European Union

MEPs want a strong set of rights to protect consumers in the context of artificial intelligence and automated decision-making.
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

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Ending. Starting

Change is coming to Brexit.

At the end of next week, the UK will leave the European Union, having now completed the passage of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill through the Lords: EU ratification is a given.

But there is another, broader change coming too.

The constellation of politicians, commentators and journalists who were brought together by the 2016 vote is starting to break up.

That’s most obvious in the political sphere. The EU has new Presidents aplenty and the Johnson government seeks to present itself as somehow brand-new, despite being a party of power for the past decade.

We can see it elsewhere too: Peter Foster – one of the preeminent media analysts – is on the move to the FT; @BorderIrish is hanging up its boots on Friday (possibly having made a fortune with its excellent tome). And I notice plenty of others online who seem to be winding things down or looking to pastures new.

That’s logical. The act of withdrawing from the EU will be a fundamental change; one that is irreversible. From here on, there can be no pretence (or vain hope) that things can go back to how they were.

And in all this, we have to remember that Brexit is very much not ‘done’.

Brrrrr

Which prompts an odd (for me, at least) thought: maybe we might think of this in an analogous (if very imperfect) way to the Cold War.*

The convention is to bracket the Second World War into the 1939-45 period, already neglecting the conflicts either side that existed outside of Europe, but we can also place it into a much longer era of tensions, both explicit and implicit.

The war obviously connects to the First World War, with the narrative of betrayal being used to frame the changing power balance in the continent, a change that then runs (in a very different way) from the fall of Berlin to the fall of the Berlin Wall, four decades later.

And even then, it’s clear that balance continues to change to this day, with Russia’s (and America’s) uncertainty and the distant haze of a Chinese dawn.

History is a stream, into which we dip from time to time, and our efforts to contain and compartmentalise it are necessarily imperfect. Indeed, it is precisely such efforts that mark our present situation.

And so I come back to a representation of the Cold War that happens to serve a contemporary structure of politics.

In 1945, there were victors and losers. There were celebrations, but ones tempered by the cost of achieving dominance.

And even before that victory came, there were divisions and rivalries, as the victors found that having a common enemy didn’t mean having a common agenda. Indeed, some of the former enemies turned out to be the staunchest supporters of both the new rival camps.

The recontextualisation of politics, in the shadow of the Bomb and of the Holocaust, was profound and irreversible too.

Badoom

And this is the key point. Politics does not stop.

All of the issues and problems that have been raised in and around Brexit these past years are not now suddenly solved and put behind us. Instead, they are still present, still urgent, still (largely) unanswered.

As we move into this new – and much, much longer – phase of Brexit, we might do well to remember this. Practically, we might usefully try to gather the insight of those who have done their Brexit time, so that the numerous wheels do not have to be reinvented once again.

If this sounds downbeat, then it’s because I feel rather downbeat. Not for the decision to leave per se – although it’s not one I voted for – but for the manner of how it proceeds.

At the risk of sounding like a scratched record (kids, ask an old person), the singular failure to build a consensus around any positive national project that is made possible by Brexit ranks at the top of my list of “why this will not end well.”

So as we move towards another day in history when everything changes, and yet nothing changes, we might start to work on how we are going to deal with, and shape, this new world around us.

* – one very obvious way it’s imperfect is that there aren’t necessarily the same number or arrangement of actors; i.e. no one is a Nazi or a Communist (or an American or Brit for that matter) in this, before we all go silly.

The post The Brexit Cold War appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

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Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

On 21 January MEPs from the Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), Subcommittee on Security and Defence (SEDE), and Delegation for relations with NATO Parliamentary Assembly (DNAT) discussed the security situation in Europe and the world with NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg. Mr Stoltenberg stressed the importance of NATO as an organisation bringing together the EU and the US and allowing them to address common security issues.
The debate concentrated around the importance of building global capacity, the EU's efforts towards strategic autonomy, transatlantic relations and relations with Russia.
Further information
Press release_ 21-01-2020
The recording of the meeting
Multimedia material
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

On 21 January, AFET debated external policy priorities with Gordan Grlić Radman, Croatia's Minister of Foreign and European Affairs. The Minister and MEPs discussed the upcoming challenges and possible solutions, as Croatia takes the lead of the Council in a very critical time for the European Union.
During this Presidency, the EU will strive to agree on its multiannual budget, to restore credibility to its enlargement policy and will continue to be actively engaged in both its East and South neighbourhood. Brexit, Africa and transatlantic relations will also be high on the foreign affairs agenda.
Further information
Croatian Presidency Priorities
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

On 21 January, the Committee on Foreign Affairs hold a public hearing on the future of the Eastern Partnership. The Members discussed with experts the achievements and shortcomings of the Eastern Partnership both at the regional and multilateral level. They also analysed possible evolution of the EU's relations with its six Eastern partners and a way forward for the Eastern Partnership in the next decade.
Further information
AFET Public Hearing - Draft Programme
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Opinion on the proposal for a Council decision on conclusion of the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community
Committee on Foreign Affairs
David McAllister

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Generics (UK) and Others
Competition
Advocate General Kokott proposes that the Court should find that an agreement in settlement of a dispute between the holder of a pharmaceutical patent and a manufacturer of generic medicinal products may be contrary to EU competition law

PTC Therapeutics International v EMA
Law governing the institutions
The Court confirms the right of access to documents contained in the file of a marketing authorisation application for a medicinal product

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Length of video : 55'
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Length of video : 55'
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Length of video : 17'
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Length of video : 40'
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Length of video : 59'
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[This post has been published in https://eulawenforcement.com/, and it is now reproduced here for informative purposes]

With this blog post, Michiel Luchtman & Miroslava Scholten would like to announce the creation of the Jean Monnet Network on EU law Enforcement (EULEN). We would like to sketch briefly the relevance of this topic, thematic scope, structure and plans for activities of the network.

