European Union

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Trips and meetings of Federica Mogherini, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

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Ministers of Foreign and European Affairs of the EU27 meet on 14 May 2018 in Brussels.

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EU Ministers of Foreign and European Affairs meet on 14 May 2018 in Brussels.

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The European Union and Algeria have a long-standing partnership within the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). The Association Agreement – entered into force in 2005 – represents the key legal basis of EU-Algeria relations. A joint assessment of the implementation of the Association Agreement has been finalized in March 2017, along with the Partnership priorities: the new political framework that will guide the dialogue of the EU and its Member States with Algeria up to 2020. The EU and Algeria entertain also a high-level dialogue on energy.

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The EU is seeking an increasingly close relationship with Ukraine, going beyond co-operation, to gradual economic integration and a deepening of political co-operation. Ukraine is a priority partner country within the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). On 1 January 2016 the Free Trade Area (DCFTA) between Ukraine and the European Union entered into force.

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The "European Union-NATO Declaration on the European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP)" and the "Berlin Plus" arrangements are the basic documents for the EU-NATO strategic partnership.

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Committee meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

HOT BLADE 2018, the 12th helicopter exercise organised under the umbrella of the European Defence Agency’s (EDA) Helicopter Exercise Programme (HEP), kicked off yesterday 7th May at Beja airbase in Portugal. It will run until 24 May and involve a total of 29 air assets and crews from six countries: Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Slovenia and the Netherlands. Representatives from Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy will also take part as observers. A Distinguished Visitors Day (DVD) will take place on 22 May.

HOT BLADE 2018 will allow crews from 21 helicopters and 8 fixed wing assets (including 6 Portuguese F-16 fighters), ground troops, EW simulator/emulators operators and Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs) to practice operations in a hot, high and dusty environment replicating the challenging conditions that participants’ forces are expected to encounter when deploying to a theatre of operation. 

The exercise’s main focus is on enhancing interoperability at the tactical level between helicopter units by using the Composite Air Operations (COMAO) concept in a combined, joint, realistic and challenging environment.

It is the 4th time that the exercise is hosted by the Portuguese Air Force, under EDA’s Helicopter Exercise Programme (HEP), following three earlier successful editions that took place between 2012 and 2014. This year, the Hot Blade 2018 exercise will be carried out in the area surrounding Beja Air Force Base, located in the Southern part of Portugal.

The use of EDA HEP Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), the application of best practices gathered during the 11 previous helicopter exercises led by the EDA and the availability on location of a Mentor Team will support the standardisation of planning processes and helicopter tactical procedures amongst participating crews.

This year’s training is focussed on missions in a dusty, hot and mountainous environment. To ensure the maximum levels of flight safety, scheduled activities will follow a progressive approach. Tactical training (e.g. formation flights, NVG, tactical formation) will be performed during the first days, while national training requirements enabling the performance of demanding day and night Composite Air Operation (COMAO) missions will be addressed during the last days of the exercise.
 

More information:

• EDA Helicopter Initiatives Project Page
• Factsheet Exercice HOT BLADE 2018

Esso Raffinage v ECHA
SANT
When assessing whether a registration dossier of a chemical substance complies with the REACH Regulation, the European Chemicals Agency must act in accordance with the procedures laid down by the regulation

K.A. and Others
Justice and Home Affairs
Requests for family reunification must be examined even if the national of a non-EU country, who is a family member of an EU citizen who has never exercised his right of freedom of movement, is subject to an entry ban

Čepelnik
Freedom of establishment
Advocate General Wahl proposes that the Court holds that national legislation requiring a recipient of services to provide security in order to secure a fine that might be imposed on a service provider established in another Member State for breach of a provision of national labour legislation is contrary to EU law

The European Defence Agency’s (EDA) ministerial Steering Board met this Saturday morning in Sofia under the chairmanship of HR/VP Federica Mogherini in her capacity as Head of the Agency. Defence ministers among other things welcomed the Agency’s progress on taking forward the new European defence initiatives and encouraged EDA to further develop initiatives in areas such as military mobility and the Main Battle Tank capability.

EDA plays a central role in many of the initiatives implementing the security and defence aspects of the EU Global Strategy presented by HR/VP Federica Mogherini in 2016. Federica Mogherini highlighted the Agency’s aim to support coherence between the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD), the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) and the European Defence Fund (EDF) – using the Capability Development Plan (CDP) as baseline for developing the European capability landscape.

The currently ongoing revision of the CDP will be finalised by June 2018 and Defence Ministers highlighted the importance of ensuring coherence of output and timelines between EU and NATO defence planning processes. At the same time, an Overarching Strategic Research Agenda (OSRA) is being developed with a view to guiding future investments in collaborative European defence research. Ministers of Defence welcomed the progress achieved so far in the trial run of the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence implemented by EDA in its capacity as CARD Secretariat. The first CARD report will be presented in November 2018. EDA also supports Member States as part of the PESCO Secretariat. On 2 May, the PESCO Secretariat (EDA together with EEAS/EUMS) issued the second call for project proposals to PESCO participating Member States to be submitted by 31 July 2018.

 

Military Mobility

Regarding Military Mobility, and in line with the scope and timelines mentioned in the European Union Action Plan, the Agency is currently preparing two ambitious programmes on the harmonisation of military requirements related to customs and on cross border movement permission.

