European Union

This afternoon European Parliament President David Sassoli opened the European Council in Brussels.

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

This afternoon European Parliament President David Sassoli opened the European Council in Brussels.

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

European Parliament president David Sassoli on Thursday described Turkey's invasion into northern Syrian as an act of war. "We are not only worried, we are angry. This is an act of war," he said, demanding the EU steps up pressure against Ankara to withdraw. EU leaders at a summit are set to discuss the issue after a meeting of foreign affairs ministers collectively condemned Turkey, a Nato member.

The European parliament is able to ratify the revised Brexit deal before the 31 October deadline, the parliament's president David Sassoli suggested on Thursday after meeting EU leaders. "We are ready to do our duty, which is to examine the text and and adopt the necessary procedure so that the time limits are respected," he told reporters. The deal also needs to be ratified by the British parliament.

The 10th anniversary of the Charter of Fundamental Rights is a reminder that the EU's main priority is to ensure respect and protection of human dignity. writes Alice Neffe.

Achieving climate neutrality requires “significantly larger” amounts of funding than what is currently on offer in the EU’s long-term budget proposal for 2021-2027, Warsaw said in a memo circulated ahead of an EU leaders’ summit opening today.

Pro Europa organised an event protesting Brexit in the shadow of the ongoing EU Council Summit of October 17-18.

Huawei implored the EU to grasp their future 'digital sovereignty', as the company fielded questions from a cross-section of MEPs in Brussels on Wednesday evening (16 October). The hearing came as the US administration renewed its campaign against the Chinese company, claiming it poses a series of risks to the European market.

The new Brexit deal would "undermine the integrity" of the UK and the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party was "unable" to vote for it, the party said in a statement Thursday. The fact that goods travelling from Northern Ireland to the rest of the UK would be subject to EU customs and VAT rules would see Northern Ireland "start to diverge" from Great Britain's legal order, it added.

The EU Commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the Brexit deal agreed between the UK and the EU on Thursday is "good for people and good for the single market". "I will work in my commission for a good relationship [with the UK] in the future," she added, hoping that the deal currently on the table passes the British parliament on Saturday.

Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar said on arrival at the EU summit in Brussels that he will recommend to other EU leaders that they endorse the Brexit deal agreed by UK and EU negotiators. "It's a good agreement," he said, adding: "The backstop has been replaced. It's been replaced with a new solution, a unique solution for Northern Ireland. That new solution does what we need it to do."

The prime minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, said on Thursday that "starting a meeting knowing that we [member states] are able to agree on something is very important". Bettel told reporters that British premier Boris Johnson will not ask for a new extension since he wants to deliver Brexit. "It is better for everyone if we agree," he added.

The UK's Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science is due to publish a study according to which pulse trawling, also known as electric fishing, kills off more than half of the seabed species, while traditional fishing methods only impact 21%. EURACTIV's partner le Journal de l'Environnement reports.

The EU and the UK has agreed to a revised Brexit deal that drops the contentious backstop on the island of Ireland, and "sqaures the circle" of keeping the Irish border open. EU leaders are expected to endorse it Thursday.

Negotiators from the European Union and the UK agreed on Thursday to change the Brexit deal formerly accepted by prime minister Theresa May. The compromise text, reached ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, is part of the 64-page long Protocol on Ireland / Northern Ireland. The political declaration has been amended. The disputed Northern Irish "backstop" is changed.

Latvian prime minister Arturs Krišjānis Kariņš was optimistic about the "promising" Brexit deal reached between the UK and the European Union on Thursday. Krišjānis believes that the text will be approved by the council during the summit since "everyone in council wants a deal". "We will need a good relationship with the UK after Brexit," he said, adding a Brexit deal is in the "interest of everyone".

Welcome to EURACTIV’s Digital Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.    “Some actors, such as Google, wish to free themselves from those rules.” – French President Emmanuel Macron, Wednesday 16...

