European Union

Higher quality fuels play a key role in delivering on a cleaner and more sustainable mobility in Europe. Fuel ethers are key components to produce them.

The European Commission is considering removing coking coal from a list of critical raw materials. The steel industry, already facing difficulty importing the raw materials it needs, says this could spell disaster.

Written by Clare Ferguson,

Parliament’s calendar has been a little unusual this year – with European elections and the delayed installation of the new European Commission. This month saw Members sitting in an extraordinary session on a subject of urgent importance: how the European Union (EU) will tackle the climate emergency, declared by Parliament on 29 November 2019. That session, on 11 December, saw the new Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, and Vice-President Frans Timmermans present their freshly adopted plans for a new European Green Deal, proposing to invest record amounts of public funds in advanced research and innovation, complemented by a strategy for green financing and a Sustainable Europe Investment Plan, all aimed at making Europe the first climate-neutral continent.

Moving on to the agenda for the main December plenary session … Parliament will award its 2019 Sakharov Prize to laureate Ilham Tohti on Wednesday lunchtime. The European Parliament is committed to defending human rights and fundamental freedoms, and the award highlights those who stand up for the right to freedom of expression, safeguard minority rights or champion international law, and democracy. Currently imprisoned by the Chinese government, Ilham Tohti is a moderate advocate of Uyghur minority rights who eschews radical separatist movements in favour of dialogue with the Han majority. Parliament’s President has urged the Chinese government to release Tohti, and called for China to respect minority population rights, particularly in the light of the ‘China-cables’ exposé of Chinese treatment of the Uyghur. The new Vice-President of the Commission/High Representative of the EU, former EP President Josep Borrell, will make a statement on the Uyghur situation on Wednesday afternoon. During this session, Parliament will also commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Lisbon Treaty and that of the Charter of Fundamental Rights becoming legally binding, on Wednesday morning, as well as hearing about the conclusions of the latest meeting of the European Council – an institution that has evolved considerably since the Lisbon Treaty entered into force.

Millions of European farmers stand to lose out when their EU income support ends in 2020, due to the lack of an agreement on the 2021-2027 EU budget and on the important reform of the common agricultural policy. Time is therefore pressing to ensure the stability of EU farmer income support post-2020. While there is broad agreement that interim measures are necessary, the EU still needs to put transitional provisions in place to bridge the gap. Parliament’s Budgets and Agriculture Committees agree that those who benefit from EU funding should not suffer harm because of the procedural delays, and have not proposed any amendments to the Commission’s proposal. Parliament will therefore vote on Wednesday lunchtime on its first-reading position on that proposal to agree a package of technical amendments to the regulations on EU financial discipline and flexibility between pillars and voluntary coupled support.

Parliament’s Committee on Petitions (PETI) recently held hearings of the five candidates for the position. The Ombudsman’s office represents citizens and others who wish to lodge complaints regarding the actions of EU administrative bodies, thereby ensuring that EU institutions respect citizens’ rights and the principles of good administration. Members will take part in the election of the European Ombudsman on Tuesday lunchtime, when the successful candidate needs to secure a majority of votes cast in a secret ballot (with subsequent rounds of voting planned for Wednesday if there is no clear winner).

If you’ve been doing some festive shopping lately, the chances are you have purchased gifts online, possibly in another country. E-commerce is booming, and while it offers opportunities to increase cross-border sales, the EU is keen to avoid that it also allows increased tax fraud. Tackling VAT fraud related to e-commerce therefore requires robust systems for the transmission and exchange of VAT-relevant payment data (such as who is supplying the goods). The European Parliament is consulted on two European Commission proposals (on maintaining and exchanging electronic payment records), and a joint debate on Monday afternoon will consider the corresponding Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) reports.

An important element of maintaining biodiversity is ensuring that fisheries worldwide are sustainable. Parliament’s Committees on Fisheries (PECH) and Budgets (BUDG) are in favour of concluding a new EU fisheries agreement with The Gambia aimed at doing just this, including a proposed annual EU contribution of €550 000. Half of this amount covers access rights for EU fishing vessels to Gambian waters and half should assist The Gambia to develop its fisheries sector in a sustainable manner, including preventing illegal fishing. The file is scheduled for vote on Wednesday lunchtime.

Britain is almost certain to leave the EU in January after a huge election win for prime minister Boris Johnson, but Scotland aims to break off and stay.

Former presidents of Slovenia and Croatia said that the EU should speak out in support of the nine Catalan leaders jailed in Spain, BalkanInsight reported. "It is unacceptable that in the European Union, which is based on the values of human rights, we have political prisoners," said the first president of independent Slovenia, Milan Kucan. Stjepan Mesic wrote to Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez to express concern over the sentences.

A court in Rome ruled on Thursday that Facebook must reactivate the account of the neo-fascist party CasaPound and pay the group €800 for each day the account has been down, the Guardian writes. The judge concluded that the party was "excluded (or extremely limited) from the Italian political debate". CasaPound was founded in the late 1990s as a pro-Mussolini drinking club. Facebook is looking at the issue.

