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…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. THE BIG BOYS CLUB: FROM G7 TO E6 So as we reported previously, the leaders of the world's seven largest economies will meet in June in Évian. But first, finance ministers from the EU's six largest economies are having their own summit in Berlin, next week. The topics on the agenda include ongoing EU legislative initiatives, such as the integration of financial supervision as part of the Savings and Investment Union, leaving smaller member states with a significant financial sector, such as Luxembourg and Ireland, out of the discussions. In addition, even if the central supervision proposal is nowhere as ambitious as what happened in the banking sector with the the European Central Bank supervising the 130+ largest banks for well…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. SOME POLITICAL PARTIES ARE OUT THERE TO DESTROY CIVIL SOCIETY It seems that some right-wing and extreme right politicians don't like NGOs. Perhaps because they confront politicians with an uncomfortable truth, appealing to their conscience. Perhaps because some MEPs genuinely don't believe that organised civil society should have a voice in decision-making, and that politicians should only listen to corporate lobbies who represent their own economic interest. Or, as one German EPP MEP put it a while ago, because they prefer twenty extra cows in the field in Bavaria over financing an NGO. More intellectual honesty came when the instigator of the Parliament's NGO Scrutiny Group admitted in February that the purpose of the non-committee was not to scrutinize spending, but…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. COMMISSION CAN'T SEE THE FOREST FOR THE TREES The rules to prevent products from deforestation to be sold in Europe will apply one day -- perhaps that is the only positive message to come out of the Commission's readjustment of the anti-deforestation rules published this week. That is legal certainty that EU companies will appreciate. Unless your company is importing leather onto the EU market oncourse, and had started to prepare for application of the rules. In fact, it is much more effective to lobby against the rules, as luxury leather bags producers have been doing for the past year. As a result of their effort, the Commission now proposes to take the sector out of scope, compared to a previous…