On Monday the 4th of April, during a stop over in Istanbul, the President of the Assembly of European Regions and Turkish regions agreed on the opening of an AER satellite office in the Bosphorus

While the slow opening of thematic chapters continues to delay the entry of Turkey into the European Union, the Assembly of European Regions (AER) proposed opening a branch in Istanbul, Turkey, following a meeting of the President of the Assembly of European Regions Michèle Sabban and key representatives of the Provincial Council in Istanbul.

Calling on Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmström to waste no more time before formally requesting to Council the activation of Directive 55 to help refugees on the Italian island of Lampedusa, GUE/NGL MEP Rui Tavares said the ongoing EU hypocrisy on the issue must be put to bed.

"The statement by the Commission on the arrival of a package of measures to strengthen the measures already taken is a positive step and I see this as a sign that the EU executive is reiterating that the migration problem is not the problem of a single Member State, but a European one.

Debating recent Summit conclusions with Commission President Barroso, GUE/NGL President Lothar Bisky said there was an urgent need to rein in the neoliberal fixation on profit and competition with effective regulation of financial markets.

"We need legitimate, democratically controlled economic governance with strict measures to tackle tax, wage and environmental dumping with corresponding common minimum standards" said the German MEP, criticising neoliberalism's obsessive, destructive push for "flexicurity" and increased retirement ages.

EP votes to tackle problems with export credit agencies

 
The European Parliament today adopted a proposal to revise EU rules on export credit agencies (1). The adopted report represents the EP position for negotiations with the Council on a first reading agreement on this legislation. The Greens welcomed the outcome, which would address some of the problems in the current system. After the vote, French Green and EP draftsperson (rapporteur) Yannick Jadot said: