International

In his ‘State of the Union’, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker repeated the claim that he was pursing the fight against tax dodging by major corporations. In addition, he advocated a doubling of the European Fund for Strategic Investment, aka the Juncker Fund. Yet now it's precisely via the Juncker Fund that money is finding its way straight to tax havens such as the Cayman Islands. Counter Balance, an organisation which keeps a critical eye on the European Investment Bank (EIB), has published a new report where all of this is explained in great detail. This is a matter on which I'll soon be putting written questions to the Commission. Juncker has some explaing to do.

The European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) today presented a manifesto containing concrete proposals to combat social dumping in European road transport. Responding to the proposals, SP Euro-MP Dennis de Jong said: “Social dumping in road transport not only leads to degrading situations for drivers but also undermines road safety. Last year along with like-minded MEPs I presented a package of proposals to Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc. ETF’s proposals point in the same direction, and I’ll be stepping up the pressure on the Commissioner to get her to take them on board when she, as she has previously announced she would, comes up with her own legislative proposals early next year.”