European Union

Plenary sessions : The situation in Hungary, following Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's remarks on the possibility of reinstating the death penalty there and the government’s public “consultation” on immigration, were debated by MEPs, Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans, Latvian State Secretary for European Affairs Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica for the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers and Mr Orbán himself on Tuesday afternoon.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : The situation in Hungary, following Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's remarks on the possibility of reinstating the death penalty there and the government’s public “consultation” on immigration, were debated by MEPs, Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans, Latvian State Secretary for European Affairs Zanda Kalniņa-Lukaševica for the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers and Mr Orbán himself on Tuesday afternoon.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

On Tuesday, Frans Timmermans, the European Commission’s first vice president who has been tasked with streamlining and overhauling the way Brussels operates, presented one of his signature initiatives – the so-called “better regulation” package aimed at scrutinising more carefully the rules Brussels imposes on businesses.

As the FT wrote after our hour-long interview with Timmermans, he is a relatively late convert to the Brussels reformist camp, having changed his view after a lot of soul-searching in 2005, when his native Netherlands voted against an EU constitutional treaty that he himself helped negotiate.

Perhaps Timmermans’ most notable contribution to the EU reform debate since then was a June 2013 Dutch government report he helped author that spelled out 54 different policy areas that should not be ceded to Brussels. Now Timmermans gets to practice what he preached – even more so, now that David Cameron, the newly re-elected British prime minister, has launched his attempt to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU focused on many of the same reform issues. Timmermans is widely expected to be the European Commission’s point man in those talks with London.

As is frequently our practice at the Brussels Blog, below we offer an annotated transcript of our interview. Timmermans’ responses have been slightly edited for clarity. We started with that 2013 Dutch report, since much of what Timmermans recommended back then appears to be part of his agenda now that he’s in Brussels – ideas that were also articulated in a November 2013 op-ed in the FT.

I didn’t know you would bring this up but you do because it clearly shows that what I think and what I want to do is more or less in line with what I proposed as foreign minister, and those who say, well, ‘He’s only doing this to appease David Cameron’ can see that I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time.

Actually, it all started with an op-ed that I wrote in your newspaper, and Jean-Claude Juncker picked up on that and when he asked me to do this with him, he referred to some of the ideas that I had written down in the Financial Times. So, this was very much part of his thinking and his programme, as it was in Martin Schulz’s thinking, and this is what they both brought forward in the electoral campaign.

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Plenary sessions : MEPs will give their views on the European Agenda on Migration presented on 13 May in a debate with Commission Vice-president Frans Timmermans, Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and the Council Presidency on Wednesday at 9.00.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : MEPs will give their views on the European Agenda on Migration presented on 13 May in a debate with Commission Vice-president Frans Timmermans, Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and the Council Presidency on Wednesday at 9.00.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

The Council on 19 May increased advance payments for the youth employment initiative (YEI) by almost €1 billion in 2015. Instead of about €67 million, member states will receive around €1 billion as advance payments this year. The regulation adopted by the Council removes the main bottleneck in the implementation of YEI by releasing the financial burden on the member states' budgets and allowing them to roll out quickly measures against youth unemployment. The adoption of the regulation follows the agreement reached in the Council on 21 April and the approval of the European Parliament on 29 April.  

Ensuring a critical financial mass 

The increase in advance payments will be achieved by raising the pre-financing rate of the specific YEI allocation to 30%. The current level of pre-financing for YEI amounts to 1% (1.5% for member states under financial assistance). Experience shows that under the current rules it is not possible to reach the critical financial mass to allow member states to start the implementation of YEI actions. Due to a lack of funds, member states cannot advance sufficient payments to beneficiaries. This considerably hampers the start of projects aimed at helping young Europeans to find a job or a traineeship. Member states with the highest levels of youth unemployment face the strongest budgetary constraints. The new regulation offers a solution to this issue to the benefit of young people, as requested by the European Council.  

The increase of advance payments does not require any change in the EU's multiannual financial framework nor any amending budget. It provides the maximum impact in terms of support to the beneficiaries, within the budget available.  

Background 

The Commission pays advance payments to the member states automatically after the adoption of each operation programme. Further payments, so-called interim payments, are only made to reimburse expenditure already made by member states. EU countries therefore usually have to pre-finance a large part of projects from their national budgets.

YEI was agreed by the European Council in February 2013. Its purpose is to provide additional funding of €6.4 billion in the period 2014-2020 for promoting youth employment to the regions most affected by youth unemployment. The eligible regions are 

• those where the youth unemployment rate for young people aged 15 to 24 exceeded 25% in 2012 and
• those where youth unemployment was more than 20% in 2012 as long as they belong to member states where youth unemployment exceeded 30% the same year  

A dedicated budget of €3.2 billion has been set aside for the YEI. This requires no co-financing at national level. An additional €3.2 billion comes from allocations from the European social fund to member states for the 2014-2020 programming period.  

Around 7 million young Europeans are currently without a job and are not in education or training.  

Next steps 

The regulation enters into force the day after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.

 

Plenary sessions : Rules on maternity leave vary widely between EU countries, however plans to harmonise them have been blocked by national governments since 2008. With the European Commission now threatening to withdraw its proposal, MEPs debate the situation on 19 May and will vote the next day on a resolution urging member states to resume negotiations. Follow it live on our website.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : Rules on maternity leave vary widely between EU countries, however plans to harmonise them have been blocked by national governments since 2008. With the European Commission now threatening to withdraw its proposal, MEPs debate the situation on 19 May and will vote the next day on a resolution urging member states to resume negotiations. Follow it live on our website.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : Could creating a digital single market in the EU and removing barriers online help give a boost to European companies? The European Commission outlined its strategy on 6 May, while it will also feature on the agenda of the European Council on 25-26 June. Meanwhile the Parliament is planning to respond with an own-initiative report on the digital market. They debated the issue on 19 May, during which MEPs highlighted the challenges and potential benefits involved.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : Could creating a digital single market in the EU and removing barriers online help give a boost to European companies? The European Commission outlined its strategy on 6 May, while it will also feature on the agenda of the European Council on 25-26 June. Meanwhile the Parliament is planning to respond with an own-initiative report on the digital market. They debated the issue on 19 May, during which MEPs highlighted the challenges and potential benefits involved.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

AMENDMENTS 1 - 80 - Draft opinion on the private sector and development
Committee on Foreign Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP

Plenary sessions : Suggested ways to improve patient safety, including tackling growing resistance to human and veterinary antibiotics, using today’s treatments more responsibly and promoting innovation, are set out in a resolution voted on Tuesday. MEPs note that 8 - 12% of patients in EU hospitals suffer adverse events, such as healthcare-related infections, which are implicated in 37,000 deaths a year and place a heavy burden on limited health service budgets.

Source : © European Union, 2015 - EP