Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. THE POLITICAL MEETING THAT WASN'T Brussels observers described it as a 'political meeting' of EU agriculture ministers on EU food security and sovereignty, but nobody bought it. Behind the talk of farm budgets and 'listening to rural voices', the real topic was the deadlocked EU-Mercosur trade agreement and whether the Commission could secure its approval before a key Coreper meeting on Friday. So, the Commission sent its best negotiators to the meeting: Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and Agriculture Commissioner Christos Stylianides, who were armed with promises of 'safeguards' and 'flexibility'. The party poopers? France and Poland, who warned that the deal could open the door to unfair competition and weaken Europe’s farming standards. Meanwhile, Italy is drifting towards a yes after…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. MERCOSUR: FARMERS 1 - FREE TRADE 0 25 years of political negotiations, 7,000 farmers taking to the streets of Brussels, and still no sign of this saga ending. As EU leaders prepared for a pivotal summit, thousands of farmers took to the streets to make their concerns heard. Protesters surrounded EU institutions to denounce a deal that they fear will allow cheaper beef, soy, and agricultural imports from South America into the EU. Inside the European Council, divisions were just as visible. While Germany and the Commission pushed hard for ratification, France, Poland and Italy successfully called for a delay. Despite last-minute safeguards and a €1 billion support fund promised by the Commission, member states appear increasingly uneasy. Together with the…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. SIMPLIFICATION SEASON CONTINUES Christmas comes early this year for Europe’s businesses, as the Commission this week presented its delayed Environmental Omnibus as a bold crusade against ‘administrative burden’ and, depending on whom you ask, a somewhat bolder crusade against environmental oversight. Brussels promises to save another billion euros a year by eliminating ‘unnecessary’ reporting obligations, primarily by no longer requiring companies to disclose sensitive information about chemicals, pollution or resource use. Highlights include: the deletion of the Substances of Concern in Products database, which would spare industry the inconvenience of reporting hazardous chemicals, over 38,000 livestock farms would be exempt from water and energy reporting, and environmental assessments for industrial sites, water discharges and chemical residues could be eliminated. While Commission…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. A MASTER PLAN FOR EU FINANCIAL INTEGRATION This week, the Commission launched a horizontal review of financial market infrastructure legislation, opening up a dozen of legislative files in a renewed attempt to build more integrated EU financial markets. Until last year, Brussels insiders would refer to such a package as an “Omnibus”, a concept that since this year refers to legislative proposals that deregulate while pretending to merely simplify things… so to avoid linguistic confusion, the Commission puts forward a “Master Regulation” and a “Master Directive” instead. Together, the two aim to overhaul the way that EU financial services are regulated and marketed throughout the EU, although “overhaul” is perhaps overstated. The most ambitious proposals such as mainstreaming integrated supervision, as…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. OMNIBUS IS MALADMINISTRATION Governing by omnibus is maladministration. You’ve heard it here before, but now the European Ombudswoman formally agrees in her damning conclusions on the Commission’s approach to deregulation. In her view, the first Omnibus package and two other laws were not just rushed; the Commission also crossed the line into maladministration, failing to meet the basic standards of law-making required under the Treaties. The Commission made a mistake by skipping impact assessments, limiting public consultation to industry mostly, and ignoring the climate consistency check required since 2021 under the EU’s own Climate Law. Does this stop Omnibus I? No, but it hurts the Commission’s image of a neutral evidence-based broker in the EU’s legislative process. It’s clear that Ursula…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. COP30 SHOWS DIVIDED EU CLIMATE FRONT Halfway through COP30 in Belém, the EU is failing to live up to its reputation as a climate leader. While 82 countries called for a roadmap to phase out fossil fuels, the EU didn’t sign due to opposition from a few reluctant member states. Germany and Denmark individually backed the demand, showing the internal fractures. At the same time, a lack of finance is hindering progress. Developing countries are insisting that the Global North must provide predictable and accessible funding and recognise its historic responsibility. Negotiators warn that no significant agreement will be reached without progress on financing. Trade tensions add another layer to the situation. At the heart of this dispute? The EU's Carbon…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. EPP GETS AWAY WITH DEREGULATION DANCE So, it’s official now: the EPP openly sides with the far right to ensure it can find the majority needed to dismantle EU sustainability rules. Just seven months ago, EPP leader Manfred Weber was still preaching the gospel of the cordon sanitaire, promising that the EPP would “never work with extremists”, unless they would magically align to his three pro’s: pro-Ukraine, pro-rule of law, and pro-Europe. Fast forward to today, and the only thing “pro” left is the pro-deregulation efficiency. The result is a CSRD shrunk to cover only the largest companies, the deletion of climate transition plans, and a CSDDD without civil liability. In short, a corporate sustainability framework that barely deserves the name.…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. EUROPE’S 2040 CLIMATE TARGET: 5% CREDITS, 0% CREDIBILITY Following 18 hours of overnight talks, EU environment ministers finally reached a climate deal for 2040 on Wednesday morning. Under pressure from EU member states who are lagging in their climate policies, minister agreed to increase the use of carbon credits in the mix from 3% to 5%, effectively reducing the EU’s internal emissions target to around 85%. Further concessions include free pollution permits for heavy industry, a postponement of the carbon tax on heating and transport, and the continued production of internal combustion engine cars beyond 2035 thanks to so-called 'low-carbon fuels'. And all of this despite the plea by the EU’s Scientific Advisory Board for a 90% to 95% reduction target…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. EU DEFORESTATION LAW FACES YET ANOTHER DELAY EU agriculture ministers left Luxembourg demanding that Brussels hit pause on its deforestation law for everyone this time… at this week's Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting, most countries supported postponing the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) beyond its original start date of December 2025. The Commission had already proposed granting small companies more time and suspending penalties for six months, but member states said that wasn’t enough. They want to postpone the entire rollout arguing that the system to trace goods back to farms is nowhere near ready. On top of that, the Mercosur trade deal was back on the agenda: several ministers, including Slovakia’s Richard Takáč, cautioned that opening EU markets to cheap imports…