European Union

EU leaders meet on 13-14 December for one more crack at the Brexit puzzle at a Summit whose outcome may largely determine the fate of UK Prime Minister Theresa May and the future of her country.

Rittinger and Others
State aid
The German broadcasting contribution is compatible with EU law

Hein
DFON
During their minimum period of annual leave guaranteed by EU law, workers are entitled to their normal remuneration, in spite of prior periods of short-time working

European Union v Gascogne Sack Deutschland and Gascogne
Law governing the institutions
The Court sets aside the damages imposed on the EU by the General Court on account of bank guarantee charges incurred by several undertakings in the context of excessively long proceedings before the General Court

Ville de Paris v Commission
Environment and consumers
The General Court upholds the actions brought by the cities of Paris, Brussels and Madrid and annuls in part the Commission’s regulation setting excessively high oxides of nitrogen emission limits for the tests for new light passenger and commercial vehicles

VG Media
Approximation of laws
Advocate General Hogan: the Court should rule that the new German rules prohibiting search engines from providing excerpts of press products without prior authorisation by the publisher must not be applied

Deutsche Telekom v Commission
Competition
The General Court partially annuls the Commission decision relating to anticompetitive practices on the Slovakian telecommunications market

The General Court of the EU said Thursday the European Commission was not allowed to change nitrogen oxides limits for cars when it introduced a new, more realistic, test. It ruled in favour of the cities Paris, Brussels, and Madrid, which had challenged the decision by national governments to accept a commission proposal to allow a 168 mg/km limit while EU law had set a 80 mg/km limit.

In the margins of yesterday’s EDA Steering Board meeting in R&T Directors composition, six EDA Member States (Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, Sweden) as well as Norway (which has signed an Administrative Arrangement with the Agency) signed a project arrangement to develop a new research project on ‘Additive Manufacturing Techniques for Energetic Materials’ (AMTEM). 

Under the lead of France, twelve European research organizations and defence industrial players will investigate the potential of 3D printing (Additive Manufacturing) technologies for producing future explosives and propellants. The objective of the project is to identify appropriate 3D printing materials and production techniques for novel warheads and propellants with enhanced performance, in order to enable a faster and cheaper production of prototypes and short series.

The project is meant to help develop new weapon system concepts with increased performance and to enhance Europe’s defence technological and industrial base.

The project will have a duration of 4 years.   

 

Touring Tours und Travel
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
The Schengen Borders Code precludes Germany from requiring coach transport operators of cross-border services to check the passports and residence permits of passengers before entering or leaving German territory

Political control of a new supreme court in Hungary puts leader Viktor Orban in the vanguard of an anti-EU rebellion.

The European Parliament and the Council agreed on Wednesday to revise the European Citizens' Initiative, which allows European citizens to ask the Commission to submit a legislative proposal, if they muster one million signatures. The reformed initiative will be more user-friendly, making it easier to participate in the democratic process, the commission has said. Introduced in 2012, an estimated nine million Europeans have supported a European Citizens' Initiative.

Europe must make sure that its current dependence on fossil fuels is not replaced by another one: on primary raw materials coming from outside our continent.

Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez announced on Wednesday the largest annual increase in more than 40 years of the minimum wage, saying "a rich country cannot have poor workers". The lowest-paid workers salary would rise 22 percent to €900 per month in 2019, which would cost the state €340m per year. French president Emmanuel Macron under pressure from large public protests announced a €100 increase in the minimum wage.

The US rejected on Wednesday an EU-backed proposal to reform the World Trade Organization. "With respect to the proposal advanced by the European Union, China, and India, it is hard to see how it in any way responds to the concerns raised by the United States," US ambassador Dennis Shea told the WTO's General Council. Without reform the whole system is at risk, EU commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom has warned.

European Union leaders will offer Ukraine help for its regions affected by Russia's actions in the Azov Sea when they meet on Thursday (13 December), but no new sanctions on Russia will be imposed.

The UK prime minister and leader of the conservative party, Theresa May, was backed by 200 Tory MPs against 117 in a confidence vote on Wednesday night. She will be in Brussels on Thursday pushing at an EU summit for a better deal on what happens if the EU and UK cannot agree on their future relationship after Brexit, risking the UK could be tied indefinitely to many EU laws.

Over this special series on COP24, EURACTIV gives you a glimpse into the goings on of the UN climate conference in Katowice and what is driving the conversation there. In this edition: climate ambition at last, UN Secretary-General pounding on the table, Portugal getting carbon neutral, 630 brackets, and more.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday (12 December) that unilateral military action into northeast Syria by any party would be "unacceptable," after Turkey said it would launch a new military operation in the region within days to target Kurdish militia fighters.