European Union

"There is a lack of trust at this moment" between the EU and US, said EU trade commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom Thursday in Washington, according to the FT. Malmstrom also said the EU was "deeply offended" when the US branded it a national security risk when imposing tariffs. "If you want an ally and partner, this is not the way to go about it," she told Bloomberg.

We need a more meaningful representation of women in EU institutions and on EU's negotiation tables abroad. The most successful EU deal in the last years, the Iran deal, was brokered by women – Frederica Mogherini and Helga Schmid.

Written by Jana Titievskaia and Roderick Harte,

© Rawpixel.com / Fotolia

The European Community was founded on the belief that economic integration leads to peace and economic prosperity. Trade is therefore a fundamental part of the identity of the European Union (EU) today. Given the success of the internal market in fostering the longest period of European peace in modern history, the EU considers itself an example of the benefits of trade, globalisation and economic openness. International trade policy is an exclusive competence of the EU, and with the combined economic weight of its Member States behind it, the EU is one of the key players in global trade. Yet trade policy is about more than stability and growth for the EU, as it is also used to encourage poor countries to develop, foster international alliances and support fundamental values in the world. A strong believer in the World Trade Organization (WTO), the EU backs an international trading system based on rules rather than might.

The benefits of globalisation and international trade have nevertheless been questioned in recent years, including within the EU. This has led it to reinvigorate its trade policy, in particular by presenting a new trade strategy and a reflection paper on harnessing globalisation. The EU’s new ‘trade for all’ strategy addresses criticisms and focuses on making its trade policy more effective, transparent and values-based. In line with this strategy, the EU has pursued ongoing trade negotiations with renewed vigour and launched new trade and investment talks, resulting in state-of-the-art agreements with countries such as Canada and Japan.

The EU faces uncertain times due to major shifts in international trade, coming from both the West and the East. In response, it seeks to promote economic openness, standing up for its values and protecting its interests. For example, the EU has retaliated against US steel tariffs and continues to defend the rules-based international trading order. Contentious trading practices on the part of third countries, including China, have led the EU to modernise its trade defence instruments, prepare a new foreign investment screening mechanism and seek a reform of the WTO. The EU is likely to continue this approach in the next parliamentary term, pursuing international cooperation and new agreements, possibly also at a continental level with Africa, and striving to protect its citizens and businesses from economic harm.

Read this complete briefing on ‘EU policies – Delivering for citizens: International trade and globalisation‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Written by Mar Negreiro and Tambiama Madiega,

© Zapp2Photo / Shutterstock.com

A digital revolution is transforming the world as we know it at unprecedented speed. Digital technologies have changed the way businesses operate, how people connect and exchange information, and how they interact with the public and private sectors. European businesses and citizens alike need an adequate policy framework and appropriate skills and infrastructures to capture the enormous value created by the digital economy and make a success of digital transformation.

The European Union plays an active role in shaping the digital economy, with cross-policy initiatives that range from boosting investment to reforming EU laws, to non-legislative actions to improve Member States’ coordination and exchange of best practices. The 2014-2019 parliamentary term has seen a number of initiatives in the areas of digitalisation of industry and public services, investment in digital infrastructure and services, research programmes, cybersecurity, e-commerce, copyright and data protection legislation.

There is a growing awareness among EU citizens that digital technologies play an important role in their everyday lives. In a 2017 survey, two-thirds of Europeans said that these technologies have a positive impact on society, the economy and their own lives. However, they also bring new challenges. A majority of respondents felt that the EU, Member States’ authorities and companies need to take action to address the impacts of these technologies.

The European Union will increase its support for digital transformation in the coming years, as illustrated by the recent proposal for the Digital Europe programme (for 2021-2027) – which would be the first ever funding programme dedicated solely to supporting digital transformation in the EU. Further EU action will doubtless be needed, notably to increase infrastructure investment, boost innovation, foster digital champions and businesses digitalisation, reduce existing digital divides, remove remaining barriers in the digital single market and ensure an adequate legal and regulatory framework in the areas of advanced computing and data, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.

The European Parliament, as co-legislator, is closely involved in shaping the policy framework that will help citizens and businesses fully exploit the potential of digital technologies.

Read this complete briefing on ‘EU policies – Delivering for citizens: Digital transformation‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Proportionally, more men vote in the European elections than women - in a trend that has widened since 2009. Yet the European parliament's outreach strategy to voters targets only young people, students and "people who exert a certain influence".

Recognising the passion for women's football and its potential offers vast untapped opportunities, FIFA is committed to reaching an ambitious goal: by 2026, the number of women's footballers is to be doubled from 30 million to 60 million players worldwide.

The EU issued a declaration firmly condemning the decision to declare the German Ambassador in Caracas as persona non grata and expressing its full solidarity with Germany.

