Various authors
Sweden’s forest crimes
Sweden presents itself as a global torchbearer on the environment, but its forest policy is wreaking havoc. The EU must act to stop it, say five European NGOs.
Youth spell out five demands to tackle climate breakdown
Climate change is threatening the future of younger generations, but decision makers are still not taking it seriously. To get them started, youth organisations have joined forces with partners across Europe to come up with a set of five demands for how to solve the crisis.
Time to rebalance EU-China relations and demand unfettered access to Tibet
The US recently adopted the Reciprocal Access to Tibet Act, promoting access to Tibetan areas for American diplomats, journalists and ordinary citizens, just as their Chinese counterparts enjoy in America. It is now up to Europe to consider ways of rebalancing its relationship with China, write a cross-party group of parliamentarians.
Climate change – A people’s case
A Saami reindeer herder in Sweden's Arctic Circle and a livestock farmer in the Romanian Carpathians are both living proof that climate change is impacting Europe's water resources and endangering our fundamental rights, write a cross-party group of MEPs.
EU to the rescue: Priorities for a positive multilateralism
We are a long way from 2015. That year, the world committed to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate - promising to end extreme poverty, address corrosive inequality, boost peace and prosperity, and stop climate change, write leaders of five European think tanks.
We want peasants
This week in Geneva, the Human Rights Council is expected to take a position on the follow-up to a draft Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other Persons Working in Rural Areas. Five years after the start of the negotiations, we are at a turning point, argues a group of European academics.
EU must get serious about tackling Islamophobia
The European Commission is appointing its new coordinator on anti-Muslim hatred. This is a key opportunity to re-assess this role and ensure the coordinator has a clear human rights based mandate and meaningful resources to tackle racism and discrimination against Muslim communities in Europe, which have been lacking so far.
Covenant of Mayors: A key instrument for the future EU budget
In order for the Covenant of Mayors to continue its success and further embed itself in EU policies, it has to become a key instrument for the future EU budget, write the local and regional leaders of the group's board.
Bioenergy at the centre of EU renewable energy policy
Bioenergy has to be an essential part of the EU energy mix for at least the next 30 years. Without it, the commitment to a 1.5°C global warming target will be very hard, if not impossible to achieve, argue a group of scientists.
Substantial bioenergy resources are available to tackle climate change
Claims that a "critical flaw" has been discovered in carbon accounting are somewhat exaggerated, and substantial bioenergy resources - subject to well-understood checks and balances- are available to tackle climate change, argue a group of scientists.
EU must not burn the world’s forests for ‘renewable’ energy
A flaw in Europe’s clean energy plan allows fuel from felled trees to qualify as renewable energy when in fact this would accelerate climate change and devastate forests, warn a group of scientists from the world’s leading universities.
Endocrine disruptors: A guilty definition
French socialist MEPs are defiant against the Commission's "weak, superficial and incomplete" definition of endocrine disruptors, blaming it on French Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot, and calling on the European Parliament to reject it on Wednesday 4 October.
Need for a scientific basis of EU climate policy on forests
A group of scientists has sent an open letter to EU decision-makers, warning that a planned increase in harvesting levels for EU forests for bioenergy use risk having a negative impact on the climate.
The ‘missing scenario’: There are alternatives for Europeans
In order to revive the European project, the progressive forces must have an ambitious vision that goes beyond an intergovernmental system and implements a genuine Community method, MEPs from the Progressive Caucus alliance write.
French election concerns every European citizen
Whoever is president of France is of the highest importance for the future of Europe. The choice for us is clear, write 13 former Europe ministers, in an exclusive op-ed for EURACTIV.com.
Making the case for a European Public Prosecutor’s Office
Under the Lisbon Treaty, the EU has the chance to set up a pan-European prosecutor’s office. Progress has been slowed by national governments blocking the proposal. Now, a number of prosecutors in favour of the idea call on the member states to move forward with the plan.
Trade Secrets Directive creates excessive secrecy and must be rejected
The schemed Directive on “Trade Secrets Protection” is meant to repress industrial espionage, but applies to the whole of society legal remedies that should only apply to businesses, writes a broad coalition of journalists, lawyers, scientists, unions and associations.
Protecting European firms against trade secret misappropriations
The trade secrets directive will generate legal certainty for European innovators by creating a secure environment where valuable know-how can be exchanged, writes the Trade Secrets and Innovation Coalition (TSIC).
Fossil fuel subsidies are calamitous for the planet, and poor economics, too
Some governments have been acting to rein in highly-subsidised fossil fuel production, but much more has to be done by leading economies, write a group of scholars led by US economist Jeffrey Sachs.
Roma driven to homelessness across Europe
Roma are being evicted from their homes across the European Union in systematic forced evictions. What is needed is the political will to use EU anti-discrimination laws to sanction member states guilty of leaving Roma homeless.
Unpacking the CMU plan: Who will really benefit?
The European Commission’s plan for a Capital Market Union (CMU), brought the false promise of growth by supporting small and medium-sized businesses. In reality, it serves the interests of big investment banks, write a coalition of NGOs.