Despite the passage of anti-deforestation laws by the EU, the clearing of forests is set to continue apace with coffee companies not prepared to comply with the regulation, reveals the 2023 Coffee Barometer, an in-depth report on the state of sustainability in the coffee sector. Roughly 130.000 hectares of forest have been lost annually over the last 20 years due to land being cleared for coffee cultivation as farmers attempt to make ends meet. At the same time coffee income remains at or below the poverty line in eight of the ten largest coffee producing countries.
Today the European Parliament gave the greenlight for the creation of the Single Market Emergency Instrument (SMEI). The instrument aims at ensuring the free movement of goods, services, and people in the single market in the context of an emergency, like the one of the coronavirus pandemic.
Brussels, 13 September 2023 – The European steel sector welcomes the vision for a renewed Industrial Strategy set out by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in the State of the Union address. Relaunching Europe’s industrial engine with concrete measures in all relevant policy areas should be both a core mission for the final year of this legislature and a top priority for the future EU executive.
Today, the European Parliament, under S&D leadership, took an ambitious position on the revision of the Ambient Air Quality Directive, ahead of the upcoming negotiations with the Commission and the Council to finalise it.
The European Parliament already voted twice for stronger rules on transparency, accountability and integrity. Today, we make these new rules a reality in the Rules of Procedure, which will be ramped up with strong provisions on transparency.
Today, during the debate on the State of the European Union, the leader of the Group of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Iratxe García MEP, asked Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to show stronger commitment to implement the Social Pillar.
Tomorrow, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, head of the United Transitional Cabinet set up by the democratic forces of Belarus, will address the European Parliament in Strasbourg to mark the three-year anniversary since the massively falsified presidential election in Belarus.
Today, the European Commission presented a long-awaited SME relief package including legislative reforms to fight tax avoidance when doing business in Europe. Specifically, it contains a package of three directives on taxation, called Business in Europe: Framework for Income Taxation (BEFIT).
