European Union

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Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Set up in 2005, the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is the world's first international emissions trading system. Since its establishment, the concept has had plenty of detractors.

In the context of the exponential growth of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the President of the European Parliament has announced a number of measures to contain the spread of epidemic and to safeguard Parliament's core activities.

The current precautionary measures adopted by the European Parliament to contain the spread of COVID-19 do not affect work on legislative priorities. Core activities are reduced, but maintained to ensure that the institution's legislative, budgetary, scrutiny functions are maintained.

The meetings will be with remote participation for Members (being able to view and listen to proceedings, ask for the floor and intervene in the meeting). Other participants are invited to follow the meeting through webstreaming.

Following these decisions, the next meeting of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE) will take place on 9 September 2021 (online).
The meeting agenda and documents will be published here.

SEDE meetings' calendar 2021
EP calendar 2021
Press release: Sahel: Security situation from the African perspective - 12 April 2021
Press release: MEPs quizzed the head of the IAEA about nuclear non-proliferation - 16 March 2021
Press release: Exchange of views with the NATO Secretary General - 15 March 2021
Press release: Instability in the Central African Republic - 24 February 2021
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted debates on stronger European health policy cooperation. In Germany, the EU's most populous country and strongest economy, which holds a general election on 26 September, political parties are divided over whether and how the EU’s role should be strengthened.

Ireland hit Facebook's WhatsApp with a record 225 million euro ($266 million) fine on Thursday following an inquiry into the messaging app's transparency around sharing personal data with other Facebook companies.

At a special meeting on Tuesday the EU interior ministers failed to reach an agreement on binding conditions for taking in Afghan asylum seekers. Despite the strong desire to reach a consensus, the EU Commission failed due to opposition from Austria, Hungary, Denmark and Slovenia, among others. Instead, Afghanistan's neighbouring countries are now to receive money for taking in refugees. Europe's press is for the most part incensed.

Nato began its mission in Afghanistan 20 years ago. Today, most experts consider the strategy of building a democratic state on the basis of military support to have failed. More than 3,500 troops belonging to Nato and its allies lost their lives in Afghanistan. While some commentators point to lessons to be learned from the fiasco, others say the self-criticism has gone too far.

Despite all the complaints about the slow pace of vaccination in the EU, the European Commission's goal of vaccinating 70 percent of adults by the end of the summer has now been achieved. The vaccination rates among individual member states vary widely, however, with only 17 percent vaccinated in Bulgaria and 27 percent in Romania, for example. This and other factors are dampening the enthusiasm in the commentary columns.