European Union

On Thursday, 8 December, the SEDE committee will welcome Mr Sven Biscop of the Egmont Institute for a discussion on the topic “Implementing the Global Strategy – What impact on transatlantic security and defence relations?” The discussion forms part of the EP’s follow-up to the publication of the Global Strategy Implementation Plan on Security and Defence and the European Defence Action Plan.
Further information
Draft agenda and meeting documents
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

On 7 December 2016 the Council's Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) approved a final compromise on revised rules for the collection, management and use of data in fisheries.

Thanks to this agreement, there will be an improved framework for gathering extensive and reliable information and for making it available at regional and European level. Reliable data is essential for the implementation of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and will allow for a better evaluation of essential issues in fisheries management.

The agreement, which was successfully concluded under the Slovak Presidency, is still subject to the approval of the European Parliament's committee on fisheries (PECH).

"Getting reliable data is not a technical detail, but a fundamental issue", said Gabriela Matečná, minister for agriculture and rural development of Slovakia and President of the Council, "Good data is indispensable if politicians are to make sound and well-informed decisions firmly grounded in the best possible scientific advice. We therefore very much welcome this agreement".

The agreed draft regulation aims to align the existing data collection framework with the new CFP and to simplify the current system.

The 2013 reform of the CFP introduced new data needs to assess, among others, the progressive achievement of the maximum sustainable yield (MSY), the impact on fisheries and aquaculture, and the effects of the landing obligation.

The new rules will ensure that all these relevant data are collected following a cost/benefit approach and without duplication of effort, thus reducing the administrative burden.

Next steps

The Chairman of Coreper will send a letter to the Chairman of the European Parliament's PECH committee. This letter will indicate that, if the Parliament adopts at its plenary session the compromise text as approved by the Coreper, the Council will then adopt the text in first reading without amendment.

This should enable the new legislation to enter into force by mid 2017.

Background

A EU framework for the collection and management of fisheries data was established in 2000, and then reformed in 2008 resulting in the Data Collection Framework (DCF). The DCF established a harmonised set of EU rules governing the collection of biological, environmental, technical, and socio-economic data on the fishing, aquaculture and processing sectors.

Place:        Justus Lipsius building, Brussels
Chair:        Peter Kažimír, Minister for finance of Slovakia

All times are approximate and subject to change.

from 07.30 
Arrivals (live streaming) 

+/- 08.45    
Doorstep by Minister Kažimír 

+/- 09.00    
Ministerial breakfast (Roundtable) 

+/- 10.00    
Beginning of the Council meeting
Adoption of the agenda
Approval of legislative A items (public session)
Investment Plan for Europe (public session)
Anti-tax avoidance directive 2 (public session)
Enhanced cooperation in the area of financial transaction tax (public session)
Banking Union: risk reduction measures (public session)
Any other business:
- Anti-money laundering (public session)
- Financial service ligislative proposals (public session)
- VAT digital package (public session)
Approval of non-legislative A items
Implementation of the Banking Union
Deepening the EMU:  Follow- up of the 5 Presidents ' Report
European Semester 2017
Fight against financing terrorism
Customs
Fiscal rules - predictability and transparency
Any other business:
- Capital markets Union                  

At the end of the meeting
Press conference (live streaming)

The Eurogroup discussed draft budgets of euro area member states and budgetary situation for the euro area as a whole. 

General : With committees meeting and the final plenary session of the year to prepare for, MEPs have a busy week in store for them in Brussels. MEPs vote on proposals to help member states better fight terrorism and to make the EU more democratic and transparent. The political groups also prepare for next week’s sitting in Strasbourg where the 2016 Sakharov Prize will be awarded to Yazidi survivors and advocates Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : With committees meeting and the final plenary session of the year to prepare for, MEPs have a busy week in store for them in Brussels. MEPs vote on proposals to help member states better fight terrorism and to make the EU more democratic and transparent. The political groups also prepare for next week’s sitting in Strasbourg where the 2016 Sakharov Prize will be awarded to Yazidi survivors and advocates Nadia Murad and Lamiya Aji Bashar.