A joint EDA-NATO Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR) Conference, the first of its kind in this format, was opened this morning by the Dutch Minister of Defence, Ank Bijleveld (who spoke via video message), NATO’s Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment, Camille Grand, and EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq. It followed a successful first European AAR conference organised by EDA last year.

The event, moderated by the Chairman of the Aerial Refuelling Systems Advisory Group (ARSAG), General John Sams, brought together key decision-makers from the EU and NATO as well as the wider transatlantic and international AAR community, including industry, to discuss current and future challenges and coordinate efforts in this important domain. Among the high-level speakers of the conference were notably Major General Laurent Marboef, the commander of the European Air Transport Command (EATC), Major General Jose Maria Juanas from the Spanish Air Force, Colonel Juergen Wallwei from the German Military Aviation Authority and Dave Benson from the US Air Force Aerial Refueling Certification Agency (ARCA).

A special focus was put on ways and means to enhance euro-atlantic AAR interoperability. Throughout the day,  the topic was presented, discussed and analysed in various sessions dealing with different aspects, from the optimisation of existing capabilities and the development of new capabilities to the operational and industrial implications of it.

In his opening speech, Jorge Domecq praised the good cooperation between EDA, NATO and ARSAG in such crucial a domain than air-to-air refuelling. “This is yet another testimony of pragmatic cooperation, to ensure complementarity of efforts and avoid unnecessary duplications, as called for by the EU-NATO Joint Declaration”, Mr Domecq said.  

Over recent years, important progress has been made in order to mitigate the important capability gap Europe still has in the field of AAR (establishment of a Multinational MRTT Fleet, AAR exercises organised by the European Air Transport Command, gradual entrance into service of the A440M, successful clearance campaigns between A400M tankers and various receivers, etc.), “but it is not sufficient”, the EDA Chief Executive stressed: “What we really need is to ensure that the AAR shortfall, like capability gaps in other areas, is addressed in a more systematic way”. Therefore, the fact that AAR was reconfirmed as one of the EU Capability Development Priorities (it is embedded in the wider Air Superiority priority) which were approved by EU Member States in 2018, in full complementarity with NATO’s NDPP, will enable the continuation of this effort.  Work is now underway to implement the priorities, including the AAR related one, through Strategic Context Cases (SCCs). 
 

Challenges in the short, medium and long term

“In the short-term, the main challenge is to optimise the use of the existing AAR assets available in Europe, and we can do that through, for example, increased participation in annual European AAR Training (EART). But we can also increase interoperability by increasing AAR clearances - because a tanker without a clearance is not a tanker”, said Mr Domecq who also stressed that the certification of AAR is clearly an airworthiness aspect. In this respect, he welcomed that airworthiness authorities in the AAR field now realise and agree on the fact that “the technical assessment of an AAR clearance is their responsibility”. In the medium-term, the challenge is to cover the peak demand in AAR during the initial phase of an operation or conflict when air superiority is not yet assured, for instance by expanding the MMF fleet. “EDA stands ready to assist interested Member States in the process to explore their potential participation in this important project”, Mr Domecq said.  And finally, in the longer term, the challenge is to close the remaining capability gap, both in strategic and tactical AAR, including by developing automated/autonomous air to air refuelling systems (A3R) as a useful complement to manned AAR capabilities. “It is evident that the future of AAR will be automated”. 

EDA will organise a workshop on 28 January 2020 to bring together Member States and industry to discuss the way ahead on this topic.

 
More information: 

• AAR Conference paper
• Speech by EDA Chief executive Jorge Domecq
• Video message by Dutch Minister of Defence Ank Bijleveld
• Speech by NATO Assistant SG for Defence Investment, Camille Grand

 

EU and UK negotiators agreed a new Brexit deal on Thursday (17 October), prompting the bloc's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, to declare: “Brexit is a school of patience”.

Britain's competition regulator said on Wednesday (16 October) it had launched a formal investigation into Amazon.com Inc's investment in food delivery company Deliveroo, setting a Dec. 11 deadline for a decision on the first phase of its probe.