European Union

It gives me great pleasure to again welcome the President of Georgia, Giorgi Margvelashvili, here in Brussels. 

Overall we are seeing good progress in our bilateral relations. And the strong pro-European stance of the Georgian people is a solid base for Georgia's continued progress in implementing reforms and strengthening democracy and the rule of law.

I am pleased to note that the EU-Georgia Association Agreement will fully enter into force on the 1st of July, and I look forward to working together to reap maximum benefits from it.

We spoke about Georgia's parliamentary elections, due to take place in October. Recent reports about violence against opposition politicians and members of the parliament are of real concern to me. I welcome the fact that the perpetrators have now been charged. Obviously, all steps must now be taken to prevent such incidents in the future. Thank you Mister President for your very clear and tough assessment of these events. What I have heard is really promising.

These elections will be an important test to the strength and resilience of Georgia's democracy. It is our expectation that the Georgian authorities will make every effort to guarantee a respectful, inclusive, and orderly election environment. Free and pluralistic media is an essential precondition for that. I noted with satisfaction the planned involvement of election observers.

I also reiterated to the President the EU's support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. I underlined our firm commitment to conflict resolution and the policy of non-recognition and engagement. The EU Special Representative and the EU Monitoring Mission underscore this commitment.

Finally, we touched upon Georgia's visa-free aspirations. As you know, last December the European Commission confirmed that Georgia had achieved all the required benchmarks for a positive final decision, which I trust will be forthcoming soon. The Commission's proposal to grant Georgian citizens visa-free travel to the Schengen area is currently being discussed by the Council and the European Parliament.

Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of our daily Brussels Briefing. To receive it every morning in your email in-box, sign up here.

Voters are growing disenchanted with the EU – and Britain is far from being an outlier. That is the bottom line of Pew’s latest survey, which offers one of the best guides to opinion across the continent. For EU supporters it makes for sobering reading. We’ve picked out four charts.

 

Within the general decline in positive views of the EU over the past decade, one country stands out: France. While French views of the EU have see-sawed over the past few years, there was an extraordinary 17 point drop in respondents having a positive view of the EU this year. Only Greece – not included on our chart – has a more negative view (71 per cent have a unfavourable view of the union).

What explains the slide in support? Any gains that came from economic rebound seem to have been wiped out this year by the migration crisis.

Views of how the EU has handled the situation range from poor (Netherlands and Germany) to catastrophic (Sweden and Greece).

Read more

Plenary sessions : One year on from its launch, MEPs voiced sharply divided verdicts on the progress of the €315 billion investment plan for Europe, or "Juncker plan", in Wednesday's debate with EU Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen. While the EPP and S&D broadly welcomed the work of the "European Fund for Strategic Investment" (EFSI) and the Commission's announcement that it proposes to extend the lifetime of the plan, MEPs from smaller groups were sceptical about its achievements to date.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : One year on from its launch, MEPs voiced sharply divided verdicts on the progress of the €315 billion investment plan for Europe, or "Juncker plan", in Wednesday's debate with EU Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen. While the EPP and S&D broadly welcomed the work of the "European Fund for Strategic Investment" (EFSI) and the Commission's announcement that it proposes to extend the lifetime of the plan, MEPs from smaller groups were sceptical about its achievements to date.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Entry into office of new Judges at the General Court

Entry into office of new Judges at the General Court

On BBC Question Time last week, Frank Field, MP, got it wrong by repeating that old myth that the EU accounts hadn’t been signed-off. I wrote him an open letter – to which I am still awaiting a reply:

Dear Mr Field

On BBC Question Time last night (2 June) you told the audience:

‘I can’t remember the last time your money was accounted properly in Europe and was signed-off by the auditors. They actually cannot justify how they’re spending your money.’

This is wrong. The EU accounts are signed-off every year by the independent European Court of Auditors. Every penny of our money sent to the EU is accounted for and justified. See my full report at: www.Audit.Reasons2Remain.eu

As a leading Labour MP supporting Brexit, isn’t it important that facts are accurately presented to the electorate?

Can I please ask you to issue a correction to your comment on Question Time, or at least to give an undertaking not to repeat your inaccurate statement that the EU accounts aren’t signed-off?

Yours sincerely

Jon Danzig
For Reasons2Remain

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Other stories by Jon Danzig:

• The EU accounts ARE signed off
• What does Brexit look like? Nobody knows
• They want their country back, not yours
• List of the latest articles by Jon Danzig

To follow my stories please like my Facebook page: Jon Danzig Writes

_________________________________________________

• Join Jon Danzig’s new Facebook community in support of Britain remaining a member of the European Union – Reasons2Remain
• Share on Twitter and Facebook:

#EUReferendum: #FrankField MP gets it wrong about #EU accounts on #BBCQT Share open letter: https://t.co/QsBOW57xhl pic.twitter.com/E8CJGJYwPq

— Reasons2Remain (@Reasons2Remain) 3 June 2016

The post Frank Field, MP, gets it wrong on Question Time appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Place:           European Convention Centre Luxembourg (ECCL)
Chair(s):       Ard van der Steur, Minister for Security and Justice
                      Klaas Dijkhoff, Minister for Migration

All times are approximate and subject to change

 Justice (9 June 2016)

+/- 08.30
Arrivals (live streaming)
+/- 09.25
Doorstep by Minister Van der Steur 

+/- 10.00
Beginning of the meeting (roundtable)
Adoption of agenda
(poss) Adoption of legislative A items (public session)
+/- 10.10
Digital agenda (public session)
+/- 10.40
Matrimonial property regimes and Registered partnerships (public session)
+/- 10.50
European public prosecutor's office - EPPO (public session)
+/- 11.50
Fight against fraud to the Union's financial interests by means of criminal law - PIF (public session)
+/- 12.20
European criminal records information system - ECRIS (public session)
+/- 12.55
Adoption of non-legislative A items

