European Union

Commission v Hungary
Freedom of establishment
The exclusive operation of a national mobile payment system by an undertaking controlled by the Hungarian State is contrary to EU law

It may sound like a good thing to reward advanced fuels. But doing it under the CO2 standards for heavy duty vehicles (HDVs) would not achieve this goal and would only end up weakening EU fuel efficiency standards, says Cristina Mestre.

EU economy and finance ministers on Tuesday (6 November) stressed the need to scale up public and private money for climate change and urged multilateral development banks to end funding for coal.

While the course is voluntary, the number of MEPs who signed up stands in stark contrast with the number of MEPs who said they supported such remedies in the wake of the #metoo movement.

The EU needs a "real European army" to stand up to Russia, the French president has said. It must also fight populism at home by being less "ultra-liberal".

The UK's information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, said on Tuesday that Facebook would be referred to the Irish Data Protection Commission for breaking EU GDPR rules in a report to parliament with conclusions of an investigation into consultancy Cambridge Analytica and others' abuse of personal data in political campaigning. "Throughout our enquiries we found a disturbing disregard for voters' personal privacy by players across the political campaigning eco-system," she noted.

The EU would support a Kosovo-Serbia land swap deal if it meant lasting peace, Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz told Kosovo president Hashim Thaci in Pristina on Tuesday. "Even if it's correction of borders and exchange of territories, then it would be supported by the European Union," he said. He spoke as the holder of the rotating EU presidency, but Germany, among other EU states, are opposed to the territorial move.

EU finance ministers on Tuesday removed Namibia from the bloc's list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, bringing the number of blacklisted countries down to just five: American Samoa, Guam, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago and the US Virgin Islands. "Namibia has made sufficient commitments at a high political level to address EU concerns," the ministers said. The blacklist originally included 17 jurisdictions.

Almost 100 MEPs, from different political parties, have urged German chancellor Angela Merkel to stop the Nord Stream 2 gas project. "Germany's position on Nord Stream 2 runs counter to the goals of the European Energy Union ..... it increases the EU's energy dependency on Russia," their appeal said. German signatories included Elmar Brok (EPP), Hans-Olaf Henkel (ECR) and Rebecca Harms (Green), while no German Social Democrats signed.

The EU's plans to introduce a three percent tax on large companies' digital revenues appears stranded, after a group of countries - including Ireland, Denmark and Sweden - on Tuesday said they would veto it. Germany said the EU should now wait for an OECD decision on digital taxes, whilst other countries have moved ahead with their own national digital taxes. Tax can only be unanimously agreed in the EU.

Written by Denise Chircop (1st edition),

© peampath / Fotolia

The Erasmus 2021-2027 proposal was published on 30 May 2018. Establishing a new programme would ensure the continuation of the Erasmus+ funding programme for education, training, youth and sport. The Commission claims its proposal would double the funds available to €30 000 million in current prices, from €14 712 million dedicated to Erasmus+. The proposal would also triple the number of participants. While Erasmus+ offered mobility opportunities to more than 4 million people, the new programming period aims to reach up to 12 million participants. The new proposal also aims at greater simplification for end-users, incorporates sports in the main structure of the programme, expands the use of digitalisation, supports new areas of knowledge and introduces Discover EU, a new mobility initiative. Stakeholders agreed that the current programme is highly beneficial but lessons need to be learnt to help the next generation programme run more efficiently and effectively.

Versions

• November 2018: ‘Erasmus 2021-2027: The Union programme for education, training, youth and sport‘ (1st edition)

Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing ‘Erasmus’: the Union programme for education, training, youth and sport and repealing Regulation (EU) No 1288/2013 Committee responsible: Culture and Education (CULT) COM(2018) 367
30.5.2018 Rapporteur: Milan Zver (EPP, Slovenia) 2018/0191 (COD) Shadow rapporteurs:

 

 

  Krystyna Łybacka (S&D, Poland)
Remo Sernagiotto (ECR, Italy)
María Teresa Giménez Barbat (ALDE, Spain)
Liadh Ní Riada (GUE/NGL, Ireland)
Jill Evans (Greens/EFA, UK)
Isabella Adinolfi (EFDD, Italy)
Dominique Bilde (ENF, France) Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Vote in committee

EUsalt calls for fortified table salt to be exempt from nutrient profiles, and for food products using fortified salt to be able to reference this fortification on their packaging.

The Spanish soccer league’s organising body La Liga is ready to turn to the European Union if UEFA does not enforce its Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules against Manchester City and Paris St Germain, a spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday....

Cornered by their EU partners, Italy, Hungary and the UK were welcomed with open arms by Chinese President Xi Jinping during his landmark trade event held in Shanghai this week, where around 3,000 companies from more than 130 countries are taking part in the first China International Import Expo (CIIE).

Britain's information watchdog has asked Facebook's lead European regulator to investigate how the company targets, monitors and shows adverts to users, saying it was concerned about some practices at the world's biggest social network.

The UK has fallen in a ranking of the world's most attractive renewable energy markets for investors, with apprehensions around Brexit cited as a major reason for a year-on-year drop in investment. EURACTIV's media partner edie.net reports.

French President Emmanuel Macron called on Tuesday (6 November) for a "real European army" to allow the bloc to defend itself against Russia and even the United States, a hugely sensitive idea amongst EU nations which jealously guard their defence.

As the European elections are looming ever closer, one question rings ever louder in Brussels corridors: How will the Parliament’s main political groups choose their candidates for the EU’s top jobs?

The UK’s data chief has called for a new code of practice on the use of digital information in political campaigning in a new report published on Tuesday (6 November) in the wake of data scandals connected to the Brexit referendum.

The European Commission is preparing to launch a “risk data hub” in the coming months that will help map out loss and damage from natural disasters such as floods, droughts, storms and other extreme weather events that are becoming more frequent with climate change.