On May 7, President-elect Emmanuel Macron greeted his jubilant supporters in the grounds of the Louvre to a serenade of the Ode to Joy, the anthem of the European Union. He had won the second round of the French Presidential election, dismissing the far-right Marine Le Pen’s challenge by 66.1% to her 33.9% A New … Continue Reading
On Thursday, December 15, at the end of the traditional end-of-year European Council, the 27 “remaining” heads of state or government of the EU had a short meeting, without Theresa May, to set out how the Brexit process would be handled by “the 27,” once the UK has notified its intent to leave the EU. … Continue Reading
The surprising victory of Francois Fillon Since 27 November, the favorite to become the next French President in the Spring 2017 election is Francois Fillon, someone nobody a month ago would have given any serious chance to get to the limelight. He received more than 2/3 of the votes in the second round of the … Continue Reading
Since June of this year, a major effort has been made at EU level to give new impetus to European Defense. A ‘Global strategy’ was presented at the end of June by the High Representative; a joint EU-NATO Declaration was issued during the NATO summit in Warsaw in July; a German white paper announcing an … Continue Reading
Few in Brussels expected Leave to win. The shock was palpable and first reactions very emotional: from EU officials literally crying in Council meetings to leaders suspecting the Brits of having invented a trick to Remain, while pretending to Leave. The absence of any plan from the Leave camp and the immediate damage caused to … Continue Reading
In a so-called “trilogue” meeting on June 16, the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers, and the European Commission reached a “political” agreement on the key elements of a regulation that would implement a due diligence and reporting regime for conflict minerals imported in the EU. It has taken more than three years since the … Continue Reading
The Geopolitics of Europe has been seriously shaken since when in April last year refugees and other migrants started to cross en masse the external borders of the so called Schengen area. The last episode of the migration drama, the agreement concluded on 18 March 2016 between the leaders of the EU and Turkish prime … Continue Reading
The President of the European Council Donald Tusk presented his proposals on February 2 for a ‘new settlement of the United Kingdom within the European Union’. If accepted, they would allow David Cameron to campaign in the announced ‘Brexit referendum’ for continuing membership of the UK in the bloc. You will find here, the letter … Continue Reading
On January 13, the European Commission applied for the first time a mechanism aimed at addressing threats to the rule of law in a Member State of the Union. This mechanism had been adopted in 2014 having in mind certain measures taken by Hungary under Prime Minister Viktor Orban. But the dubious honor to inaugurate … Continue Reading
Since April of this year, the EU agenda has been totally dominated by the migration issue. The sudden influx of several hundred thousand refugees from Syria, Eritrea and other conflict zones, but also economic migrants from the Balkan countries and elsewhere, has generated an earthquake of such a magnitude that any other discussion had to … Continue Reading
Building a “Capital Markets Union” for the 28 EU Member States was presented as one of the main priorities of Jean-Claude Juncker when he was appointed President of the European Commission last year. He saw it, together with his 315 Billion Euros investment plan, as part of his most important policy goal: to help boost … Continue Reading
According to the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Věra Jourová, the EU and the US have finalized the EU-US Umbrella Agreement (for the press release, see here; a reportedly near-final draft of the agreement can be read here). This is a remarkable breakthrough after the first calls for such an agreement back in … Continue Reading
According to the European Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Věra Jourová, the EU and the US have finalized the EU-US Umbrella Agreement (for the press release, see here). This is a remarkable breakthrough after the first calls for such an agreement back in March 2009, when the European Parliament called for an “EU … Continue Reading
After 17 hours of uninterrupted negotiations, the European Council reached, minutes before the opening of the European markets, on Monday July 13, an agreement to launch negotiations for a third bailout program for Greece. Despite the loss of trust in the country’s leaders, despite a referendum in which more than 61 % rejected the reform … Continue Reading
The latest chapter of the Greek crisis, which started with the electoral victory of the left wing Syriza party in January 2015, is reaching its close. The final deadline for reaching an agreement in principle to negotiate a new bailout has been set for Sunday, 12 July by the European Council. This last chance given … Continue Reading
1. Digital Single Market Policy Almost two years after the European Commission presented its proposal on a telecoms single market (Connected Continent), on 30 June, the three EU institutions finalized negotiations on two important issues: roaming charges and net neutrality. All other elements of the package will be discussed as part of the new Digital … Continue Reading
Background On April 14, 2015, the Committee on International Trade (INTA) of the European Parliament adopted amendments (by 22 votes to 16, and 2 abstentions) on the European Commission’s proposal for an EU conflict minerals regime published in March 2014. The INTA vote followed a compromise reached among three of the main political groups of … Continue Reading
The “Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank” (AIIB) was launched by China in 2013. It only became headlined in the world press this month when the United States publicly criticized Britain for announcing its participation. Indeed, soon after Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, stated that the UK would be among the “founding members” of AIIB, the … Continue Reading
Early 2013, when the US and the EU agreed to launch negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, the “investment” dimension did not attract much attention. Those who do not like transatlantic deals chose first to try to mobilize European public opinion around the traditional stumbling blocks in the EU – US agenda: the … Continue Reading
On January 25, 2012, the European Commission presented a proposal for a “Regulation on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data”, the “Data Protection Regulation” (DPR). The Commissioner in charge of justice at the time, Viviane Reding, aware of the complexity of … Continue Reading
Jean Claude Juncker, the new President of the European Commission whose term started on 1 November, wanted his institution to become more “political”. This wish was fulfilled earlier than he expected. The same week, the world press published a detailed inquiry by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, on extraordinary tax breaks offered by the … Continue Reading
The new European Commission presided by Jean Claude Juncker was confirmed by the European Parliament on October 22 with 423 votes (on 751) and will start functioning as foreseen, from November 1. Juncker presented his new team on September 10, “ in common accord” with the Council of Ministers, representing the Member States, but the … Continue Reading
Jean Claude Juncker, the former Prime Minister of Luxemburg elected as President of the European Commission in July, presented his new team on September 10. It took him the whole summer to accommodate the often excessive or contradictory wishes of the EU Member States. But his biggest challenge was to find a substantive portfolio for … Continue Reading
