European Union

European Council President Charles Michel addressed the presse together with Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on the main topics of his visit to Georgia: the strength of the EU partnership, EU support in fighting the COVID pandemic and the current political crisis.

Joint press statement following the 11th meeting of the Stabilisation and Association Council between the EU and Albania.

As part of his visit to the region, President Charles Michel is today in Georgia, where he met with President Salome Zourabichvili. In his statement to the press following their meeting, the President called on all parties to step up their efforts to resolve the political crisis.

Following their meeting in Chisinau, European Council President Charles Michel and President of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu addressed the press and outlined the main topics of their discussion.

Weekly schedule of President Charles Michel 28 February–7 March 2021

The Council has today requested the European Parliament's consent to its decision on the conclusion of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement and a security of information agreement.

During the press conference concluding the EU leader's video conference, President Charles Michel focused on security and defence and on relations with the Southern Neighbourhood.

Following the informal video conferences on 25 and 26 February 2021, the members of the European Council adopted a statement on COVID-19, health, security and defence, and the Southern Neighbourhood.

European Council President Charles Michel gave a joint doorstep with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg before the start of the EU leaders' video conference on security, defence and relations with the Southern Neighbourhood.

European Council President Charles Michel and EU leaders discussed via video conference five key topics in the fight against COVID-19 pandemic and how to strengthen EU health systems, coordination and preparedness for the future.

Despite the unprecedented constraints linked to the pandemic situation, the Court of Justice of the European Union maintained a high level of activity in 2020

Length of video : 128'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Euro Box Promotion and Others
Law governing the institutions
According to Advocate General Bobek, decisions of a constitutional court declaring unlawful the composition of panels of a supreme court on the ground that the right to an independent and impartial tribunal has been infringed and declaring unconstitutional the technical surveillance measures in criminal proceedings by domestic intelligence service are compatible with EU law

On Monday, 1 March and Thursday, 4 March 2021, AIDA will hold a public hearing on the external policy dimension of AI in association with AFET and SEDE. The event will be divided into two panels, with a first panel on "AI diplomacy and governance in a global setting: towards regulatory convergence" and a second panel on "AI, cybersecurity and defence".

The two panels will allow AIDA, AFET and SEDE Members to exchange views with international panelists on a range of emergent policy issues relating to AI, ranging from the developing global regulatory dialogue on AI to the uses of AI in the fields of cybersecurity and defence.
Meeting documents and programme
Follow via webstreaming
AIDA hearings
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Commission v Fútbol Club Barcelona
State aid
The Court of Justice sets aside the judgment of the General Court by which the Commission’s decision classifying as State aid the tax scheme of four Spanish professional football clubs had been annulled

Let’s thank my need to get the car MOT’ed for my chancing upon a very interesting discussion about the OODA loop on the radio. For those not into military tactics, the Observe-Orient-Decide-Act loop was devised by a US fighter pilot in the Cold War to conceptualise ways of (literally and metaphorically) out-manoeuvring your opponent: essentially by trying to get inside their approach you gain an advantage to disrupt and destroy them. All good stuff. If you’re into destroying things. Which was the gist of the radio programme: fundamentally, OODA is about handling situations as you find them, rather than about dealing with root causes. In their reading, one of Dominic Cummings’ basic problems during his time in No.10 was that he treated everything in OODA terms, rather than considering whether other, more cooperative strategies might be more effective. This is all interesting on its own terms, but also because the start of David Frost’s time as point man on the UK’s Brexit work has seen a demonstration of a very similar logic at work. Yesterday, in among all the budget news, the UK announced it would unilaterally extend the grace periods currently in operation in Northern Ireland relating to food. Certainly, there are issues on this that need attention, but to make a unilateral decision is one that smacks of disruption, mainly because any change to the TCA (which this would be) requires mutual approval with the EU. Instead, the UK has merely committed to discussing it with them in the coming weeks. The challenge to the EU is quite what to do. If they accept, then they open the door to similar future UK action, which might cause much bigger problems. If they refuse, then they will be blamed for obstructing efforts to solve the matter. Anything else requires UK buy-in that might not happen. As such, it’s essentially a bouncing operation, and much in line with previous actions by Frost. How it plays out is very unclear right now, but the opening observation of this post still stands: OODA is about fighting, not relation-building. If the UK-EU relationship is ever to find its feet, then it needs some foundation on which to stand. Trying to up-end the legal instruments – be that the Internal Market Bill and the Withdrawal Agreement or this current affair and the TCA – does not speak to that agenda at all. Maybe No.10 has an appetite for permanent conflict with the EU, but that’s a rather different question from one of whether the UK will be able to come out on top as a result.

The post Lop the loop appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Length of video : 99'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Length of video : 88'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told French counterpart Emmanuel Macron he wants their countries to cooperate to fight terrorism, as Ankara moves to ease tensions with Paris.

The European Union's Conference on the Future of Europe could this week finally get the green light, when member states and the European Parliament give their verdict on the joint declaration negotiated under the aegis of Portugal's presidency of the Council of the EU.