European Union

Plenary sessions : The increased migration flows to Europe and the thousands of refugee children currently missing throughout Europe show the limits of the current EU asylum system. Swedish ALDE member Cecilia Wikström presents her report on the reform of the Dublin regulation, which clarifies which EU country is responsible for processing asylum seekers, to the civil liberties committee on 9 March. Today she will outline her main proposals during a press conference starting at 11 CET.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

REPORT on the 2016 Commission Report on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Ivo Vajgl

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

The committee will welcome Annick Hiensch, Deputy Head of the UN Liaison Office for Peace and Security and Clara Ganslandt, Head of Division for Common Security and Defence Policy – partnerships and agreements, EEAS for a discussion on the UN-EU Strategic Partnership on Peacekeeping. The debate on 9 March will aim to review the implementation of the Council’s 2015 decision on “Strengthening the UN-EU Strategic Partnership” and explore the new commitments made under the EU’s Global Strategy.
Further information
Draft agenda and meeting documents
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

X and X
DFON
Member States are not required, under EU law, to grant a humanitarian visa to persons who wish to enter their territory with a view to applying for asylum, but they remain free to do so on the basis of their national law

United Parcel Service v Commission
Competition
The General Court annuls, on the ground of a procedural irregularity, the decision by which the Commission refused to authorise the merger between UPS and TNT in the express small package delivery services sector

RPO
Taxation
The exclusion of digital books, newspapers and periodicals from the application of a reduced rate of VAT where they are supplied electronically is not contrary to the principle of equal treatment

On 9 March, the subcommittee will discuss the topic "CSDP missions and operations: Learning the lessons!?" with Giovanni Cremonini, Chair of the EEAS inter-service CSDP Lessons Working Group. With the EU having established, over recent years, a coherent mechanism for identifying best practices in CSDP missions, primarily through its Annual CSDP Lessons report and the associated processes, the committee will use this opportunity to take stock of the progress achieved and explore the way forward.
Further information
draft agenda and meeting documents
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

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EU Ministers of Foreign and European Affairs meet in Brussels on 7 March 2017 to prepare the Spring European Council, address the European semester and take note of the implementation of the better law-making agreement.

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Second post on our series on the Dutch general elections.

On Wednesday 15 March, Dutch voters will head to the polls to elect a new parliament and prime minister. And for once, the rest of Europe is very interested, as the question looms whether the leader of the far-right populist Party for Freedom (PVV) Geert Wilders may become head of government after these elections.

In good company in the European Parliament.

Although the Freedom Party’s election programme only consists of one single page with eleven bullet points, it does not fail to shock many. Geert Wilders promises a Dutch exit from the EU, the closure of all mosques, a ban on the Koran, and closed borders for refugees and immigrants from Islamic countries. Just a few months ago, Wilders was convicted by a Dutch court for group defamation and incitement of discrimination after he had stirred up an audience to chant ‘fewer, fewer, fewer Moroccans’. Yet Wilders has headed the election polls for well over a year and is now in a neck-and-neck race with the incumbent Prime Minister Mark Rutte from the Liberal Conservative Party (VVD).

Wilders’ popularity is not new, but has seen some high peaks recently. Indeed, the court conviction seems to have been ‘grist to Wilders’ mill’. It has fuelled the image that he is the only politician with the courage to say what is going ‘wrong’ in the Netherlands. Another important rise in popular support occurred in fall 2015, when the refugee crisis led to heated debates about immigrants taking advantage of the Dutch state and protests about the location of asylum centres. Wilders spoke in parliament about a ‘tsunami’ of asylum seekers, and said that the IS was smuggling thousands of terrorists into Europe.

Broadly speaking, it seems that a large group of Dutch voters feel that their quality of life is threatened by pressure from outside. Such pressures include the presence of Muslims, who are seen as a menace to the culture of gender equality, tolerance and freedom, perceived as ‘typically Dutch’. Moreover, the budget cuts over the course of the economic crisis are seen to have disproportionally hit the ‘hard-working’ Dutch citizen and the pensioners, and thereby threatened their social security. And finally, many do not only see the European Union and ‘Brussels’ as a threat to national culture and sovereignty, but share a widespread perception that the Dutch have paid billions of euros to Eastern and Southern member states in the wake of enlargement and the economic crisis. In this context, Wilders puts the blame on elitist politicians and promises to give ‘our money’ and the Netherlands back to ‘us’.

So the question is: can Wilders ‘win’?

In good company at the German carnival.

Current polls indicate his chances to become the largest party are good. But there are bumps in his road ahead. First, Wilders is a supporter of the presidency of Donald Trump (politico even claims he has ‘invented Trumpism’), but Dutch media have been overwhelmingly negative about Trump’s personality, behaviour and policies ever since he took office. Second, Wilders has caused some fuss in the run-up to the first election debates. He tweeted a fake picture in which the leader of the Liberal Democrats (D66) appeared to stand in a group of protesters demanding ‘sharia for the Netherlands’. He also cancelled two out of four initially scheduled debates, after a television channel adjusted the number of parties invited to participate in the debate and published an interview in which Wilders’ own (estranged) brother severely critiques his ideas. Both Wilders’ support for Trump and his absence from most major debates may diminish potential voters’ sympathy for him personally, which may lead to a shift away from his Party for Freedom, as previous occasions have shown.

