Brazil wants to strengthen commercial and political linkages with the European Union. The priority with Europe is to finalize a stalled trade pact between the EU and Mercosur (a bloc comprised of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Venezuela representing a market of 291 million people). One of the main difficulties in advancing an EU-Mercosur deal has been Argentina’s isolationist position on international trade. Throughout 2014, Mercosur countries hotly debated ways to move forward together.

Back on 25 and 26 February 2014, the full House of Representatives in Spain passed a resolution promoted by the Parliamentary Group CiU1 and agreed with the majority People’s Party (PP) in which lobby regulation is included in point 5

Preventing a Greek exit is still desirable. Politically it is much easier to renegotiate a compromise with Greece, albeit a lame one, and thus maintain the fiction that Greece will pay back its loans at some point of time.

Scenario

1. Maria Damanaki (Greece): Former European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. Now, Global Managing Director for Oceans, The Nature Conservancy.
2. Herman Van Rompuy (Belgium): Former President of the European Council. Now, Chairman Tomorrowlab Advisory Board.
3. Janez Potocnik (Slovenia): Former Commissioner for the Environment. Now, Chairman, UN International Resource Panel + Forum for the Future of Agriculture.

According to Alliance for Transparency and Ethics Regulation (ALTER-EU) a number of actors are absent from the European Union Transparency Register (EUTR) although they are engaged in lobbying activities either directly or indirectly.

The new Minsk agreement calls for

The medical devices industry constitutes a key sector for healthcare. It is one of the most innovative sectors, improving and saving lives every day by providing innovative solutions for diagnosis, prevention and treatments. The medical devices industry is also a major employer in Europe. However these companies face challenges of national, European and international dimensions that may have an impact on their innovation capacity and their competitiveness. These difficulties might have consequences on the health of European citizens.

The treaty establishing the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU) entered into force on 1st January 2015. It includes Armenia; Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia, with Kyrgistan to join in May 2015. At this time, the Eurasian Union represents 175.7 million people. 

Starting in September 2017, the move to automatic information exchange will make it much easier for tax authorities to track down tax cheats.

More than 65 countries have already publicly committed to implement automatic information exchange, including offshore financial centres such as Switzerland, Luxembourg, Singapore and the British Crown and Overseas Territories. Other centres such as Dubai and Panama have signalled that they will resist the transparency initiative;

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists is a global network of 185 investigative journalists in more than 65 countries who collaborate on in-depth investigative stories. Founded in 1997 by the respected American journalist Chuck Lewis, ICIJ was launched as a project of the Center for Public Integrity to extend the Center’s style of watchdog journalism, focusing on issues that do not stop at national frontiers: cross-border crime, corruption, and the accountability of power.