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…