EU leaders agreed on Thursday evening to extend economic sanctions against Russia for another six months. The measures, which were set to expire in January, are now updated until the end of July 2020. The sanctions were first implemented in 2014 after Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimea. The EU's restrictions target Russia's energy, financial and arms sectors.

A visit to Carme Forcadell, the former Speaker of the Catalan parliament, currently imprisoned near Tarragona.

EU leaders agreed on setting a climate-neutrality by 2050 target early on Friday morning - although Poland refused to endorse the target, leaving the crucial summit without unanimity.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out about Al Gore's comments on the COP25 climate summit in Madrid, calling it a missed opportunity, and so much more.

Written by Ralf Drachenberg and Fernando Hortal Foronda

© European Union – EP, 2019

The European Council Oversight (ECOS) team from the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) recently organised an event on ‘EU institutional dynamics: Ten years after the Lisbon Treaty’ in the House of European history, in cooperation with the association of former members of the European Parliament (FMA) and Parliament’s Communications Directorate-General. Opening the event on 10 December 2019, Parliament Vice-President Mairead McGuinness (EPP, Ireland) highlighted the importance of the Lisbon Treaty for national parliaments and inter-religious dialogue and stressed the need to overcome the ‘silo mentality’ that persists between European policy areas, as well as the need to further improve interinstitutional cooperation.

The event, moderated by Jacki Davis, Senior Adviser at the European Policy Centre, took the form of two roundtable debates. In the first session – opened by EP Vice-President Othmar Karas – former EP President Enrique Barón Crespo, Secretary General of the European University Institute Vincenzo Grassi, and Danuta Hübner (EPP, Poland), discussed the evolution of the European Parliament’s power and the impact of the Lisbon Treaty on Parliament’s role as an institution. Enrique Barón Crespo recalled the significance of the Lisbon Treaty regarding the now compulsory character of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, and Danuta Hübner underlined that many areas of the Lisbon Treaty have not yet been used to their full potential, such as the ‘passerelle’ clauses.

The second round table discussed the institutional dynamics and impact to date of the European Council. Following opening remarks from former EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering, the European Council’s first President Herman van Rompuy (2009-2014) gave a keynote speech on his experience as EUCO President in the midst of the eurozone crisis. Secretary-General of the Council, Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen then addressed recent and future European Council developments and notably mentioned the Bratislava Declaration, the Leaders’ Agenda and the Strategic Agenda 2019-2024. Together with the other panellists, Former Member Ana Gomes, and Desmond Dinan, Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University, the panel discussed whether the activities of the European Council had effectively had an impact on policy outcomes. All participants agreed on the importance of the planned conference on the future of Europe, while advocating that the focus should lie on concrete policy achievements, rather than on treaty revision, as the current institutional framework provides the necessary instruments to deliver on Europeans’ demands. Closing the discussion, former Member Godelieve Quisthoudt-Rowohl recalled the spirit of the Lisbon Treaty, namely to strengthen the community method, stressing that the last 10 years have witnessed a power shift towards the European Council.

To accompany the event, EPRS European Council Oversight Unit (ECOS) Policy Analysts Suzana Elena Anghel and Ralf Drachenberg published a study on ‘The European Council under the Lisbon Treaty: How has the institution evolved since 2009?‘.

To watch the discussion: https://www.facebook.com/EuroparlFMA/

The Pentagon on Thursday (12 December) tested a conventionally configured ground-launched ballistic missile, a test that would have been prohibited under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

The upcoming EU Industry Strategy must be a cornerstone of the Green New Deal, making it possible for the EU to both meet its climate goals and strengthen its global industrial leadership in a fast-changing global economy, write Adair Turner and Sandrine Dixson-Declève.

The European Central Bank will next year review its tools and objectives in order to better fulfil its mandate of price stability, and it also intends to assess the appropriateness of issuing its own digital currency, in the face of growing concerns about Facebook’s Libra.

Climate activists set out their goals, Macron’s jumper amuses style trolls, and the great British public goes to the polls.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Friday (13 December) he would stand down as his party faced its worst electoral defeat in 84 years, but he did not set a date for his departure and added he would remain in charge during a period of reflection.

The Green Deal presented by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday (11 December) avoided two controversial agricultural issues: genetic engineering and pesticide limits. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Malta's Prime Minister Josep Muscat came under increasing pressure on Thursday (12 December) as calls for his immediate resignation intensified in Brussels in an ongoing investigation over the 2017 assassination of investigative journalist Daphne Anne Caruana Galizia.

After delivering a Conservative Party majority, Prime Minister Boris Johnson will now forge ahead with his Brexit plans, but with climate and environmental standards listed throughout the party's manifesto he'll to address some key green policy concerns. EURACTIV's media partner, edie.net, reports.