European Union

Digitisation and the use of big data are paving the way for agriculture, livestock and the agri-food sector to sow the seeds for a new future, as is already happening in other aspects of daily life.

The European Court of Justice (CJEU) is investigating if the recently adopted legislation on the retirement age of Polish Supreme Court judges complies with EU law, but a top Polish official has hinted that the country might ignore future ECJ rulings in this matter.

The French Guiana spaceport has been the site of European launches for decades. One of the unchallenged advantages is its proximity to the equator.

British Prime Minister Theresa May today (28 August) pledged to prioritise investment in Africa as she started a three-nation visit to the continent to drum up new trade deals ahead of leaving the European Union.

Written by Marie Lecerf (1st edition),

© Doreen Salcher / Fotolia

In preparation for the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework for 2021-2027, the European Commission published a proposal for a regulation on the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) on 30 May 2018. In the same spirit as the current European Social Fund 2014-2020, the ESF+ will provide the main EU financial instrument for improving workers’ mobility and employment opportunities and strengthening social cohesion, improving social fairness and increasing competitiveness across Europe for the 2021-2027 period. With a provisional budget of €101.2 billion (current prices), the ESF+ should merge the existing European Social Fund (ESF), the Youth Employment Initiative (YEI), and the Fund for European Aid to the most Deprived (FEAD), the Employment and Social Innovation Programme (EaSI) and the EU Health Programme. The new fund will concentrate its investment in three main areas: education, employment and social inclusion. At the European Parliament, the file has been allocated to the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL), with Verónica Lope Fontagné (EPP, Spain) as rapporteur. A presentation of the draft report in the EMPL Committee is scheduled for 29 August 2018.

Versions

• August 2018: ‘European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) 2021-2027‘ (1st edition)

European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) 2021–2027 Committee responsible: Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL) COM(2018) 0382
30.5.2018 Rapporteur: Verónica Lope Fontagné (EPP, Spain) 2018/0206 (COD) Shadow rapporteurs:

 

  Brando Benifei (S&D, Italy)
Ulrike Trebesius (ECR, Germany)
Jasenko Selimovic, (ALDE, Sweden)
Gabriele Zimmer (GUE/NGL, Germany)
Terry Reintke (Greens/EFA, Germany)
Laura Agea (EFDD, Italy)
Mara Bizzotto (ENF, Italy) Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Presentation of draft report

Italian prosecutors have opened an investigation against Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. The leader of the xenophobic party Lega is accused of abuse of office and the illegal detention after refugees were forced to spend ten days on a ship. Does the investigation really pose a threat for Salvini?

Foreign-looking bystanders were assaulted in the German city of Chemnitz on Sunday during a protest march staged by right-wing groups. The protests began after arrest warrants were issued against a Syrian man and an Iraqi man in connection with the killing of a German citizen. The problem of right-wing extremism has been played down for too long in the state of Saxony, commentators write, demanding that politicians address the issue.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has accused Pope Francis in a letter of having covered up allegations of abuse against the former archbishop of Washington Theodore McCarrick to protect the "gay lobby" in the Vatican. Previously, the Pope had harshly condemned the cases of abuse within the Catholic Church. In the view of commentators the allegations have the potential to harm Francis's legacy.