European Union

Scottish judges have asked the EU court to rule whether the so-called Article 50 process, on the UK leaving the EU, can be "unilaterally revoked" if the British parliament voted to reject Britain's exit deal. Britain's opposition Labour Party will this week vote on whether to support a second Brexit referendum, but Dominic Raab, Britain's Brexit negotiator, warned Sunday that rejecting referendum results gave "rise to extremism and fringe politics".

The EU will end cross-border stock trading with Switzerland at the end of this year unless there is progress on a new bilateral treaty covering a broad swathe of relations, EU neighbourhood commissioner Johannes Hahn has told the Neue Zuercher Zeitung, a Swiss newspaper. "I honestly cannot imagine ... that we would extend the [stock-trading] exception [which expires in 2019] by another year," he said.

Migrants will not be eligible for a "basic income" to be guaranteed to Italian people by the country's new populist government, its deputy leader Luigi Di Maio has said. "It is clear that it is impossible not to restrict awarding the citizenship income to Italian citizens, given the flows of illegal immigration," he told Radio Anch'io. The basic income plan has caused EU concern on Italy breaking Europe debt limits.

A British financier, Jeremy Hosking, who previously donated €1.7m to the Leave campaign, has offered to fund a new political party for rebels from the ruling Tories if British PM Theresa May fails to deliver Brexit. May will face cabinet ministers on Monday, some of whom are calling for a Canada-type free accord with the EU, after EU leaders rejected her plan to keep EU rules on trade in goods.

The UK's former Brexit secretary, David Davis, along with a group of 'hard Brexit' Conservative MPs will Monday set out a plan for a no-deal scenario, backed by the Institute of Economic Affairs think tank. The proposal will up the pressure on prime minister Theresa May, who last week saw her 'Chequers' blueprint rejected at the EU's Salzburg summit. May will also hold a cabinet meeting on post-Brexit migration.

Panamanian authorities have revoked the flag of Aquarius 2, a migrant rescue ship run by French charities SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders. The charities blamed Italy's anti-migrant government for putting pressure on Panama, although Italy's interior minister Matteo Salvini tweeted: "I don't even know Panama's area code". The Aquarius 2 was the last NGO-run vessel rescuing people from international waters near Libya.

Four of the 10 largest suppliers of financial-secrecy tools, such as the creation of shell firms, to clients who want to hide financial affairs are EU states - the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, and France - according to a report by British NGO The Tax Justice Network.

The EU Commission has sent a letter to the European Banking Authority (EBA) calling for an EU investigation into the regulatory failures that led to a multi-billion euro money-laundering scandal at Danske Bank's Estonia branch, reported the Financial Times. The commission called for investigators to establish any possible "breach or non-application of Union law both by the Estonian as well as the Danish supervisors".

Greenhouse gas emissions linked to digitalisation are rapidly increasing, despite efforts by tech groups to get more of their energy from renewables. The negative environmental effects need to be addressed more clearly than today, argues Mats Engström.

End of last week (20/21 September), a ‘clarification workshop’ at expert level was organized by the PESCO Secretariat at the EDA with the aim of facilitating an exchange of information between the PESCO participating Member States and to provide details on the 33 new project proposals put forward by them as part of the second project assessment and selection round currently underway. 

The workshop was chaired by the PESCO Secretariat made up by the European External Action Service (EEAS), including the EU Military Staff (EUMS), and the EDA. It had three main objectives: 

• to develop a common understanding on the second batch of PESCO project proposals at expert level;
• to serve as a ‘clearing house’ on potential synergies and similarities between project proposals and to identify and map expressions of interest by participating Member States for individual PESCO project proposals;
• to provide an overview on PESCO and the way ahead, including on a state of play of the first batch of 17 PESCO projects adopted by the EU Council of Ministers on 6 March 2018. 

In view of developing a second batch of PESCO projects, participating Member States were invited to submit their project proposals to the PESCO secretariat by end of last July.  The PESCO Secretariat has already conducted an assessment of the projects which was shared with the participating Member States before the clarification workshop. A final decision by PESCO participating Member States on which of these projects will be part of the second batch of PESCO projects will be taken later this year.
 

More information:

• EEAS factsheet on PESCO
• EDA info page on PESCO
• Council decision of 25 June 2018 establishing a common set of governance rules for PESCO projects
• Council decision of 6 March 2018 establishing the list of projects to be developed under PESCO

© oraziopuccio / Fotolia

Written by Magdalena Sapała,

If you are looking for a comprehensive source of information, analysis and infographics on the preparation of the EU’s post-2020 multiannual financial plan, you are in the right place. This blog post will lead you through a collection of publications, prepared by researchers at the European Parliamentary Research Service, covering the proposals on the EU multiannual financial framework for 2021-2027 and own resources as well as all proposed sector-specific acts for new and continued programmes and funds. 

The future multiannual financial framework (MFF) is high on the EU agenda once more. With the current MFF for 2014-2020 entering its final stretch, the EU has started preparing the post-2020 plan. The MFF sets the annual limits on EU commitments in different policy areas and on overall annual payments. It must cover at least five years. In practice, in most cases its duration has been set at seven years. This multiannual plan of spending is usually negotiated as a package, together with proposals for own resources and for new and continued programmes and funds. Formally, these elements are adopted in different legislative procedures, with different roles for the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. However, reaching an overall agreement on the MFF depends largely on the European Council and usually takes about two years. Negotiating the next MFF thus means debating the financial aspects as well as the vision for the EU’s action for the next decade.

