European Union

2019 is likely to be the year in which the much awaited reform of the main EU's massive farming subsidies programme, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), will see the light.

The European Commission said on Friday (15 January) that it would not propose new laws in response to a petition demanding a protection package for national minorities that garnered 1.1 million signatures across the EU.

Covid-19 vaccines in the EU, relations with the US and the priorities of the new Council presidency will be discussed at the first plenary session of 2021.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Covid-19 vaccines in the EU, relations with the US and the priorities of the new Council presidency will be discussed at the first plenary session of 2021.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The four parties of the Dutch government, lead by prime minister Mark Rutte, have decided to let the government fall. On 17 March, two months from now, there are parliamentary elections in the Netherlands.

The test for the EU's biodiversity strategy will be whether all EU legislation matches its ambition on nature protection, Green lawmakers argued in an environment committee debate about the strategy on Thursday (14 January).

Welcome to EURACTIV’s Global Europe Brief, your weekly update on the EU in the global perspective. If you like what you read, you can subscribe here. /// EDITOR’s TAKE The EU is set to recalibrate its position towards an increasingly...

Written by Nikolai Atanassov (1st edition),

© JEGAS RA / Adobe Stock

In September 2020, the European Commission proposed a new pact on asylum and migration. The legislative package related to the pact includes a proposal for a regulation dealing with crisis and force majeure in the field of migration and asylum, aimed at establishing a mechanism for dealing with mass influxes and irregular arrivals of third-country nationals in a Member State.

The regulation would set out the solidarity mechanism procedure in the event of returns of irregular migrants applying the possibility for return sponsorship on behalf of another Member State, as established in the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation (AMR). It would also provide for shorter deadlines in comparison to usual procedures under the AMR, when applicable in a crisis situation and for some derogations in crisis situations concerning the asylum crisis management procedure, the return crisis management procedure, and the registration of international protection applications in crisis situations.

Complete version

• Crisis and force majeure regulation (1st edition)

Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and the Council addressing situations of crisis and force majeure in the field of migration and asylum Committee responsible: Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) COM(2020) 613
22.9.2020 Rapporteur: Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D, Spain) 2020/0277(COD) Shadow rapporteurs: Damian Boeselager (Greens/EFA, Germany)
Konstantinos Arvanitis (The Left, Greece) Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Publication of draft report

Welcome to EURACTIV’s Digital Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.    “It is no longer acceptable in our view that platforms take some key decisions by themselves alone without any...

MEPs have been urged to consider the 'significant risks' that next-generation Artificial Intelligence applications could entail, particularly with regards to discrimination, employment, and social exclusion.

The European Commission is working on a series of key performance indicators (KPI) to include in the update of its industrial strategy expected for March, to measure the transformation of European industry and its resilience in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is to elect its new leader on Saturday. Europe's press stresses the significance of the decision beyond party politics and Germany's borders. Commentators are doubtful that any of the three candidates has what it takes to succeed not just current CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, but also Angela Merkel as the new chancellor.

Greece and Turkey have agreed to begin talks on 25 January - but with wildly different expectations. Athens only wants to discuss the "exclusive economic zone" and the gas reserves there; Ankara is determined to also tackle the maritime borders around the Greek islands near the Turkish coast. The media in both countries warn about their respective governments backing down.