Today during the Plenary of the European Parliament we showed our concerns for Press Freedom in Hungary and the closure of Hungarian daily Népszabadság. Members of Greens/EFA raised up the last issue of the Népszabadság, which was published as a street paper sold by homeless people.
Opening
Benedek Jávor, Greens/EFA MEP, Dialogue for Hungary Party, Hungary
Zoltán Pogátsa, University of Western Hungary, DiEM25 initiator, Hungary
Gábor Scheiring, chairman of Progressive Hungary Foundation, Hungary
Opening panel – Europe as a global actor
Key issues of the panel: Europe’s role on the global scene, refugee crisis, international development, unfair trade regimes, TTIP.
Lorenzo Marsili, co-initiator DiEM25, director of European Alternatives, Italy
Alena Krempaska, Human Rights Institute, Slovakia
Edouard Gaudot, Political Advisor of Greens/EFA in the European Parliament and Author of L’Europe c’est Nous
Dr. Bourgla Ossamah, Syrian GP, local councillor, Hungary Magyarország
New Member States’ perspective
Key issues of the panel: failure of integration, inefficient cohesion policy, antidemocratic trends as a consequence
Marta Tycner, Razem Party, Poland
Gábor Scheiring, chairman of Progressive Hungary Foundation, Hungary
Jakub Patocka, editor, Denik Referendum, Czechia
Irmi Salzer, Greens Burgenland, Austria
Speeches: The way out of the crisis?
Philippe Lamberts, co-chair of Greens/EFA, Belgium
Yanis Varoufakis, founder of DiEM25, former minister of finance, Greece
Session III. – Social Europe
Key issues of the panel: monetary vs. social union, basic income, financial transfers, right to housing
Zoltán Pogátsa, University of Western Hungary, DiEM25 initiator, Hungary
Philippe Lamberts, co-chair of Greens/EFA, Belgium
Florentin Iancu, Trade Unionist, Romania
Session IV: Sustainable Europe
Key issues of the panel: how to make Europe sustainable against corporate interest and MS’s resistance, COP21.
Florent Marcellesi, spokesperson of EQUO in the European Parliament, Spain
Benedek Jávor, Greens/EFA MEP, Dialogue for Hungary Party, Hungary
Stephanie Roth, “Save Rosia Montana!” movement, Romania
Session V: Where are we and were to go? Reasons and solutions
Philippe Lamberts, co-chair of Greens/EFA, Belgium
Yanis Varoufakis, founder of DiEM25, former minister of finance, Greece
GM Tamás, philosopher, Hungary
Adam Ostolski, Polish Greeen Party, Poland
17:45 -18:00 Closing
Benedek Jávor, Greens/EFA MEP, Dialogue for Hungary, Hungary
Zoltán Pogátsa, University of Western Hungary, DiEM25 initiator, Hungary
BONUS track: The future of Hungary and the Progressives- roundtable talk of Progressive Hungary Foundation
Réka Kinga Papp, journalist, essayist
Tímea Szabó, co-chair of Dialogue for Hungary Party, MP
Márton Gulyás, activist
Zoltán Ceglédi, political analyst
Péter Konok, historian
The European Greens, the DiEM25 (Democracy in Europe Movement) and the Progressive Hungary Foundation has organised a one-day-long conference in Budapest at the A38 ship on 19 September 2016.
Benedek Jávor and more than twenty other speakers came to take part in five international and one Hungarian round table talks. 250 people attended the venue in Budapest and several hundred people followed it on our live stream.
European progressive and green politicians, thinkers and leaders came to the conference, among others Yanis Varoufakis previous Greek minister of finance, the initiator of DiEM25, Philippe Lamberts co-chair of European Greens or Zoltán Pogátsa Hungarian DiEm25 initiator, economist. This was the first international public conference when European Greens and DiEM25 leaders discussed various issues. There were diverging views in certain topics, but the commitment for rethinking the foundations of European integration was the same.
Benedek Jávor in his opening speech emphasised the EU has torn away from its citizens, but the nation state can no longer mitigate the consequences of the mistakes made at EU level. The real conflict is not between the EU and the nation states but “between the policies that serve the interests of and are accountable to the community, and the policies implemented by the corrupt elites and conducted against the interests of the community, both at EU and national level.”
(The conference will take place on Monday, 19th of September)
Below you can find the live streaming of our conference titled “The Future of Europe – The Europe of the Future”.
The event is broadcast in two languages at once. In order to choose your preferred language the easiest way is to use headphones. Once you plug your headphones into your device you will hear the recording in two languages, one on each side. Either take out or switch off the side that is not the preferred language.
In case you do not have headphones, you will have to set the ‘Balance’ function on either the loudspeakers by turning the “balance” button left or right, or in the settings of your computer. If you are using Windows 7, 8 or 10, you can change the balance settings by clicking on Start -> Control Panel, where you will find the ‘Hardware and Sound’ settings. In the dialogue box that appears, click on the ‘Sound’ tab. Under the ‘Properties’ option you will find ‘Speakers properties’ where the ‘Levels’ tab will offer you the ‘Balance’ settings. Here you can adjust the volume of individual speakers by moving the sliders of left or right.
