The Digital Markets Act comes into force today. It is probably one of the most complex pieces of legislation in the European Union to date, alongside the Digital Services Act, as you can read in the News. And there is already much discussion about the next massive project. The AI Act is intended to define […]
German Minister of Justice Marco Buschmann (FDP) brought a breath of fresh air to the data retention debate in Germany this week. For a long time now, the liberal FDP party wanted to abandon the idea of general data retention that does not require a specific reason, as favored by Interior Minister Nancy Faeser (SPD). […]
Claudia Labisch’s job is like herding a bag of fleas, even if she would probably never put it that way. As head of the Leibniz Association‘s Europe office, she represents the interests of 97 independent German Leibniz research institutes in Brussels. Their research areas range from natural sciences, engineering and environmental sciences to economics, spatial […]
Instead of the originally planned Council of Ministers, there was a working lunch in a small group. The disagreements between the two largest countries in the EU had grown in recent weeks, and apparently, the two heads of state, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Emmanuel Macron, needed to talk: Instead of the planned 20 minutes, […]
Would you care for a tasty salad for lunch today? At least in the UK, they tend to last longer than some prime ministers. Liz Truss announced her resignation yesterday and thus lost to the iceberg salad of the British online newspaper Daily Star. Her successor is expected to be found over the next week.My […]
“Expectation management” will play an essential role at today’s EU summit, according to Brussels. The negotiations on the EU Commission’s proposals on the energy crisis are likely to be difficult in parts, and the energy ministers will have to discuss the details at their meeting next week anyway. Till Hoppe, Stephan Israel and Claire Stam […]
At an informal meeting in Prague yesterday, the majority of EU energy ministers agreed to further efforts to save energy and signaled increased solidarity in the event of a gas shortage. Joint gas purchasing is supposed to start as early as next year. Manuel Berkel has the details. The EU Commission wants biomethane to play […]
Regarding climate protection, good-sounding targets are not enough. Not only do they have to be legally binding but ultimately enforceable. But that’s hardly possible in many EU countries, and it applies especially to reduction targets that are not covered by European emissions trading, which means that all member countries must achieve them individually, as my […]
Tomorrow, the EU energy ministers will meet informally in Prague. The member states must quickly come to a common denominator – on joint gas purchasing, on the savings obligation, on capping the price of gas, and not least on decoupling electricity and gas prices. Consensus seems to be emerging on some of these agenda items. […]
International criticism of the €200 billion package Germany has put together to fight high energy prices was heard again yesterday at the meeting of EU finance ministers in Luxembourg. There is talk of Germany going it alone, and calls for joint instruments are growing louder. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have […]