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Step up to the plate

President Obama and Presidents Barroso and van Rompuy have agreed to start negotiations between the US and the EU to establish a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The economic impact of TTIP will, according to the analysis of the EU Commission, increase the EU’s GDP by at least half a percentage point and, as the president of Business Europe has added, result in the creation of two million new jobs in the EU.
Reaching the agreement will be difficult and to succeed the EU needs to identify what its priorities are. Europe should not allow TTIP to undermine European environmental and climate policy, standards of consumer protection including data privacy, and social and labor safety standards.

Cyprus deal: the beginning of an endgame for the European project?

With the deal made over the weekend, Cyprus has been handed a heavier, more burdensome deal by the Eurozone than any of the other countries before. The new chair of the Eurozone, the Dutch finance minister, first heralded this so-called solution as a template for other possible future cases. Then he retracted that statement. It shows that they are losing direction and they don’t know what they’re doing and where they’re going. One thing however is obvious, the will to compromise, the will to put yourself in the other side’s shoes, the will to have an understanding from the northern countries of what’s happening in the south, and probably also the other way around, is vastly decreasing. And if we cannot find a new political source for common effort, I’m afraid this Cyprus deal will be beginning of an endgame that is not going to be positive for the European project.

Click here to view the video statement I made to the Cyprus deal.

Namen sind Schall und Rauch

Am 16. Januar 2013 präsentierte der irische Premierminister Enda Kenny im Europäischen Parlament n Straßburg das Programm der irischen Ratspräsidentschaft. In meiner Redezeit betonte ich das Thema Jugendarbeitslosigkeit und stellte… Weiterlesen »

Der Rat soll die Jugendgarantie sichern!

Das Europäische Parlament hat in dieser Woche auf Initiative der Grünen eine Resolution angenommen, die die europäischen Mitgliedstaten sowie die Kommission dazu drängt, eine “Jugendgarantie” zu realisieren. Doch zwischen Absicht und Wirklichkeit ist noch ein tiefer Graben. Die “Jugengarantie” ist bisher eine weitgehend leere Hülle und ihre Finanzierung unklar. Außerdem muss die Initiative jetzt noch durch den Rat. Grüne und Grüne Jugend wollen deshalb weiter an der Initiative arbeiten.

Press Release: EU-Russia Summit: Europe must make Human Rights the main issue

European parties express concern for the deterioration of human rights in Russia
On the eve of the EU-Russia Summit in Brussels, the presidents and chairs of four European political parties – the European Greens, as well as the ALDE, EPP and PES groups – have sent an open letter to Presidents van Rompuy and Barroso, expressing serious concerns for the deterioration of the human rights situation in Russia.

Press Release: European steel industry’s future lies in innovation

PRESS RELEASE -Strasbourg, 13. December 2012

European Steel Industry: Its future lies in innovation and sustainability

Today the European Parliament voted on a resolution on the European steel industry in order to address the crisis in the steel sector. Reinhard Bütikofer, industrial policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA and Rapporteur on the industrial policy report for the European Parliament, declared…