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

On 30 November 2016, the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) confirmed the agreement reached by the Slovak presidency with the European Parliament on the Directive on combatting terrorism. Today, 5 December, the European Parliament's Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs also confirmed that agreement. This confirmation paves the way for the final formal adoption of the directive in the coming months.

To respond to the evolving terrorist threat, the Directive strengthens the EU's legal framework in preventing terrorist attacks by criminalising acts such as receiving training  for terrorism and travel for terrorist purposes, as well as organising or facilitating such travel. It also reinforces the rights for the victims of terrorism. 

Lucia Žitňanská, minister for Justice of Slovakia said: "The agreement we have reached is the right balance between the need to effectively combat new forms of terrorism - in particular foreign fighters - while at the same time safeguarding individual rights and reinforcing protection and rights of victims of terrorism. However, it is just one side of the story. It is a common understanding between the Parliament, the Council and the Commission that a comprehensive response to the evolving terrorist threat have to include effective measures on prevention of radicalisation and an efficient exchange on information on terrorist offences." 

The Directive strengthens and updates the existing Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA, in particular, as it criminalises: 

• Travelling for terrorist purposes, to counter in particular the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters. The compromise reached between the institutions will ensure that for example travel to conflict zones with the purpose to join the activities of a terrorist group or travel to a EU Member State with the purpose to commit a terrorist attack will be made punishable. 
• The organisation and facilitation of such travels, including through logistical and material support, for example the purchase of tickets or planning itineraries;
• Receiving training for terrorist purposes,  e.g. in the making or use of explosives, firearms, noxious or hazardous substances mirroring the already existing provision of knowingly providing such a training ;
• Providing or collecting funds with the intention or the knowledge that they are to be used to commit terrorist offences and offences related to terrorist groups or terrorist activities;

The Directive will also complement the current legislation on rights for victims of terrorism. In this respect, the compromise text includes a catalogue of services to meet the specific needs of victims of terrorism, such as the right to receive immediate access to professional support services providing medical and psycho-social treatments, or to receive legal or practical advice, as well as assistance with compensation claims. The emergency response mechanisms immediately after an attacks will be also strengthened. 

The Directive envisages also enhanced rules for exchange of information between the Member States  related to terrorist offences  gathered in criminal proceedings. 

Next steps

With the political agreement confirmed by both institutions the text will now go to revision by lawyer linguists before the final adoption by the Parliament and the Council early next year.

Background 

The proposal was presented in the context of the Renewed EU Internal Security Strategy and following the call of the Council for accelerated action in the aftermath of the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015. It takes into account the requirements stemming from several international texts: 

• The UN Security Council Resolution 2178 (2014) and the Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe (CoE) Convention on the Prevention of Terrorism, aimed at countering the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters;
• The standards of the Financial Action task Force (FATF) regarding the financing of terrorism.

 

To receive the Brussels Briefing in your inbox every morning, register for a free FT account here and then sign up here.

By Arthur Beesley

Read more

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

https://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_7e18a1c646f5450b9d6d-a75424f262e53e74f9539145894f4378.r8.cf3.rackcdn.com/b863bf68-977e-11e5-b3f1-bc764e084e2e_95.49_thumb_169_1479828974_1479828974_129_97shar_c1.jpg

EU Finance Ministers of the eurozone meet in Brussels on 5 December 2016.

Download this video here.

 

At the moment there is a lot of buzz about the ‘4th Industrial Revolution’. But what we need to address is something that is even bigger – the beginning of the end of the industrial age and our gradual entry into the digital age.

The 4th Industrial Revolution is only one part of that much bigger story.

Today’s Europe is to a very large extent a product of an industrial revolution that started in Europe and then gradually spread across the world. If the different parts of the global economy didn’t differ too dramatically in terms of wealth up until then, it was with the industrial revolution that the ascent of Europe and the wider West – with the United States coming somewhat later – really started.

What has evolved into today’s European Union started as an economic community centred on the two basic commodities of that phase of the industrial age: coal and steel. Integrating the coal and the steel industries of France and Germany would make war between them less and less likely. That was the foundation thought of what has since emerged as the EU.

Industrial production – still often dependent on steel – will remain an important part of our future economies. But gradually we see not only the rise of new sectors of the economy based on information and data and the profound transformation of classical sectors of our economy based on the processing of data.

The huge container ships crossing the oceans with their goods, often between the huge ports of East Asia, America and Europe, remain the symbols of the age of globalisation. And it remains critical to the development of our economies to safeguard the ‘choke points’ of these enormous flows, such as the Suez Canal or the Gulf of Aden.

But gradually, things are changing. While growth in trade has been far less robust since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis, data flows between continents and countries are exploding. A study by McKinsey estimates growth by a factor of 45 between 2005 and 2015 (and it will have, in all probability, accelerated further in the last year).

“The future is, plainly speaking, up for grabs. And Europe must wake up.”

A glance at how the list of the 20 or so most valuable companies in the world has changed during the last decade illustrates the magnitude of the digital transformation. Companies like Alphabet, Amazon and Alibaba are now driving important parts of the global economy.

The industrial age started around the coal fields of England. The emerging digital age has its epicentre in California’s Silicon Valley, but its impact is spreading far and fast, to every corner of the global economy. It’s impossible to predict who will be the winners and losers five years from now. The future is, plainly speaking, up for grabs.

And Europe must wake up.

A digital single market is obviously a must. It is on the agenda of the European Commission, but progress has so far been slow and cumbersome.

Also critical is the free flow of data between countries and continents – the lifeblood of the emerging new economy. Already we see how important global digital value chains are becoming, and it is important to create conditions for them that are as free and clear as possible.

The now moribund Trans-Pacific Partnership was the first major agreement that included provisions to this effect, and it is important that any forthcoming Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal between Europe and the United States continues along this road. But other arrangements, like the EU-US Privacy Shield are also of great importance in safeguarding an integrated and free transatlantic marketplace in the new digital age.

I co-chaired, with former US Ambassador to the EU William Kennard, an Atlantic Council task force on transatlantic digital issues. Our report called for a US-EU digital council – based in the White House and at a senior level in the European Commission – to provide the necessary heavyweight EU-US coordination on the rapidly increasing range of digital issues.

In our view, this digital council should seek to proactively shape interoperability policies in the digital space, including on data protection, cybersecurity efforts, the internet of things, broadband development, open data flows, blockchain possibilities, encryption policies, privacy concerns and regulations. And these are just some of the issues that will require close coordination across the Atlantic.

At the moment, we are in a somewhat uncertain situation, with responsibility for some of these issues in the European Commission not clear, and an American administration that will be in a state of transition for months to come.

But perhaps this would be the right time to launch this initiative. There will be a large number of issues that will require coordination, and a council of this sort would help to facilitate the process.

The report from the Global Commission on Internet Governance, which I chaired and which delivered its final report this summer, outlines a broad agenda of issues that must be tackled if we should be able to fully harness the potential of the digital revolution.

“The freewheeling and dynamic spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that has made the internet the most important infrastructure in the world”

We must also be very aware of the fact that there is a silent war going on for control of our digital future. There are regimes – not too difficult to identify – that want to enshrine ‘digital sovereignty’ in international treaties and make as much as possible subject to strict state or multinational control.

The risks here are enormous.

It has been the freewheeling and dynamic spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship that has, within a couple of decades, made the internet the most important infrastructure in the world (and soon the infrastructure of all other infrastructures). The multi-stakeholder model has allowed the technical community, academia, governments, business and civil society all to have their voice in the expanding biosphere of internet governance. The experience has been extremely positive.

But advocates of ‘digital sovereignty’ want something very different.

Here, it is important that the EU, preferably in close cooperation with the US and in partnership with important nations like India and Brazil, formulates a clear global cyber strategy. At the end of the day it’s about setting the frameworks and the rules of the rapidly emerging digital age based on our values of open societies and open economies.

