European Union

Polish officers appear to have forced a group of 32 Afghan asylum seekers across the border from Poland to Belarus on 19 August in what was an "unlawful pushback", according to satellite images and other data studied by Amnesty International. The group, which includes a 15-year old girl, has been stuck in no-man's land "without food, clean water, shelter and medicine" ever since. Four other migrants recently died of hypothermia.

Kosovo and Serbia, with EU and US support, have ended a potentially explosive dispute on car number-plates.

China’s vast Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is in danger of losing momentum as opposition in targeted countries rises and debts mount, paving the way for rival schemes to squeeze Beijing out, a new study showed on Wednesday (28 September)....

Portuguese football star Christiano Ronaldo became caught up in Britain's media coverage of Brexit-linked fuel shortages when his driver waited for seven hours to fill up his €250,000 Bentley at one station before driving off empty-handed, The Sun reported. Pro-Brexit politician Nigel Farage also complained Thursday: "I went to seven petrol stations this morning and there was no fuel at any of them. Was then hit by a van".

Spanish Supreme Court judge Pablo Llarena informed the Italian justice system on Thursday that the European arrest warrant against MEP Carles Puigdemont is still in force, asking for the "immediate extradition" of the former regional leader accused of "sedition", according to El País. Italian police arrested the Catalan independence ex-leader last week after his European Parliament immunity was stripped in March this year. He was released from custody shortly after.

Poland has joined a growing group of countries urging the EU to take action to curb surging energy prices, Reuters reported. Spain, Italy, and Greece have already announced measures to cut consumer bills, and the EU Commission is working on a toolbox to help EU countries avoiding breaking the bloc's rules. Environment ministers will debate the issue on 6 October, and EU leaders will discuss it in October.

The European Court of Justice has ruled that Karel Pinxten, a Belgian former minister and former auditor at the European Court of Auditors (ECA), has abused funds of the ECA during his mandate and therefore loses two-thirds of his pension. Pinxten was alleged to have used public funds for private travel. The advocate-general said not all accusations were proven, but the facts merited the action.

The European Commission could face billions in damages for helping Morocco exploit the occupied Western Sahara, after the EU lost another court battle in Luxembourg.

Among the criteria needed for EU pandemic recovery funds is for member states to propose arrangements "expected to prevent, detect and correct corruption, fraud, and conflicts of interests when using the funds provided."

The WHO's Dr Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat explains Covid-19 has brought a "dual pandemic". Many mental problems are akin to "post-traumatic stress disorder," and yet to surface.

Austrian official and fiscal hawk Alfred Katterl has said the EU's 'stability and growth pact' on national debt-limits should remain sacrosanct, but some economists disagree.

With 22 candidates running for the 'Eternal City' - of which 18 are fringe outsiders who do not stand a chance (such as a bus driver, an estate agent and airplane pilot) - the real competition is down to four.

A canned €1.7bn Barcelona airport project did not come as a surprise to many Spaniards and most Catalans. Transport infrastructure in Spain is governed with an underlying mandate of protecting Madrid as the central node of political power.

Green bonds are firmly on the European financial agenda, which has been fuelled by appetite from both policymakers and the investment community. Recently, the European Commission committed to raising 30% of its NextGenerationEU funds through green bonds and introduced a...

A non-paper pressing for data sharing provisions, interoperability requirements, and data access for the public sector in the European Commissions Data Act proposal was circulated by the Dutch government on Friday (30 September). The act is expected to be formally presented by the end of 2021.

Press briefing ahead of Environment Council will take place on Monday 4 October 2021 at 14.00.

Australia's Minister for Trade Dan Tehan said on Friday talks with the European Union over a trade deal have been postponed, as a row over Canberra's decision to cancel a $40 billion deal with France escalates.

In the aftermath of their inaugural summit, business and political leaders from the EU and the United States reiterated their call for curbing the growing Chinese influence on the tech sector, although important differences still remained in the regulatory approaches.

Written by Alex Wilson.

On 14 July 2021 the European Commission adopted the ‘fit for 55’ package with a view to adapting existing EU climate and energy legislation to the new EU objective of a minimum 55 % reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, in accordance with the new European Climate Law. The fit for 55 package is part of the European Green Deal, a flagship of the von der Leyen Commission that will involve further climate-related legislation and other new initiatives to set the EU firmly on the path towards net zero GHG emissions (climate neutrality) by 2050.   

The fit for 55 package includes a recast of the energy efficiency directive (EED), aligning its provisions to the new -55 % GHG target. The EED currently sets out the level of energy savings that the EU needs to make to meet the agreed goal of 32.5 % energy efficiency improvements by 2030. The recast EED would require Member States to almost double their annual energy savings obligations, leading the way by means of action throughout the public sector, action to address energy poverty, and other measures to help to deliver 9 % more energy savings than envisaged by the existing EED and in the 2021-2030 national energy and climate plans.

The file has been referred to the ITRE committee, where the rapporteur is still preparing his draft report.

Versions

• Revising the Energy Efficiency Directive: Fit for 55 package (1st edition)

Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy efficiency (recast) Committee responsible:Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE)COM(2021) 558
14.7.2021Rapporteur:Niels Fuglsang (S&D, Denmark)2021/0203(COD)Shadow rapporteurs:Pernille Weiss (EPP, Denmark)Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Initial discussions in committee

Seeing that election results in EU countries are increasingly determined by older voters, one cannot but wonder: What sort of innovations can we really expect from politics these days?