Enforcement of EU law: latest trends and implications

The enforcement of EU law and policies – whether they deal with securing our societies against transnational crime, the stability and competitiveness of our markets or migration and border management – have increasingly become a shared concern and responsibility for the EU and its Member States. Three developments mark the growing influence of the EU on law enforcement, i.e. on the monitoring of compliance of substantive norms of EU law, the investigation of alleged breaches of law and sanctioning for non-compliance (Scholten and Luchtman 2017, Scholten 2017):

1. the increasing emphasis of the EU legislator on enforcement convergence and on how nation states organize their systems of public and/or private enforcement (indirect or decentralized enforcement);

2. the proliferation of new models of transnational enforcement cooperation, i.e. the shift from traditional international cooperation towards new, transnational forms of cooperation under a framework of common goals, rules and institutions (e.g. the European Arrest Warrant, joint investigation teams, operational enforcement networks);

3. the proliferation of EU authorities with direct enforcement powers vis-à-vis private actors, including the sanctioning of infringements of EU law by these actors (direct or centralized enforcement).

These three developments bring along a delicate interplay between the many different actors involved and confront the EU and its Member States with the challenges to:

– align models for effective law enforcement, predominantly still based on the model of the nation-state, with rule of law standards in the shared legal order of the EU,

– obtain a fair balance between the need to integrate the enforcement of EU policies in national systems, customs and practices and the need to accommodate a level playing field at the transnational and supranational levels, and

– address the challenges for law enforcement in the digital era.

EULEN’s thematic scope and structure

EULEN is an initiative of 9 Universities from 8 European countries. This network’s thematic focus is twofold. On the one hand, its activities will focus on a number of selected policy areas where the mentioned trends and implications have had a role to play:

• The University of Warsaw, Poland (dr. M. Bernatt and dr. L. Zoboli), and Bocconi University, Milan, Italy (prof. dr. F. Ghezzi and dr. M. Maggiolino) will coordinate the topic of the enforcement in the area of EU competition law;
• King’s College London, the United Kingdom (prof. dr. A. Turk and dr. O. Stefan) will coordinate the topic of enforcement of EU banking and financial services law;
• The University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg (prof. dr. K. Ligeti and Mr. F. Giuffrida) will coordinate the topic of protection of the EU’s financial interest;
• The University of Deusto, Bilbao, Spain (prof. J. Abrisqueta Uriarte, dr. D. Fernández Rojo and dr. J. López Rodríguez) will coordinate the topic of migration, border management and asylum).

At the same time, three ‘horizontal themes’ will be addressed across these and other policy areas. These topics will be coordinated by Utrecht University, the Netherlands (prof. dr. M. Luchtman and dr. M. Scholten, also the main and contact coordinators of the network), in cooperation with the University of Bonn, Germany (prof. dr. M. Böse), and the University of Zurich, Switzerland (prof. dr. F. Meyer) (Ensuring effectiveness and the rule of law in a shared legal order) and the University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain (prof. dr. L. Arroyo Jiménez), (Technological innovations and EU law enforcement). The topic of finding balance between differentiated enforcement and a European level playing field will be coordinated by dr. S. Princen of Utrecht University.

The network also has an advisory board with internationally recognized experts in the field of enforcement – dr. F. Blanc (World Bank), prof. P. Craig (University of Oxford), prof. W. Kovacic (George Washington University, former US Federal Trade Commission), prof. A. Ottow (Utrecht University, University Board), prof. J. Vervaele (Utrecht University; President of the Association International de Droit Pénal). EULEN will also set up a platform of Young Researchers to promote their research projects and dissemination of findings via blog posts and EULEN’s online collections of papers and other publications.

EULEN’s plans of activities

EULEN comes at a timely moment. It bridges the existing fragmentations along the lines of national jurisdictions, policy areas and scientific disciplines. In order to address the challenges for law enforcement in a world without territorial borders, EULEN will offer an academic network, connecting academic research and teaching to clear societal needs, objectives and stakeholders, open to join for the interested persons all around the globe (please contact the main coordinators about possibilities and benefits of joining as a member).

EULEN aims to:

• promote academic cooperation and identify the common trends and best practices, as well as develop new insights and models to meet the identified challenges,
• commit today’s practitioners to the network’s approach and goals, as well as develop trainings to help them to adjust to the quickly changing enforcement landscape,
• educate tomorrow’s practitioners and academics to take up leading roles in EU law enforcement structures, and to
• inform societies on the tremendous importance of law enforcement in an increasingly borderless world.

Through its large variety of activities – including round tables, conferences, online lectures and papers, a staff mobility program, a summer school and other – EULEN targets students, academics, officials from national and EU institutions, organisations and agencies, practitioners and societies at large. It will offer an annual master thesis award for the best master thesis written on the topic of enforcement of EU law!

The post EULEN: Jean Monnet Network on Enforcement of EU Law appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

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Length of video : 188'
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Length of video : 23'
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Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP