European Union

Prime Minister Theresa May will propose on Friday (6 July) a new plan to ease trade and offer Britain more freedom to set tariffs after Brexit, in a last-ditch attempt to unite her divided government on plans to leave the European Union.

Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz said Thursday that he "would be in favour of pursuing negotiations rather than having a hard Brexit" if no agreement is found in time to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. Austria took over last Sunday the six-month presidency of the EU Council. Kurz told journalists in Vienna that the EU should "speak with one voice but should not penalise the UK."

The UK Brexit minister David Davis has branded prime minister Theresa May's latest plan for a 'facilitated customs arrangement' with the EU "unworkable", the Daily Telegraph reported, just 24 hours ahead of a key away day cabinet meeting to thrash out the British position. May and her ministers meet on Friday at her country retreat, Chequers, while on Thursday May is in Berlin meeting German chancellor Angela Merkel.

The EDA Single European Sky Military Aviation Board (ESMAB) met on 3 July at the EDA premises to discuss the challenges and opportunities related to the integration of military aviation into the “Digital European Sky”. 

This 5th ESMAB policy level meeting was attended by General Mikhail Kostarakos, Chairman of the EU Military Committee, Mr. Filip Cornelis, Aviation Director at the European Commission (DG MOVE), Mr. Eamonn Brennon, Director General of Eurocontrol, as well as representatives from a wide range of key aviation stakeholders, notably the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the SESAR Joint Undertaking (SJU), the SESAR Deployment Manager (SDM), NATO, the European Organisation for Civil Aviation Equipment (EUROCAE), the Performance Review Body (PRB) and the AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD). Also present were representatives from NATO and countries the Agency has concluded Administrative Agreements with. The ESMAB Policy Level is comprising Member States’ Military Aviation Authorities or equivalent.

The objective of the 5th ESMAB policy level meeting was to provide for informal high-level exchanges between the main civil and military actors involved in the implementation of Single European Sky with the following overarching theme “A new digital ATM system: which opportunities and which challenges ahead for Military Aviation?”.

This topic was addressed from 3 different perspectives:

• the first panel was dedicated to the potential opportunities offered by the digitalization in the operational domain, both on Civil and Military sides, with a specific focus on the optimization of the management and use of the Airspace and how Military Mission Effectiveness could be improved thanks to digitalization;
• the second panel aimed to identify how industry could support Civil & Military Aviation in facilitating operations in a digital Single European Sky, notably through dual use solutions;
• finally, the third panel pointed-out how an appropriate regulatory framework could contribute to maximizing the opportunities of digitalization while reducing taking into account contingencies and risks deriving from the use of new technologies and new devices.

In his opening speech, EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq welcomed that, thanks to the joint efforts of many stakeholders involved, “the military are now considered as a key partner in aviation and in single European Sky”, adding that “working closely with civil aviation stakeholders should allow the military to remain innovative, notably taking advantage of recent European security and defence initiatives such as CARD, PESCO and EDF”.
 

Joint activities on SES/SESAR: 2019-2020 work programme

In the margins of the meeting, EDA Chief Jorge Domecq and Eurocontrol Director General Eamonn Brennon signed the 2019-2020 Work Programme for the two organisations’ joint activities on SES/SESAR. This document is updated every two years in the frame of the exchange of letters between EDA and EUROCONTROL in 2013 and 2014. It details the SES and SESAR related activities on which EUROCONTROL provides technical ATM expertise in support of EDA’s role to facilitate the coordination of military views and act as interface with EU institutions and related bodies.
 

More information:    

• EDA in Single European Sky (project page)
• The Military In SES / SESAR

 

Denmark's top bank laundered €7bn of dirty money in an "astronomical" case that could spur new Russia sanctions.

More than 100,000 18-year-olds took part in the #DiscoverEU lottery for 15,000 free Interrail tickets, reported the BBC. Applicants had to complete an online quiz about EU cultural heritage, youth and the European parliament elections, to participate in the lottery. The UK ticket quota was 1,900, and 3,786 applied. In Spain more than 11,000 applied for 1,364 tickets. The European Commission plans to expand the scheme in future.

German interior minister Horst Seehofer is in Vienna on Thursday - as his plan to reject some asylum seekers was met by an Austrian threat to close its borders too.

Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, among others, has written to MEPs urging them vote in favour of changes in a new copyright law ahead of a key vote in the European parliament on Thursday. The law would put greater responsibility on individual websites to check for copyright infringements. If MEPs approve the negotiation mandate proposed by the legal affairs committee, talks between the European Parliament and the Council can begin.

Romania's parliament on Wednesday passed a controversial law weakening the country's corruption laws. It comes after the Supreme Court on 20 June sentenced governing Social Democrat party leader Liviu Dragnea to three and a half years in jail for abuse of office. Anti-corruption investigators in Romania said over 200 corruption cases could now be binned under the new reforms.

Switzerland said on Wednesday (4 July) it had put further talks on a new treaty governing relations with the European Union, including sensitive labour market rules, on hold until after the summer break.

Two months before Swedish national elections on 9 September, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament has adopted the far-right Sweden Democrats as a new member. The party, riding high in the polls on an anti-migration ticket, previously sat in the EFFD group, with Ukip and Germany's AfD. The ECR group includes UK Conservatives, Poland's Law and Justice Party, the Finns Party and Danish People's Party.

Britain's biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover said on Wednesday (4 July) a so-called "hard Brexit" would cost it 1.2 billion pounds (€1.36 billion) a year, curtailing its future operations in the United Kingdom.

A long-running dispute between Poland and the European Union over democratic values escalated on Wednesday (4 July) when new legislation came into force that requires about a third of judges at the Supreme Court to retire.

The Austrian government remains cautious but warned there will be consequences if the German border is closed, ahead of a meeting with Interior Minister Horst Seehofer on Thursday (5 July) in Vienna.

EU lawmakers gave approval on Wednesday (4 July) for the European Investment Bank (EIB) to do business in Iran, overcoming a blocking attempt and keeping alive plans to save the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran that Washington has abandoned.