European Union

Written by Marcin Grajewski,

© ilolab / Fotolia

Prime Minister Teresa May faces an uphill struggle to convince the British House of Commons to back the agreement she has reached with the EU27 on withdrawal from the European Union, in a crucial vote set for 11 December. Although the deal was approved by her Cabinet and all EU leaders, the divorce terms have been criticised by many Members of Parliament, both advocates of a no-deal departure from the Union and those who would like the United Kingdom to remain within th Union or have the closest possible ties with it from outside.

In a parallel development, an Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union has issued an opinion that the UK government may unilateraly withdraw its notification of intent to leave the EU, where the departure date is currently set for 29 March 2019. In the past, the Court has followed its advocate generals’ opinions in most cases.

This note offers links to reports and commentaries from some major international think-tanks and research institutes on Brexit negotiations and related issues. More reports on the topic can be found in a previous edition of ‘What Think Tanks are thinking’, published in October 2018.

Can the UK unilaterally revoke its notification to exit the EU?
A UK in a Changing Europe, December 2018

The proposed UK-EU Brexit deal: An explainer
Open Europe, November December 2018

Le Brexit dans tous ses états
Institut français des relations internationales, December 2018

How to exit the backstop
Policy Exchange, December 2018

Brexit, Black Pete and Bannon are testing Europe: But can’t defeat it
Friends of Europe, December 2018

Brexit brief: Special edition
Institute of International and European Affairs, November 2018

New research shows economic and fiscal consequences of the Brexit deal
A UK in a Changing Europe, November 2018

Which Brexit deal, mad, implausible, plausible or desirable?
Scottish Centre on European Elections, November 2018

The Brexit ‘future relationship’: Not a deal, but a half-blind date
Centre for European Policy Studies, November 2018

The November Draft Withdrawal Agreement
Institute for Government, November 2018

The Brexit deal and the UK-EU security relationship
DCU Brexit Institute, November 2018

What happens if Parliament rejects May’s Brexit deal?
Centre for European Reform, November 2018

What impact would a No Deal Brexit have on European Parliament elections?
Institut Jacques Delors, November 2018

Brexit and Scotland: The row over the backstop
Scottish Centre on European Elections, November 2018

Parliament’s ‘meaningful vote’ on Brexit
Institute for Government, November 2018

Brexit-Sondergipfel des Europäischen Rates
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, November 2018

Brexit is where Scottish and English nationalism meet
A UK in a Changing Europe, November 2018

Loss adjustment: European politics realigns for Brexit
European Council on Foreign Relations, November 2018

Brexit deal series: Ireland’s great Brexit achievement and challenges ahead
Scottish Centre on European Elections, November 2018

LSE blog: Brexit
London School of Economics, November 2018

Theresa May plays Brexit chicken
Peterson Institute for International Economics, November 2018

Why be afraid of no deal?
Policy Exchange, November 2018

The Westminster politics could be unpredictable to the end
Scottish Centre on European Elections, November 2018

Brexit, les leçons de la négociation pour l’Union européenne
Fondation Robert Schuman, November 2018

Meeting the EU’s military level of ambition in the context of Brexit
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik, October 2018

The Brexit withdrawal agreement
Bruegel, November 2018

In Brexit negotiations, both sides have now compromised
Chatham House, November 2018

Brexit: An unprecedented journey
European Policy Centre, November 2018

Endorsing Brexit or preparing for ‘No Deal’? A Belgian perspective
Egmont, November 2018

The Withdrawal Agreement and devolution
A UK in a Changing Europe, November 2018

Cancelling Brexit: Possible theoretically, but difficult politically
Finnish Institute for International Affairs, November 2018

Brexit deal done: Now for the hard part
Centre for European Policy Studies, November 2018

Northern Ireland and the Withdrawal Agreement
A UK in a Changing Europe, November 2018

Loss adjustment: European politics realigns for Brexit
European Council on Foreign Relations, November 2018

