Media headlined yesterday’s meeting of the European Political Community in Prague as an “XXL summit” or “mega-summit”. Indeed, it was a massive event, with the heads of state and government of more than 40 European countries attending. It explicitly was not supposed to be an EU-only event, and yet the debate about how to deal […]
Originally, the EU Commission wanted to present the proposal for the REACH chemicals regulation at the end of 2022. But apparently, it wants to put the project on ice for the time being – out of consideration for the industry. As Markus Grabitz and Till Hoppe have learned, the proposal is not due until 2024 […]
EU energy ministers are meeting today to decide on emergency measures to counter rising energy prices. For the Czech presidency, it is already the third extraordinary Council meeting: “And I’m not sure it will be the last, as the situation is not necessarily improving,” a senior EU official told Europe.Table. A letter to the EU […]
“These are going to be difficult times for Europe,” tweeted the Vice President of the European Parliament, Katarina Barley (SPD), in response to the election victory of the right-wing parties in Italy. The result had been expected and feared at the same time. Leading politicians are now warning about the EU’s ability to act. Three […]
It’s no surprise since the ruling is in line with previous case law: Yesterday, the ECJ confirmed that EU law precludes general and indiscriminate data retention of its citizens. Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) reacted enthusiastically to the ruling – and referred to Quick Freeze as an alternative. However, the issue is far from […]
with the Single Market Emergency Instrument (SMEI), the EU Commission intends to learn the lessons taught by the pandemic. The emergency instrument enables the Commission to make deep interventions in the single market in the event of a crisis. “We don’t want a planned economy,” said the responsible commissioner, Thierry Breton, when presenting the proposal. […]
Franziska Brantner believes that a complete decoupling from China is not the solution. But too much dependence could be painful. Diversification is thus necessary, she says. “We have to turn more strongly to the entire world again.” In an interview with Till Hoppe and Felix Lee, the Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry […]
There was much praise for Ursula von der Leyen yesterday for her State of the Union speech. However, some of her proposals are no longer quite so fresh. In the case of the European Hydrogen Bank, for example, only the name is new. Still, there were surprises, such as the fact that the middle class […]
Today, in our fall preview, we focus on EU transport policy. A swift agreement is expected between the EU Parliament and the Council on the proposals to phase out internal combustion engines in 2035 and tighten CO2 fleet limits for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. The situation is likely to be different with regard […]
So far, the EU has not had the best of experiences with Thatcher fan Liz Truss – after all, it was Truss who, in her role as Foreign Secretary, proposed a Northern Ireland Protocol bill that would undermine parts of the Brexit treaty. The fear: The conservative British politician could potentially provoke a trade war […]