If you are using Mac OS you can set the balance by clicking System Preferences -> Sound -> Output and shift the slider of the ‘Balance’ section left or right.
You will hear the broadcast in English on the left side.
Following the regrettable decision of a Luxembourg court, the protection of whistleblowers was debated on the plenary session of the European Parliament on 6 July in Strasbourg. Benedek Jávor in his speech (attended by representatives of the Council and Vice-President of the Commission Jyrki Katainen) claimed that current system is simply not enough to protect whistle-blowers; in fact, verdict such as in the case of LuxLeaks intimidate whistleblowers. The Commission needs to take steps for an effective EU-wide protecting system. People releasing information on illegal activities can face criminal charges.
Here you can watch the speeches of four Greens/EFA MEPs from the plenary debate.
Greens/EFA members believe that it is now a matter of emergency and it is crucial to act, as the recent scandals such as LuxLeaks or Panama Papers prove that whistlerblowers play an essential role in defending public interest. Since Commission has not taken any action so far, Greens/EFA MEPs have already prepared their own proposal for a new directive on protecting people providing information about corruption, tax avoidance and other cases. The existing provisions are scattered across different laws. Member States regulate protection at various levels, some Member States having regulated some level of protection in anti-corruption laws, others in public service laws, and again others in labour, criminal and sector-specific law, others do not have any legal protection. The gaps in regulations are not efficient and harm the public interest.
Mr. Benedek Jávor’s message on the political participation of Romas was given on the occasion of the European Roma Information Office’s conference titled “Strengthening Roma Political Participation”. The conference was held 10th of June, 2016; Mr. Jávor’s video message can be watched below.
(Image source: erionet.eu)
You can dowload my presentation from here.
A joint conference was held in Budapest by Policy Solutions Institute and the Greens of the European Parliament on the 18th of March on the role of Russia on the European energy market.
From among the speakers of the conference, MEP Benedek Jávor named energy dependency the most pressing issue of Europe in conjunction with the migration crisis. In his opinion Russia’s negative influence both on Europe and Hungary partially leaks through the developments of the energy market. This dependency on Russia is present not in the form of gas-dependence, but also of nuclear dependence and through the influence of Russian players among company owners in the energy market.
An additional problem, Mr. Jávor pointed out, is the influence of the Russian secret services on energy market decision-making processes, which poses a national safety threat as well. He urged action to be taken in the form of, for example, gaining intelligence on the existing risks as well as recognizing that the solution reaches beyond the simple diversification of gas supply sources. He also called attention to the need of the strict application of existing EU regulations as well as the establishment of new legal procedures.
Tamás Boros, director of strategy at Policy Solutions (a Hungarian institute for political advice and analysis), introduced the institute’s recent study, made in collaboration with the Greens, on the topic of Russia’s role in the EU energy market and the energy dependency of various Eastern European countries as well as Germany, Austria, Finland and Greece. The study shows that the majority of these countries rely heavily on Russian energy import and Hungary is one of the least independent countries, as its dependency on Russia is determined by its gas, oil and nuclear energy needs. Mr. Boros pointed out, however, that the dependency is mutual, as Russia is dependent on money coming from Europe.
Julia Sokolovicova, adviser for the East-Central European segment of Greencpeace, called attention to the strengthened dependency on Russia in connection with the European projects of Rosatom.
The abovementioned study of Policy Solutions has recently been published and is now available in English by clicking here.
What can we, in Europe, do to facilitate this shift from short-sightedness in policy making towards long-term decision making? What is the way forward and why does it matter?
This event aimed to facilitate a discussion around the above questions and provide an overview of existing practices at UN, EU and MS level. Also, it identifed options for better integrating the rights of future generations, better implementing intergenerational equity and bringing long-term thinking into EU policymaking. Contributions were from high representative of the UN (the UN Assistant Secretary General), the European Commission (the Cabinet of Karmenu Vella, Commissioner for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and Karl Falkenberg from the European Policy Strategy Centre) as well as from academia.
In particular, a new report from the Institute for European Environmental Policy and the World Future Council was also discussed. It offers practical, credible options and recommendations for creating and formalising ‘Guardian for Future Generations’ role at EU level.
For the final agenda click here: FINAL AGENDA
You can read a detailed summary of the event here: Summary – Future generations event 28 Sept 2015
You can download the presentation of Prof. Simon Caney form here:1 Brussels Talk Prof Simon Caney presentation 28 Sept 2015
And that of Ms Catherine Pearce form here: World Future Council presentation 28 Sept 2015
You can watch the two video messages here:
Mr Karmenu Vella: https://vimeo.com/141655692
Mr János Pásztor: https://vimeo.com/141655693
Establishing an EU ‘Guardian for Future Generations’– Report and recommendations for the World Future Council, prepared by the IEEP GFG report 24-9
