European Union

General : Extraordinary Plenary session live in Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

“All changed, changed utterly,” wrote the celebrated Irish poet W.B. Yeats of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, adding “a terrible beauty is born!” A century later, he might well have been writing about the result of Britain’s referendum on EU membership.

Radical change has been the dream of the UK’s triumphant Brexiteers, but what, beautiful or not, will be born? An absence of clarity about the impact of Brexit on the UK, the rest of Europe and worldwide will last for a decade at least. The notion that Britain can neatly cut the links binding it to continental Europe will quickly prove absurd, as will the idea that the surgery will be painless and only local.

To return to that ‘terrible beauty’; the referendum result suggests that a majority of British voters believe they have freed themselves of the cumbersome diktats of the EU ‘superstate’, and that the UK will be able to rediscover its former glory. They see the British lion again standing rampant at the centre of an international trading system wider than Europe, with the strength to impose some benign new form of Pax Britannica whenever troubles threaten.

The picture is beguiling but misleading. It is impossible to predict how the 27 remaining EU member states will react, but right now it seems likely that next week’s scheduled meeting of the European Council grouping national leaders will be a subdued affair.

David Cameron’s successor will presumably attend as Britain’s prime minister, and the appropriate courtesies will be extended to him, along with commiserations for having lost the referendum.

Once the dampening effects of shock wear off, though, the pain will come flooding in. This summer will see the beginning of a tumultuous political crisis that will probably set many EU member states against one another, and will certainly reverberate around the world.

It is too soon even to guess at the immediate consequences of the vote for Brexit. The pound sterling will probably tumble, stocks and shares slide and the global financial system will be severely shaken. But what goes down can also come back up, so the more important question is the longer term political outlook for the EU and for the 60-year process of European integration.

Will Britain’s exit trigger a wave of copycat pressures across the Union, as many fear? The European Union’s global credibility is going to suffer, and the further risk is that voters in other European countries will demand special treatment that could, unless satisfied, prompt fresh demands to leave the EU.

The arguments raging so fiercely in recent months inside the UK have been followed closely elsewhere, not least by Europe’s eurosceptic populists. The established centre-right and centre-left mainstream parties that in effect govern the EU’s choices and direction know that their reactions to the Brexit decision must avoid strengthening their hand.

That leaves the EU and its member governments with a difficult balancing act. They must avoid panicking and permitting the UK’s withdrawal negotiations to exacerbate euroscepticism elsewhere. And they must at the same time create a more positive climate so as to move the European project forward.

A first step would be to stop pretending that the EU’s lack of accountability is no problem. Eurosceptics are not the only ones to question the secrecy surrounding Council of Ministers’ meetings that produce no public record of who said what, along with the unelected character of the European Commission.

No one can predict the sort of more open, democratic and transparent EU decision-making structure that might emerge from a re-think. The EU and the national leaders who in truth are responsible for its policies would, however, be very unwise to ignore the pressures for reform. Not the sort of narrow, self-serving ‘reforms’ that Britain’s prime minister David Cameron attempted to secure earlier this year, but imaginative improvements that could restore the EU’s credibility and popularity.

IMAGE CREDIT: CC / FLICKR – Dave Kellam

The post ‘All changed, changed utterly’ – How the Brexit vision of UK freedom risks turning sour appeared first on Europe’s World.

Europe is awakening to a momentous morning. Britain has voted to leave the EU. Sixty years of European statecraft has gone into reverse. Britain’s government is in turmoil. Markets have plunged. Sterling has suffered its biggest fall in 30 years. The uncertainty over what comes next is palpable.

Britain’s vote will transform not just Britain and its place in the world, but spill over into global markets, Europe’s economy, and the balance of power on the bloc. The coming hours will be of historic importance, framing what will be a protracted and difficult divorce. The potential consequences of this vote are hard to overstate. This is the biggest challenge for the continent since the end of the Cold War.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT — BEST OF THE FT

A Brexit vote that changes everything. The referendum gamble that left Mr Cameron’s career in tatters. Our guide to the world’s most complex divorce. The fallout for Europe and the world. The bumpy road for the British economy. The bitter campaign that divided Britain. The FT live blog. What happens next. How currency markets called this wrong. Brexiters find their fizz. Europe’s populists cheer.

THE MARKET RESPONSE

Read more

Source: BBC

As the UK referendum on EU Membership is taking place, FleishmanHillard looks into the potential impact of a “Brexit” or a “Bremain” on the European Parliament and the Council. As you are reading our pieces, remember one thing: as of tomorrow, nothing will be the same in Brussels.

WHAT IF – Council of the European Union

WHAT IF_European Parliament

FleishmanHillard Institutional Research Unit

A new standard European travel document to speed the return of non-EU nationals staying "irregularly" in EU member states without valid passports or identity cards was informally agreed by MEPs and EU ministers on Thursday evening. A key goal during the talks has been to increase third countries’ acceptance of the document through improved technical details. To enter into force, this informal deal needs to be formally endorsed by the full Parliament and the Council of Ministers.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

A new standard European travel document to speed the return of non-EU nationals staying "irregularly" in EU member states without valid passports or identity cards was informally agreed by MEPs and EU ministers on Thursday evening. A key goal during the talks has been to increase third countries’ acceptance of the document through improved technical details. To enter into force, this informal deal needs to be formally endorsed by the full Parliament and the Council of Ministers.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

The objective of this hearing, on 30 June from 9.00-11.00, is to assess whether the use of drones complies with international law including respect for human rights and international humanitarian law. Issues related to civilian casualties and impact on affected communities, the question of transparency and accountability as well as the need for meaningful compensation mechanisms will also be addressed.
Location : PHS 4B001, BRUSSELS
Programme
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : The EU's renewable energy target - 20% of total consumption by 2020 - has already been hit by many EU member states. But others lag behind and must do more, MEPs urge in a resolution, voted on Thursday, on the EU Commission's “renewables progress report." To achieve the EU's energy efficiency target - a 20% gain by 2020 – member states need to implement EU legislation faster, and in full, says a second resolution, also voted on Thursday.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : The EU's renewable energy target - 20% of total consumption by 2020 - has already been hit by many EU member states. But others lag behind and must do more, MEPs urge in a resolution, voted on Thursday, on the EU Commission's “renewables progress report." To achieve the EU's energy efficiency target - a 20% gain by 2020 – member states need to implement EU legislation faster, and in full, says a second resolution, also voted on Thursday.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : “It is time for our people to live in freedom, without walls and checkpoints”, urged President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas in his address to MEPs on Thursday. He conveyed his people’s gratitude to the European Parliament for recognising a State of Palestine and criticised Israel for pursuing its occupation of Palestinian territories.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : “It is time for our people to live in freedom, without walls and checkpoints”, urged President of the Palestinian National Authority Mahmoud Abbas in his address to MEPs on Thursday. He conveyed his people’s gratitude to the European Parliament for recognising a State of Palestine and criticised Israel for pursuing its occupation of Palestinian territories.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

will take place on Thursday 30 June, 9:00-11:00 (room Paul-Henri Spaak 4B001) and 11:15-12:45 (room Altiero Spinelli 5E-2) in Brussels.

Organisations or interest groups who wish to apply for access to the European Parliament will find the relevant information below.

Further information
watch the meeting live
Access rights for interest group representatives
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : A proposal to grant Belgium €1,824,041 in EU aid to help find new jobs for 488 workers made redundant by construction machinery manufacturers in Wallonia was approved by MEPs on Thursday. A further 300 young unemployed people should also benefit from the aid, to come from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF).

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : A proposal to grant Belgium €1,824,041 in EU aid to help find new jobs for 488 workers made redundant by construction machinery manufacturers in Wallonia was approved by MEPs on Thursday. A further 300 young unemployed people should also benefit from the aid, to come from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF).

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : New rules for deciding which country’s courts should settle property disputes in divorce or death cases involving international couples or registered partnerships were approved by MEPs on Thursday. These rules should end parallel proceedings – costing around €1.1bn annually – in various member states whose courts have to settle such property disputes. They will apply in 18 EU countries which were willing to join this “enhanced cooperation” initiative.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : New rules for deciding which country’s courts should settle property disputes in divorce or death cases involving international couples or registered partnerships were approved by MEPs on Thursday. These rules should end parallel proceedings – costing around €1.1bn annually – in various member states whose courts have to settle such property disputes. They will apply in 18 EU countries which were willing to join this “enhanced cooperation” initiative.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

Plenary sessions : An EU deal with Monaco, which will make it harder for EU citizens to hide cash from the tax man in bank accounts there, was endorsed by Parliament in a vote on Thursday. Under the deal, the EU and Monaco will automatically exchange information on the bank accounts of each other's residents, starting in 2018 for information collected since 1 January 2017.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP