14Mar 2024 by Maja Bartczak

EU Friday – 14 March

EU Friday

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. DIGITAL EURO RUNNING OUT OF CREDIT The ECB's digital euro project was already facing challenges, but last month's significant payment system outage has raised even more concerns. At the end of February, the ECB's TARGET 2 system that settles payments between banks suffered a major breakdown for a day. The outage, caused by an initial misdiagnosis of the problem, raised alarms about the central bank's ability to manage a complex, high-stakes digital currency. As MEP Markus Ferber put it: “this is a blow to the credibility of the ECB”. Others, such as Green MEP Rasmus Andresen, stressed that rebuilding trust is key – or the project could collapse before it even gets off the ground. Even digital euro fanboy MEP Jussi…

EU 2024: Half-way there, the sprint begins

Opinion, Views

There are three months left before this year’s EU elections on 6 to 9 June. By the end of March, a complete list of Spitzenkandidaten for the top European Commission job should be finalised. Since January, the pace of weekly political and legislative developments in Brussels has not slowed down. Previously contested laws such as the Nature Restoration law have been finalised, while others including the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive have been held hostage. The last two-month sprint begins before the last Plenary session of the current Parliament on 22 to 25 April. No slowing down In the course of February and the beginning of March, almost all European groups, that recognise the Spitzenkandidaten process, have put forward their candidates for the role of the next European Commission president.…

EU Friday – 7 March

EU Friday

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. PARLIAMENT STEPS UP ENGAGEMENT ON DEFENCE Next week's European Parliament plenary and its Wednesday morning debate on current affairs is firmly sandwiched between two European Summits – the one that happened this week, dubbed by some as the most important meeting since the Cold War, and the one happening in two weeks, originally meant to be the most important one of the year. It gives MEPs a unique opportunity to scrutinise the decisions that have been taken and will be taken, even though it's the Presidency and the Commission in front of them, and not individual ministers at a time where a lot of the geopolitical decision-making seems to be multilateral rather than European. In line with Parliament President Roberta Metsola's…