The European parliament has demanded answers from the commission following the Lux leaks revelations.
Nearly 28,000 pages of documents have been leaked, revealing preferential tax treatment given to multinational companies by Luxembourg. Hundreds of companies, such as Ikea and Amazon, secretly reached deals with the Luxembourgish government to slash their tax bills.
The commission announced in October that it was launching an investigation into questionable tax deals reached between companies and various European governments, including Luxembourg. These new revelations have placed commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in hot water, as he was prime minister of Luxembourg between 1995 and 2013, during which time some of the tax deals were reached.
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An investigation has been launched following claims EU officials were implicated in serious corruption and maladministration, while on a mission in Kosovo designed to help the country fight corruption and crime.
EU foreign affairs chief Federica Mogherini announced that an investigation into the European Union rule of law mission (Eulex) would be transferred to an independent investigator. Top Eulex officials are alleged to have taken bribes to drop criminal cases.
Tonino Picula, chair of parliament's delegation to Kosovo, said, "Considering that Eulex is the biggest mission of the common foreign and security policy of the European Union, allegations such as this certainly have a direct impact on the perception of Eulex and EU foreign and security policy in general."
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Britain has refused to participate in the Frontex Mediterranean refugee operation, claiming it is "encouraging more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossing".
The British government recently announced that it will be withdrawing support for EU Mediterranean migrant rescue operations, claiming that the operation simply encourages more migrants to attempt the dangerous crossing. Joyce Aneley who is the UK's minister of state of the foreign and commonwealth office said, "We do not support planned search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean. We believe that they create an unintended 'pull factor', encouraging more migrants to attempt the dangerous sea crossing and thereby leading to more tragic and unnecessary deaths".
The announcement coincides with the end of the Italian naval rescue operation 'Mare Nostrum' this week. Despite the operation saving more than 150,000 people attempting the crossing from north Africa to Europe across the straights of Sicily, the Italian government is ending the operation due to a lack of international support.
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Parliament president Martin Schulz opened the spring forward for women conference, which brought together MEPs and members of various Arab parliaments to discuss the issue of gender equality and how best to involve women in politics.
This week Schulz kicked off the spring forward for women conference, which aims to bring about ideas for encouraging political representation of women, with particular focus on women in Arab countries. The conference comes as world leaders gear up for the 59th session of the commission on the status of women, due to take place next March at the UN headquarters in New York. At this meeting, heads of states will discuss the progress that has been made 20 years after the implementation of the Beijing platform for action - an agenda for the empowerment of women.
Schulz said that the conference was "a good example of how parliamentarians can exchange ideas and examples of best practices". He told the audience that "women's representation […] in the European parliament has constantly increased since the first direct election in 1979". However, currently only 35 per cent of MEPs are women, and Schulz conceded this "is not equality".
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MEPs have called for the EU to invest its way out of the crisis following the release by the European commission of a more negative than expected growth forecast.
The commission's autumn forecast projects weaker than expected economic growth for the remainder of this year in both the EU and the eurozone. GDP growth is expected to reach 1.3 per cent in the EU and 0.8 per cent in the euro area for 2014 as a whole.
Jyrki Katainen, the commission vice-president for jobs, growth, investment and competitiveness, announced, "The economic and employment situation is not improving fast enough. The European commission is committed to use all available tools and resources to deliver more jobs and growth in Europe. "We will put forward a €300bn investment plan to kick-start and sustain economic recovery. Accelerating investment is the linchpin of economic recovery."
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Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos has met with members of parliament, including president Martin Schulz to discuss his country's peace process and request financial and political support.
For the past 50 years, Colombia has suffered violent conflict at the hands of various paramilitary groups, guerrillas and the government, each looking to increase their influence on Colombian territory. The conflict has claimed the lives of over 170,000 civilians, and millions more have had to leave their homes.
In 2012, the government began peace talks with rebel groups, looking to find a political solution to the conflict. While the peace process is ongoing, observers are worried that human rights continue to be violated, and that durable peace will be difficult to reach.
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