European Union

The people of Hungary elect a new parliament 3 April. The election campaign officially begins on 12 February, but the political parties and the public have been in campaign mode for some time now. The country's commentators take a dim view of this state of affairs.

Spain has been downgraded from the highest category of "full democracy" to the second category of "flawed democracy" in The Economist's Democracy Index reviewing 2021. With a score of 7.94 (compared to 8.12 points in 2020), the country now ranks 24th (22nd in 2020). Commentators blame the dispute over the independence of the judiciary for the drop in ranking but take different views on who is to blame.

EU lawmakers are pushing to include interoperability obligations for messaging services and social media platforms in the Digital Markets Act.

Plenary Session, Strasbourg

Source : © European Union, 2022 - EP

Multiplying solar energy capacity tenfold, deploying around fifty offshore wind farms and building six EPR 2 nuclear reactors. These are all part of France's long-term energy plan President Emmanuel Macron detailed on Thursday (10 February)

Participez à cette conférence virtuelle organisée par EURACTIV afin d'aborder les questions suivantes : - Comment la France utilise-t-elle concrètement les ressources financières mises à sa disposition au niveau national et régional ? - Comment le gouvernement français soutient-il la transition agroécologique ? - Comment contrôle-t-on la mise en œuvre des initiatives durables par les agriculteurs ? - Quelles solutions innovantes sont utilisées pour maintenir ces objectifs ?

The European Commission is all about chips, Meta threatens to go and the Twitterverse quips, while Olaf’s popularity notably dips. 

Written by Marketa Pape (1st edition).

In July 2021, the European Commission put forward the ‘fit for 55’ package of legislative proposals, aimed at ensuring the success of the European Green Deal. The FuelEU Maritime regulation is one of these proposals and, together with four other proposals, it seeks to steer the EU maritime sector towards decarbonisation.

To support the uptake of sustainable maritime fuels, the Commission proposes to limit the carbon intensity of the energy used on board ships. Accordingly, the proposal sets up a fuel standard for ships and introduces a requirement for the most polluting ship types to use onshore electricity when at berth. It puts the responsibility for compliance on the shipping company.

The legislative outcome of this proposal will be closely linked to the simultaneously proposed rules on including the maritime sector in the EU emissions trading system, as well as those on alternative fuels infrastructure, energy taxation and renewable energy. Moreover, some of the proposed rules do not concern EU shipping only but have wider implications for international maritime shipping, which is regulated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

Versions

• November 2011: Sustainable maritime fuels – ‘Fit for 55’ package: the FuelEU Maritime proposal (1st edition).

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the use of renewable and low-carbon fuels in maritime transport and amending Directive 2009/16/EC Committee responsible:Transport and Tourism (TRAN)COM(2021) 0562
14.07.2021Rapporteur:Jörgen Warborn (EPP, Sweden)2021/0210(COD)Shadow rapporteurs:Vera Tax (S&D, The Netherlands)
Elsi Katainen (Renew, Finland)
Jutta Paulus (Greens/EFA, Germany)
Marco Campomenosi (ID, Italy)
Johan Van Overtveldt (ECR, Belgium)
João Pimenta Lopes (The Left, Portugal)Ordinary legislative procedure (COD)
(Parliament and Council on
equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Publication of draft report

A German politician set up a state-backed foundation with Russian energy company Gazprom last year to help Moscow avoid US sanctions on a pipeline due to carry Russian gas to Europe.

A cap should be placed on the amount of low-carbon jet fuel produced from used cooking oil, according to one of the European Parliament's lawmakers in charge of the bloc’s aviation fuel legislation proposal.

The EU economy will grow less than expected this year, the European Commission said on Thursday, as energy prices and supply chain problems jack up inflation and delay a more sustained recovery from the pandemic.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about Bulgaria launching a public debate on the country's recovery plan, Vienna police banning a planned Canada-like 'Freedom Convoy', and so much more.