An effective UK trade policy and a customs union are compatible
Centre for European Reform, November 2018

Brexit and the future of European energy integration
Institute Affari Internazionali, November 2018

Europe reacts to the approval of the Brexit deal
Open Europe, November 2018

The Brexit endgame: Deal or no deal?
Brookings Institution, November 2018

Post-Brexit transfers of personal data: The clock is ticking
Bruegel, November 2018

What sort of Brexit do the British people want?
Rand Corporation, October 2018

Understanding the economic impact of Brexit
Institute for Government, October 2018

Welcoming back the prodigal son?
European Policy Centre, October 2018

No deal: The economic consequences and how they could be mitigated
Open Europe, October 2018

From UK customs fraud to Danish money laundering: Lessons for Brexit and the EU
Centre for European Policy Studies, October 2018

Brexit tectonics
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, October 2018

Brexit isn’t the only shock hanging over Britain
Council on Foreign Relations, October 2018

Brexit’s never-ending transition
Carnegie Europe, October 2018

Brexit: Next steps in UK’s withdrawal from the EU
House of Commons Library, 2018

Read this briefing on ‘Brexit: The endgame?‘ on the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

The Nordic Pavilion at COP24 is dedicated to dialogue – TalaNordic – about key themes regarding the transition to a low-carbon society, such as energy, transport, urban futures, the circular economy and green financing.

Written by Clare Ferguson,

The agenda for the final European Parliament plenary session of 2018 includes Council and Commission statements on the preparation of the last European Council meeting of the year, scheduled for 13-14 December 2018, a debate with the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, on the Future of Europe, and important interventions on human rights.

European Parliament (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

This year marks a number of important human rights anniversaries: 70 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 25 years since the Vienna Declaration, and the 20th anniversary of the United Nations declaration on human rights defenders. On Tuesday evening, Members will debate the Foreign Affairs Committee’s annual report on human rights and democracy in the world for 2017, which this year focuses on the mainstreaming of human rights into EU and Member States’ external action. The report bears witness to the shrinking civil space and increasing restrictions human rights defenders face worldwide, the mushrooming threats to media freedom, and the migration issues that continued to disadvantage the vulnerable throughout 2017. On a more positive note, the report applauds the EU’s signature of the Istanbul Convention on combating violence against women and domestic violence, as well as the work of the human rights services of the European Commission and the European External Action Service, including the Special Representative for Human Rights.

This session also marks the 30th anniversary of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought, one of the actions through which the European Parliament supports human rights, which this year goes to imprisoned Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov. Awarded for a specific achievement in human rights, the 2018 Sakharov Prize is recognition of Sentsov’s courageous contribution to the ‘Euromaidan’ resistance against Russian aggression in Ukraine, and as a representative of political prisoners worldwide.

Against the background of continuing Russian aggression in the region, Members will also debate a report on progress on implementation of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement on Tuesday evening. While the report acknowledges the progress the country has made on implementation in very difficult circumstances, it nevertheless expresses dissatisfaction with the continued level of corruption and politicisation in the country’s institutions.

Protesters against inequality throughout the world, such as the recent ‘gilet jaunes‘ movement, increasingly include fair taxation of the digital economy among their demands. A joint debate on a digital services tax is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, where Members will debate a report on two proposals: for an interim digital services tax on revenues from certain digital services, and for corporate taxation of a significant digital presence. The first proposal would broaden the Member States’ tax bases, by making revenue from digital content services – video, audio, games, and the processing and sale of user data – taxable in the short term. The second, for a permanent system, would define the circumstances under which a digital company’s ‘significant digital presence’ in a country would make it liable to pay tax, based on levels of revenue, or numbers of users or contracts. The final rules, however, will be decided by unanimity in the Council.

