Even beyond 2035, the internal combustion engine will have a future in Europe, according to EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton. “Europe is not an island,” he said in an interview with Europe.Table, adding that the European auto industry must be able to sell “technically high-quality and clean vehicles with internal combustion engines” to Asia, Latin America and Africa even after 2035. In 2026, he said, they will review the combustion engine phase-out and see if the transformation to EVs is successful. “That’s a very important date,” Breton said. Markus Grabitz has the details.
Today, the Council’s energy working group is discussing solidarity-based gas supplies and measures against high prices. However, the Council presidency has postponed some sensitive issues until a meeting on Monday. Particularly contentious, for example, is the question of under what circumstances the non-essential needs of protected customers, such as households, may be restricted. And that’s not the only area where the Council presidency expects discussions. Manuel Berkel provides an overview.
Airbnb and the like are convenient for travelers, but Europe’s cities have long complained about the negative impact of the platforms on housing supply and rental prices. The Commission now responds to the desire for regulation and is expected to present its proposal on short-term rentals next week. Corinna Visser analyzes what lies ahead for platforms and landlords.
EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton campaigns for internal combustion engine technology beyond 2035. Manufacturers should continue to produce internal combustion engine vehicles in Europe and export them to other markets even after the ban in the EU, which is set to take effect in 2035. “After the internal combustion engine phase-out in 2035, the European car industry must be able to sell technically advanced and clean internal combustion engine vehicles to markets in Asia, especially China, but also Latin America and Africa,” Breton said in an interview with Europe.Table and other media. “Europe is not an island, manufacturers have every reason to continue investing in research and improvement of the proven technology of the internal combustion engine.”
Breton’s comments came just days after the negotiators from the EU Parliament and member states reached an informal compromise in the trilogue on phasing out internal combustion vehicles. Breton emphasized that a review of the ban was also agreed upon for the year 2026: “That is a very important date. It is then a matter of checking whether the goals of the transformation to electric cars are feasible.”
By 2030, there should be 30 million battery EVs and 6.8 million charging points across the EU, he said. Currently, there are only 350,000 charging points. If there is any evidence of a failure to meet the targets in terms of the number of EVs, the affordability of the technology and a nationwide charging infrastructure, he said, countermeasures must be taken urgently. “We will not wait until 2026, but propose corrections as soon as they are necessary.” EVs should not remain a privilege for higher earners, he added: “Currently, a battery-powered car is about 30 percent more expensive than a comparable model with an internal combustion engine. This price difference must level out.”
The 2026 review envisaged by the law will also look at whether synthetic fuels produced with virtually no CO2 emissions will be used after all once combustion technology has been phased out. Breton estimates that the move away from the internal combustion engine will cost up to 600,000 jobs in the automotive industry. Currently, 13 million people work in the industry.
Breton recalled that the co-legislators did not include any financial resources in the EU legislation to cushion the impact on the labor market. However, he said, there will be regions that are particularly affected, such as the Stuttgart area in Germany and the Turin region in Italy. “If we recognize that measures are needed to cushion the social consequences, we will also propose them before 2026.”
He said he would set up a working group with representatives from manufacturers, medium-sized suppliers, trade unions and electricity producers. This group is supposed to meet every three months to assess the progress of the transformation. Breton hinted that if targets are missed, a shift away from a focus on EVs is also conceivable: “If necessary, we will change our plans and consider other technical solutions.”
The EU Commission will present its proposal for the next stage of emissions regulation (Euro 7) in a few days. Breton would not comment on the leaked drafts. “Until the decision by the College on Wednesday, the limit values and the provisions on conditions can still change.”
The Commission pursues two goals with Euro 7: “First, the pollutants emitted by combustion engines are to be significantly reduced.” The limit values for nitrogen oxides and other pollutants are to be lowered. “Second, for the first time, there are also to be limits for fine particles released by braking and tire abrasion.”
A draft for Euro 7, first quoted by Europe.Table, stated that the limits for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles would be reduced only slightly. The background to this is also the sharp increases in the prices of energy and raw materials. For heavy commercial vehicles, on the other hand, the Commission wants to enforce very strict limits. Truck manufacturers are reportedly facing major technical and financial burdens.
Breton criticizes the US government’s Inflation Reduction Act, which offers large government subsidies for EVs produced in the US “It’s very unfortunate that our like-minded partners have not only started a race for subsidies but are also taking discriminatory measures against manufacturers from the EU.”
China, Breton added, has become a serious competitor for car manufacturers from Europe. Breton warned Chinese EV manufacturers, “We will be very careful to ensure that competition remains fair. If EVs from China don’t meet EU regulatory requirements, such as with the EU Battery Directive, they won’t get market access.”
As winter approaches, EU countries are getting more serious about how they can work together to overcome a possible gas shortage. In the Council today, the Energy Working Group discusses the Commission’s proposals of Oct. 18, which deal with solidarity-based gas supplies and measures against high prices. Because of the “political sensitivity”, however, the Council Presidency has postponed some topics to a technical seminar next Monday, as it says in the submission, which Contexte published yesterday.
Among the thorny issues is an authorization for the Council to adopt a regulation on how gas should be distributed and priced among member states in an emergency. The existing SoS regulation is not sufficient for an exceptional situation such as the absence of Russian gas supplies, it has been said repeatedly in recent months. At other points, the Council Presidency is already making concrete proposals on how it intends to amend the Commission proposal.
One controversial point is the circumstances under which the non-essential needs of protected customers, such as households, may be restricted. The controversial nature of this point is shown by the partly contradictory additions. According to Article 31, member states may now only refuse solidarity in a situation of shortage if they themselves would have to restrict the vital needs of protected customers.
According to the new recital 64a, on the other hand, member states should be allowed to decide for themselves whether they want to distinguish between essential and non-essential needs at all: “A member state applying for solidarity measures and deciding not to make this distinction should not be obliged to demonstrate that non-essential consumption could be reduced before submitting a solidarity application.”
“Concerns” have also been expressed by EU states about the volumes of gas they are allowed to withhold under the regulation to secure their electricity supplies. The figures had been supplied by the network operators’ association ENTSO-E, and the member states are now to declare their requirements as soon as possible.
The Council Presidency expects “further discussions” on the distribution of costs if one state had to supply another in a shortage situation. Currently, the plan is to base the price on a 30-day average. This favors the state that asks for solidarity, the draft says.
Other parts of the regulation deal with curbing high gas prices. For the next gas storage filling season, the Commission wants European companies to procure part of their requirements jointly, if possible. The new draft now clarifies that former Russian energy companies, which are currently under trusteeship by EU states, may also participate in demand aggregation and joint procurement. This addition is likely to be tailor-made for the former Gazprom Germania, which has been under trusteeship of the German Federal Network Agency for months under the new name Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE).
Discussions on the controversial temporary price cap are also not expected to occur until after the Monday technical seminar. The market correction mechanism is intended to allow the temporary introduction of a price corridor for the important gas reference index TTF.
The deliberations come at a time of further warnings about gas shortages. Europe faces massive shortages of gas storage for the following winter this summer, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). If imports of Russian gas by pipeline are completely halted and China resumes importing liquefied natural gas at usual levels, it could face a shortfall of nearly half the gas needed to fill 95 percent of its storage facilities, the IEA said Thursday.
“Looking at recent trends and likely developments in global and European gas markets, we see that Europe will face an even bigger challenge next winter,” said IEA Director Fatih Birol. Governments, therefore, need to push ahead immediately with measures to improve energy efficiency and use renewables and heat pumps, and reduce gas demand, he added. with dpa
The short-term rental of apartments to tourists is booming – and causing major problems in Europe’s metropolises. In recent years, many cities from Barcelona to Vienna to Athens have taken rental platforms such as Airbnb, Booking or FeWo-direkt (Expedia) to court. Often unsuccessfully. The Commission is expected to present its legislative proposal on short-term rental (STR) next week to solve the problems. The platforms do not have to fear tough regulation; it is much more about harmonization and transparency.
With its legislative proposal, the Commission wants to ensure “that public authorities have better data to develop and enforce proportionate rules for short-term accommodation rentals, “Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote in mid-September in response to a letter from European cities and parliamentarians urging regulation.
Cities complain that short-term rentals increase pressure on the already usually scarce supply of housing and further drive up the cost of rent and living in cities. City dwellers also complain about the “touristification” of their cities. The hotel industry, in turn, resists unregulated private competition.
Take Vienna, for example: Two-thirds of Vienna’s residents live in publicly subsidized apartments with capped rents. “They are built for living and not for economic use,” says a spokesman for the city of Vienna. The city has also had this clarified in court. This is about protecting Vienna’s housing, “high-quality tourism that enjoys acceptance among the population” and “proper, efficient enforcement of rules,” says Vienna Deputy Mayor and Housing Councillor Kathrin Gaál.
Since tourism is an important industry in many cities like Vienna, many cities do not want a ban on short-term rentals. But they do want transparent rules and an overview of how many apartments are sublet for short periods, when and where. Corresponding requests for information have been repeatedly rejected by the rental platforms – also with reference to the GDPR.
The complexity of this issue is also reflected in the fact that the Commission received 5692 responses to its consultation in 2021. The legislative proposal was a long time coming.
With the proposal, the EU Commission wants to eliminate the patchwork of national and local rules for rental platforms such as Airbnb. According to information from EU circles, the draft essentially consists of two elements:
The approach enables municipalities to obtain the relevant information from the platforms, the districts say. They learn, for example, how much living space in certain areas is reserved for short-term rentals at certain times. At the same time, they would be able to see if individual hosts were renting out their apartments more frequently than permitted by law. Whether a city introduces an upper limit for rentals at all, and whether this is 100 or 200 days per year, is therefore up to them.
For platform providers, the bureaucratic burden would remain manageable. Instead of local differences, they would have to fulfill uniform EU-wide information requirements, which would also be limited to core data. In the event of legal violations by users, another piece of legislation comes into force on Nov. 16: the Digital Services Act. It obliges providers of intermediary services to remove illegal content if ordered to do so by the authorities.
Some parliamentarians co-signed the cities’ letter to the Commission, including Martin Schirdewan (GUE/NGL) and René Repasi (S&D). Affordable housing should not be turned into expensive short-term hotels, demands Schirdewan. “This requires accountability of platforms, comprehensive disclosure of platform data and a mandatory registration system.”
For Repasi, another aspect that is important is the protection of platform users. “I expect minimum requirements for the quality of the apartment or room offered, especially in terms of sustainability criteria,” says Repasi. The proposal should also include rules for the platforms themselves that go beyond the DSA. “Platforms should have an obligation to know the sellers on their platforms and verify, exclude if necessary, as well as be liable for cases of infringement or poor performance.”
The companies concerned, such as Airbnb, Booking and Expedia, are also in favor of uniform European rules on short-term rentals. “Airbnb is committed to digital, simple registration systems across Europe,” says a spokeswoman. The company supports the idea of a Europe-wide registration requirement for hosts. In Hamburg, where there has already been a digital registration system since 2018, Airbnb is already cooperating with the city, she said. In NRW and Berlin, Airbnb also wants to implement a corresponding registration.
Expedia also welcomes the Commission’s plans. “We believe the European Commission wants to avoid a fragmented regulatory framework for the short-term rental industry in Europe,” a spokesperson for the company shares. “A single regulatory environment with a harmonized mechanism for data sharing will allow authorities to collect industry data and then make fact-based policy decisions.” with Till Hoppe
It’s only 200 kilometers from Düsseldorf to Brussels, and similarly, on a political level, Germany’s largest federal state wants to express its alignment with the EU. At the end of October, the state cabinet of North Rhine-Westphalia, therefore, set out to meet in Brussels. The Austrian Johannes Hahn was invited as a guest. As Commissioner, he was once responsible for regional policy and is now responsible for the EU budget.
Mark Speich co-organized the trip. The State Secretary for Federal and European Affairs and International Affairs serves as the state government’s link to the federal government and the EU. Armin Laschet had appointed Speich in 2017 after his election as Minister President, and Speich retained his post under Laschet’s successor Hendrik Wüst. Prior to the 2021 federal election, he was being considered as a European policy advisor to Chancellor Laschet; as is well known, things turned out differently.
As head of the state representation in Berlin, Speich reports to Nathanael Liminski, the minister for federal and European affairs and influential head of the state chancellery in Düsseldorf. In Berlin, Speich does a lot of behind-the-scenes work, including as vice chairman of the International and Europe working group, which is helping to write the CDU’s new policy platform.
His career path is rather atypical for a German administrative career, says Speich. It was a “professional zigzag” that ultimately made the native of Bonn a state secretary.
After his studies, Speich intended to go into academia. In 1997, he initially worked as a personal assistant to the rector of the University of Bonn. After a career change via the Herbert Quandt Foundation, he later found his way into politics. A member of the CDU since 1991, he took over as head of the planning staff of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in 2006. “From there, I then returned to the corporate and foundation world,” says Speich.
Then, when Armin Laschet was elected Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, he asked Speich. The decision was not a difficult one, Speich recalls. That’s the thing about politics, once it has you hooked, it won’t let go: “It sticks and leaves its mark on you.”
As a representative of the state government, Speich is primarily interested in regional policy in Brussels. The EU structural funds contain many billions that are also to flow to North Rhine-Westphalia. Commissioner Hahn took with him the message that the funds should be measured not only in terms of current economic strength but also in terms of the need for transformation: “In North Rhine-Westphalia in particular, considerable investment will be needed to cope with the ecological and digital transformation,” says Speich.
