European Union

Protesters clashed with police in Athens on Sunday at a rally to oppose the government's deal to rename the country's northern neighbour as North Macedonia. The Greek parliament is set to vote on ratifying an agreement this week. The name Macedonia is sensitive for many Greeks who say it implies a claim on the northern Greek province of the same name. Police estimated 60,000 took part in Sunday's protest.

EU energy consumption is rising despite targets to reduce demand across Europe. This should not come as a surprise and is explained mainly by GDP growth, writes Samuel Thomas.

British Prime Minister Theresa May is considering solving a Brexit deadlock by amending a 1998 agreement that ended 30 years of violence in Northern Ireland after ditching attempts to negotiate a cross-party deal, the Daily Telegraph reported late on Sunday (20 January).

The Commission has announced its intention to add a manufacturing waiver to supplementary protection certificates (SPC), as part of its upgraded 2015 Single Market Strategy.

Visits to the Black Sea by US warships have nothing to do with US security and are motivated by domestic politics, prominent Russian senator Alexei Pushkov said on Sunday (20 January), warning they should stay away from the Russian coast.

Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters outside parliament on Sunday (20 January) as tens of thousands of Greeks rallied in Athens to protest ahead of a parliamentary vote to ratify a name deal with Macedonia due this week.

US President Donald Trump pursued a business deal to erect a tower bearing his name in Moscow throughout 2016, his attorney said on Sunday (20 January), raising new questions for congressional investigators looking into possible ties between the president and Russia.

The EU said Sunday (20 January)  that "doubts remain" over the result of the DR Congo's disputed election, after the country's highest court declared Felix Tshisekedi president, outraging opponents.

Populists and Eurosceptics are slowly realising that the goal of dismantling the EU is not only unrealistic, costly and unpopular - but also deprives them of valuable opportunities to accumulate political capital and exert influence.

France and Germany will cement their historic post-war reconciliation with the signing of a new Elysée treaty on Tuesday (22 January). But the draft text, seen by EURACTIV, no longer mentions carbon pricing among new bilateral initiatives.

Elections and internal talks have delayed draft energy and climate plans, which were due to be submitted to Brussels by 31 December.

Renewed plans to roll out an EU-wide digital services tax may be back on the cards and could be agreed by the end of March, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said in an interview published on Sunday (20 January).

Billionaire fortunes increased by 12% a day in 2018, while the 3.8 billion poorest people saw their wealth decline by 11% a day, according to a report released by Oxfam to mark the opening of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. 

Apple and Amazon are among eight tech firms named in a complaint filed in Austria by non-profit organization noyb, which cited their failure to comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The controversial EU copyright directive faces a further setback after the final inter-institutional negotiations set to take place on Monday evening (21 January) were cancelled on Friday.

With the North Macedonia name change deal recently reached between Athens and Skopje, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has achieved more than improving his international image, by putting pressure on his domestic opponents, writes Nikolaos Koutsimpogiorgos.

Appointments to the European Central Bank's Executive Board are no less than a strategic and political decision over the future of the Eurozone. But experience has shown this process is not transparent, open, and democratic enough to protect the ECB from its legitimacy gap, argue Stanislas Jourdan and Sebastian Diessner.

With European elections coming up in May 2019, you probably want to know how the European Union impacts your daily life, before you think about voting. In the latest in a series of posts on what Europe does for you, your family, your business and your wellbeing, we look at what Europe does for pregnant women at work.

Twitter Hashtag #EUandME

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Pregnancy is a special time when you need to take particular care of yourself and the baby inside you. If you are well, you may want to work right up until the day you give birth, in which case you can expect your working conditions to be adjusted to ensure your safety and that of your unborn child. The EU has played an important role in improving protection for pregnant working women. EU legislation sets minimum standards regarding situations that could be risky or dangerous for pregnant employees and in which cases employers are obliged to take action. Depending on the type of work, pregnant women can take advantage of possibilities to reduce working time or refrain from certain types of task that could put their pregnancy at risk. In addition, pregnant workers are not obliged to work night shifts if that would be contrary to medical advice. Without loss of pay, pregnant women are permitted to attend antenatal medical appointments during working hours. At all events, they should not be discriminated against at work or dismissed because of the fact that they are pregnant.

Although there has been significant progress regarding the protection of pregnant workers and those who have recently given birth, the EU is now working on better rules. As part of broader measures to improve people’s work-life balance, the EU has suggested further measures to secure appropriate working conditions for pregnant employees. It is now up to the Member States to discuss them and agree.

Further information

• EPRS publication ‘A new directive on work-life balance’, 2018, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank
• EU legislation on protection of pregnant workers and new mothers, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/
• European Parliament resolution concerning labour market conditions favourable for work-life balance, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=TA&reference=P8-TA-2016-0338&language=EN

Weekly schedule of President Donald Tusk 21-27 January 2019

EU ambassadors approved a deal with the European Parliament on a directive and a regulation on electricity market design.