The transformations at the heart of the 4th Industrial Revolution will obviously be profound. We have seen the impact on the media and entertainment industries, and we see the rapid development of e-commerce in all its different forms. Soon autonomous vehicles and the robot revolution, in combination with the internet of everything, will take us into a far more revolutionary phase of the transition.

Europe must not be left behind. We must seek to be among the leaders. But we should recognise that we are not there yet – and so we better speed up.

IMAGE CREDIT: Prasit Rodphan/Bigstock.com

The post Europe must not miss out on the 4th Industrial Revolution appeared first on Europe’s World.

The rule of law in cyberspace is at risk.

Criminal justice authorities need to be able to secure electronic evidence, including on servers in the cloud, to protect society and individuals against crime online. The powers to obtain such evidence must to be subject to data protection and other safeguards. Proposals to move ahead are now available.

Offences against computer systems and data are increasing. They include the theft of hundreds of millions of users’ data, to computer intrusions and denial of service attacks against critical infrastructure, media, civil society or public institutions – including, at the end of November, the European Commission.

But few of these offences are ever reported to criminal justice authorities. Of these, only a very small number of cases are successfully prosecuted. The same applies to offences by means of computers, from fraud and other types of financial crime, to online child abuse, xenophobia, racism and other forms of hate speech contributing to radicalisation and violent extremism.

Computer systems also host evidence in relation to crimes: ransom emails in cases of kidnapping or extortion, data on deals between drug traffickers, on corrupt arrangements, on the grooming of children, or data on terrorists conspiring to carry out an attack. However, many investigations are abandoned because of lack of access to such evidence.

Governments have an obligation to protect society and individuals against crime, but when it comes to cyberspace, their ability to meet this obligation remains limited. Progress has been made in Europe and other regions in terms of policies, legislation and criminal justice capacities. But this progress is often overtaken by the sheer scale of cybercrime, the number of devices, users and victims involved, and technical hurdles such as encryption or anonymisers.

Obtaining electronic evidence for use in criminal proceedings is essential for the rule of law. As I wrote for Europe’s World last year, “the ability of governments to ensure the rule of law in cyberspace will remain limited unless they can overcome impediments to accessing data and thus electronic evidence for criminal justice purposes. No data means no evidence, no justice and thus no rule of law.”

The challenges to securing electronic evidence are compounded by cloud computing. While data may be stored on, moving between or fragmented over servers in foreign, multiple or unknown jurisdictions – or hidden under multiple layers of service providers in various jurisdictions – the powers of criminal justice authorities are restricted to their specific territory.

So we need solutions allowing authorities to secure electronic evidence in the cloud.

The question of jurisdiction in cyberspace was a priority of the Dutch Presidency of the EU Council in the first half of 2016. It resulted in a set of Council conclusions in June 2016. The European Commission has been asked to submit concrete proposals by mid-2017.

At the Council of Europe in 2014 the parties to the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime – currently comprising 41 European states as well as Australia, Canada, Dominican Republic, Israel, Japan, Mauritius, Panama, Sri Lanka and USA – established a working group to identify ‘solutions on criminal justice access to evidence stored in the cloud and in foreign jurisdictions’.

The results are now available. In November 2016, the Cybercrime Convention Committee – representing the parties to this treaty – discussed the recommendations of its ‘Cloud Evidence Group’. They include the following:

1. Parties should implement a set of practical measures to render mutual legal assistance more efficient – for example, through allocation of resources, streamlining of procedures or the establishment of emergency procedures. There are doubts that MLA is suitable to secure volatile electronic evidence. Nevertheless, it remains the most widely accepted means to obtain evidence from other jurisdictions while protecting the rights of individuals and the sovereignty of states.

2. Domestic production orders to request subscriber information directly from service providers should apply not only to those providers with a seat in the territory of a criminal justice authority but also those based elsewhere who offer a service in that territory. The main difficulty is to determine when a service provider is sufficiently connected to a territory to bring the provider under the jurisdiction of the authorities of that territory. The rationale is that subscriber details are the information that is the most often sought in a criminal investigation. European authorities are already sending more than 100,000 requests a year directly to companies such as Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter or Yahoo on an uncertain legal basis, raising data protection and other concerns.

3. There should be more consistent implementation of Article 18 of the Convention, domestic rules on the production of subscriber information. Currently, rules vary greatly between parties to this treaty, including between members of the European Union.

4. Greater practical measures are needed to facilitate cooperation between criminal justice authorities and service providers across borders. Examples include online tools with information on provider policies and procedural powers, standardised request forms and regular exchanges between the Cybercrime Convention Committee and major providers.

5. Parties should negotiate a protocol to the Convention with additional options for more efficient mutual legal assistance and for cooperation with providers and with rules and limitations on cross-border access to data, data protection and other safeguards.

While these recommendations received broad support from the Cybercrime Convention Committee in its session last month, talks continue. With the European Union also addressing these issues, the Committee coordinates closely with the European Commission. It is expected that the Committee will make a final decision, including on the preparation of a protocol, by June 2017. The solutions aim to adapt the agreed framework of the Budapest Convention to meet the challenges of cloud computing.

In a fast-changing world, common solutions with clear rule-of-law safeguards are preferable to unilateral solutions – otherwise a ‘jungle’ of diverse approaches presents risks for inter-state relations and the rights of individuals.

IMAGE CREDIT: agsandrew/Bigstock.com

The post Evidence in the cloud and the rule of law in cyberspace: avoiding the ‘jungle’ appeared first on Europe’s World.

It’s been more than three months since a majority of the British people voted to divorce from the EU, and the economic consequences are getting clearer. Immediate market reactions after the referendum weren’t encouraging for the European economy, or for the rest of the world. Stocks plunged globally and the pound sterling hit its lowest value in three decades. This shouldn’t have come as a surprise – the economic uncertainty that Brexit was likely to cause had been widely predicted before the referendum.

Brexit is creating shockwaves, and confidence in the British economy has suffered substantially – although the longer-term implications for the economy will be known only when Britain’s future relationship with the EU is defined. The Bank of England has rightly extended quantitative easing measures, but it remains to be seen whether they will be enough to meet the challenge.

One thing is particularly noteworthy, however: the eurozone seems to be more resilient than expected. True, in its first post-Brexit Economic Outlook, the European Commission noted that the outcome of the referendum has the potential to damage the economic recovery of the EU. Growth prospects for 2016 and 2017 have been reduced. But growth forecasts have been revised only
slightly downwards, and in July the purchasing managers’ index indicated continued recovery.

The eurozone went through several economic governance reforms after the financial crisis in 2010-12. These reforms were necessary to correct the defects of economic and monetary union (EMU) and to restore confidence in the euro.

But Brexit changes the game. Past reforms won’t be sufficient, and additional changes need to be made to stabilise EMU. Steps towards further solidarity should be matched with enhanced responsibility for member states. The conclusion of the Banking Union is the most pressing task now. But we shouldn’t forget the Capital Markets Union, which will be important for businesses’ access to finance, especially for SMEs.

These institutional reforms are important. But we should also focus on the real economy to reinforce the still-fragile recovery, and I see three issues as particularly important. First, member states should commit themselves even more seriously to economic reforms. The experiences of Spain, Ireland and Latvia provide empirical evidence of how to pursue difficult reforms successfully. Second, the European Central Bank should continue its unconventional measures to support the eurozone economy. Third, eurozone surplus economies should boost domestic demand and investment to support economic activity in the EU.

Britain will remain a close ally of the EU, and its future trading relationship can be made mutually beneficial. The question of Britain’s access to the single market will be at the core of negotiations
over its future links with the EU, not least for its financial services industry. But we cannot water down any of the EU’s four freedoms.