But even if the Party for Freedom were to become the biggest group in the Parliament, Wilders’ chances of becoming Prime minister seem very slim. In the Netherlands, the 150 members of the House of Representatives are elected from party lists through proportional representation. The threshold for a party to enter the House is one seat – 0.67% of the votes – so that the percentage of votes roughly determines the percentage of seats won by a party. Moreover, political preferences of Dutch voters have become highly fragmented (as elsewhere in Europe). Altogether, it is likely that almost 15 parties will enter parliament after the elections, and that even even the biggest party in parliament will only assume around 30 seats. In this scenario, Wilders would need to find at least three partners to form a coalition government with a stable majority, but potential coalition partners have already announced that they are unwilling to cooperate with Wilders. This seems to leave him in an isolated position.

The election debates will really take off in the final three weeks before the election. It remains to be seen what the decisive issues will be – likely contenders are the costs and quality of health care and care for the elderly, pensions, defence, European integration (or disintegration), or immigration and asylum. Whether the bumps in Wilders’ road will turn out to be roadblocks remains to be seen.

The post Can the populist far-right win the elections in the Netherlands? appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker called for a common EU defence headquarters in September after the Brexit vote, resurrecting an idea that had circulated in the EU for years. Today, the European Union has approved plans for a military headquarters to coordinate overseas security operation, foreign and defence ministers of the 28 member states (Britain having long opposed it) "unanimously" backed the project.

The new MPCC (Military Planning Conduct and Capability facility) will command the EU's non-executive military missions. The facility will initially run three operations - civil-military training missions in Mali, the Central African Republic and Somalia - which do not involve the use of force, other than in self-defence. The MPCC will initially have a small staff of around 30 and come under the EU's existing military structures.

But top EU officials, including Ms Mogherini, have had to repeatedly issue reassurances that the bloc is not going to undercut NATO as the primary defence for Europe. Besides Britain, many of the former Communist states of eastern Europe such as Poland and Hungary have argued consistently that NATO must come first, given the need for US support in facing a more assertive Russia.

The EU has also mounted Operation Sophia in the central Mediterranean, which can use force to stop migrant smugglers, and Operation Atalanta, part of international antipiracy forces off the Horn of Africa, these executive operations have their own command centres which will remain separate.

Tag: MPCCMogheriniCSDP

Towards a new trade framework between the EU and Turkey and the modernisation of the Customs Union
Report on the 2016 Commission Report on Serbia
Report on the 2016 Commission Report on Montenegro
Report on the 2016 Commission Report on Kosovo
Report on the 2016 Commission Report on the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

On 9 March 2017, Parliament’s lead MEP on the reform of the Dublin system, Swedish liberal Cecilia Wikström, will present her draft report to the Civil Liberties Committee.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

On 9 March 2017, Parliament’s lead MEP on the reform of the Dublin system, Swedish liberal Cecilia Wikström, will present her draft report to the Civil Liberties Committee.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

General : For this year's International Women's Day the European Parliament highlights the issue of women’s economic empowerment in a series of events. On Wednesday 8 March Spanish Green MEP Ernest Urtasun, author of a report on equality, answers your questions during a Facebook live session. Women are still often paid less, receive lower pensions and are less represented in top corporate posts and politics. Join our debate on Facebook and follow all Parliament events on International Women's Day.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

General : For this year's International Women's Day the European Parliament highlights the issue of women’s economic empowerment in a series of events. On Wednesday 8 March Spanish Green MEP Ernest Urtasun, author of a report on equality, answers your questions during a Facebook live session. Women are still often paid less, receive lower pensions and are less represented in top corporate posts and politics. Join our debate on Facebook and follow all Parliament events on International Women's Day.

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

On 9 March, the subcommittee will discuss the topic "CSDP missions and operations: Learning the lessons!?" with Giovanni Cremonini, Chair of the EEAS inter-service CSDP Lessons Working Group. With the EU having established, over recent years, a coherent mechanism for identifying best practices in CSDP missions, primarily through its Annual CSDP Lessons report and the associated processes, the committee will use this opportunity to take stock of the progress achieved and explore the way forward.

Further information
Draft agenda and meeting documents
Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

General : Parliament President Antonio Tajani was in Slovenia on 3 March where he opened the new Europe House in Ljubljana with European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker. At the opening Tajani said: "We need to strengthen our European identity and sense of belonging. We need to be united if we want to compete at the European level in a globalised world.”

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

General : Parliament President Antonio Tajani was in Slovenia on 3 March where he opened the new Europe House in Ljubljana with European Commission President, Jean-Claude Juncker. At the opening Tajani said: "We need to strengthen our European identity and sense of belonging. We need to be united if we want to compete at the European level in a globalised world.”

Source : © European Union, 2017 - EP

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EU Foreign Affairs ministers meet on 6 March 2017 in Brussels to have a joint session of defence and foreign ministers on implementation of the EU global strategy in the area of security and defence. Foreign Ministers are also discussing EU-Egypt relations with the Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry. The Council is also discussing migration, the Western Balkans and the Middle East peace process.

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EU Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries meet on 6 March 2017 in Brussels to discuss the future of the common agricultural policy, the multi-annual plan for small pelagic species in the Adriatic Sea, dual quality of foodstuffs, and the EU animal welfare platform.

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