European Union

A French cement plant in Syria accused of financing terrorism was used by western intelligence agencies to gather information on hostages held by Islamic State, sources connected to the operation have said. A Jordanian intelligence officer who was central to the spying effort has confirmed the story to the Guardian. The Lafarge cement company is under investigation for having paid €13m to IS in order to keep functioning.

NGOs are appealing for EU lawmakers to stop work on Eurodac reforms, a bill that collects the biometric data of migrants and asylum seekers. But the lead MEP on the file says the European Parliament intends to adopt it anyway.

Belgrade has been generous, but there are also other reasons at play. The first one is the keystone of Serbian foreign policy: Kosovo. The countries receiving Serbian generosity have been the ones that did not recognise an independent Kosovo.

German federal prosecutors said Thursday (9 September) they are probing alleged hacking attacks against lawmakers ahead of this month's German election that Berlin has blamed on Russia.

As stipulated in the Council recommendation, this list will continue to be reviewed every two weeks and, as the case may be, updated.

An inter-parliamentary conference on the EU’s common foreign and security policy, organised on Thursday (9 September) as part of the Slovenian EU presidency in Ljubljana, heard calls for a united and active approach by the bloc to global challenges. National...

Prosecutors in Spain on Thursday (9 September) were considering charging a man who claimed to be the victim of a homophobic attack before admitting that the injuries he sustained in the incident were consensual. EURACTIV’s partner EFE reports.

Without major financial and logistical support, the people of Afghanistan face a future of poverty and humanitarian crisis, warns Achim Steiner.

Written by Silvia Kotanidis and Giulio Sabbati.

The Conference on the Future of Europe is a bottom-up exercise allowing European citizens to express their opinion on the Union’s future policies and functioning. It uses tools such as the Digital Platform and Citizens’ Panels to enable them to discuss topics that matter to them. This EPRS infographic sets out the structures of the conference, how they will work and the topics to be discussed.

Multilingual Platform

The Conference’s multilingual platform is a hub giving European citizens and European civil society organisations the opportunity to share ideas on the future of Europe, and to host and attend events. It will act as a repository of contributions and documents, and as an interactive tool to share and debate ideas of citizens. The platform is open to citizens, civil society, social partners, other stakeholders, public authorities at EU and national, regional, local level.

European Citizens’ Panels

These are vital bodies of the Conference, tasked with debating issues that matter to citizens. The composition of European citizens’ panels (± 200 citizens chosen at random) will be transnational and representative of the EU population, not only with respect to gender but also age, socio-economic background, geographic origin and level of education, with 1/3 of participants between 16 and 25 years of age. The European citizens’ panels will hold debates, including on the basis of contributions from the digital platform, and feed into the discussion of the Conference plenary with recommendations for the EU institutions to follow up. Four thematic citizens’ panels are planned: i) European democracy/values, rights, rule of law, security; ii) climate change, environment/health; iii) stronger economy, social justice, jobs/education, youth, culture, sport/digital transformation; and iv) EU in the world/migration.

European citizens’ panels will meet in deliberative sessions, in different locations and will be dedicated to specific themes. Member States (at national, regional or local level) and other stakeholders (civil society, social partners or citizens) may organise additional citizens’ panels under the umbrella of the Conference, provided they respect the Conference Charter in full.

Joint Presidency

The Conference is under the tripartite authority of the Presidents of the European Parliament, Council of the EU and Commission, respectively David Sassoli, Janez Janša, representing the Slovenian Presidency of the Council until 31 December 2021, and Ursula von der Leyen. Based on the rotation established by Council Decision, the Presidency of the Council was previously held by Portugal (1 January–30 June 2021) and will next be held by France (1 January–30 June 2022). The tripartite Presidency of the Conference is the ultimate body to which the final outcome of the Conference will be reported, so that each institution may provide the appropriate follow-up in accordance with their own competences.

Conference Plenary

The plenary comprises a total of 449 representatives, from the three institutions (Commission, Council of the EU and Parliament), national parliaments, citizens’ panels, the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), national events or panels, social partners and civil society, and as of July, elected local and regional representatives. The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy will be invited when the international role of the EU is discussed. Other stakeholders and experts may also be invited.

The plenary will discuss issues and recommendations coming from national and European citizens’ panels as well as input from the digital platform, grouped by themes. Debates will be open, without a predetermined outcome and without limiting topics to pre-defined policy areas. The plenary decides on a consensual basis (at least between the Parliament, Council, Commission and the national parliaments) on the proposals to be put forward to the Executive Board. The latter is responsible for drafting the final report of the Conference, in full collaboration and in full transparency with the Plenary, which will be published on the digital platform and sent to the Joint Presidency for concrete follow-up.

