European Union

From Tallinn to Helsinki in 20 minutes: a train tunnel between the Estonian and Finnish capitals which has been in planning for years is to make this possible. Now the Chinese firm Touchstone wants to invest 15 billion euros in the project and the planning company Finest Bay Area has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese. Should it think twice?

Finland's centrist prime minister Juha Sipila's surprise resignation kicks off a busy political spring in the Nordic country, with national and EU elections as well as preparing to head the EU' rotating six-month presidency from 1 July.

The US is preparing to impose sanctions on EU firms that co-finance Russia's Nord Stream 2 pipeline to Germany and companies involved in laying the pipes in the Baltic Sea, US daily The Wall Street Journal reports, citing US unnamed sources. The sanctions risk heightening tensions amid an ongoing dispute on US tariffs on German cars. The US says the pipeline poses a strategic risk of Russian energy dependence.

Demand for German-made submarines saw it boost international arms exports by 13 percent in the 2014 to 2018 period, according to the Swedish think-tank the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The world's top five exporters - the US, Russia, France, Germany, and China - supplied 75 percent of all weapons sold abroad. The US had a 36 percent chunk of the market, with sales focused on the Middle East.

Germany's anointed new leader has echoed France in calling for EU reform to combat populism - but with a stronger role for national governments and with little prospect of sharing German wealth.

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont is to run in the May European Parliament elections, his party Junts per Catalunya (JxCat) announced on Sunday. Puigdemont has been living in self-imposed exile in Belgium since 2017 after Madrid re-imposed direct rule on the province following a disputed independence referendum. Puigdemont said on Twitter it was "another step to internationalise the self-determination right of Catalonia from Europe's heart to all the world."

British prime minister Theresa May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker spoke by telephone on Sunday, ahead of May's crucial vote on the Brexit withdrawal agreement in the UK parliament on Tuesday. However, a mooted last-minute visit by May to Brussels on Monday appears to be on hold. May is seeking to overturn the 230-vote defeat inflicted on her Brexit deal in January ahead of the March 29 Brexit date.

In view of the upcoming publication of the 2019 calls for proposals for the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR), EDA and the European Commission will jointly organise an Information and Brokerage Day in Brussels on 11 April 2019. The event is open to representatives from all types of companies (large, medium or small), industry associations, research organisations and universities from the EU and Norway.

During the event, which will run from from 08:30 to 17:00, EDA will provide participants with detailed information on the topics of the 2019 PADR calls, which are set to be published in the coming weeks. Participation modalities and access to the Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal will also be explained. Furthermore, as it was already the case in the previous two years, a brokerage session will be organized to help attendants in finding partners for potential consortia. The Info & Brokerage Day will thus again be a unique opportunity for participants to improve their knowledge about the context, the objectives and the participation modalities of the PADR and to network with potential partners. 

More information on the 2019 PADR calls for proposals as well as on the registration process for the Info & Brokerage Day will be published soon.
 

Background

The PADR has the objective to test the added-value of the EU budget supporting defence research, in view of a dedicated EU programme in the next EU Multi-annual Financial Framework. The PADR is implemented by the EDA through a Delegation Agreement signed between the EDA and the Commission in May 2017.

Written by Carla Stamegna (1st edition),

© Stephen Orsillo / Fotolia

The recessions resulting from the financial crisis that broke out at the end of the last decade have caused economic difficulties for more and more EU companies and citizens in recent years, leaving them unable to repay their loans. As a result many EU banks have accumulated high volumes of non-performing loans (NPLs) on their balance-sheets. Although it has almost halved since December 2014, the ratio between NPLs and total loans extended by EU banks (the NPL ratio) remains historically high when measured against the ratios of other advanced economies. NPLs represent a risk to banks’ balance sheets inasmuch as future losses they might generate are not sufficiently covered by appropriate reserves. To tackle this issue, in March 2018 the Commission adopted a comprehensive package of measures, including a proposal for a regulation amending the Capital Requirements Regulation (CRR) to introduce common minimum loss coverage levels (a ‘statutory backstop’) for newly originated loans that become non-performing.

Versions

• March 2019: ‘Minimum loss coverage for non-performing loans‘ (1st edition)

Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on amending Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 as regards minimum loss coverage for nonperforming exposures Committee responsible: Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) COM(2018) 134 of 14.3.2018 Co-rapporteurs: Esther de Lange (EPP, Netherlands)
Roberto Gualtieri (S&D, Italy) 2018/0060(COD) Shadow rapporteurs: Bernd Lucke (ECR, Germany)
Ramon Tremosa i Balcells (ALDE, Spain)
Matt Carthy (GUE/NGL, Ireland)
Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA, Germany)
Marco Zanni (ENF, Italy) Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Vote in plenary

Twelve times a year, MEPs relocate from Brussels to Strasbourg - and then back again. Not by choice, but because a treaty forces them to - and it is costing taxpayers more than €100m per year.

World leaders meeting in Brussels from 12-14 March must make the freeing of detainees held by Syria's Assad regime the number one priority on their agenda.

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for babies.

Twitter Hashtag #EUandME

© famveldman / Fotolia

Your baby is special. The European Union helps babies’ parents and guardians through measures aimed at children in general that always take the babies’ best interests as a primary consideration.

The EU supports babies’ right to maintain a personal relationship and direct contact with both parents, unless that is contrary to their interests. Their mothers have a right to at least 14 weeks of maternity leave, and either of their parents have a right to take at least four months of parental leave to care for them.

The EU protects also babies’ health. Their food has to be safe and meet high standards, such as no detectable presence of pesticide residues. Their toys have to respect high safety requirements, especially regarding the use of chemicals. Their mothers are not allowed to work at night or in conditions that would jeopardise their babies’ health while pregnant, breastfeeding, or having just given birth.

