Pressrum 

All of the EP’s 20 standing committees and two subcommittees held their constitutive meetings on Wednesday to elect their chair and vice-chairs.

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

Christine Lagarde was recommended for the post of ECB President on Wednesday evening by MEPS who had questioned her throughout the morning on her competences and plans.

MEPs and members of national parliaments kicked off their two-day yearly gathering on Tuesday, dedicated to discussing EU economic governance.

MEPs from Economic and Monetary Affairs and Budgets committees backed an extension of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), in their vote on Monday evening. They stressed however that the EU investment plan should focus on riskier future oriented investments, which would not otherwise happen, preferably in economically weaker EU regions, and in a transparent way.

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

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.

A deal struck by MEPs and Council of Ministers negotiators in the small hours of Thursday morning means the architecture of the Juncker plan to unlock €315 billion public and private investments in the real economy in 2015-2017 can now be put to a European Parliament vote on 24 June and the investment programme can kick off in the summer.

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

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

On Wednesday, MEPs discussed the European Semester and economically and socially sustainable ways out of the crisis with Commissioners Dombrovskis, Gentiloni and Schmit.

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

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.

MEPs mulled over the European Central Bank's work within the ECB/IMF/EU Commission "Troika", and more generally in the early days of the crisis, at a hearing attended by former ECB President Jean-claude Trichet on Tuesday.

The EU Commission proposal to make it mandatory for EU member states to exchange information on their tax rulings received only a lukewarm welcome in Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee on Tuesday. However, the report by Markus Ferber (EPP, DE), voicing dismay at the directive’s limited scope and late entry into force, has already been overtaken by last week's ECOFIN Council deal, which watered down the Commission proposal even further.

Parliament negotiators reached an agreement with Council on Monday on new criteria to determine whether an economic activity is environmentally sustainable.

The recent Commission proposal for automatic exchange of tax rulings is "a revolutionary step towards international transparency on taxation and the fight against base erosion and profit shifting. It will change the way the world economy works for the better", said the Secretary-General of the OECD, Angel Gurria in a discussion with members of the committees for Tax Rulings and Economic and Monetary Affairs on Tuesday morning.