European Union

European border regions matter and the EU must continue looking after them despite planned cuts for Cohesion policy funding, particularly as some of them remain under-developed, participants at a recent EURACTIV event said, highlighting the example of Romania-Bulgaria cross-border cooperation.

Study shows that citizens’ concerns are directly linked to domestic policies, which are consistently the target of EU economic coordination priorities. That is why Cohesion Policy could help the European project, by making it relevant to citizens, writes Katie Cavell.

The EU auditors have expressed clear criticism of the plans to reform the CAP. They said that the Commission's proposals did not meet the demand for a "more environmentally-friendly and more strongly preformance-based" approach. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Transforming the global energy system towards low-carbon alternatives would not only mitigate climate change but also offer an opportunity to fundamentally change the way natural resources and public goods are managed. However, ambitious climate policies should not come at the expense of social justice.

Written by Laura Tilindyte,

© European Union 2014 – Source EP / Eve VAN SOENS

Originally, the nomination of the President of the European Commission was firmly in the hands of national governments, with the influence of the European Parliament (EP) initially non-existent and later only limited. However, inspired by the changes introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, in the run-up to the 2014 European elections, the Parliament announced that ‘this time, it’s different’: by voting in European elections, European citizens would not only elect the Parliament itself, but also have a say over who would head the EU executive – the European Commission. What became known as the ‘Spitzenkandidaten process’ is a procedure whereby European political parties, ahead of European elections, appoint lead candidates for the role of Commission President, with the presidency of the Commission then going to the candidate of the political party capable of marshalling sufficient parliamentary support.

Establishing a direct link between EP elections and the Commission President is intended to increase the legitimacy of the Commission and the EU as a whole, foster transparency in the nomination process and encourage increased turnout in EP elections. However, the procedure has not been without its critics, who have raised concerns about both its legal and political implications. The Parliament remains firmly committed to repeating the process in 2019 and, with EP elections now only months away, attention is shifting to the European political parties. Which parties will nominate lead candidates and when, and who will be their nominees?

Read the complete briefing on ‘Election of the President of the European Commission: Understanding the Spitzenkandidaten process‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Turnout in European Parliament elections, 1979-2014

The European People's Party handed an implicit reprimand to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party in a special resolution voted on Wednesday (7 November) but took no formal action.

A Greek bank bought the Bulgarian subsidiary of another Greek bank on Wednesday (7 November). The deal seems totally at odds with the terms of Greece’s bailout deal, but not only that.

Germany's Manfred Weber was chosen by delegates to be the lead candidate for the European People's Party (EPP) for May 2019's European elections, at the party's congress in Helsinki on Thursday. Weber, the EPP group leader in the European Parliament, beat Finland's former prime minister Alexander Stubb by 492 votes to 127. Weber will now seek to clinch the presidency of the European Commission, if the EPP win the elections.

On 6 November, following a meeting at working level, the four Principals of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA), the European Defence Agency (EDA), Europol and the Computer Emergency Response Team for the EU Institutions, Agencies and Bodies (CERT-EU), met at CERT-EU's premises.

The purpose of the meeting was to update each other on relevant developments, and assess the progress made under the MoU, which provides a cooperation framework aiming at leveraging synergies between the four organisations to achieve a safe and open cyberspace and to promote civ/mil synergies. 

The four partners also agreed on a roadmap prepared by the MoU working group with concrete activities and deliverables throughout 2019, which will be reflected in their respective work programmes. 

The initial focus will be on working closer in the areas of training and cyber exercises, building the cooperation capacity and the improved exchange of information on respective projects and events with a view to complementing the work of the four partners and avoiding the duplication of efforts, considering also broader EU initiatives in the cyber domain. 
 

Ken Ducatel (CERT-EU), Udo Helmbrecht (ENISA), Steven Wilson (EC3), Jorge Domecq (EDA)

 
"Following the signature of this MoU in May, I am pleased that we swiftly moved to turn this into action. Our objective is to promote civ/mil synergies in the cyber domain, considering also relevant EU initiatives, to support Member States in the development of the cyber capabilities they need, building on complementarities and avoiding duplication", said Jorge Domecq, EDA Chief Executive.

The Principals agreed that this was a major milestone in entering a new era of working together and an important first step in putting the cooperation framework into practice.
 

More information:

• Four EU Cybersecurity organisations enhance cooperation (EDA news May 2018)

Seeing Brexit crumble towards a single market fudge with no UK say, daughter Europa pleads to re-unite her mother - with her father Franz-Emmanuel, not the ideal home-maker.

The whole world has been mesmerised by the midterm elections in the US this week. Observers see Trump weakened on the domestic front - but what will the election results mean for his foreign policy? Europe's media make predictions and offer the US president some advice.

In the US midterm elections the Democrats have won a majority in the House of Representatives. The Republicans, for their part, have secured more seats in the Senate. Journalists discuss the impact this new balance of power could have on policies.