Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. IT'S GAME OVER FOR TEENS ON TIKTOK The EU’s subsidiarity principle does not mean that policy should be made at the most appropriate level, as many people think. It does mean that Europe should act when its member states cannot address a problem effectively on their own – the burden of proof is on the EU. For kids addicted to social media, we almost seem to be there. Even if addiction is fundamentally a -national- health policy issue, the American drug dealers in this case operate on the internal market. And countries such as France, Denmark, Greece, Austria and Flanders (oh wait) have started to take national measures. So Ursula convened a panel of experts who told her how to protect…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. PLEASE DO NO SIGNIFICANT HARM WITH MY TAX SPENDING The EU has spent years lecturing the private sector and its member states about the holy principle of Do No Significant Harm (DNSH) – it’s not sustainable to do something good while harming another sustainability objective. Like building a hydropower energy plant that requires some deforestation to build an artificial lake powering the plant. So, the EU’s bible of sustainable finance, the Taxonomy Regulation, tells banks, investors, and companies how to measure the “alignment” of their investments with the EU’s environmental goals. Yet when it comes to the EU’s own budget, the DNSH commandment suddenly becomes optional. The EPP now wants to remove these environmental safeguards from the next EU’s multi-year budget,…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. IRISH PRESIDENCY TO THE RESCUE This week, Ireland took over the rotating EU Council Presidency. And because headmistresses Ursula von der Leyen was busy in Armenia, the College of Commissioners turned their Brussels meeting into an end-of-year school trip. Instead of adopting the public procurement package with Ursula, they chartered a plane to Cork to kick off the Irish Presidency in style. Ireland’s Presidency programme includes the usual gems: advance the Savings and Investment Union, complete the Banking Union, push for a more integrated capital market, and give the Digital Euro another nudge forward. But what do citizens really care about? According to the latest Eurobarometer, the top challenges EU see ahead are defense and security, and energy independence -- and…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. BRITAIN IS BACK... BUT IS BRUSSELS READY? Exactly ten years after the Brexit referendum that started the velvet divorce between the United Kingdom and "Europe", as Brits tend to refer to the mainland, Keir Starmer’s decision to step down could throw the UK's rapprochement with the EU into doubt. Andy Burnham, the outgoing PM's likely successor, might inherit a country where a majority flirts with the idea rejoining the bloc, but Nigel Farage's Reform UK is actually leading the polls. If the UK applied tomorrow, accession talks might be easier than for other candidates such as those in the Western Balkan region: legally, the UK is pretty much aligned to the EU's rulebook, most of which was copy-pasted into national law.…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. IF BANK STRESS TEST FAILS, WHO WILL PAY FOR CLIMATE RISK? The European Banking Authority is finally stress-testing banks on climate risk. For the first time in history, climate risk is explicitly included in the next test, designed for 2027. But the biggest question is not whether the banks will pass, but whether the system will hold, and whether taxpayers will end up chipping in if it doesn’t. To the relief of the simplification ayatollahs, the EBA’s new methodology cuts data requirements by 55%. But the real novelty is the inclusion of transition and physical climate risks, even if they are only in a dedicated module without impacting the core results. As of next year, banks will have to test how…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. BIG ON BIG THINGS: STOP KILLING VIDEO GAMES (AND GIVE ME A BLUE PASSPORT) Big on the big things, and small on the small things. That's what Europe should be, right? Packaging waste? Small thing, so simplify. Sustainability reporting for companies? Small thing, so simplify. High-risk AI use? Small thing, so simplify. Planned obsolescence of video games? Big thing. HUGE thing actually. Well, if you believe the 1.3 million citizens who signed a petition to Stop Killing Videogames. On paper, it makes sense. You buy a video game, which rewards the makers but also finances some of the operating costs if it's an online game -- think the servers that host multiparty games, or simply an anti-piracy check that requires the…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. DON’T TOUCH MY SCHENGEN Ah, Schengen. Who hasn’t visited the sleepy village on the Moselle river, with its German-French-Luxembourgish border tripoint, the Columns of Nations and the brand-new Schengen museum? For most of us, the treaty named after the village represents something bigger – free unbothered travel across the borders between European countries. Even if the Brussels bubble thinks the word “border” refers to the outside of the EU and prefers to refer to “Member States”, the reality is that freedom of movement hasn’t been the most accessible of the four freedoms we were promised. From the full-scale shutdowns during Covid to the recurring deadly traffic incidents due to symbolic attempts to stop migrant flows at the non-borders, the measures come…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. THE GREAT EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT USA TOUR Brussels seemed deserted this week, as the European schools enjoyed one of the hottest May holidays and MEPs left for their 'external Parliamentary activities' week, or 'green week' after its colour on the EP's famous institutional calendar. While for most MEPs this kind of week is better known as a holiday week in their constituency, Parliament's committee delegations racked up frequent flier miles to visit exotic destinations such as Canada (Economics), South Africa (Foreign Affairs) and Portugal (Fisheries). Interestingly, the most popular work destination this week was clearly the U.S., with four Parliament committees crossing the pond: the Public Health Committee met with US Congress to discuss medicines and innovative treatments, the Industry Committee went…