Written by Irina Popescu,

© didier salou / Fotolia

The European Union has sole responsibility for the conservation of its marine fisheries resources, and manages them under the common fisheries policy (CFP). Launched in 1983 and reformed every ten years since then, the CFP has come a long way. The current framework, resulting from the 2013 CFP reform, is aimed at ensuring that EU fisheries are sustainable – environmentally, economically and socially. The CFP has a dedicated financial instrument – the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) – with a budget of €6.4 billion for the 2014-2020 period.

The 2013 reform introduced the target to achieve exploitation of all stocks at sustainable levels by 2020, and provided several major tools to support progress towards this goal. In particular, adoption of multiannual plans has become a priority, to ensure long-term management of stocks. An obligation to land all catches was designed to end the practice of discarding fish back into the sea. The reform introduced regionalisation of decision-making, with the possibility to adopt conservation measures based on joint recommendations by the Member States concerned.

With implementation of the reformed CFP as the main feature of the 2014-2019 parliamentary term, legislative work has made headway on several important topics. A series of multiannual plans have been launched, and two of them, concerning fisheries in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, are now in force. The landing obligation has been phased in, as scheduled, from 2015 to 2019. The EU adopted an updated framework for collection of fisheries data to support management decisions, as well as a new system of managing fishing authorisations, and improved monitoring of EU vessels fishing outside EU waters. EU activities have also covered different aspects of the CFP’s external dimension, such as conclusion of fisheries agreements with third countries, and participation in international fisheries governance. In the future, further progress is expected on issues such as adoption of multiannual plans and the revision of the fisheries control system. The EMFF will be renewed as part of the next EU multiannual budget for 2021-2027. Taking stock of progress made in implementing the latest reform and achieving its objectives, with a view to future CFP developments, will also be on the agenda.

Read this complete briefing on ‘EU policies – Delivering for citizens: Fisheries‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Written by Cécile Remeur,

© bankrx / Fotolia

Tax policy, and the fight against tax fraud, have gained particular exposure over the five past years as a result of the light shed by repeated tax leaks and the related journalistic investigations. This has added to the increasing lack of acceptance of damaging tax practices, especially since the recession and the resulting budget constraints. The fight against tax fraud aims at recovering revenue not paid to the public authorities. It also aims at ensuring that fraudsters do not have an advantage over compliant taxpayers, thus ensuring tax fairness between taxpayers. Unpaid taxes result in reduced resources for national and European Union (EU) budgets. Though the scale of unpaid taxes is by nature difficult to estimate, available assessments hint at large amounts of resources lost to public finances.

Citizens’ evaluation of the EU’s current involvement in the fight against tax fraud has improved, but the majority of citizens in each Member State still share expectations for even more intensive involvement. Despite this, there is still a considerable gap between citizens’ evaluations and expectations of EU involvement. There is still room for improvement in addressing the preferences and expectations of EU citizens.

The fight against tax fraud is shared between Member States and the EU. Coming under tax policy, it has remained closely linked to Member State sovereignty, protected by the requirement for unanimity and a special legislative procedure which keeps tax matters firmly under the Council’s control. This has been the case since the Union’s beginnings, in spite of the proposed limited changes to the tax framework. As shortcomings have been more clearly identified, the discussion has been opened anew in the latest speeches on the State of the Union delivered by the President of the European Commission before the European Parliament.

Fighting tax fraud covers not only actions against illegal behaviour, but also the deterrence of fraud and measures to foster compliance. As a result it involves a large reboot of tax provisions, to upgrade them for the scale and features of tax fraud as it is and as it evolves. Yet in spite of the notable deliveries during the current parliamentary term, there remains work ahead, namely because all provisions need to be implemented, enforced, monitored and, if need be, updated, to keep up with the versatility of tax fraud, as well as the need to keep pace with digital evolution globally.

Read this complete briefing on ‘EU policies – Delivering for citizens: The fight against tax fraud‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

EUobserver asked candidates for the presidency of the EU Commission to commit in principle to having minutes taken of their meetings with politicians and lobbyists. The 'Big 3' all said no.

The Council unanimously decided to reject a draft list put forward by the Commission of 23 "high-risk third countries" in the area of money laundering and terrorist financing.

The act foresees the setting-up of an additional pool of resources, rescEU, to provide assistance in situations where overall existing capacities are insufficient.

The presidency of the Council and the Parliament reach a provisional agreement on disclosure rules on investments' environmental and social impact.

Leaders of the European Parliament on Thursday backed Romanian former anti-corruption prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi as their pick to be the EU's chief prosecutor. The decision comes after two parliamentary committees backed her candidacy. The EP's leadership appointed three MEPs to negotiate the final choice with member states. Three ambassadors will head the council's negotiating team. Talks could drag on, as the countries picked the French candidate as their choice.

The European Commission has referred Italy to the Court of Justice of the EU over two separate cases of failing to apply EU environmental rules. The first case is about "a failure to protect citizens against the effects of nitrogen dioxide", the commission said on Thursday. The second is about waste water treatment. "Italy has not complied with EU rules in [16 Italian] regions for over 13 years," it said.