European Union

General : A request by 283 members of the European Parliament for the creation of an inquiry committee to investigate breaches of EU rules on car emission measurements will be put to the vote by the full house on Thursday.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

I. Migration

1. Over the past months, the European Council has developed a strategy aimed at stemming the unprecedented migratory flows Europe is facing. However, implementation is insufficient and has to be speeded up. For the integrity of Schengen to be safeguarded it is indispensable to regain control over the external borders. Deficiencies, notably as regards hotspots, relocation and returns, must be rapidly addressed. The EU institutions and the Member States must urgently: 

a) address the shortcomings at the Schengen external borders, notably by ensuring systematic security checks with relevant databases, and prevent document fraud;

b) address deficiencies in the functioning of hotspots, including by establishing the necessary reception capacity to achieve their objectives; rapidly agree a precise calendar for further hotspots to become operational; ensure that Frontex and EASO have the necessary expertise and equipment; 

c) ensure systematic and complete identification, registration and fingerprinting, and take measures to tackle refusal of registration and stem irregular secondary flows;

d) implement relocation decisions as well as consider including among the beneficiaries of existing decisions other Member States under high pressure who have requested this;

e) take concrete measures to ensure the actual return and readmission of people not authorised to stay and provide support to Member States as regards return operations;

f) enhance measures for fighting smuggling and trafficking of human beings;

g) ensure implementation and operational follow up to:

• the High Level Conference on the Eastern Mediterranean - Western Balkans route; in this context, it is important to help non EU Member States along the Western Balkans route to accomplish registration according to EU standards; 
• the Valletta Summit, particularly as regards returns and readmission, and
• the EU-Turkey Statement of 29 November 2015 and the EU-Turkey Action Plan; in this context COREPER is asked to rapidly conclude its work on how to mobilise the 3 billion euro for the Turkey Refugee Facility;

h) continue implementing the agreed resettlement scheme;

i) continue to closely monitor flows along migration routes so as to be able to rapidly react to developments.

2. The Council should continue work on the crisis relocation mechanism taking into account experience gained, and rapidly decide on its position on the list of safe countries of origin. The Council is invited to rapidly examine the situation concerning Afghanistan. The Council should rapidly examine the Commission proposals of 15 December on a "European Border and Coast Guard", the Schengen Borders Code, "A voluntary humanitarian admission scheme", and travel documents for returns. The Council should adopt its position on the "European Border and Coast Guard" under the Netherlands Presidency. The Commission will rapidly present the review of the Dublin system; in the meantime, existing rules must be implemented. It will also soon present a revised proposal on Smart Borders.

3. The Presidency, the Commission and the High Representative will report back on progress before the February meeting of the European Council.

On 16 December 2015, under the Luxembourg Presidency and subject to the European Parliament and Council formal vote, the Special Committee on Agriculture (SCA) approved a final compromise on a proposal for regulation on school milk, fruit and vegetables scheme.

The Council and the European Parliament representatives identified the overall compromise during a trilogue meeting held on 10 December. On the same occasion the SCA approved a Council Regulation on the same subject, which completes the school scheme, notably as regards the fixing of the EU aid.

Promotion of certain foods for public health

School schemes were originally established in order to promote the consumption of fruit and vegetable and milk products, beneficial in the public health context and are suitable for the distribution to school children. In addition, those sectors are also important for the EU agriculture. Under these schemes EU aid is allocated to member states for the supply of those products in educational establishments. 

The school fruit and vegetables scheme and the school milk scheme are currently separate programmes. In January 2014, the Commission made a proposal merging the schemes and amending the new single Common Market Organisation (single CMO) regulation under the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) (5958/14) and the regulation fixing certain aids and refunds (6054/14). The new scheme will have an overall yearly budget of €250 millions (milk products: €100 millions; fruit and vegetables: €150 millions).

The next steps

The European Parliament is expected to vote the compromise text at a meeting of its Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development in late January.

The Chairman of the SCA, for the Presidency, will send a letter to the Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. This letter indicates that if the Parliament votes at its plenary session the compromise texts as approved by the SCA, after legal-linguistic revision, the Council will be able to reach agreement with the European Parliament on school milk, fruit and vegetables schemes in first reading. This should enable the entry into force of the new scheme in Spring 2016 and its application from August 2017.

