Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. NGOS STAYING ALIVE AS EU BUDGET BATTLE UNFOLDS Federalists rejoice --it's increasingly likely that the EU's joint debt issued in 2020 as part of the NextGenEU Covid recovery strategy will be rolled over for seven more years, essentially creating a joint debt, and with it a strong precedent for the EU as a transfer union. Please thank French President Macron, who openly asked why on earth one would actually want to insist on repayment of the EU's financial market loans, which represent less than seven percent of the EU's 2-billion-euro seven-year budget. Something that was still unimaginable in 2017 when frugal Dutch Eurogroup Chair Jeroen Dijsselbloem had to apologise for saying he had no solidarity for southern EU countries who had…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. WHAT HAPPENS IN STRASBOURG, STAYS IN STRASBOURG Many have tried to stop it, and all have failed. No, it's not the evil Omnibus we're talking about, but the monthly mandatory move of the Parliament to Strasbourg. For most MEPs, it doesn't really matter whether they travel from their constituency to Brussels or Strasbourg, even if the latter's airport is not so well connected and most politicians have a nice pied-à-terre in Brussels. But for the thousands of staff with a fixed reservation in one of the city's dozens depressing Ibis hotels, dropping the monthly trek would be quite a time and cost saver -- well over 100 million euros of taxpayer money every year. It is not that Parliament has not…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. DAMAGE OF OMNIBUS I FINALLY DOCUMENTED Remember the days of evidence-based policy-making? When the Commission's Better Regulation strategy was still being applied? Well, we're far away from the return of the impact assessment -- the Commission is planning to present a package revamping its rules on how to engage with stakeholders and how to estimate the impact of different policy options on 28 April. Potentially on the agenda: replace stakeholder consultation by implementation 'dialogues' to understand corporate compliance concerns, replace public consultations with an intimate 'reality check' session with a few friends in the Commission's headquarters, and followed by a quick 48-hour internal inter-service consultation. The manual will likely echo the process of the EU's deregulated corporate sustainability reporting and responsibility…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. ECB CLIMATE TSAR WARNS FOR FOSSIL FUEL DEPENDENCE Frank Elderson, the green central banker who joined the ECB’s Executive Board back in 2021, is stepping up his messaging on the price stability risk of fossil fuel dependence. We already knew we were not saving the planet just for the planet, but for the humans living on it. But now the framing is even further away from noble intentions to green our society: in fact, it’s all about saving our economy, as fossil fuel is a geopolitical risk before anything else. Climate campaigners will say there were right all along, but the framing of climate problems in climate terms has been a hard sell over the last years. Elderson suggests that the…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. RULE OF LAW: SHRINKING SPACE, SHRINKING NGOS? "The rule of law is not negotiable -- it is the foundation of our European way of life" Ursula von der Leyen promised the Parliament when asking for a second mandate in 2024. Then why does a report from the Civil Liberties Union for Europe classify eleven Member States as 'Dismantlers' or 'Sliders' when it comes to the erosion of the rule of law? Only a few countries show progress on four indicators: the justice system, anti-corruption, media freedom and checks and balances. The group warns that steps to undermine the rule of law in the United States show how fast systems can be dismantled, and double standards and fragility have been exposed across…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. FIRST EU OWN GOAL AHEAD OF U.S. WORLD CUP After more than half a year of back and forths, MEPs finally caved in and approved the Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair, and Balanced Trade with the U.S., better known under the name of Trump's Turnberry golf resort in Scotland where it was announced last summer. Replacing the failed TTIP deal, the Turnberry agreement is no less controversial as it included explicit commitments from the EU to water down its sustainability reporting rules and help American companies exporting to Europe through 'flexibilities' on the EU's deforestation and carbon border tax legislation. Between last week's trade committee vote last week and this week's plenary vote, MEPs were promised that the rules would be suspended…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. EU SUMMIT: SHOW US THE MONEY We said it last week and even Politico agreed: Trump stole the Summit. Just read this op-ed by Enrico Letta, the eloquent social-democrat former Prime Minister of Italy now hiding in academics and at the prestigious Jacques Delors think tank. His brilliant report, Much More Than a Market, is long forgotten, as EU leaders have selectively interpreted the recommendations he and his colleague Mario Draghi made two years ago. Yes, we have a 28th regime proposal, captured by the U.S. venture capital-backed "EU-INC" campaign and published in the nick of time a day ahead of the EU Summit. In classic Brussels strategic thinking, it could fly as no one is really happy with it: it…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. THE RETURN OF THE WARBORN Better Regulation ‐‐ the favourite topic of our weekly review. It's been a while since we last heard from regulatory fitness poster child Jörgen Warborn as he was busy getting his latest non-legislative report on Better Law-Making across the finish line. We have to be honest: after the ugly burden reduction sprint in last year's Omnibus I deal, the report voted this week is a refreshing marathon of sensible Better Regulation statements. The Parliament "strongly regrets that the Commission is increasingly failing to carry out impact assessment". These assessments must consider not just costs, but also social, economic and environmental impacts. And any further burden reduction measures should also come with an ex-post evaluation, cost-benefit analysis…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. VON DER LEYEN SLAPPED IN THE FACE ON TRADE DEALS The Parliament’s fourth try to adopt a motion of censure against Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission failed as expected: with only 165 votes in favour and 390 against, it fell far short of the two-thirds majority required to dismiss the College. The motion, led by the far-right Patriots, was presented as a protest against the Commission's management of the EU-Mercosur agreement. However, the more significant blow to von der Leyen’s authority had already been delivered earlier in the week: MEPs decided to delay the vote on the EU-U.S. trade agreement, and voted to refer Mercosur to the Court of Justice, delaying its final adoption by up to two years. To add…