It is an honor and a pleasure to be here with you in celebrating what is too often neglected in the daily churn of democratic politics: recognizing leadership and accomplishment.The political leadership of Commission President von der Leyen is, without question, of historical significance for Europe, I believe, on a par with that of the […]
Taking Europe at its word: The noticeable dismantling of the Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Supply Chain Directive (CSDDD) will be the acid test for the EU’s promise to finally clear up the bureaucratic jungle. If the reporting requirements for companies can be simplified and reduced to a justifiable core, Europe will send a […]
The days of talking about donor and recipient countries in the context of international cooperation are gone. Effective climate and transformation partnerships with developing and emerging economies are crucial for meeting global climate action targets. They also help to strengthen Europe’s own security and competitiveness, diversify its supply chains and secure access to energy and […]
The EU is making every effort to institutionalize the fight against disinformation – with success. The Digital Services Act (DSA) came fully into force in February. Implementation in the national parliaments is underway and was recently adopted in Germany. The DSA obliges platforms to actively combat disinformation. This approach to platform regulation is appropriate, as […]
According to the Dutch press, negotiations on a coalition government in the Netherlands should be concluded by next Wednesday. More precisely, the negotiators are to pave the way for the formation of an extra-parliamentary cabinet. Sources in Brussels expect this to have little impact on the reappointment of Dutch Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra.Although he has been […]
“Our Europe can die!” – French President Emmanuel Macron onceagain put it this drastically in his recent speech at the Sorbonne. In fact, the turning point – and this is important in order to understand the historical significance of current developments – means a profound crisis of order for Europe, which, in Macron’s words, implies a […]
Less than six weeks before the European elections, Renaissance is shifting up a gear. The composition of the list, which is headed by the leader of the Renew Group, Valérie Hayer, is to be announced this Friday in Paris, as confirmed by sources in Brussels and Paris. French President Emmanuel Macron’s camp will then present […]
European Council meetings provide an exceptionally good vantage point from which to assess the state of the Union and its likely future direction. The meeting on April 17/18 is a good illustration even though, as we shall see, the signals that it gave were in some respects contradictory and discordant. The meeting started on the evening […]
There have been two events in recent weeks that at first glance appear to have nothing to do with each other: The far-right Geert Wilders won the Dutch parliamentary elections with a record result – partly because the conservatives no longer ruled out forging a coalition with him for the first time. At the same […]
“It is the beginning of an idea that we have been working on for the last six months”, said MEP Mohammed Chahim from the S&D Group at a meeting in the EU Parliament in Strasbourg. The Moroccan-born Dutch politician from the Labor Party has been a Member of the European Parliament since 2019. He is […]