Companies and organisations hoping that the European Commission’s impact assessment on ED criteria will drive evidence-based policy with appropriate consideration of all costs and benefits should take warning of today’s ruling from the General Court of the European Union (Judgment in Case T-521/14 Sweden v Commission).

You may remember that in July 2014 Sweden decided to bring the European Commission before the Court for being late on delivering criteria to identify endocrine disrupting substances (ED) by December 13 2013 – as required by the biocides regulation. It turned out that Sweden was not the only one tired of waiting for the Commission to act as Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Finland, the European Parliament and the Council decided to join the case as well.

Following a markedly fast moving procedure, the Court has come to a decision on 16 December. The judges found  the Commission breached its clear, precise and unconditional obligation to adopt scientific criteria for the determination of endocrine-disrupting properties. Interestingly, the court notes that no provision forced the Commission to conduct an impact assessment before proposing ED criteria; an argument used by the Commission’s lawyers to justify the delay.

The ruling should not come as a surprise as the Commission clearly missed the deadline. A few important comments need to be made though.

From a legal perspective on the one hand, it is probably the first time that the binding nature of a deadline enshrined in legislation is so clearly recognised by the Court. According to the judges, the deadline is not a mere objective but a legally binding obligation. In other words, the Commission has no margin of maneuver. On the other hand, the case should also draw attention from a political perspective as it could affect the ongoing ED impact assessment process – most importantly how its outcome could be received.

The impact assessment will go on, of course, and eventually deliver the long-awaited ED criteria. However it remains to be seen how much the Commission’s credibility on this dossier could be (even more) weakened by the ruling. In bringing the Commission before the Court, Sweden had more than a legal objective in mind (otherwise Swedish authorities would challenge the Commission every time they miss a deadline). With the chemicals policy high on its political agenda – EDs in particular – it was particularly important for Sweden to have the Commission’s failure to adopt the criteria acknowledged by the European judge.

From that perspective, it is a success for Sweden and its supporters. A success that many more of their allies could use to challenge upcoming Commission’s decisions, when necessary.

by Pauline Tawil and Michael Stanton-Geddes

Plenary sessions : EU laws must be as simple and clear as possible to ensure that citizens can easily understand their rights and obligations. The European Parliament Conference of Presidents endorsed on Wednesday, with a large majority, an agreement with the Council and the Commission to improve the quality of EU legislation, which needs to focus on areas where the EU has the greatest added value for its citizens.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : EU laws must be as simple and clear as possible to ensure that citizens can easily understand their rights and obligations. The European Parliament Conference of Presidents endorsed on Wednesday, with a large majority, an agreement with the Council and the Commission to improve the quality of EU legislation, which needs to focus on areas where the EU has the greatest added value for its citizens.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

On 16 December 2015, the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) approved a compromise text agreed with the European Parliament on a directive on procedural safeguards for children in criminal proceedings. 

The purpose of the directive is to provide procedural safeguards for children (meaning persons below 18) who are suspected or accused of having committed a criminal offence. The directive will provide additional safeguards to those that already apply to suspects and accused adults.

Félix Braz, Luxembourg Minister for Justice and President of the Council said: "The agreement reached with the European Parliament is an important step forward for the European judicial area. This is the first binding instrument in this area and is a real breakthrough, particularly as regards the assistance of children by a lawyer. The new directive will contribute to enhancing mutual trust between the judicial systems of the Union." 

A core provision of the directive relates to the assistance by a lawyer. Member states should make sure that the child is assisted by a lawyer, where necessary by providing legal aid.  Other important provisions of the directive concern the provision of information on rights, the right to have an individual assessment, the right to a medical examination, and the right to audio-visual recording of questioning. It also provides special safeguards for children during deprivation of liberty, in particular during detention.

Next steps

The text of the directive will now be revised by legal-linguists, and will subsequently be submitted to the plenary of the European Parliament and to the Council for adoption.