Brexit also calls for bold action by every member state to boost economic competitiveness. One of the EU’s undeniable success stories, and the core of its integration process, is the single market. With Brexit, we lose one of its best advocates. And for an open, export-orientated economy like Finland, it’s of paramount importance to continue ambitious efforts to remove remaining barriers, particularly in the Digital Single Market. The same goes for energy and services. Moreover, it’s important that the EU continues to work for the competitiveness of its industries and for new free trade agreements.

In Finland, which was in a slow-motion economic decline for too many years, we practice what we preach. We’ve made a broad-based national effort to restore our competitiveness through a
social contract with trade unions and employers’ organisations. Our Competitiveness Contract will reduce unit labour costs by four percent in one go, implying no wage increases for two years. Structural reforms include a major move towards company-level local agreements for negotiating working hours and other conditions of work, the liberalisation of shopping hours, and a branch-and-root reform of healthcare and regional government. At the same time, we are investing more public funds in future industrial priorities, such as the bioeconomy, clean solutions, health-tech and digitalisation.

The motivations for establishing the EU – peace and stability among nations, and the freedom and wellbeing of citizens – haven’t disappeared. On the contrary, in a globalising world in which competition gets harder and challenges such as climate change and growing instability in our neighbourhood are crossborder by nature, we need a reformed and well-functioning EU more than ever.

We in the EU, and especially in the eurozone, must minimise the harm caused by Brexit and keep the EU on the road of reform to reinforce sustainable growth and strengthen its legitimacy. The
reformed EU must focus on the essentials: safeguarding peace and security and ensuring the right conditions for jobs and growth. Most importantly, Europe must not be allowed to slide into a painful decade of political and economic turmoil due to the British vote.

IMAGE CREDIT: Angelina Panayotova/Bigstock.com

The post Brexit creates uncertainty – but with reform, the EU can prosper appeared first on Europe’s World.

General : Some 7,500 young people came to the Parliament in May 2016 to come up with ideas on how the improve the situation in Europe as part of the European Youth Event (EYE). In recent weeks a number of these participants were invited to present their ideas on anything from asylum policy to e-voting to Parliament committees. Thanking participants at the end of the hearings this week, Vice-President Mairead McGuinness said: “Your future is determined by politics, make sure you are involved in it."

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

General : Some 7,500 young people came to the Parliament in May 2016 to come up with ideas on how the improve the situation in Europe as part of the European Youth Event (EYE). In recent weeks a number of these participants were invited to present their ideas on anything from asylum policy to e-voting to Parliament committees. Thanking participants at the end of the hearings this week, Vice-President Mairead McGuinness said: “Your future is determined by politics, make sure you are involved in it."

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

By Arthur Beesley

It’s not a precedent any president would want to set. François Hollande is the first French head of state since the second world war not to stand for re-election. Laid low by dreadful popularity ratings, the socialist Hollande had little chance of prevailing next year against centre-right candidate François Fillon or Marine Le Pen of the far-right National Front.

Read more

Location : Brussels JAN 2Q2Further information
Programme
Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

https://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_7e18a1c646f5450b9d6d-a75424f262e53e74f9539145894f4378.r8.cf3.rackcdn.com/b7773dd4-bdb6-11e4-8a8a-bc764e08d9b2_64.67_thumb_169_1479828742_1479828742_129_97shar_c1.jpg

EU Ministers for Transport, Infrastructure, Energy and Communications meet in Brussels on 5 December 2016 to have a policy debate on the proposal for a regulation concerning measures to safeguard the security of gas supply, which is one of the main building blocks of the Energy Union.

Download this video here.

Committee and political group meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2016 - EP

https://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/uploads/council-images/thumbs/uploads/council-images/remote/http_7e18a1c646f5450b9d6d-a75424f262e53e74f9539145894f4378.r8.cf3.rackcdn.com/5b70e8e0-b7d9-11e6-8e51-bc764e092fac_94.55_thumb_169_1480606361_1480606361_129_97shar_c1.jpg

The European Union works to bring an end to the conflict and enable the Syrian people to live in peace in their own country.

Download this video here.