European Union

At a party congress, the leaders of the far-right AfD (‘Alternative for Germany’) adopted a manifesto calling for changes in the EU, ranging from the abolition of the European Parliament to Germany leaving the eurozone and the common EU security and foreign policy. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Although the idea of a European army dates back to the first post-war military cooperation attempts in the 1950s, confusion continues to sour the debate and haunt the European security community.

The global e-commerce giant Amazon has been hit with claims that it has destroyed up to three million unsold products from French warehouses over the past year. The news comes a week after Amazon became the world's most valuable public company in terms of market value.

Paweł Adamowicz, the liberal mayor of the Polish city of Gdańsk, died on Monday (14 January) of his wounds, a day after being stabbed by a man who rushed the stage during a charity event. EU officials said they were devastated and expressed utter shock.

The United Kingdom spends the most in the EU on subsidising fossil fuels, according to a new report by the European Commission, which also found that EU-wide payments have failed to decrease despite the bloc’s commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Several indications signal a thaw in relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and hopes for peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, writes Ilgar Gurbanov.

Political 'paralysis' in Westminster is more likely to lead to 'no Brexit' and the UK staying in the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May warned on Monday (14 January) as she launched a last-ditch attempt to save her Brexit deal. 

EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and council president Donald Tusk on Monday sent an open letter to UK premier Theresa May to have the negotiated Brexit deal approved on Tuesday in the UK parliament. The letter says that if the Irish backstop were triggered, it "would only apply temporarily, unless and until it is superseded by a subsequent agreement that ensures that a hard border is avoided".

The COP24 climate change conference, held in Katowice, Poland, from 3 to 15 December 2018, agreed detailed rules for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, with the exception of rules on market mechanisms, a subject on which international negotiations will continue throughout 2019.

Background © cop24.gov.pl – official logo

In December 2018, three years after the conclusion of the Paris Agreement, the 24th conference of the parties (COP) to the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change was held in Katowice -– the third COP hosted by Poland. In October 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had released a special report on global warming of 1.5 degrees, as requested by COP21 in 2015. It concluded that global emissions would need to drop rapidly during the next decade to avoid the worst consequences of global warming exceeding 1.5 degrees. Delegates at COP24 argued over how to acknowledge the IPCC report. They decided to welcome its timely completion, but stopped short of endorsing its contents.

Outcomes

The Katowice decisions constitute the ‘rulebook’ for the Paris Agreement. They give an operational interpretation to the Agreement and top-down direction to complement the bottom-up approach of ‘nationally determined contributions’ (NDCs). A key issue in the negotiations was the long-standing differentiation between developed and developing countries. The rulebook binds all parties to the same reporting standards, but allows flexibility (time limited) for countries that need it. Moreover, developed countries are expected to have economy-wide absolute emission reduction targets. The agreed rulebook:

• gives guidance on the content and format of NDCs, including a structured summary which forms the basis for regular reporting;
• sets out a regime for transparency and accountability, with common rules for measuring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, finance and adaptation;
• defines processes for the five-yearly global stocktake of the effectiveness of climate action, which includes information-gathering, a technical assessment and a consideration of the outputs;
• establishes a committee to review non-performance of parties (such as failure to submit NDCs or reports or not acting on technical reviews), with the consent of the concerned party.

However, no agreement was reached on rules for international cooperation in achieving national pledges, such as voluntary carbon markets. Draft rules to avoid double counting of emission cuts were opposed by Brazil. Negotiations on this issue will continue in 2019, with a view to reaching agreement at the next COP.

Concluding the Talanoa dialogue, the presidents of COP23 and COP24 issued a non-binding call for action.

Role of the EU and the European Parliament

A delegation of MEPs attended the conference, backed by a plenary resolution calling for net-zero global greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, an enhancement of NDCs by 2020 and a more ambitious EU target of a 55 % emission reduction by 2030. In November 2018, the European Commission presented a strategy for a climate-neutral future, aiming to achieving a modern, prosperous EU economy with net zero emissions by 2050.

Next steps

A UN climate summit with the theme ‘A race we can win. A race we must win.’ will be held in September 2019 in New York. COP25 will take place in Chile in November 2019, with a pre-COP meeting in Costa Rica. In 2020, discussions about post-2025 climate finance will start, and parties will have to update their NDCs.

Read this At a glance on ‘COP24 climate change conference: Outcomes‘ on the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

The French president wants to hold a “great national debate” by mid-March in an attempt to find a way out of the ‘yellow vest’ crisis. The head of state has revealed the debate’s main topics in a letter addressed to the French people. EURACTIV France reports.

In view of the ongoing yellow vest protests French President Macron has announced in a "Letter to the French" that he wants to engage in dialogue with the population. Thirty-five topics ranging from taxes to democracy and environmental protection to immigration are to be discussed in open forums throughout the country. What are the chances of this attempt at reconciliation succeeding?

Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos has resigned in protest at the agreement reached in the name dispute with neighbouring Macedonia. Because Kammenos is also the leader of the junior coalition partner Anel, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has announced a vote of confidence in a bid to stay in office until the parliamentary elections in the autumn. The parliament is to decide the fate of the name dispute agreement by the end of January.

Sweden's parties have spent four months seeking a governing majority that excludes the Sweden Democrats. Now the Liberals and the Centre Party have agreed to support a minority government composed of Social Democrats and the Greens under Stefan Löfven. But the votes of the Left Party would still be needed for a parliamentary majority. Will it play along?