European Union

Written by Clare Ferguson,

© Architectes : Vandenbossche SPRL, CRV S.A., CDG S.P.R.L., Studiegroep D. Bontinck, ©Façade et Hémicycle – Arch M. Boucquillon Belgium – European Union 2019 – Source : EP

Parliament meets again in plenary from Wednesday 13 to Friday 15 May 2020, using the temporary alternative electronic voting procedure introduced since the coronavirus outbreak, with the agenda including up to three voting sessions. Owing to the many votes required – and depending on the number of amendments tabled – the announcement of the results of the final Friday votes may exceptionally take place only on the morning of Saturday 16 May. In contrast to recent sessions, where the coronavirus pandemic has dominated the agenda, Members now turn to ‘normal’ business and in particular, the thorny issue of the EU budget, in what promises to be difficult times ahead.

On Wednesday, following statements from the Council and the European Commission, Members will address the prospects for future financing for the EU and its coronavirus recovery plan. Parliament’s first legislative initiative report of this term requests that the European Commission make a legislative proposal seeks to set up a contingency plan for the EU multiannual financial framework (MFF), where lengthy negotiations in the European Council and Council have delayed agreement. The coronavirus outbreak of course exacerbates both this delay and its consequences. The Treaties provide for extension of the annual level of resources available in the final year of the current MFF, until agreement is reached. However, there is a risk to the smooth functioning of the EU budget, since many of the EU’s current programmes will expire at the end of 2020, unless a new budget, or contingency plan, are agreed soon. The report before Parliament calling on the Commission to make an urgent legislative proposal for such a contingency plan requires an absolute majority of Parliament’s 704 Members to vote in favour, under Article 225 TFEU.

The bulk of Members’ time this session will however be taken up in ensuring that EU funds were used correctly in 2018 by the European Commission and executive agencies, as well as the other EU institutions, the decentralised agencies and joint undertakings. This annual exercise involves consideration of 56 reports from Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control (CONT), which scrutinise each EU entity’s use of EU funding and recommend whether or not to grant approval (discharge). The Committee proposes that Parliament grant discharge for the European Commission, and six agencies, as well as (in a separate report) for the Commission’s disbursement of European Development Funds. However, while noting that the Commission intends to recover €1 billion from Hungarian programmes in which it discovered irregularities, the Committee highlights respect for the rule of law as a precondition of sound financial management, underlining that measures should be taken to ensure that active farmers benefit from agricultural funding. Regarding the rule of law, statements are also expected on Wednesday from the Council and the European Commission, on coronavirus related emergency legislation in Hungary and its impact on fundamental rights.

For EU institutions other than the Commission, the CONT committee recommends granting discharge except, once again (as has been the case since 2009), the European Council and the Council. The committee proposes to postpone a decision in the light of continued lack of cooperation between the institutions. The committee also proposes to postpone a decision in respect of the Economic and Social Committee, until the Committee provides evidence that it has taken measures regarding cases of alleged harassment. For 32 EU decentralised agencies and 8 joint undertakings, the CONT committee recommends discharge in all cases, but nevertheless underlines the continued importance of the principles of good financial management.

Returning to the coronavirus pandemic, Council and the European Commission will intervene in plenary on Wednesday evening to provide statements on the conclusions of the European Council’s video-conference meeting of 23 April 2020, where European leaders discussed coordinated and common measures to address the outbreak and lifting lockdown measures. On Wednesday afternoon, Parliament will consider a proposal put forward by the European Commission, and tabled without a report by Parliament’s Committee on International Trade, that seeks to provide enlargement and neighbourhood partners with macro-financial assistance (MFA) to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. If agreed, the MFA package would provide €3 billion to help enlargement candidate countries such as Albania and North Macedonia, and those in the southern neighbourhood such as Jordan and Tunisia, which face a recession resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Statements are also expected on Thursday from the Council and the Commission on the use of contact tracing apps in the fight against the virus. Members will debate vaccines and therapeutics in the context of Covid‑19 on Thursday afternoon.

Members will vote on Wednesday afternoon on a report recommending that Parliament agree to an extension of the Protocol on the Fisheries Partnership Agreement between the EU and Mauritania, currently under renegotiation. This would rollover an existing extension to the 2015 agreement whereby the EU gain access rights to Mauritania’s mixed fisheries in return for payment and for support for the country’s fisheries sector.

On Thursday morning, representatives of the Council and the European Commission are expected to return to the chamber to make statements on the recent 70th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, generally recognised as the founding document of today’s European Union.