Background

Since 2009, the work in the European Union on strengthening procedural rights for suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings has been carried out on the basis of the roadmap, which was adopted by the Council on 30 November 2009. The roadmap sets out a gradual approach towards establishing a full catalogue of procedural rights for suspects and accused persons in criminal proceedings. The European Council has made the roadmap part of the Stockholm programme, in which explicit reference was made to a measure on the presumption of innocence. 

Three directives have already been adopted on the basis of the roadmap: Directive 2010/64/EU on the right to interpretation and translation in criminal proceedings, Directive 2012/13/EU on the right to information in criminal proceedings, and Directive 2013/48/EU on the right of access to a lawyer in criminal proceedings and in European arrest warrant proceedings, and on the right to have a third party informed upon deprivation of liberty and to communicate with third persons and with consular authorities while deprived of liberty.  Recently, another directive has been agreed, on the presumption of innocence.

Plenary sessions : The terrorism threat in Europe has boosted calls for stricter arms controls. On Wednesday MEPs debate a report calling for the EU's code on arms exports to be applied more strictly, followed by a vote the next day. In 2013 alone EU member states exported €26.7 billion worth of arms to countries outside the EU. In addition MEPs will soon be asked to have their say on new EU rules to strengthen firearms controls.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : The terrorism threat in Europe has boosted calls for stricter arms controls. On Wednesday MEPs debate a report calling for the EU's code on arms exports to be applied more strictly, followed by a vote the next day. In 2013 alone EU member states exported €26.7 billion worth of arms to countries outside the EU. In addition MEPs will soon be asked to have their say on new EU rules to strengthen firearms controls.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

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In March 2012 Serbia was granted EU candidate status. In September 2013 a Stabilisation and Association Agreement between the EU and Serbia entered into force.

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Air Canada v Commission
Competition
The General Court annuls the decision by which the Commission imposed fines amounting to approximately €790 million on several airlines for their participation in a cartel on the airfreight market

Plenary sessions : Parliament spells out the legal steps needed to improve corporate tax transparency, coordination and EU-wide policy convergence in a resolution voted on Wednesday., Parliament’s drive to persuade EU member states to act to counter aggressive corporate tax planning and evasion by multinationals in Europe was triggered by the November 2014 “Luxleaks” revelations about Luxembourg’s dubious tax deals with them.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : Parliament spells out the legal steps needed to improve corporate tax transparency, coordination and EU-wide policy convergence in a resolution voted on Wednesday., Parliament’s drive to persuade EU member states to act to counter aggressive corporate tax planning and evasion by multinationals in Europe was triggered by the November 2014 “Luxleaks” revelations about Luxembourg’s dubious tax deals with them.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : The EU should start immediately to monitor threats to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary, says Parliament in a resolution voted on Wednesday. The EU Commission should assess whether the combined effect of government measures there has led to a “systemic deterioration”, which, if the Commission fails to address it, could trigger similar developments in other member states too, it adds.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : The EU should start immediately to monitor threats to democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights in Hungary, says Parliament in a resolution voted on Wednesday. The EU Commission should assess whether the combined effect of government measures there has led to a “systemic deterioration”, which, if the Commission fails to address it, could trigger similar developments in other member states too, it adds.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : The EU and China must work more closely together to tackle global challenges and threats, such as terrorism, illegal migration, security, climate change and global financial and market governance, Parliament says in a resolution passed on Wednesday. It calls for talks to be accelerated on a new partnership and cooperation agreement "based on trust, transparency and respect for human rights."

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : The EU and China must work more closely together to tackle global challenges and threats, such as terrorism, illegal migration, security, climate change and global financial and market governance, Parliament says in a resolution passed on Wednesday. It calls for talks to be accelerated on a new partnership and cooperation agreement "based on trust, transparency and respect for human rights."

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : The EU Commission should withdraw its authorisation of the use of glyphosate-tolerant GM maize NK603xT25 in food and feed, says a resolution voted by Parliament on Wednesday. MEPs note that glyphosate, a herbicide, is classified as “probably carcinogenic” by the WHO. It urges the Commission to suspend any authorisations for GM food and feed as long as the authorisation procedure, currently under review, has not been improved.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP