European Union

The Council prolonged the sanctions targeting those responsible for undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine for a further six months until 15 March 2022.

Weekly schedule of President Charles Michel 13 – 19 September 2021

The European Commission said on Friday (10 September) that it will explore options to improve the Stability and Growth Pact by the end of next year, as member states are preparing for a bruising battle over the reform of the EU’s fiscal rules.

Written by Gyorgyi Macsai (Members’ Research Service) with Igor Tkalec (GlobalStat, EUI).

Graphics: Giulio Sabbati.

The Covid-19 pandemic contributed to the continuous slowdown of China’s economy, from two-digit growth rates witnessed in the past to a ‘new normal’ growth rate of ‘only’ 5.7% on average under the current five-year plan (2016-2020). To what extent does this slowdown affect China’s public finances and other macroeconomic indicators? How has EU trade with China developed during the last decade? How important is the EU for China in terms of trade? And what about China’s trade relevance for the EU? Has the huge trade imbalance in goods trade between China and the EU narrowed in recent years? How intensive is trade in services between the EU and China? What are the EU’s main export items to China? How does China’s export basket look like? You can find the answers to these and other questions in our EPRS publication on China produced in collaboration with the European University Institute’s GlobalStat on the world’s main economies. This is an updated edition of an ‘At a Glance’ note published in December 2019.

Read this infographic on ‘China: Economic indicators and trade with EU‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

• Main trade partners (2020)
• EU trade with China
• Public finances, monetary and financial data
• Total unemployment rate (% of total labour force) – Female labour force participation rate
• GDP per capita – Annual GDP growth
• EU exports of services to China – EU imports of services from China (2020)
• EU imports of goods from China (2020)
• Top EU partners (2020)

Welcome to EURACTIV’s AgriFood Brief, your weekly update on all things Agriculture & Food in the EU. You can subscribe here if you haven’t done so yet. This week: EURACTIV explores the ways in which agriculture can part of the...

‘Brexit derangement syndrome’ is an unfortunate affliction. Though now increasingly rare, since June 2016 this ailment, which leads its victims to become mono–obsessive about the UK’s EU membership, has ended friendships and relationships.

Welcome to EURACTIV’s Digital Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.    “We are working through the regulatory process and we look forward to engaging with the European Commission to address...

New genomic techniques (NGTs) have received the backing of the European Commission in a strategy paper, while NGOs promise an intense campaign against them over the coming years.

Former Portuguese president Jorge Sampaio, who made national history in 2005 with an extraordinary use of his powers to dissolve parliament and oust an unstable majority government, died on Friday (10 September) at the age of 81.

Digitalisation is one of the hot topics of Germany’s upcoming federal election and the parties are offering different visions of what Germany’s role in EU digital policymaking should be and the ways to foster digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy.

Written by Clare Ferguson.

An important moment in Parliament’s oversight of the EU executive takes place during the September plenary session, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen attends Parliament on Wednesday morning to make her second State of the Union address. With a difficult year behind it, issues such as the coronavirus pandemic, the effects of climate change and increasing digitalisation continue to present the Commission with both challenges and opportunities. While the new multiannual financial framework allows financing for the recovery plan for Europe and Next Generation EU, Members will expect to hear how the Commission intends to address the challenges that remain to achieve its stated six priorities, including on the continuing issue of adherence to EU values.

The coronavirus pandemic and its effects nevertheless remain a priority issue, and the session commences on Thursday afternoon with a joint debate on health and disease prevention. As life has returned to something approaching normal during the summer, wider health issues remain a legislative priority, and efforts continue to strengthen the EU’s response to health threats. These include proposals to boost EU defences against cross-border health threats, and to strengthen the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Although responsibility for health policy remains with the Member States, the pandemic has highlighted areas where stronger preparedness measures could better protect EU citizens and address cross-border health threats in future. Parliament will debate a Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) report that supports increased consideration of all environmental, animal or human factors with an impact on health, as well as promoting cooperation and transparency – which could lead to smoother joint procurement for items such as personal protection equipment, should that be necessary in future. A further ENVI committee report on strengthening the ECDC is also due for debate. The committee proposes enlarging the ECDC’s mandate beyond communicable diseases to cover those that have a wide impact, including cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, cancer, diabetes, and mental illness. Once Parliament’s position is agreed on these two legislative proposals, interinstitutional negotiations can begin.

With an ageing population and an increasing need for skilled workers to sustain economic growth, the EU has to compete with other regions to attract highly qualified immigrants. On Tuesday evening, Parliament will debate a final text resulting from interinstitutional negotiations on the proposed revision of the EU Blue Card Directive. Parliament has long called for the revision of this legislation, which provides a legal route for migration to the bloc, not least in the face of considerable recent refugee movements. Should Parliament agree the new rules, skilled applicants will be admitted to remain on EU territory for at least two years if they are able to present a minimum six-month work contract or binding job offer. Admission to the EU Blue Card scheme should also become more inclusive, with reduced salary thresholds.

Later on Tuesday evening, Members are expected to take part in a joint debate on formal adoption, following interinstitutional negotiations, of the text setting out Parliament’s position at first reading on the Brexit Adjustment Reserve. Parliament has succeeded in modifying the proposals to ensure support for EU businesses – particularly fisheries and those in close proximity to the United Kingdom – against the additional costs ensuing from the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. A €5 billion budget will be made available over the period to December 2023, with funds distributed using an allocation method taking account of each country’s trade with the UK, its fisheries in UK waters, and the population size in maritime border regions neighbouring the UK. Members are also expected to debate measures to adapt the current EU budget to cover €4 billion in pre-financing for the ‘Brexit Adjustment Reserve’, under amending budget No 1/2021.

