European Union

The European Union's plan to impose the world's first carbon border tax will expand climate issues into trade, both violating international principles and hurting prospects for economic growth, China said on Monday (26 July).

The surge of Covid-19 cases due to the spread of the more contagious Delta variant has prompted a debate in Germany over whether people who have not yet been vaccinated should face restrictions - after other countries made similar moves.

Written by Lena Hirschenberger.

The Conference on the Future of Europe’s aim is to debate how the EU should develop in the future and to give European citizens a voice in the process, announced Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her inaugural address.

People’s ideas will be collected on the Digital Platform, in European Citizens’ Panels and de-centralised conference events all over Europe. The Conference Plenary – comprised of representatives of the Citizens’ Panels, the Parliament, the Council, the Commission, national parliaments, the Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee, social partners and the European Youth Forum – will then discuss the ideas put forward. Launched in April 2021, the conference is expected to reach conclusions and provide guidance for the European institutions to follow up, by spring 2022.

The conference topics are divided into nine areas, with one additional ‘open’ area, reserved for out-of-the-box ideas. The topics are: ‘Climate change and the environment‘, ‘Health‘, ‘A stronger economy, social justice and jobs‘, ‘European Union in the world‘, ‘Values and rights, rule of law, security‘, ‘Digital transformation‘, ‘European democracy‘, ‘Migration‘, ‘Education, culture, youth and sport‘, and ‘Other ideas‘.

‘Climate change and environment’ will look at how we can provide healthy and sustainably produced food, how we can power our lives through clean energy, how we can adapt our production, construction and transportation methods all while preserving the balance of our ecosystems and cutting pollution.

To support the proceedings of the conference, our EPRS policy analysts have prepared research material, available here in reverse chronological order. The following list will continually be updated as the conference unfolds:

Climate Change

European climate law
‘EU Legislation in Progress’ briefing by Gregor Erbach, June 2021, 12 pages.

President Biden’s climate summit
‘At a Glance’ note by Liselotte Jensen and Matthew Parry, May 2021, 2 pages.

EU climate action in ocean governance and fisheries policy
Briefing by Frederik Scholaert, April 2021, 12 pages.

EU hydrogen policy: Hydrogen as an energy carrier for a climate-neutral economy
Briefing by Gregor Erbach and Liselotte Jensen, April 2021, 8 pages.

Cohesion policy and climate change
‘At a Glance’ note by Agnieszka Widuto, March 2021, 1 page.
Available in Spanish, German, English, French, Italian and Polish

EU climate action policy: Responding to the global emergency
Study by Gregor Erbach et al., March 2021, 112 pages.

Carbon dioxide removal: Nature-based and technological solutions
Briefing by Gregor Erbach, February 2021, 8 pages.

What if we could engineer the planet to help fight climate change?
‘At a Glance’ note by Lieve Van Woensel, February 2021, 2 pages.

Reducing methane emissions: A new EU strategy to address global warming
Briefing by Henrique Morgado Simoes, December 2020, 8 pages.

EU climate target plan: Raising the level of ambition for 2030
Briefing by Liselotte Jensen, December 2020, 8 pages.

Sustainable aviation fuels
Briefing by Jaan Soone, November 2020, 10 pages.

European climate pact – Pre-legislative synthesis of national, regional and local positions on the European Commission’s initiative
Briefing by Claudio Collova and Vera Vikolainen, October 2020, 12 pages.

A Just Transition Fund for climate-neutral EU regions
Infographics by Sorina Ionescu, Giulio Sabbati and Frederik Scholaert, October 2020, 4 pages.

Transport CO2 emissions in focus
Infographics by Eulalia Claros Gimeno and Marketa Pape, October 2020, 2 pages.

Climate change and climate action
Ideas Paper by Gregor Erbach, July 2020, 11 pages.

EU agricultural policy and climate change
Briefing by James McEldowney, May 2020, 12 pages.

Climate Action: Latest state of play
Briefings by various EPRS authors, 6 pages.
Available for: Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Spain

Environment

Biodiversity protection: Where do we stand?
Briefing by Vivienne Halleux,  June 2021, 8 pages.

Trade policy for the Biodiversity Strategy 2030
‘At a glance’ note by Jana Titievskaia, June 2021, 2 pages.

LIFE programme for 2021-2027
‘At a glance’ note by Dessislava Yougova, April 2021, 2 pages.
Available in Spanish, German, English, French, Italian and Polish

Green and sustainable finance
Briefing by Stefano Spinaci, February 2021, 12 pages.

EU policy on air quality: Implementation of selected EU legislation
Study by Ekaterina Karamfilova, January 2021, 200 pages.

