framework and ALDE condemns a situation that is frankly very worrying.

more … ]]> Marietje Schaake, MEP (D66, Netherlands) has called for a strategy for press and media freedom to be implemented by the EU in her report on media freedom in the world which was adopted by the European Parliament in Strasbourg today.

more … ]]> Today the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticising the Commission for delays in presenting long awaited legislative proposals in the field of financial services and accusing the Council of wasting time and, in many cases, blocking the necessary presentation and adoption of extremely important legislation in this field.

more … ]]> Large oil, gas, diamond and logging companies will be obliged to disclose full information on all projects where payments to governmental authorities exceed a threshold of 100.000 Euros under new rules adopted by the European Parliament today. 

Fiona Hall MEP, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament and main negotiator on the dossier on behalf of the Development Committee, said:

“For the first time in history, international companies in the extractive and logging industries will have to publish what they pay to government authorities. This public information means public empowerment in the fight against corruption. People in resource-rich developing countries will now be able to ask questions on where that money has been spent.

“But we must go further and extend the reporting requirement to all sectors. I welcome the Commission’s assurance that this will happen as part of the scheduled review of the Non Financial Reporting Directive.”

Sharon Bowles MEP, Chair of the Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee and author of many of the amendments to the Directives, commented:

“I have been fighting for these kinds of disclosures since becoming an MEP, and have successfully fought for the new country-by-country reporting rules for banks.

“However, it is very regrettable that these rules were not extended to all large EU companies despite a clear commitment from national governments at the May European Council and the recent exposés on corporate tax avoidance.

“I will put a legally enforceable financial reporting chapter into the EU’s non-financial reporting directive to extend these rules to all sectors by the end of this Parliament.”

Rebecca Taylor MEP, Lib Dem European legal affairs spokesperson, added:

 “The new EU rules on accounting will also reduce red tape for small and medium sized businesses as they are now exempted from quarterly reporting.”

ENDS

Note to editors:

The new rules are part of the EU Accounting and Transparency Directives and include mandatory country-by-country reporting for all large listed companies, as well as project-level reporting for all large public interest entities (PIEs).

On Wednesday 22^nd May 2013 the European Council agreed on country by country reporting for large companies and groups in the Disclosure of non-financial and diversity information (proposal to amend accounting directives)

more … ]]> During an exchange of views with the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton today in Strasbourg, ALDE Leader, Guy Verhofstadt said he was disappointed that the Union has again chosen to be ambivalent in the face of a clear violation of fundamental rights by a state that is candidate for accession to the EU and added that Turkey must not turn its back on European principles and values.

more … ]]> During an exchange of views with the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton today in Strasbourg, ALDE Leader, Guy Verhofstadt said he was disappointed that the Union has again chosen to be ambivalent in the face of a clear violation of fundamental rights by a state that is candidate for accession to the EU and added that Turkey must not turn its back on European principles and values.

more … ]]> Yesterday, following a decision of the Greek government, all public TV and radio closed down all broadcasts and around 2500 workers were dismissed as a response to the tough bailout conditions requiring huge cuts in public expenditure.

more … ]]> Large oil, gas, diamond and logging companies will now be obliged to disclose full information about every single project whose payments to the governmental authorities exceed the threshold of 100.000 Euros, following the adoption by the parliament today of a first reading agreement with Council on transparency of non-financial reporting by large EU companies operating in the extracting business in third countries.

more … ]]> Large oil, gas, diamond and logging companies will now be obliged to disclose full information about every single project whose payments to the governmental authorities exceed the threshold of 100.000 Euros, following the adoption by the parliament today of a first reading agreement with Council on transparency of non-financial reporting by large EU companies operating in the extracting business in third countries.

more … ]]> For the last two years the number of people facing extreme poverty has increased due to the financial crisis. In the EU, one in ten citizens is finding it hard to get enough to eat. 18 million people now have to rely on food aid. More than 25 million children are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. To help Member States break the vicious circle of poverty and deprivation the European Commission proposed a new programme, the Fund for European Aid to the most deprived (FEAD).