European Union

Several thousand Kosovo Serbs protested in northern Kosovo on Tuesday (27 November) against Pristina's massive customs tariff on Serbian goods, a retaliatory measure announced last week that has spiked tensions and curtailed trade between the neighbours.

Numerous analyses of democracy have shown that democracy is under stress around the world, not least in the European continent. Books with titles such as ‘How Democracy Dies’ or ‘The End of Democracy’ hitting bookshelves exemplify the current mood, writes Ken Godfrey.

France has been the worst hit by illegal tobacco among the countries of the EU, and Algeria is one of its main suppliers. EURACTIV recently discussed the situation with the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). It stated that France can seek...

European restrictions on gene editing, GMOs and pesticides bans risk undermining scientific progress and innovation if they are not reversed, argues Sir Colin Berry.

The European Commission will unveil its long-awaited strategy for a “climate-neutral Europe” later on Wednesday (28 November), in an effort to show EU countries how to stick to the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Enough EU states want to create a new human rights sanctions regime for the Netherlands to table a formal proposal next month.

The UK economy will be 1.9%-5.5% smaller per person by 2030 under Theresa May’s painfully agreed Brexit deal, compared to if it remained in the EU, according to new research published on Tuesday (27 November).

The EU Council's most senior lawyer, Hubert Legal, told a hearing at the EU court in Luxembourg the UK could not unilaterally revoke Article 50 - the EU treaty exit clause that it triggered after the 2016 referendum. "National processes cannot suffice to pull the carpet on which everyone has been forced to stand on," he said in a case brought by anti-Brexit campaigners. A verdict is unlikely before 2019.

European Parliament lawyers endorsed plans by the EU to set up centres in north Africa to offload rescued migrants, but did so on the basis of making big assumptions given the lack of operational and technical details.

While studies and reports about the consequences of Brexit on EU27 regions are multiplying, it is increasingly clear that the EU needs to create mechanisms to support territories negatively affected by the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the Union, write Marc Joulaud and Lambert Van Nistelrooij.

Facebook was in the line of fire again today, when parliamentarians from nine countries gathered at the “international grand committee session on fake news” in the UK’s House of Commons.

The German Bundestag adopted the national 2019 budget with the votes of the 'Grand Coalition' last Friday (23 November), with expenditure reaching a record €356 billion and a particular rise in defence spending. Nevertheless, Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has managed to avoid creating any new debt. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Plenary and committee meetings, Brussels

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

The Brexit discussion has shed a new light on the relations the EU has with non-member states. Switzerland and the EU are currently reinforcing the bilateral way by negotiating new bilateral agreements.

Global ridesharing giant Uber has been hit with fines from both UK and Dutch data protection authorities after attackers gained access to the personal information of around 50 million users worldwide.

EU industry commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska invited ministers from 15 EU countries to talk about the aftermath of the Dieselgate emissions scandal. Only two accepted.

Written by Rafał Mańko (1st edition),

© Tanja Esser / Fotolia

On 3 May 2018 the Commission put forward a proposal for a regulation on the protection of the Union’s budget in the event of generalised deficiencies as regards the rule of law in a Member State. The proposal addresses, from a budgetary perspective, generalised deficiencies as regards the rule of law, including threats to the independence of the judiciary, arbitrary or unlawful decisions by public authorities, limited availability and effectiveness of legal remedies, failure to implement judgments, or limitations on the effective investigation, prosecution or sanctions for breaches of law. The proposal provides for the possibility for the Commission to make proposals to the Council on sanctions measures with regard to EU funding. These include suspension of payments, suspension, reduction or even termination of legal commitments (to pay), suspension of programmes, and the transfer of money to other programmes. Such a proposal would be deemed to have been adopted if the Council failed to reject it by a qualified majority. On 17 August 2018, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) delivered its opinion on the proposal and on 3 October 2018, Parliament’s co-rapporteurs presented their draft report on the proposal. While sharing the broad objectives put forward by the Commission, they have proposed a number of amendments.

Versions

• November 2018: ‘Protecting the EU budget against generalised rule of law deficiencies‘ (1st edition)

Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of the Union’s budget in case of generalised deficiencies as regards the rule of law in the Member States Committees responsible:

Budgets (BUDG) and Budgetary Control (CONT) (jointly under Rule 55)

COM(2018) 324
2.5.2018 Rapporteurs:

Petri Sarvamaa (EPP, Finland) and Eider Gardiazabal Rubial (S&D, Spain)

2018/0136(COD) Shadow rapporteurs:

 

  Esteban González Pons (EPP), Inés Ayala Sender (S&D), Ali Nedzhmi (ALDE), Anneli Jäätteenmäki (ALDE), Dennis De Jong (GUE/NGL), Younous Omarjee (GUE/NGL), Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA), Jávor Benedek (Greens/EFA), Marco Valli (EFDD) Ordinary legislative procedure (COD) (Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Vote on report in committee

A cleaning lady in Greece has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for falsifying her primary school degree in order to find a job in the public sector, under a penal code article that has remained unchanged since 1950.

An increasing number of EU citizens are concerned about the manipulation of elections through cyberattacks and malicious interventions, according to figures published on Monday (26 November).

The Ukrainian parliament voted to impose martial law for 30 days on Tuesday following an incident in the Kerch Strait in which Russian vessels temporarily stopped Ukrainian ships from passing under the new Crimean Bridge, blocking their access to the Sea of Azov and opening fire. Commentators suspect both sides stand to gain from the rising tensions.