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European Union

Most Ukrainians want to join EU despite ongoing Russian disinformation

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 11:00
Russia's attempts to push narratives that Ukraine's EU membership prospects are doubtful or will simply make the country the EU's "agricultural appendage" have largely fallen on deaf ears as Ukrainians remain firmly in favour of EU accession.
Catégories: European Union

18/2024 : 25 January 2024 - Opinion of the Advocate General in the case C-753/22

European Court of Justice (News) - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 10:14
Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
Advocate General Medina: Member States are not bound to recognise refugee status granted in another Member State

Catégories: European Union

17/2024 : 25 January 2024 - Judgment of the Court of Justice in Case C-334/22

European Court of Justice (News) - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 09:53
Audi
Intellectual and industrial property
European Union trade mark: a car manufacturer can prohibit the use of a sign identical or similar to the trade mark it owns for spare parts

Catégories: European Union

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico reassures EU allies over Ukraine stance

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 09:53
Following his hostile rhetoric towards Ukraine this week, Prime Minister Robert Fico showed his tamer side abroad as he reassured German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of his support for the country ahead of a meeting on Wednesday (24 January).
Catégories: European Union

16/2024 : 25 January 2024 - Judgments of the Court of Justice in Cases C-474/22, C-54/23

European Court of Justice (News) - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 09:52
Laudamotion
Transport
Passengers who did not present themselves for boarding for a flight which arrived with a long delay or who purchased a ticket for an alternative flight and arrived at the destination with a delay of less than three hours are not entitled to fixed compensation

Catégories: European Union

Retained EU Law is dead! Long live assimilated law!

Ideas on Europe Blog - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 07:58

During the Christmas break, the UK got rid of all its Retained EU Law (REUL). But not really.

The entry into force of the Retained EU Law Act at New Year’s Eve meant that all that “Retained EU Law” got relabelled as “assimilated law”.

As I discussed in my previous post, the Act also resulted in a proscribed list of acts being repealed. This moved things on, but far less than had been the original intent of the Act’s creators.

Now we have a further development, in the first Parliamentary Report on REUL, as mandated by the Act. This fun piece of surveying not only sets out progress, but also – for the first time – planned outcomes.

Before we get to any of this, it’s worth noting the updating of the REUL Dashboard, now in its third year of operation and still throwing up surprises.

Chief among these is the addition of over 1700 further pieces of REUL, taking the total up to 6757. For reference, the original dataset in June 2022 had 2417 items, or 36% of the current total.

The biggest additions in this latest update come at DESNZ, DEFRA, Treasury and DfT. Given this is the sixth occasion that totals have changed, it would be reasonable to assume it won’t be the last time.

However, the new figures show substantially more repeals than I’d anticipated last month (1369 actuals against 906), as well as more amendments (759 actuals against 647) and replacements (39 against 16). Only expirations was lower (62 against 75), which again makes little sense, given the Act shouldn’t have affected this: data errors are the probable cause here.

This means 67% of REUL is unchanged, with another 20% being repealed. As you can see in the two charts below, the Act’s passage is noticeable in the overall pattern of change, especially given the massive movement on overall volume.

We therefore have the somewhat ironic situation that while there has never been more change to REUL/assimilated law, we also have never had more identification of items of REUL/assimilated law, nor more listing of unchanged items (well over 4000).

This is precisely why there had been so much opposition to the Act during its creation: no one could be confident about what this mysterious category actually included, so to automatically sunset ‘everything’ would have undoubtedly produced massive unintended (and likely also not-immediately-noticed) consequences.

This point is a necessary function of the Report too.

Government has now stepped well back politically from trying to get rid of all REUL. One might argue this is just a reflection of technical realities, since it was always very likely that some part of REUL would remain obviously useful, but it is still only now that a more formal (if quietly spoken) statement has spelt that out.

The table below comes from the Report, setting out the end-point vision, wherein about 3000 items will be kept unchanged, another 1000 will be reformed, and over 2000 items revoked or removed.

The table is important for several reasons.

Firstly, it suggests that – barring a small handful of cases – there has been a more systematic evaluation across the piece of what to do. That has not obviously been the case previously when the nominal political objective was to get rid of everything. The test of whether this stands up will come in six months’ time, when the next report arrives: if we again find changes in volume or outcome, then we might be less confident that the datasheet on the Dashboard site holds up.

Secondly, it simultaneously points to continuing confusion. A glance at the categories used here will show that they don’t match those used in the Dashboard, which itself gained the classic “errrm” category of “TBC” this week. While one can argue ‘reforming’ isn’t so different from ‘amending’, ‘replacing’ seems to sit vaguely between ‘reforming’ and ‘removing’, and quite why tax legislation needs its own line is beyond me.

Trivial as this might sound, it does show there still isn’t a consistent language across Whitehall, which will make it that much harder to pursue any systematic agenda. Again, the next Report will tell us more.

All this said, we can now project out to the end of 2026, using the same charts we used earlier.

