European Union

The people of Romania will decide on October 6 and 7 whether marriage will be defined in the constitution as a union between a man and a woman - effectively ruling out gay marriage. Proponents and adversaries of the referendum do their best to get readers on their side.

Italy's Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi has cancelled a bilateral meeting with his Austrian counterpart in response to anger over Vienna's plans to offer Austrian passports to German-speaking inhabitants of South Tyrol. The scheme has been on the table in Vienna since the government took office in late 2017. Italian and Austrian commentators rake the idea over the coals.

Facebook came in for heavy criticism on Thursday (20 September), as EU justice chief Věra Jourová shone a light on her own Facebook experience as well as the issue of the tech giant's non-compliance with EU consumer rules.

Hervé Grimaud, the Chairman of EucoLight, the European Association of Lighting WEEE Compliance schemes, invites stakeholders to a Workshop on Online Sales of Non-Compliant Products.

Jorge Domecq, the Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA), today attended the 20th birthday ceremony of the Organisation Conjointe de Coopération en matière d'Armement (OCCAR) in its new premises in Bonn. At that occasion, he welcomed the close and productive working relationship established between the EDA and OCCAR on the basis of the Administrative Arrangement signed in July 2012 and called for an even stronger cooperation in the future to bring forward potential new collaborative defence equipment programmes, also in view of the opportunities that the recent EU defence initiatives provide. 

“I am very glad to be here today on the occasion of the 20th Anniversary of OCCAR. Since 2012, EDA and OCCAR have established close relations which are continuously evolving, aiming to complement each other’s strengths in promoting effective defence cooperation while ensuring through-life capability development”, Mr Domecq stated.

The close relationship between the two organisations started immediately after the creation of the EDA in 2004 but gathered additional momentum in November 2008 when the EU Council of Ministers invited the EDA to seek the “greatest synergy” with OCCAR and to conclude an Administrative Arrangement (AA), which was subsequently negotiated and signed in 2012. It foresees that both cooperate in a way that is “mutually reinforcing, non-duplicative, coherent and complementary” in order to enhance Europe’s defence capabilities, improve European armaments cooperation and strengthen the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB). The conclusions and recommendations of EDA’s Long Term Review (LTR), approved by Defence Ministers in May 2017, explicitly acknowledge “the potential of the EDA-OCCAR relations to further evolve into a more structured and reciprocal approach towards key European capability programmes, ensuring seamless coordination and coherence between both organisations”. 
 

Division of labour

While EDA main role is to initiate and facilitate European collaborative defence capability ad hoc projects and programmes, OCCAR’s provides for cooperative programme management expertise. Close cooperation between EDA and OCCAR ensures through-life managementon capability development. This division of labour proved successful, for example, in the development of the Multinational Multi-Role Tanker Transport Fleet (MMF) in which participate five countries (NL, LUX, DE, NOR, BE) and whose aim is to mitigate Europe’s shortfall in Air-to-Air refueling capabilities. Initiated by the EDA in 2012, it was later handed over to OCCAR who currently manages the acquisition of MRTT tankers on behalf of the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) which, following the acquisition phase, will be responsible for the complete life-cycle management of the fleet.  Other example: the Medium Altitude Long Endurance Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (MALE RPAS) programme. Launched in an EDA framework in 2013, it was taken up by four Member States (DE, FR, IT, ES) before being handed over to OCCAR in 2016 for further development (definition, configuration, etc.) while EDA continues to provide support to the programme upon its expertise. Indeed, in September 2016, EDA and OCCAR concluded an arrangement under which EDA will continue to provide support to the MALE RPAS programme in the field of air traffic integration building on the work already achieved and on the on-going activities related to the integration of military RPAS in the Single European Sky approach. 
 

Background

OCCAR was initially established by an Administrative Arrangement signed by the Defence Ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the UK on 12 November 1996. In 1998, the Defence Ministers of the four founding Member States signed the treaty-like "OCCAR Convention", which was subsequently ratified by the national Parliaments and came into force on 28th January 2001. The Convention gives OCCAR its legal status, allowing it to award contracts and to employ its own staff. Belgium and Spain joined OCCAR respectively in 2003 and 2005.
 

More information:

• EDA-OCCAR Administrative Agreement 
• OCCAR website

 

Austrian former chancellor Christian Kern, head of the opposition Social Democrat party, said on Wednesday he may run to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as EU Commission president next year. Kern told journalists asking about the post in Salzburg: "Yes, that is correct. I am available." The 52-year old, who lost to chancellor Sebastian Kurz last year, added: "There are other candidates, too, that's clear. But we'll find the very best candidate."

Before the start of the informal Leaders' agenda summit in Salzburg, President Tusk addressed the main issues for the leaders, in particular migration and Brexit.

OTP Bank and OTP Faktoring
Environment and consumers
The unfairness of an unclear contractual term which places the exchange rate risk on the borrower and does not reflect statutory provisions may be subject to judicial review

Oeuvre d’assistance aux bêtes d’abattoirs
Agriculture and fisheries
Advocate General Wahl proposes that the Court find that products from animals that have been the subject of ritual slaughter without prior stunning can be issued the European ‘organic farming’ label

Leaders ate Wiener schnitzel and discussed EU fragmentation on migrants, Brexit, and rule of law in the Salzburg theatre in Austria.

Greece is planning to move some 2,000 asylum-seekers from the overcrowded Moria camp on the Greek island of Lesbos by the end of September, government spokesman Dimitris Tzanakopoulos announced - ahead of migration talks at an informal EU summit in Austria. The Moria camp currently houses 9,000 people in a facility built for 3,100. Those being moved will be sent to the mainland to have their asylum claims examined.

US sales of soybeans to the EU grew 133 percent in the 12 weeks to mid-September, compared with the same period last year, EU data seen by Reuters showed. The change in trade patterns follows Beijing tariffs on US soybeans introduced in retaliation for US tariffs on Chinese goods and a July pledge by Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker of Europe buying more US soy to avoid tariffs on EU cars.

Animals sometimes have to wait inside hot trucks for six hours at the Bulgarian-Turkish border.

The EU Commission presented on Wednesday a plan to improve transport, energy and digital infrastructure links with Asia, seen as a European response to China's Belt and Road Initiative. Asia requires an estimated €1.3 trillion per year for infrastructure investment in the coming decades while the Trans-European network for transport is estimated to require €1.5 trillion in the period 2021-2030, providing significant opportunities for EU companies, the commission said.

Bulgaria will support Hungary in its rule of law battle with the European Union, defence minister Krasimir Karakachanov told reporters on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting unanimously agreed to oppose any sanctions against Hungary. "Today it is Hungary, tomorrow it could be Poland, and one day it could be Bulgaria in the dock. Central and eastern European countries should act in solidarity and help each other," he said.