Sustainable Development Goals in EU regions
Briefing by Agnieska Widuto, December 2020, 8 pages.

Forest fires: Environmental stakes
Briefing by Vivienne Halleux, November 2020, 8 pages.

Palm oil: Economic and environmental impacts
‘At a Glance’ note by Martin Russell, November 2020, 2 pages.

Amazon deforestation and EU-Mercosur deal
‘At a Glance’ note by Gisela Grieger, October 2020, 2 pages.

Towards a mandatory EU system of due diligence for supply chains
Briefing by Ionel Zamfir, October 2020, 10 pages.

An EU legal framework to halt and reverse EU driven global deforestation
‘At a Glance’ note by Vivienne Halleux, October 2020, 2 pages.
Available in Spanish, German, English, French, Italian and Polish

An EU legal framework to halt and reverse EU-driven global deforestation: European added value assessment
Study by Tatjana Evas, Aleksandra Heflich and Cecilia Navarra, September 2020, 132 pages.

Decoupling economic growth from environmental harm
‘At a Glance’ note by Eamonn Noonan, July 2020, 2 pages.

Coronavirus and the trade in wildlife
Briefing by Vivienne Halleux, May 2020, 6 pages.

The funeral of a Roma man killed while in Czech police custody was held over the weekend. Stanislav Tomáš died after a Czech police officer kneeled on his neck, in scenes reminiscent of the murder of George Floyd by a US police officer in Minneapolis. Tomáš passed away 19 June, while being rushed to the hospital. The police have denied wrongdoing.

The number of civilians killed and injured in Afghanistan since 1 May has reached a record high, says the United Nations in a report. The number of civilian casualties during May and June was 2,392 (783 killed and 1,609 injured) – the highest for those months since the UN recording keeping began in 2009. The first six months saw the casualties increase by 47 percent, compared to 2020.

Tunisia's president Kais Saied has suspended the parliament and dismissed the prime minister following protests over how the government has handled Covid-19. "We have taken these decisions...until social peace returns to Tunisia and until we save the state," said Saied, in a televised address. The country is also suffering from a deep economic crisis and disillusionment over the Arab Spring.

Gaza was struck by Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) jets on Sunday evening in response to incendiary balloons that had been launched earlier from the strip. The balloons triggered fires in southern Israel. The IDF said the planes hit a Hamas military base. The Israelis also reduced the fishing zone off Gaza by half - from 12 nautical miles to six nautical miles.

Greece has annulled an award for humanitarian aid worker Iasonas Apostolopoulos, known for his work with rescuing migrants and refugees at sea. Greek president Katerina Sakellaropoulou had announced Apostolopoulos would receive the award, but his name was then removed from the list, amid reported pressure from right-wing politicians who oppose his work.

Thousands of people attended the LGBTIQ Pride parade in Budapest over the weekend, following recent legislation that bans showing content on homosexuality or gender change to under-18s in school sex-education programmes. Last week, Hungary's prime minister Viktor Orban said the new law would be put to a referendum after the European Commission launched legal action against it.

Spain's Socialist Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, believes that he has fulfilled the objective of his economic tour of the United States by putting Spain "on the radar" of investment funds for short- and medium-term business decisions, EURACTIV’s partner EFE reported. 

In today's edition of the capitals, the Czech Republic start their vaccination campaign for the homeless and former DUP leader Arlene Foster joins Nigel Farage's GB News, all thsi and much more in the capitals.

Santo Stefano is being revived through a €70m refurbishment project to turn it into a high-level European think-tank, academy and open-air museum aimed at boosting the European integration project by training 'enlightened' EU youth, scholars and politicians.

The polls are not in Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg's favour - but she thinks she has a 50-50 chance of winning a third term. Like Merkel, both are female leaders of conservative parties, and know how to win elections.

This month the OECD Inclusive Framework agreed on the main building blocks of new tax legislation for a global minimum tax and for the digital economy. However, Hungary did not join - this is why.

In a comment on High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina Valentin Inzko’s decision to impose a law prohibiting the denial of genocide, Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selaković said he thought Bosnia’s future was unclear. At a meeting with Republika Srpska’s...

Several EU member states have refused to recognise the India made AstraZeneca vaccine administered in Serbia earlier this year, meaning that everyone who received it will also have to present a negative COVID-19 test or stay in quarantine upon entry...

A poll of Bulgarians shows that 58.9% of approve of the caretaker government that has been in charge since May, while 28.8% expressed their disapproval, according to the latest findings of Gallup International Balkan’s monthly research programme, announced on Sunday. President...