Executive Board

The Executive Board manages the work of the conference (plenaries, European citizens’ panels, and digital platform), oversees all activities, and prepares meetings of the plenary, including input from citizens, and their follow-up. All three institutions (Parliament, Commission and Council) are equally represented in the Executive Board, each with three members and up to four observers. The Executive Board is co-chaired by a representative of each of the three institutions; in the Council’s case by the rotating presidency. The presidential troika of COSAC (the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of EU national parliaments) have permanent observer status. The EESC and CoR also have observer status. Following the co-chairs’ proposal, the Plenary endorsed the creation of nine thematic working groups, one for each of the nine topics. The Executive Board may invite experts to participate in events of the Conference.

Secretariat

A common secretariat composed of equal numbers of staff of the European Parliament, General Secretariat of the Council and the Commission, assists the Executive Board in the organisation of the Conference plenary and the European citizens’ panels.

The Conference on the Future

Read this ‘at a glance’ on ‘The Conference on the Future of Europe‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Newsletter - 13-16 September 2021 - Strasbourg plenary session

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan is a tragedy for the Afghans, but it has also provided a sad indication of the growing xenophobia in the EU.

Hungary, whose government has been at odds with Brussels for a long time, has emerged as a major pro-Serbian lobbyist within the EU and this special "illiberal" relationship was formalised on Wednesday (8 September), Serbian journalist Darko Čačić reports for EURACTIV Bulgaria.

Spokespersons for Parliament and for political groups will hold a briefing on the 13-16 September plenary session on Friday at 11.00, in Parliament’s Ana Politkovskaya press room.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Spokespersons for Parliament and for political groups will hold a briefing on the 13-16 September plenary session on Friday at 11.00, in Parliament’s Ana Politkovskaya press room.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

  This week our podcast focuses on the European Commission’s decision to step up its legal feud with Warsaw by asking the top EU court to impose a daily financial penalty on Poland for its’ non-compliance with temporary measures European...

European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, is expected to tout the success of the institution’s vaccine strategy and the Covid certificate in her State of the EU speech on 15 September, in which Europe’s global status and role will have increased prominence following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Written by Marie-Laure Augère-Granier and James McEldowney.

On 30 June 2021, the European Commission adopted a communication on its long-term vision for the EU’s rural areas. The communication identifies areas of action with a view to creating new momentum for the EU’s rural areas, while recognising their diversity. In recent decades, in many Member States rural areas have experienced depopulation. Such regions face a range of environmental and socio-economic challenges. These include, for example, lower income per capita, a higher percentage of the population at risk of poverty and social exclusion, a lack of access to basic infrastructure and services, and lower levels of access to fast broadband internet. The EU’s rural development policy has sought to help address these challenges.

Evaluation evidence is emerging on the impact of the common agricultural policy (CAP) on the territorial development of the EU’s rural areas. Measures relating to village renewal and LEADER (Liaison entre Actions de Développement de l’Économie rurale) measures are considered to be well-targeted and relevant to local needs, although they represent a small proportion of CAP financing. Administrative burdens have been raised as an issue that can impact on the developmental process. Recommendations from this evaluation evidence point to the need for better integration of funding streams, the need to maintain a dialogue across the European structural funds, and all the implications this may have for the new CAP strategic plans. The Commission’s recommendations to Member States on their CAP strategic plans highlight a number of recurring themes relating to the employment, education and training needs of rural areas, including the need to address rural depopulation, promote generational renewal, improve connectivity, and address the role played by action taken at local level. The Commission’s communication on a long-term vision for rural areas includes provision for a ‘rural pact’ to engage actors at EU, national, rural and local levels and an EU rural action plan, setting out a range of initiatives and actionable projects. The vision and its supporting analyses will provide a framework for addressing the future of the EU’s rural areas.

Read the complete briefing on ‘EU rural development policy: Impact, challenges and outlook‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Listen to policy podcast ‘EU rural development policy: Impact, challenges and outlook’ on YouTube.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that the EU's protected designation of origin (PDO) for foodstuff and drinks extends to services, allowing the French champagne lobby to carry off a tactical win in a legal battle against a small Spanish restaurant chain.

France will push for "an accelerated phase-out of pesticides" at the EU level when it takes on the rotating EU Council Presidency in January 2022, President Emmanuel Macron told the World Conservation Congress which opened in Marseille this week

Contrary to their promises, the Taliban have presented a transitional Afghan government consisting solely of people from their own ranks. Security-related portfolios went to jihad-oriented Taliban and the interior minister is a wanted terrorist. Today's commentaries reflect the world's concerns.