Friday

29th Mar 2024

Agenda

Climate change and EU cheerleading, This WEEK

  • After a vote by MEPs on Tuesday, the EU will be able to formally ratify the Paris agreement on climate change. (Photo: Yann Levy/350.org)

The European Parliament will try this week to give the EU a good name, with votes and debates on issues where conventional wisdom says that citizens expect results.

On Tuesday (4 October), MEPs will vote on whether to support the ratification by the EU of the Paris agreement to fight climate change. And they are expected to give a large backing.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

The vote will take place after environment ministers agreed last Friday to fast-track the ratification process, bypassing national parliaments, so that the EU can be among the Paris agreement's signatories when the text enters into force next month.

EU leaders including European Council president were quick last week to present the minister's agreement as the first result of the EU leaders' summit in Bratislava in September. The ratification decision is a welcome good news story about European cooperation, and it is being used to give the impression that Europe has heard citizens' complaints, and is doing something about it.

But if the EU is searching for a way to get back in touch with its disillusioned citizens, its executive branch will have to explain the behaviour of some of its previous top officials.

Also on Tuesday, MEPs will question EU commissioners about how to avoid conflicts of interests and will probably present themselves as the ones who could bring more accountability to the EU institutions.

The past two months saw former commission president Jose Manuel Barroso join controversial investment bank Goldman Sachs, former competition commissioner Neelie Kroes outed as owning an undeclared offshore firm in the Bahamas, and former climate action commissioner Connie Hedegaard taking up an advisory post at disgraced Volkswagen Group

An ad-hoc ethics committee is looking at the Barroso case, while Hedegaard told EUobserver last week the VW gig is an “unpaid position with no strings attached”.

On Kroes, who should have disclosed she had an offshore company during her term as commissioner, commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas said on Friday: “stay tuned”.

Green MEPs last week proposed that the parliament should have the right to block candidates from conflicted portfolios or, in extreme cases, if they failed to come clean on their financial interests, from assuming office. They will push their idea again during the debate.

On another issue where the EU tries to address needs of its citizens, MEPs will on Tuesday discuss the latest commission proposal to end the roaming charges on telecommunications.

The commission has promised to end roaming charges entirely by June 2017, and it has proposed a measure to stop people abusing the system by buying a cheap service in one country and using it mainly in another country.An earlier proposal that abolished roaming for only 90 days per year had to be abandonned after an outcry, mainly from MEPs.

Meanwhile, the elephant in the European room is still there: the British referendum held last June during which UK citizens chose to Leave the bloc.

On Monday (3 october), Michel Barnier will have his first day at the office as Chief Negotiator in charge of the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 of the TEU (the Treaty of the European Union).

Officially, Barnier will have nothing to do yet, since the UK has not yet triggered the famous Article 50, which would start a two-year period of divorce talks.

According to Schinas, the French former commissioner will “operate with a small team” and on Monday start with “a first wave of recruitments of this team”.

The Conservative party conference, where British prime minister Theresa May announced that Article 50 would be triggerd before the end of March and suggested she would go for a so-called "hard Brexit", should give food for thought to the new team.

UK to start Brexit talks early 2017, Johnson says

UK's foreign minister says Britain will launch official exit talks with the EU early next year, and argues that there is no link between free movement and the single market. PM May was not amused.

Greek bailout and EU border corps This WEEK

Eurozone finance ministers are expeced to release a €2.8bn payment to Athens. Justice ministers will discuss relocation and how to make the new border guard operational.

Environment, Ukraine imports, fish and Easter this WEEK

This week, expect no more than talks on environment, agriculture and fisheries, including discussions between the Polish and Ukrainian governments over angry protests by Polish farmers objecting to cheap grain imports from Ukraine.

EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK

This week, EU leaders come together in Brussels for their usual two-day summit to discuss defence, enlargement, migration and foreign affairs. EU ministers for foreign affairs and EU affairs will meet earlier in the week to prepare the European Council.

EU summit prep work and von der Leyen's Egypt visit This WEEK

MEPs will hold a debate with EU commission president Ursula von der Leyen about the next European Council on Tuesday. Later this week, on Sunday, von der Leyen will be in Egypt for talks regarding a potential 'cash-for-migrant-control' deal.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us