Furthermore, the EU offers policy and financial support to improve early childhood education and care. It helps to increase the quantity and quality of childcare facilities and offers support for staff development. The EU also finances research on how to create services that best meet babies’ needs.

Finally, babies benefit from EU law and funding that addresses different forms of violence (e.g. sexual abuse and exploitation, human trafficking). And if a baby should go missing, the EU has launched a hotline number (116000).

Further information

• EPRS publication on maternity, paternity and parental leave in the EU, 2017, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/document.html?reference=EPRS_BRI(2017)599323
• Handbook on European law relating to the rights of the child, http://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2015/handbook-european-law-child-rights
• European Commission website on the rights of the child, https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/justice-and-fundamental-rights/rights-child_en

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for wine consumers.

Twitter Hashtag #EUandME

© AlenKadr / Fotolia

The identity and reputation of EU wine regions are protected through the EU’s geographical indications (GI), which are recorded in something called the E-Bacchus register. GIs are intended to protect consumers from misleading marketing. They also provide information to consumers on the origin of the wine and grape varieties used. In addition, the European Commission keeps a list of wine grape varieties that countries have agreed may be grown on their soil. This list runs into the thousands and reflects the huge diversity of EU wine regions.

On average, EU consumers account for over half of all wine consumption worldwide. Consumers have become increasingly health-conscious, prompting demand for more detailed information on wine labels. EU law in this area is designed to ensure that consumers are properly informed about what they eat and drink. However, drinks with an alcohol content above 1.2 % are exempt from rules on ingredients listing, for example, or on providing information on sugar levels and calories.

In response to this exemption, and to the fact that some EU countries have additional labelling requirements for alcoholic drinks, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in 2015 calling on the European Commission to propose EU rules for the indication of the calorie content of alcoholic beverages. In March 2017, the Commission told EU wine producers that they had one year to come up with a self-regulatory scheme aimed at providing consumers with information about the ingredients present in alcoholic drinks and their nutritional value.

Further information

• European Commission press release, http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-551_en.htm
• EU Regulation on food labelling, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32011R1169&from=EN
• European Commission’s Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development website, http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/markets/wine/e-bacchus/
• European Commission report on mandatory labelling of ingredients and nutrition declaration of alcoholic beverages, https://ec.europa.eu/food/sites/food/files/safety/docs/fs_labelling-nutrition_legis_alcohol-report_en.pdf

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for bank account holders.

Twitter Hashtag #EUandME

© MichaelJBerlin/ Fotolia

Bank accounts are an essential part of everyday life, allowing us to manage our money, shop online, and pay bills.

Despite continuous efforts to integrate financial services further, European citizens often still find it difficult to open an account in another EU country or to change banks. In addition, bank fees are sometimes high and not particularly transparent.

Thanks to the Directive on Payment Accounts, anyone residing legally in the European Union has the right to open a payment account with basic features (cash withdrawals and payment transactions) in any EU country. In addition, the Payment Services Directive introduced a set of rules to improve the level of transparency for fees for payment services. The Directive on Payment Accounts builds on this and provides for several tools (such as independent websites that compare the payment account fees charged by different banks) to make fees clearer to us, the consumers, and to allow us to make more informed choices.

Lastly, the Directive on Payment Accounts addresses the issue of payment account switching: until recently, bank customers wishing to change bank payment accounts could face delays or other problems when trying to transfer recurring payments – such as standing orders – from one account to another. To remedy this, the directive establishes a quick procedure for those who want to switch their account from one bank to another in the same EU country and provides that, in cases of account-switching between two EU countries, the bank hosting the account to be closed must assist in the process.

Further information

• Payment accounts – Directive 2014/92/EU, https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/payment-accounts-directive-2014-92-eu_en
• Payment services – Directive 2015/2366/EU, https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/payment-services-psd-2-directive-eu-2015-2366_en
• Opening/switching bank accounts and information on fees, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/LSU/?uri=CELEX:32014L0092

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for air travellers to and from peripheral and under-served regions.

Twitter Hashtag #EUandME

© manifeesto / Fotolia

Do you live in a peripheral or under-served region? If so, the EU is working to ensure that regions like yours are linked up to the air travel network.

Europeans have access to many more destinations than they used to thanks to the liberalisation of aviation in the EU in the 1990s (there are almost eight times as many routes now as there were in 1992). However, this may not ring true for you. In some remote regions and islands there is either insufficient demand or simply not enough flights, if any at all, to serve the needs of local communities.

To guarantee the economic and social development of these regions, the EU authorises exceptions to free market principles in aviation. Under certain conditions, EU law allows EU countries to impose public service obligations (PSO) in order to maintain scheduled air services on routes that are vital for peripheral or under-served regions. The operator’s choices have to be transparent and non-discriminatory, and information must be publicly available (on an EU website).

In 2017, there were 179 PSO-type routes in 13 European countries (Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). Most of them were domestic routes while only seven linked airports in two different countries. France has the largest number of this kind of route (40) with some 5.7 million passengers travelling on these routes every year. In Ireland, meanwhile, PSOs represent a substantial share of domestic traffic (70 %).

Further information

• European Commission’s Directorate General for Mobility and Transport,
  EU Aviation: 25 years of reaching new heights – European Commission
• European Commission’s Directorate General for Mobility and Transport,
  https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/internal-market/pso_en
• European Commission’s Directorate General for Mobility and Transport,
  https://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/aviation-strategy_en

Council adopts its position on the directive on the appointment of legal representatives for the gathering of evidence in criminal proceedings.

The EU and the UN issued a financial tracking report ahead of the Brussels II conference on "Supporting the future of Syria and the region" that will be held on 12-14 March 2019.