While the 1994 EU‑Russia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement remains in force today, relations have deteriorated since 2000. An already strained situation has worsened in the face of aggressive Russian foreign policy in Ukraine and Syria, as well as its repression of domestic dissent. Parliament is scheduled to debate political relations between the EU and Russia on Tuesday afternoon, following which Parliament is also expected to vote on a draft recommendation to Council, the Commission and the Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. The Foreign Affairs (AFET) Committee’s draft recommendations call for a revision of the current stance, which combines pushing back with constraint and engagement, and proposes to base future relations on six principles. These include activating deterrence against security and hybrid threats alongside dialogue and engagement that offers incentives, such as trade and visas, in support of Russian democratic transformation. Members also expect to hear a statement by the High Representative on the situation in Afghanistan.

When the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, takes the floor in Strasbourg before the European Parliament to deliver her 2021 State of the Union address, she will report to Members of the European Parliament and, beyond them, to European citizens, after what has been the second summer of the Covid-19 pandemic. The coronavirus is still far from being tamed, and life – from everyday routine at individual level to global trends affecting the whole world – has entered a phase of profound change. Yet, as summer 2021 comes to a close, one of the leading impressions for many Europeans is of slowly recovering one of the freedoms at the heart of European Union, the freedom of movement they had been deprived of for public health reasons.

Mass travel in Europe became possible again during summer 2021, with 70 % of the adult population in Europe fully vaccinated and able to prove it thanks to the ‘Covid passport’ adopted by the European Union (EU) just before the summer. This legislative success reached in record time is illustrated by the cover photograph, where the presidents of the three institutions involved in its adoption (from left to right: António Costa, for the EU Council, Ursula von der Leyen, for the European Commission, and David Maria Sassoli, for the European Parliament) hold copies of the Regulation on the EU Digital Covid Certificate signed on 14 June. The certificate with a QR code is free of charge, available on paper or on a smartphone, and valid throughout the EU. For European citizens who could at last visit their loved ones, spend their summer break in another EU Member State, after many months of often highly restrictive measures, or simply get access to bars and restaurants in their home region, this initiative has shown the positive benefit of the EU, and is all the more noteworthy as it comes in a field – public health – that is not one of the core EU competences.

However, summer 2021 has left other lasting impressions that are more negative. Many are still shaken by the photographs – never mind those that experienced them directly – of mega-fires, unprecedented heatwaves, and deadly floods in various parts of the EU. Just one extreme rain episode caused a heavy toll of more than 200 deaths in Belgium and Germany, underlining once again the need to address climate change urgently. Combined with longer-term data confirming global warming and loss of biodiversity, this experience supports the priority given by the Commission to the European Green Deal. Even more, it confirms that Parliament has been right to be ambitious on climate, for example when it pushed for a higher target for the reduction of the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 (60 % for the Parliament instead of 55 % in the Commission’s proposal, with the latter target later endorsed by the Council). On climate and environmental issues, including the principle of climate mainstreaming in the EU budget, the Parliament has repeatedly called for higher ambition – and often secured it, as with the 30 % of the overall resources from the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) and the Next Generation EU recovery instrument which will go to measures contributing to the fight against climate change.

As part of the European Green Deal, the European Commission tabled a ‘Fit for 55’ package in mid-July, including legislative proposals on climate, energy, land use, transport and taxation. The number of proposals foreshadowed (90) indeed makes the European Green Deal the Commission’s first priority in terms of announcements, although not in terms of proposals tabled (two-thirds (58) are yet to be submitted), let alone legislation adopted (only one sixth (15) so far).

Another dreadful event of summer 2021 has been the situation unfolding in Afghanistan. It calls for immediate humanitarian aid measures and visa solutions, but also brings asylum and migration issues to the forefront. This comes one year after the Commission’s proposal of the long-awaited new pact on migration and asylum, initially announced for the beginning of 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic (see fifth section below). This pact was supposed to bring new momentum to negotiations stalled for years. The number of legislative proposals under this priority should not disguise the difficulties in finding compromise and adopting legislation in this area, however urgent and dramatic the situation in Afghanistan, the Mediterranean and even on the shores facing the United Kingdom, may be.

Alongside these headline issues, the von der Leyen Commission is expecting progress on long-term files too: helping the EU recover from the coronavirus-crisis (see third section below), turning the EU into a digital continent (see second section below), becoming the ‘geopolitical Commission’ President von der Leyen claimed she would run when she took office (see fourth section below), and paving the way for the future of Europe, notably with the eponymous conference (see sixth section below).

This paper monitors all six priorities. It combines a two-page presentation for each priority and an infographic illustrating, in condensed form, on just one page (page 3), the degree of progress so far made – both overall and under each of the six priorities.

Read the complete in-depth analysis on ‘The von der Leyen Commission’s six priorities: State of play in Autumn 2021‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

The von der Leyen Commission’s six priorities: Legislative delivery to 31 August 2021
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Transgender people are twice as likely to die compared to cisgender men and women, according to an analysis of national data from the Netherlands.

In the final stages before the Bundestag elections, the cabinet adopted a cyber security strategy. However, its goals and measures are unlikely to be implemented by the next government. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Lawmakers have given their green light to a provisional deal on the contentious reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), its first hurdle before final parliamentary approval, expected in November.

As the Taliban has asserted power over Afghanistan in recent weeks, media there face new and daunting challenges. On September 1, international media outlets worldwide unite as the One Free Press Coalition to publish this special edition of the global...

Saturday will mark the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Together with the retaliatory measures by the US and other Western states, they are considered a major historical turning point. For many observers this anniversary is above all about open wounds given the West has made little progress on legal proceedings against the culprits and not banished the threat of jihadism.