The battle against the coronavirus outbreak tops most fight cards but there are climate brawls to be had too. Some are in progress, while others are only just beginning. Better strap yourselves in before the hawks and doves go to war.

EU lawmakers debated the bloc's approach to regulating Artificial Intelligence technologies on Tuesday (12 May), in an effort to chart a path for how the EU will manage the onset of next-generation technologies.

Could France witness a second COVID-19 wave this summer? For now, this is difficult to decide since the possible pandemic rebound will depend on how the virus responds to summer weather conditions. EURACTIV's partner Journal de l'environnement reports.

MEPs discuss plans to reboot Europe’s economy in light of Covid-19 on Wednesday and vote on a resolution later in the week. Learn more in our interview.

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

MEPs discuss plans to reboot Europe’s economy in light of Covid-19 on Wednesday and vote on a resolution later in the week. Learn more in our interview.

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Written by Tatjana Evas, Aleksandra Heflich, Niombo Lomba, Klaus Müller, Cecilia Navarra, Lauro Panella, Jérôme Saulnier,

© Adobe Stock

Although the European Union is about much more than economics – promoting peace, common values, democratic governance, international development, human rights, health, social protection, research and innovation, and many other public goods – the process of European integration has been key to driving economic growth for half a century, generating significant gains in gross domestic product (GDP) for EU Member States both collectively and individually.

This EPRS paper focuses on the economic benefits of common action and what is at risk if the current coronavirus crisis and its aftermath were to stall or reverse the process of European integration. It attempts to quantify the losses entailed if the economic downturn caused by the pandemic were to result in the gradual dismantling of the EU project and a parallel failure to take advantage of the unexploited potential of collective public goods that could yet be created. In this respect, the study makes use of two complementary concepts: European added value, which attempts to identify the benefit of existing collective action at European level, and the cost of non-Europe, which assesses the benefits foregone by not taking further action in the future.

Even cautious estimates suggest that dismantling the EU single market would cost the European economy between 3.0 and 8.7 per cent of its collective GDP, or between €480 billion and €1 380 billion per year. In parallel, the potential cost of non-Europe in 50 policy fields was identified by EPRS in 2019 as around €2.2 trillion or 14 per cent of EU GDP (by the end of a ten-year running-in period). It follows that if both problems were to develop at once, the EU economy would eventually be between 17.0 and 22.7 per cent smaller than might otherwise be the case. (This is in addition to any direct contraction of the economy as a result of the coronavirus crisis itself, which could be around 7.5 per cent of GDP in 2020, or €1 160 billion).

The potential figures for the first component would depend on the extent of any dismantling of the Union, which in this paper is analysed through various scenarios, such as the substitution of the EU with a standard regional trade agreement, further loosening of the Union by abandoning the Schengen Area and coordination in other areas, and/or full dissolution of the EU with a fall-back to World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

Read this complete ‘in-depth analysis’ on ‘Coronavirus and the cost of non-Europe: An analysis of the economic benefits of common European action‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen may have to be tough on Germany and possibly launch infringement procedures to avoid accusations of being soft on her home country, particularly ahead of Berlin's upcoming EU presidency, according to Green MEP Sven Giegold, who had demanded explanations on the issue. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Brussels Airline announced a major restructuring of its business on Tuesday (12 May), including job cuts that could affect 1,000 employees, a reduction in fleet size and a smaller network of destinations.

The Council approved conclusions the on Eastern Partnership policy beyond 2020, reaffirming the strategic importance of the partnership for the EU, and the joint commitment to building a common area of shared democracy, prosperity and stability.

Media advisory on the video conference of defence ministers, 12 May 2020

Weekly schedule of President Charles Michel 11-17 May 2020

Although EU-wide asylum applications dropped by 43 percent in March, an increase in the near future is likely said Easo, the EU's asylum support office. The agency says the risk of Covid-19 taking hold in lower-income countries, as well as leading to more insecurity, could result in increases in asylum applications in the medium term. The resurgence of ISIS, famine, and conflict may also be a factor, it says.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is considering launching infringement proceedings against Germany. On May 5 the German Constitutional Court ruled that the ECB's bond-buying programme partially contravened German law, challenging the primacy of the European Court of Justice. Monetary policy is solely a matter for the EU and the ECJ's rulings are binding, von der Leyen argued. Are proceedings the right way to go?

Weak healthcare systems, huge slums and a lack of infrastructure: all of these factors could cause the coronavirus pandemic to explode in Africa, experts feared. So far, however, relatively few people have been infected and even fewer have died. And as mortality figures are low, there is no indication that the number of unreported cases exceeds current assessments. Commentators point to the continent's underestimated strengths.