In order to actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union, we must not only look at production within Europe, but also include the environmental costs in international trade with third countries. How these external environmental costs can be internalized in the European CO2 calculation was the core...
Sick and injured cows - the images secretly recorded by animal rights activists on a farm in Unterallgäu shocked the public more than a year ago. The public prosecutor's office in Memmingen has now charged two farmers and four employees of the dairy farm in Bad Grönenbach. 58 cattle were, as the...
For effective consumer protection in the EU, many areas must be interlinked. How exactly this overall picture should be addressed holistically by European policy and which issues need to be prioritized was the focus of the discussion between Manuela Ripa, MEP of the Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP), and...
The EU Parliament today adopted new draft legislation to strengthen consumer protection and the sustainability of products in the European Union in many areas: In future, there will be mandatory labeling for the lifespan and reparability of products. In addition, the planned obsolescence, i.e. the...
For the first time, the EU Parliament has agreed on a Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) that provides clear budget quotas for climate protection, species conservation, biodiversity protection and a CO2 tax. In addition to the basic budget of 1,074 billion euros for the period from 2021 to...
The new RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership) free trade agreement, which China and 14 other countries from the Asia-Pacific region concluded at the weekend, covers almost a third of global economic output and around 2.2 billion people. This makes it the largest and most comprehensive free trade agreement in the world - and...
The EU wants to ban the preventive use of antibiotics in factory farming from 2022. However, the ban in its current form leaves crucial legal loopholes that urgently need to be closed! As part of World Antimicrobial Awareness Week (November 18 - 24, 2020), Manuela Ripa,...
Brussels, November 13, 2020 How can the EU's trade policy help to ensure greater animal welfare, consumer protection and sustainability in agriculture? This was one of the key questions that Manuela Ripa, MEP of the Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP), discussed today with Matthias Wolfschmidt, Director of International Trade and...
Brussels, November 12, 2020Two weeks ago, the EU Council of Ministers and a majority in the EU Parliament voted in favor of a disappointing Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) that - apart from some weak greenwashing approaches - has nothing to do with the objectives of the European Green Deal. A CAP...
Brussels, November 12, 2020 The EU sees itself as the guardian of human rights in Europe and worldwide. The annual Sakharov Prize awarded by the European Parliament symbolizes this claim. It was therefore only logical to severely restrict the use of surveillance technology by authoritarian regimes with the Dual-Use Regulation. The Dual-Use Regulation is intended to...