Again, we note that we end up with more pieces of unchanged (if assimilated) REUL at the end that we originally thought existed, plus the speed of chipping away at the pile will have been pretty consistent across the entire period, whatever the political messaging.

Of course, this all feeds into the question of progressive divergence from the EU, an issue that will become more relevant over time and especially as and when any new British government wants to rebuild ties with the Union.

But maybe we can leave that dilemma for another day.

Full data is, as ever, available here.

The post Retained EU Law is dead! Long live assimilated law! appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Catégories: European Union

Biden urges US Congress to approve F-16 sale to Turkey ‘without delay’

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 07:41
US President Joe Biden sent a letter to leaders of key Capitol Hill committees on Wednesday (24 January) informing them of his intention to begin the formal notification process for the sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 aircraft to Turkey once Ankara completes Sweden’s NATO accession process.
Catégories: European Union

Tusk, Mitsotakis possible ‘EPP drivers’ of von der Leyen’s EU campaign

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 07:32
In today's edition of the Capitals, find out about centre-right Kokoomus' Alexander Stubb and the Greens' Pekka Haavisto face off in Finland's presidential election on Sunday, Polish farmers rally against the EU Green Deal, and so much more.
Catégories: European Union

Israel denies attack on UN refuge in Gaza that drew rebuke from Washington

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 07:21
The United Nations said on Wednesday (24 January) that Israeli tanks struck a huge UN compound in Gaza sheltering displaced Palestinians, causing "mass casualties", but Israel denied its forces were responsible and suggested Hamas may have launched the shelling.
Catégories: European Union

Germany heading for record employment in renewables industry

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 07:15
Germany is heading towards the highest number of people employed in renewables-linked jobs since 2010, a trend bolstered by demand for heat pumps and installations of solar panels.
Catégories: European Union

Tusk, Mitsotakis possible ‘EPP drivers’ of von der Leyen’s EU campaign

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 07:12
The centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) – Europe’s largest political party – is gearing up to support Ursula von der Leyen’s bid for a second mandate as European Commission President.
Catégories: European Union

Czechia and Sweden want new Commission to focus on the single market

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 07:05
The new European Commission – to be formed after the upcoming EU elections – should finally start focusing on competitiveness and the single market, representatives of the Czech and Swedish administrations and local business agreed at a debate organised by the Europe Unlocked initiative in Prague on Wednesday.
Catégories: European Union

EU reveals new economic security plan to resist ‘fierce’ Chinese tech competition

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 07:00
The European Commission officially unveiled plans to strengthen the EU’s economic security on Wednesday (24 January), marking the latest attempt by Brussels to counter Chinese influence over strategically sensitive areas of the bloc’s economy.
Catégories: European Union

[Interview] Palestinian rights chief on ICJ: 'We're on right side of history'

Euobserver.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 07:00
EUobserver speaks with Raji Sourani, the director and founder of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and a leading human rights lawyer in Gaza — who has twice survived targeted bombings.
Catégories: European Union

Russia accuses Ukraine of killing 65 of its own PoWs by shooting down plane

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 06:56
Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday (24 January) of deliberately shooting down a Russian military transport plane carrying 65 captured Ukrainian soldiers to a prisoner exchange in what it called a barbaric act of terrorism that had killed a total of 74 people.
Catégories: European Union

Crypto bank files record $3 billion lawsuit against Bulgaria

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 06:55
Crypto bank Nexo has filed a record $3 billion lawsuit against Bulgaria over the actions of prosecutors and other state institutions against its executives, the company said on Wednesday.
Catégories: European Union

Spanish minister: ETA terrorism, Catalan separatists’ actions can’t be compared

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 06:44
Attacks committed by now-dismantled Basque terrorist group ETA and the actions of Catalan separatist groups cannot be compared, Spanish Justice Minister Félix Bolaños said on Wednesday after the Partido Popular, the main opposition force in parliament, insinuated as much.
Catégories: European Union

Greens and centre-right face off in Finland’s tight presidential race

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 06:39
The Finnish presidency will be fought between two former foreign ministers, the centre-right Kokoomus’ Alexander Stubb and the Greens’ Pekka Haavisto, with both on 26% and 23%, respectively and far ahead of the other candidates, the latest Europe Elects poll for Euractiv ahead of Sunday’s vote shows.
Catégories: European Union

Meloni’s government tested as Lega unites with 5 Star Movement over Ukraine

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 06:38
Five Star Movement’s call to stop aid to Ukraine and press for negotiations seems to have seduced Lega, marking a split from the rest of the governing parties concerning Kyiv in what appears to be a bid to attract voters ahead of upcoming elections.
Catégories: European Union

Polish farmers rally against Green Deal, Ukrainian food imports

Euractiv.com - jeu, 25/01/2024 - 06:38
Polish farmers on tractors took to the streets across the country to protest against the European Green Deal, EU policies that hurt local agriculture and the influx of Ukrainian food, in what deputy agriculture minister Stefan Krajewski said were protests aimed at Brussels – not Warsaw.
Catégories: European Union

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