Ministerial lunch
"Enhancing cooperation between compensation funds for victims" 

+/- 15.00
Criminal justice in cyberspace 

+/- 17.00 
Press conference (live streaming) 

Home Affairs (10 June 2016) 

+/- 08.30
Arrivals (live streaming)
+/- 09.25
Doorstep by Minister Minister Van der Steur 

+/- 10.00
Beginning of the Mixed Committee meeting (roundtable)
Adoption of agenda
+/- 10.10
Weapons

+/- 11.15
Beginning of Home Affairs meeting
Roadmap to enhance information exchange and information management including interoperability solutions in the Justice and Home Affairs area
+/- 12.00
Fight against terrorism
+/- 12.30
Internal Security: Implementation report on the Renewed EU Internal Security Strategy (2015-2020)

+/- 12.45
Doorstep by Minister Klaas Dijkhoff 

+/- 13.05
Weapons (public session) 

+/- 13.15
Press conference (live streaming) 

Ministerial lunch
"External aspects of migration and challenges of the Central Mediterranean"

 +/- 15.00
Mixed Committee resumes
Migration
Visa liberalisation
European border guard 

+/- 17.35
Home Affairs Council resumes
Visa liberalisation (public session)
European border guard (public session)
+/- 18.10
Migration

+/- 18.45
Press conference (live streaming)

Brigadier General Eric Harvent, a Belgian national, has been appointed as mission commander for the EU training mission in Mali (EUTM Mali). He will take up his duties on 3 July 2016. He will take over from Brigadier General Werner Albl, who has held the post since December 2015.

EUTM Mali assists in the reconstruction of effective and accountable Malian armed forces capable of ensuring the long-term security of Mali and, under civilian authority, restoring the country's territorial integrity. To this effect, EUTM Mali delivers training to units of the Malian armed forces and develops autonomous training capability. The mission also provides advice to the Malian authorities on reforming the army. The mission was launched on 18 February 2013. Its mandate was recently extended to 18 May 2018. The headquarters of the mission are located in Bamako, Mali.

The mission is part of the EU's comprehensive approach to security and development in the Sahel. Two other CSDP missions are in place in the region: EUCAP Sahel Mali, which supports the Malian state to ensure constitutional and democratic order and the conditions for lasting peace as well as to maintain its authority throughout the entire territory; and EUCAP Sahel Niger, which supports the fight against organised crime and terrorism in Niger.

Plenary sessions : The new European Commission proposals for a review of the “blue card” scheme for highly-skilled workers from third countries, which should simplify their admission and improve their living conditions, and for an action plan to promote successful integration of migrants within the EU, were debated on in plenary session on Tuesday with Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : The new European Commission proposals for a review of the “blue card” scheme for highly-skilled workers from third countries, which should simplify their admission and improve their living conditions, and for an action plan to promote successful integration of migrants within the EU, were debated on in plenary session on Tuesday with Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : MEPs debated on Wednesday morning whether the EU's €315 billion investment plan to fuel Europe's economic recovery by mobilising public and private investment was delivering. According to the European Commission, the first year of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) has been promising, but MEPs had mixed reactions. Read more about the plan and the plenary debate.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : MEPs debated on Wednesday morning whether the EU's €315 billion investment plan to fuel Europe's economic recovery by mobilising public and private investment was delivering. According to the European Commission, the first year of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) has been promising, but MEPs had mixed reactions. Read more about the plan and the plenary debate.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

On 8 June 2016, the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) agreed, on behalf of the Council, a negotiating stance on new rules on prospectuses for the issuing and offering of securities. 

The draft regulation is aimed at reducing one of the main regulatory hurdles that companies face when issuing equity and debt securities. It sets out to simplify and alleviate administrative obligations related to the publication of prospectuses in a manner that still ensures that investors are well informed. 

"This is an important reform that will help companies in need of finance to gain access to European capital markets", said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, minister for finance of the Netherlands and president of the Council. “The prospectus is an essential instrument for investors, but legal requirements must not create unnecessary barriers to raising capital."

The Council will confirm Coreper's agreement at a meeting on 17 June 2016, and will ask the presidency to start talks with the European Parliament. The aim is to adopt the regulation at first reading.

A reform of prospectus rules is amongst measures announced by the Commission under its 2014 “investment plan for Europe” with the aim of improving the business environment. 

And it is a second major building block of the EU's 2015 plan to develop a capital markets union. In December 2015, the Council reached a similar agreement on proposals to facilitate the development of a securitisation market in Europe. The capital markets union is due to be fully functioning by the end of 2019. The aim is to strengthen the role of market-based finance, alongside bank finance, in the EU economy. 

Prospectuses present information about a company that enables investors to decide whether to purchase securities issued or offered by that company. The law requires their publication when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading. However SMEs in particular can be deterred from issuing or offering securities because of the paperwork and costs involved. The draft regulation therefore sets out to provide all types of issuers with disclosure rules that are tailored to their specific needs, whilst making the prospectus a more relevant tool for informing potential investors. 

Transforming an existing directive into a regulation, the text will moreover reduce divergences that have emerged in implementation by the member states. It will enhance the coherence of prospectus rules throughout EU single market, in keeping with the goals of the capital markets union. 

The proposal establishes specific rules for companies already listed on a regulated market that wish to raise additional capital buy means of a secondary issuance, as well as for SMEs. 

It also sets out to achieve greater convergence between prospectus rules and other disclosure rules.

The regulation requires a qualified majority for adoption by the Council, in agreement with the European Parliament. (Legal basis: article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.)