European Union

On Thursday, Parliament backed a draft bill to increase European production of ammunition and missiles.
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

On Thursday, Parliament backed a draft bill to increase European production of ammunition and missiles.
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

The EU’s updated renewable energy directive includes numerous measures to fast-track projects. Meeting the EU’s updated 2030 target for renewables will now require swift implementation by EU Member States, write Marian Bons and Agustin Roth. Marian Bons and Agustin Roth...

The alleged attempts to influence MEPs unveiled loopholes in Parliament’s internal rules, alongside other issues, says Special Committee on Foreign Interference.
Special Committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation, and the strengthening of integrity, transparency and accountability in the European Parliament

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

The alleged attempts to influence MEPs unveiled loopholes in Parliament’s internal rules, alongside other issues, says Special Committee on Foreign Interference.
Special Committee on foreign interference in all democratic processes in the European Union, including disinformation, and the strengthening of integrity, transparency and accountability in the European Parliament

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

The first auction to support green hydrogen production in Europe will help understand supply and demand on the emerging EU market when it takes place at the end of the year, according to the European Commission.

The heat pump industry is entering a transformative decade, with major producers jostling for market share, consumers angling for state support and EU governments aiming to nurture the bloc's nascent industry while meeting climate goals.

A global race has started to manufacture the millions of heat pumps needed to decarbonise heating, with Asian and East European countries taking a head start.

This week’s announcement from the Council on the adoption of three Regulations marks the end of a rapid process of enacting the Windsor Framework.

As discussed earlier this month, while the February photoshoot in leafy Surrey [my local news sources were very adamant about it not being even Berkshire, let alone Windsor] was good for headlines, it wasn’t much more than a set of commitments to enact a bundle of items.

While the Joint Committee‘s meeting within a month permitted much of that content to be moved into the rule books, even with an accelerated procedure the EU has needed a further two months to get these Regulations over the line.

PDF: https://bit.ly/UshGraphic119

But enactment is not quite the same as application, as we noted before. While I picked out a couple of examples last time, it felt sensible to be more systematic about this, given that we are now on the next stage.

The graphic below sets out the progressive application for the central Joint Committee decision and for the three Regulations: the other elements are effective immediately.

The Joint Committee decision unpacks its provisions, with goods subject to a phased introduction of new measures, conditional upon British implementation. This is similar to the original transitional elements within the Withdrawal Agreement and reflect an intention to allow market operators to adjust over a clear time horizon.

Likewise, the SPS Regulation phases in markings of retail goods, especially on diary and meat where production and distribution chains have been most cross-border pre-withdrawal.

Of course, markings on retail goods is a more general UK headache, with the UKCA mark pushed back to the end of 2024, so producers will need to incorporate this aspect in a more systemic overhaul, which in turn requires a definitive central government position.

Finally, the medicines Regulation will only apply from 2025, again conditional upon several British guarantees.

PDF: https://bit.ly/UshGraphic120

Recall that all of this comes three years into the notional start of the Protocol. Partly this is the price paid for the breakneck timetable of negotiation and ratification, but it is also a reflection of the British government’s long refusal to accept the Protocol as the baseline for future relations.

Business might be understandably loath to use capital expenditure when policy remains in the air: indeed, even when policy appears relatively clear, misallocation occurs with all its associated opportunity costs.

The take away here is still that implementation will be a long process, rather than an event. Even when we get to the end of this set of transitions, we run directly into the TCA revision in 2025, which might produce further changes. Not to mention the potential effects of a general election.

Relations are thus in semi-permanent flux: the question is how this is managed by the parties and communicated to stakeholders and citizens. Whether that’s easier or harder as we return to the technocratic mode is open to debate, but reflection on that now might seem a prudent course of action.

The post Into full Windsor implementation appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Thursday, 1 June

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Thursday, 1 June

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

The EU aims to use the European Political Community summit in Moldova on Thursday (1 June) to tackle the rising tensions between Serbia and Kosovo that threaten an EU-brokered deal on the normalisation of relations between the two Balkan countries.

On this week’s episode of the Beyond the Byline podcast, EURACTIV looks at the reasons behind the growing trust in conservative and right-wing parties by citizens across Europe and beyond. According to experts, there has been a notable shift in...

The UN has proposed that Kyiv, Moscow and Ankara start preparatory work for the transit of Russian ammonia through Ukraine as it tries to salvage a deal allowing safe Black Sea grain exports, a source said on 31 May.

The French government is fighting tooth and nail to prove to Credit Rating Agency S&P Global that it should not downgrade the country's rating in spite of high debt and deficit levels, opening up complex questions on financing the green transition.

In today’s edition of the Capitals, find out more about Ireland working together with Germany on green hydrogen, the EU planning to join the Istanbul Convention despite resistance from some member states, and so much more.

Andreas Babler faces backlash after a 2020 video of him spouting anti-EU comments was released, pressuring his bid for the Socialist Party leadership just ahead of Saturday’s all-decisive SPÖ party conference. The 2020 video, which surfaced just before Babler is set...

The largest pan-European field hospital, which includes seven EU countries and Turkey, was presented on Wednesday in Cascais, Lisbon, and aims to improve the European civil protection mechanism for medical emergencies following natural or man-made disasters. “There is the concern...

Foreign ministers from the BRICS countries are meeting in South Africa from Thursday (1 June) as the five-nation bloc seeks to forge itself into a counterweight to Western geopolitical dominance in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The EU Commission plans to organise and finance the purchase of firefighting aircraft, and Croatia has applied to be one of the member states to receive these planes, the head of Croatia’s civil protection directorate, Damir Trut, said in Brussels...