Although a little less evident in the press recently, terrorist threats have not disappeared from the Parliament’s radar. On Tuesday afternoon, the final report of the Special Committee on Terrorism will be debated, covering its findings and recommendations on the fight against terrorism in the EU. The report highlights that, while each Member State is responsible for its own national security, cooperation is vital to effective counter-terrorism and intelligence. The committee also underlines that an effective fight against terrorism requires, among other things: an appropriate data retention regime; an EU centre of excellence for preventing radicalisation; swift removal of terrorist content posted online; external borders that are well secured through interoperable databases and biometric checks; checks on financial flows; better tracking of suspects; and tighter control of explosives and firearms.

Keeping citizens safe is also the focus of two proposals for debate on Monday evening. Members will return to the often controversial subject of risk assessment in the food chain, where the transparency of decisions taken by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to authorise use of substances such as glyphosate has attracted criticism. Parliament’s Environment, Public Health & Food Safety Committee has agreed a report which supports the European Commission’s proposal to revise the General Food Law, to publish commercial studies used by EFSA, as well as seeking to further limit confidentiality claims to widen public access. Members will vote on the report and decide whether to issue a mandate for negotiations to begin between EU institutions on the changes. Members will also consider a trilogue agreement on proposals that should benefit an estimated 15.6 million EU workers, through greater protection from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens or mutagens at work, with a change to the law on exposure limits to certain chemical agents. The new rules would add eight chemicals, including engine oils and diesel engine exhaust emissions, to the scope of the current directive. In addition, in a joint debate on Tuesday night, Parliament will consider trilogue agreements on proposals to revise the statutes of three decentralised EU agencies that support the EU’s wider employment-related objectives: Cedefop, Eurofound and EU-OSHA. Reports from the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs confirm the need to define the agencies’ tasks to avoid overlap between them or with the Commission’s activities. A new governance structure proposed for each agency is expected to include independent representation on behalf of the Parliament on their management boards dealing with strategic and budgetary priorities.

On trade, Parliament is likely to decide to give its consent to the conclusion of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement and the Strategic Partnership Agreement, following a joint debate on Monday evening. The Strategic Partnership Agreement provides the legal framework for future EU-Japan relations, increasing the possibilities for cooperation between the two partners in areas such as combating climate change and cybercrime. Importantly for EU businesses, the Economic Partnership Agreement, the largest-ever bilateral free trade deal, will provide customs-free access to the Japanese markets for EU companies.

Where business agreements do not work out so well, the current number and pace of cross-border civil cases costs the European companies involved dearly, in terms of both time and money. On Wednesday evening, Members will consider a report requesting that the European Commission make a proposal on expedited settlement of cross-border commercial disputes. The report proposes the introduction of a European expedited civil procedure to solve cross-border business disputes, to cut costs and accelerate the process of adjudication to 6-12 months by instigating tight deadlines and ending lengthy appeals on procedural grounds.

Finally, Members will vote on the 2019 EU budget on Wednesday, provided the Committee on Budgets – in its Monday night meeting – endorses the agreement reached with the Council in trilogue on 5 December. This agreement is based on the Commission’s second proposal on a draft 2019 budget, following the failure by Council and Parliament to agree in conciliation on the first proposal. Members will also vote on Wednesday to approve the minor adjustments reflected in the draft amending budget (No 6) to the 2018 EU budget, required due to updates on economic forecasts. These include decreases based on new predictions for EU sustainable fisheries partnerships, and increases to mirror new information on levies, value added tax, and the gross national income bases for Member State contributions, as well as the necessary corrections due to the United Kingdom’s intention to withdraw from the EU.

 

A list of all material prepared for this Plenary Session: The 2018 Sakharov Prize (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Amending Budget No 6 to the 2018 EU budget: Reduction of payment and commitment appropriations in line with updated forecasts of expenditure and update of revenue (own resources) (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Transparency of EU risk assessment in food chain (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Revising the statutes of three decentralised EU agencies: EU-OSHA, Cedefop and Eurofound (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Report of the Special Committee on Terrorism (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Protecting workers against carcinogens and mutagens: Second proposal (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) EU and Japan seek to boost their relations (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Annual report on human rights and democracy in the world in 2017 (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Implementing the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Fair taxation of the digital economy (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – IT – PL) Expedited settlement of commercial disputes (available in DE – EN- ES – FR – )

Europe should be “worried” about Huawei and other Chinese companies, given the mandatory cooperation they have to maintain with Chinese intelligence services, European Commission Vice-President for Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said on Friday (7 December).

