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…

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…