MFF 2021-2027: Total

The preparation of the next MFF is taking place amid a broader debate on the future of Europe. The new political priorities, set out by the Member States in the Bratislava Declaration in September 2016 and the Rome Declaration in March 2017, must be translated into concrete measures, which require financial means. Therefore, one of the key questions of the debate is how to ensure the financing of the EU’s new priorities in the areas of security and defence, protection of external borders, asylum and migration policy, and climate policy. While new financial needs emerge, existing, long-standing budgetary priorities remain relevant, and some have even gained in importance. Increased resources are needed for instance for EU programmes for youth, and research and innovation. In addition, the future MFF will be the EU’s first ‘post-Brexit’ financial plan. With the United Kingdom’s withdrawal, the EU is losing a net contributor to the budget and negotiations on a future relationship between the UK and EU, which might lead to payments from the UK for participation in specific programmes, have yet to commence.

MFF: Next steps

Furthermore, the discussion on the next MFF is an opportunity to reform EU finances and re-emphasise some of the underpinning principles upon which they are built. The future EU budget, as often pointed out by the European Commission, must focus on the European added value to a greater extent, meaning that pooling resources at European level delivers results that spending at national level cannot. It has to be focused on delivering European public goods, designed and implemented with a view to enhanced performance, efficiency, agility and simplification. The other issues include extending existing links between the EU budget and the EU’s economic governance framework, as well as links between the disbursement of EU funds and respect for the rule of law.

Changes are also needed on the revenue side of the EU budget. There is broad consensus that the current own resources system needs to be reformed. It is seen as complex and opaque and encouraging Member States to focus on securing ‘fair return’, from the EU budget, rather than thinking strategically about how best to finance European public goods. However, while there is no shortage of ideas for alternative own resources that would radically simplify the system and endow the EU budget with greater financial autonomy, achieving significant reform has proven notoriously difficult.

Commission proposal for the 2021-2027 MFF, individual programmes as share of total (2018 prices)

On 2 May 2018, the Commission presented a package of legislative proposals on the 2021-2027 MFF, on own resources to finance the EU budget and on linking the EU budget with the rule of law. The proposals were followed by a series of further legislative proposals for new and continued spending programmes and funds under the next MFF. The European Parliament has presented its expectations on the post-2020 MFF and the reform of own resources and given its first reaction to the Commission’s proposals (declaration of 2 May and resolution of 30 May 2018).

Both Parliament and the Commission have signalled that they are ready to make an effort to reach agreement on the package before the May 2019 European elections. Meeting this deadline would help allow the new programmes to start on 1 January 2021, and avoid the delays that hindered the implementation of previous financial frameworks. However, recent European Council and Council meetings have not brought any clarity regarding the calendar. For now, the Parliament is sticking with its ambitious timeframe and plans to vote an interim report on the MFF package in November 2018.

Key EPRS publications Publications on the proposal for the 2021-2027 MFF and Own Resources

• M. Parry, M. Sapala, Post-2020 MFF and own resources: Ahead of the Commission’s proposal
• A. Dobreva, Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027: Commission’s proposal. Initial comparison with the current MFF
• M. Parry, M. Sapala, 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework and new own resources. Analysis of the Commission’s proposal

Publications on the sector-specific proposals (new and continued programmes and funds)

• A. Widuto, European Regional Development Fund and Cohesion Fund 2021-2027
• V. Margaras, Common Provisions regulation. New rules for cohesion policy for 2021-2027
• A. Widuto, Reform Support Programme 2021-2027
• F. Scholaert, European Maritime and Fisheries Fund 2021-2027

Initial appraisals of European Commission impact assessments accompanying the MFF proposals

• E. Kramer, European Regional Development Fund, Cohesion Fund, a cross-border mechanism and Interreg. Initial Appraisal of a European Commission Impact Assessment

 

An exclusive analysis of over 100 million meteorological data points shows that every major city in Europe is warmer in the 21s​t​ century than it was in the 20t​h​. Northern regions, Andalusia and southern Romania are most affected.

Following the 2030 renewable target of 32 percent, chair of the European Parliament's environment committee Adina Valean argues in order to reach our climate and energy goals, we need both public and private investment over the next decade and beyond.

An extensive regulatory process on gene editing adds more bureaucracy, increasing costs and slowing down innovation, Liam Condon, President of Bayer’s crop science division told EURACTIV.com.

Deutsche Hypothekenbank in Germany and Ecology Building Society in the UK were the latest to join a group of 37 pioneering banks offering an energy efficiency mortgage pilot scheme to homeowners.

EU stakeholders are playing ping-pong with the body that will be responsible for deciding whether or not to break business confidentiality and make industry studies public, in line with the terms of the new transparency rules on food safety. EURACTIV.com reports from Parma.

The UK's opposition Labour party have said they will adopt a stance on their support for a second Brexit referendum by conducting a vote amongst members, after a late-night meeting on Sunday evening (23 September).

People or firms in the European Union that wish to keep their financial affairs secret more often find the services they require inside the EU than in one of the tax havens blacklisted by the bloc, the Tax Justice Network (TJN) said on Sunday (23 September).

Pope Francis paid tribute on Sunday to Jews killed by the Nazis and victims of murder and deportation by the Soviet KGB, in twin visits to memorials marking the darkest periods of Lithuania's history.

The European Commission recently released its proposal on regulating heavy duty CO2 emissions. Rold Willkrans describes the “not insurmountable challenge” ahead and calls for realistic yet ambitious rules to be adopted.