The EU's digital commissioner, Andrus Ansip, said on Friday that "we have to be worried" about Chinese telecommunications companies like Huawei. He was asked about the company after Canadian authorities arrested Huawei's chief financial officer. "They [Huawei] have to cooperate with their intelligence services," said Ansip. He added some Chinese firms are forced to install so-called backdoors in smartphones. "I was always against having those mandatory backdoors," he added.

At the 14th Annual Conference of the European Partnership for Alternative Approaches to Animal Testing, I was invited to host a panel exploring the theme of the conference: pooling resources to promote the use of alternative methods for advancing safety assessment, writes Julie Girling. As we approach the end of 2018, it is important to take stock of developments in this critical field.

Rarely has a national party convention been followed so eagerly in Brussels corridors. As Germany's CDU party is set to vote this afternoon on Chancellor Angela Merkel's successor at the party helm, thoughts are already on the future.

The world’s favourite sport is setting its sights on tackling global problems that are related to the environment all around us.

The European Union unveiled a new plan on artificial intelligence on Friday - which mandates member states to have their own national plans. The authors believe 'like the steam engine or electricity in the past, AI is transforming the world.'

The EU and France ramped up their funding for the G5 Sahel anti-terror alliance to €1.3bn at a two day donor summit in Mauritania on Thursday (6 December).

There is no room for double standards in the future Cohesion policy but there is a need for cooperation between funds and programmes, key partners and civil society, the EU Commissioner for Regional Policy told a Committee of the Regions (CoR) plenary session in Brussels on Wednesday (December 5).

Plenay, Strasbourg

Source : © European Union, 2018 - EP

A deeply divided European Parliament’s PEST Committee stuck to its broad mandate and approved a diluted final report on pesticides, as political confusion continued to hinder attempts to revise the current protocol for their authorisation.

Belgium v Commission
State aid
Le Tribunal annule l’interdiction pour la Belgique de procéder à tout paiement en vertu du régime de garantie pour les coopérants ARCO

EU states Thursday endorsed a definition of antisemitism put forward by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), an intergovernmental body in Berlin. They said it should be "a useful guidance tool" in education and training, including for police, even though leading academics say the definition conflates antisemitism with legitimate criticism of Israel's actions in Palestine. The final EU text dropped more hawkish language on IHRA compliance contained in earlier drafts.

Hungary and Poland have come out as the EU capitals of homophobia by boycotting a gay rights declaration.

France is set to close major tourist sites in Paris this weekend amid fears of riots following mass anti-government demonstrations by the so-called 'yellow vests'. Prime minister Edouard Philippe announced 89,000 police officers would be deployed throughout France ahead of the 'yellow vests' march set for Saturday. Some 8,000 police officers will be in Paris.

An anti-migrant bill recently passed in Italy, dubbed the 'Salvini decree', is forcing some migrants out into the streets, reported The Guardian, a British newspaper. The bill abolishes humanitarian protection for those not eligible for refugee status and unable to return home. The newspaper reports dozens of migrants have since been evicted from a welcome centre. Victims of sex-trafficking and a child were among those made homeless.

Latvia has become the latest in a series of EU states to reject a non-binding United Nations pact on migration. Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland have also refused to sign the agreement. Belgium's parliament on Thursday voted in favour, although the government is bitterly divided over the issue. The UN agreement, which has been two years in the making, imposes no obligations.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has exempted a mammoth pro-government media group from scrutiny by the national competition watchdog, according to a decree published late on Wednesday (5 December).