Pressrum 

MEPs and member states on Monday reached a deal on the EU programme to support public sector efforts to deal with climate change.

Parliament should have a bigger role in supervising the operations of the new European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI), in selecting its top officials and in the decisions on how to feed the guarantee fund, says the draft report by the budgets and the economic and monetary affairs committees, presented and discussed on Thursday in Strasbourg.

The European Stability Mechanism's current legal setup would not allow it to become a "backstop" lender to a newly-created EU bank resolution fund, ESM Managing Director Klaus Regling told Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee MEPs on Tuesday. Pressed repeatedly on the matter, Mr Regling did however concede that he was open to considering other possible legal interpretations which could justify this role for the ESM.

Ministers outlined the priorities of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU to parliamentary committees, in a series of meetings.

Whistleblowers should be regarded as a "gift", but existing legal protection for them remains fragmented and partial, two parliamentary committees hear.

MEPs on the Economic and Monetary Affairs and Legal Affairs committees exchanged views with experts on lessons learned from the Wirecard collapse and shortcomings in supervision.

MEPs will hear details from the EU Commission of their new procedure for identifying non-EU countries thought to be deficient in areas related to money transfers.

On Monday evening, EP and Council negotiators struck a deal on the new InvestEU programme, which supports investments and guarantees simplified access to financing.

MEPs on Thursday adopted their position on a scheme to help public investments in regions most hit by the ecological transition.

The Conference of Presidents (EP President and leaders of political groups) on Tuesday adopted the calendar of hearings of Mairead McGuinness and Valdis Dombrovskis.

MEPs quizzed ECB President Christine Lagarde for the first time since the pandemic and the German constitutional court’s ruling on the ECB’s bondbuying programme.

The EU's crisis-fighting mechanism needs true democratic accountability, clear channels of responsibility, more consideration of social consequences, and an ability to correct policy recommendations when they prove inadequate. These were some of the first conclusions MEPs drew in Thursday's discussion on draft report analysing the operations of the European Central Bank/IMF/EU Commission “Troika”.

MEPs laid into top European Central Bank and European Commission staff over the working methods of the ECB/Commission/IMF "Troika" at Tuesday's Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee meeting. They demanded details of how Troika decisions were taken and what lessons had been learnt. They also sharply criticised the often mistaken economic forecasts behind the economic reform programmes demanded of Greece, Cyprus, Ireland and Portugal.

Ministers outlined the priorities of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU to parliamentary committees, in a series of meetings.

The new rules will soon oblige big multinationals to publically declare what taxes they pay in each EU country.

Questions focused on explanations for delays to national recovery plans, capacity of own resources to pay for recovery, and situation in Hungary and Poland.

Ministers are outlining the priorities of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU to parliamentary committees, in a series of meetings.

Under ett antal möten i Europaparlaments utskott redogjorde statsråden för prioriteringarna för det svenska ordförandeskapet för Europeiska unionens råd.

MEPs on Thursday broadly approved the Commission proposal implementing into law the international agreement on a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15%.

Parliament’s newly-established Special Committee on Tax Rulings elected Alain Lamassoure (EPP, FR) as its chair at its constituent meeting on Thursday morning. As vice-chairs, the committee elected Bernd Lucke (ECR, DE), Marisa Matias (GUE/NGL, PT) and Eva Joly (Greens/EFA, FR). Rapporteurs will be appointed on 9 March.