New MEPs have an awesome responsibility - no less than the future of the planet
by Jagoda Mu
Friends of the Earth Europe, with its partners in the Green 10, has today expressed its deep concern regarding the introduction of a "One in, one out" principle for new legislation, as planned by European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen.
The proposed principle calls for any new initiative that creates a burden on businesses to be compensated by relieving an equivalent existing burden in the same policy area.
This world oceans day (8 June), it’s time to make tourism work for our coastal nature, not destroy it.
It’s the time of year when, if we're luck enough, many of us are looking forward to a holiday at the coast. A chance to get away somewhere beautiful, see new sites, and reconnect by experiencing some of the truly wondrous nature Europe has to offer. There’s nothing better than time spent in nature to ground us and de-stress.
When we run campaigns at Friends of the Earth, we often call for regulations, policy, legislation, laws – but why bother? What are we doing it for, and for who?
These are big questions worth reflecting on. And so we set out to find the stories of people who could answer them.
'Dieselgate' was the result of corporate-driven deregulation, with both member states and European institutions complicit in turning a blind eye to industry-wide abuse, according to a report released today by Corporate Europe Observatory and Friends of the Earth Europe.
As the EU-27 gather in Bratislava today, leading environmental organisations call for genuinely transformational change in the wake of the UK referendum.
The European Commission must rethink its so-called 'Better Regulation' agenda, according to Friends of the Earth Europe. The 'Better Regulation Agenda' was created by the European Commission to streamline and improve European law-making. However, Friends of the Earth Europe and allies claim the focus is almost exclusively on cutting-costs for businesses at the expense of social and environmental benefits [1].
Over half a million people called on the European Commission to save Europe's nature laws in a public consultation – by far the highest number of responses ever reached in the history of the EU. The public consultation formally closed at midnight on Sunday the 26th.
A comprehensive survey of European nature published by scientists today shows wildlife and habitats in peril across Europe. [1] The research comes as the European Commission threatens to weaken vital nature laws, [2] as part of a drive for 'deregulation'. [3]
Since a new campaign to save these nature laws – the Birds and Habitats Directives – started last week, over 100,000 citizens have told the European Commission to protect nature by maintaining and better implementing them. [4]
Reforms to the way the European Union decides legislation proposed today are a threat to environmental, health, safety and other standards that protect citizens, says Friends of the Earth Europe.
The 'Better Regulation' proposal from the European Commission reflects a massive power grab from the Commission away from the European Parliament and European Council and gives more influence to business lobby groups, Friends of the Earth Europe asserts.