European Parliament press release date 7 October and entitled: François Hollande and Angela Merkel face the MEPs. The current situation in the European Union and challenges to be tackled together, and notably migration, were at the heart of Wednesday afternoon’s debate between European Parliament political group leaders, President of the French Republic François Hollande and Chancellor…
First State of the Union address to the European Parliament by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker State of the Union 2015: Time for Honesty, Unity and Solidarity Strasbourg, 9 September 2015 Mr President, Honourable Members of the European Parliament, Today is the first time during my mandate as President of the European Commission…
It’s been one year since the European Parliament inaugurated its eighth legislature on 1 July 2014. Whenever the question of the lack of democratic legitimacy is mentioned—a problem almost unanimously acknowledged in the Union—everybody turns to the European Parliament as the entity called to be the solution.
The Juncker investment plan was backed by the European Parliament in a vote on Wednesday, 24 June. The plan, aimed at creating jobs, fostering economic growth and tackling record high unemployment…
On 18 March 2015 the European Central Bank inaugurated its new, glittering headquarters building in Frankfurt, at a cost of €1.3 billion. Taking issue with this significant expense at a time of austerity policies around Europe, and the fact that the original budget for the building had been set at €500 million, a Member of the European Parliament submitted a question to the ECB President, who responded acknowledging significant deviations from the original budget. What would the institutions formerly known as Troika have said if any of these countries had inaugurated premises of such standards recently? Well, in fact this is exactly what has happened.
Question on the cost of the new headquarters of the European Central Bank (ECB) submitted by Portuguese MEP Miguel Viegas (GUE/NGL) and response by ECB President Mario Draghi. Do as I say, not as I do… On 18 March 2015 the European Central Bank inaugurated its new, glittering…
By Panagiota Manoli and Georgios Maris
Until recently, especially in financial governance issues, studies had paid little attention to the role of the European Parliament (EP), rather focusing on other institutions such as the European Council, the Commission and the European Central Bank. In a chapter that we contributed to a recently published book,* we discuss the role of the EP in the management of the global financial crisis that erupted in 2008 and soon spread into the Eurozone economies.
European Parliament President, Martin Schulz, receives the International Charlemagne Prize in Aachen, 14 May 2015 Mr. Schulz’s acceptance speech can be found here. Possible next steps, in the spirit of Charlemagne: a. Mr. Schulz adds the title “Holy Roman Emperor” to his existing one “President of the European Parliament”. b. The European Parliament meets for one week…
In the European Parliament the head of the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM) for the Eurozone banks has committed herself to restraining financial institutions and closely monitoring the models they use to calculate risks. Danièle Nouy has given assurances that “we will be a demanding supervisor, however at all times we shall strive to make our action fair and impartial.” The SMM just published its first report that has overseen more than 6,000 banks in the region since last November.
The European Court of Human Rights has confirmed that the Polish government was complicit in the CIA’s secretive programme of rendition, detention and interrogation. The Court in Strasbourg rejected a challenge from the Polish government to a landmark ruling from last July, a decision which now makes that original judgement final. July’s judgment said that two current Guantánamo inmates, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, were held in a CIA prison in Poland, that they had been subject to torture, and that Poland failed in its duty under European human rights law to protect them or investigate what happened.