Both programmes aim at facilitating military mobility activities. The Agency together with the participating Member States will look at harmonising the military requirements related to customs. The programme on cross border movement permission builds on the successful Diplomatic Clearances arrangement which foresees annually issued clearance numbers for air transport aircraft. The arrangement has proven its value by reducing administrative burden and time. The new programme will build on this good practice by looking at surface movement to enhance military mobility for road, rail and inland waterways, also including air assets such as helicopters and air-to-air refuelling aircraft. The Agency’s work in this area is coordinated with the PESCO project on military mobility and conducted in close cooperation with the EEAS, EUMS, the Commission and other stakeholders. It is also coherent with respective NATO initiatives.

  Main Battle Tank

Defence Ministers invited the Agency to pursue the development of the Pooling and Sharing initiative on Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) based on identified MBT surplus capacities in a number of Member States (Providers) and a demand for the acquisition of such assets in others (Receivers). The Agency together with national experts and industry investigated to what extent Providers could pool & share their surplus assets with interested Receivers and upgrade the MBTs to the latest configuration available. In addition, some Member States have voiced interest in upgrading their national fleets and keep them under full national control (Upgraders). The project will provide economies of scale throughout the entire life cycle while enhancing interoperability among Member States.  

  Cooperative Financial Mechanism & other topics

The Steering Board was informed about the progress achieved in the negotiation of the Programme Arrangement of the Cooperative Financial Mechanism. It is intended that the CFM will be structured around two pillars, one intergovernmental, and one involving the European Investment Bank as the sole lender for defence-related projects and programmes in line with its lending policy. Following calls from the European Council to support investments in defence research and development activities, the European Investment Bank and the European Defence Agency concluded a cooperation agreement on 28 February 2018.

Ministers welcomed closer interaction between EDA and NATO. They were also presented with lessons learnt on the successful implementation of the Pilot Project and the first work programme of the Preparatory Action on Defence Research by the Agency under delegation of the European Commission. Finally, the Steering Board welcomed the progress made with regard to the implementation of the dual-use strategy on RPAS regulation, based on close coordination with the European Commission, the SESAR Joint Undertaking and EASA.

 

 

Abel and Others v Commission
The General Court dismisses the action for damages brought by almost 1 500 individuals following the adoption by the Commission of a 2016 regulation on pollutant emissions from vehicles

Delegations

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

Ministerio Fiscal
DFON
Advocate General Saugmandsgaard Øe proposes that the Court should find that even criminal offences that are not particularly serious may justify disclosure of basic electronic communications metadata provided such disclosure does not seriously undermine the right to privacy

OTP Bank and OTP Faktoring
Environment and consumers
According to Advocate General Tanchev, a Member State legislative response to a ruling of the Court of Justice concerning the unfairness of contractual terms for lack of clarity is judicially reviewable

This Saturday 5 May, the European Defence Agency (EDA) participates in the 'EU Open Day'. Pass by and meet the EDA staff at information stand 32 in the building of the European External Action Service (EEAS) at Rond Point Schuman in Brussels.

Every year, the European Union celebrates peace and unity on 'Europe Day'. The event marks the anniversary of the 'Schuman Declaration', outlining a vision to unite separate European states into a single community.The public is invited to visit the main European institutions in Brussels on 5 May.

For more information on the celebrations in Brussels, click here.

EU Open Day at the European External Action Service

• Time: Open from 10.00 till 18.00 
• Address: EEAS Building, 9A Rond Point Schuman, 1000 Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

Plenary Session - Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

Bulgaria, who holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU during this semester, hosted the second European Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Courses (ETAP-C) from April 15th to 27th. This two-week comprehensive airlift tactics training course aims to enhance interoperability between European Air Forces. The participating crews were trained within a simulated theatre-deployment setting, exposing them to a complex surface-to-air and air-to-air threat environment, within which they were tasked to conduct demanding airlift missions.

At the end of the course, 3 graduating crews received a certificate reflecting the training objectives achieved.

EDA initiated the European Tactical Airlift Programme (ETAP) to develop innovative, efficient and more effective approaches to overcome Advanced Airlift Tactical Training and Interoperability shortfalls, within the European Air Transport Fleet (EATF) programme.

ETAP aims to enhance European transport airlift operational capability for crisis management operations through the pooling and sharing of experience, training opportunities and organisational costs, and the development of agreed common tactics, techniques and procedures, to better meet the challenges of flying transport aircraft in a joint and combined modern operational environment.

The organisational and administrative responsibilities for the ETAP have recently been handed over to the European Tactical Airlift Centre (ETAC) in Zaragoza, Spain, which was opened in June 2017 in the presence of EU High Representative and Head of the EDA Federica Mogherini, the Spanish Minister of Defence María Dolores de Cospedal and EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq.

This multinational centre, which was established with the support of 10 EDA Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain) and one Third State (Norway), delivers European Advanced Airlift Tactics Training Courses (ETAP-C), European Airlift Transport Training (ETAP-T), European Advanced Tactical Instructor Course (ETAP-I), Symposia (ETAP-S) and any other ETAP related activities for military air transport personnel.

The 2018 activities began in January at the International Training Centre (ITC) in Pisa, Italy, with the first three ETAP-I. The first ETAP-C took place in Zaragoza from February 18th until March 3d, with nine crews and six aircraft (2 C-130, 1 C-160, 1 CASA 235 and 2 CASA 295) from Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, France and Spain. This course was divided in two parts, day and night, with some of the crews attending the night course using night-vision goggles.

International interest in ETAC activities is tangible, with observers from Finland, Bulgaria and the Emirates participating in the January course. NATO AWACS observers from Geilenkirchen also attended to investigate the possibility of joining this type of training in the future.
 

More information

• EATT17 closes with advanced tactical airlift operations (EDA news, June 2017)