In addition, the resources for the Cohesion Fund are currently being used for short-term crisis management. “In the future, there had better be a separate crisis budget in the EU budget,” he demanded. During the visit to Brussels, the acute burdens on industry and the acceleration of approval and notification procedures were also discussed, for example, for the transformation of the chemical industry.
One of his tasks is to head the German delegation to the Committee of the Regions. The topic of “coal regions in transition” shows how activities interlock, he said. One has to consider how the regions where coal plays a major economic role manage the transition, he said. Then you “go over to the Brandenburg office” and discuss how the interests of the German states can be better represented together, Speich says.
In the committee, you end up meeting representatives of Polish or even Spanish coal regions that are in the same situation. “We have different interests in some cases, but we have to try to find a common line,” says Speich, “That’s what’s interesting about it, and it’s also just great fun for me.” For example, he says, they have managed to significantly increase funding for the Just Transition Fund. But given the lengthy appropriations processes, he said, it will be difficult in terms of time to spend them by 2026 as required. “The period should therefore be extended,” Speich demands.
To unwind, he needs to get out, he says. “If I spend all day in front of screens, I need to go for a walk.” He spends his free time with his children or reading material that “has nothing to do with work at all”. He lives with his family in Berlin. From there, it’s off again – this time not in a zigzag, but in a triangle – to Düsseldorf and Brussels. Mirja Mader, Till Hoppe
Even beyond 2035, the internal combustion engine will have a future in Europe, according to EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton. “Europe is not an island,” he said in an interview with Europe.Table, adding that the European auto industry must be able to sell “technically high-quality and clean vehicles with internal combustion engines” to Asia, Latin America and Africa even after 2035. In 2026, he said, they will review the combustion engine phase-out and see if the transformation to EVs is successful. “That’s a very important date,” Breton said. Markus Grabitz has the details.
Today, the Council’s energy working group is discussing solidarity-based gas supplies and measures against high prices. However, the Council presidency has postponed some sensitive issues until a meeting on Monday. Particularly contentious, for example, is the question of under what circumstances the non-essential needs of protected customers, such as households, may be restricted. And that’s not the only area where the Council presidency expects discussions. Manuel Berkel provides an overview.
Airbnb and the like are convenient for travelers, but Europe’s cities have long complained about the negative impact of the platforms on housing supply and rental prices. The Commission now responds to the desire for regulation and is expected to present its proposal on short-term rentals next week. Corinna Visser analyzes what lies ahead for platforms and landlords.
EU Industry Commissioner Thierry Breton campaigns for internal combustion engine technology beyond 2035. Manufacturers should continue to produce internal combustion engine vehicles in Europe and export them to other markets even after the ban in the EU, which is set to take effect in 2035. “After the internal combustion engine phase-out in 2035, the European car industry must be able to sell technically advanced and clean internal combustion engine vehicles to markets in Asia, especially China, but also Latin America and Africa,” Breton said in an interview with Europe.Table and other media. “Europe is not an island, manufacturers have every reason to continue investing in research and improvement of the proven technology of the internal combustion engine.”
Breton’s comments came just days after the negotiators from the EU Parliament and member states reached an informal compromise in the trilogue on phasing out internal combustion vehicles. Breton emphasized that a review of the ban was also agreed upon for the year 2026: “That is a very important date. It is then a matter of checking whether the goals of the transformation to electric cars are feasible.”
By 2030, there should be 30 million battery EVs and 6.8 million charging points across the EU, he said. Currently, there are only 350,000 charging points. If there is any evidence of a failure to meet the targets in terms of the number of EVs, the affordability of the technology and a nationwide charging infrastructure, he said, countermeasures must be taken urgently. “We will not wait until 2026, but propose corrections as soon as they are necessary.” EVs should not remain a privilege for higher earners, he added: “Currently, a battery-powered car is about 30 percent more expensive than a comparable model with an internal combustion engine. This price difference must level out.”
The 2026 review envisaged by the law will also look at whether synthetic fuels produced with virtually no CO2 emissions will be used after all once combustion technology has been phased out. Breton estimates that the move away from the internal combustion engine will cost up to 600,000 jobs in the automotive industry. Currently, 13 million people work in the industry.
Breton recalled that the co-legislators did not include any financial resources in the EU legislation to cushion the impact on the labor market. However, he said, there will be regions that are particularly affected, such as the Stuttgart area in Germany and the Turin region in Italy. “If we recognize that measures are needed to cushion the social consequences, we will also propose them before 2026.”
He said he would set up a working group with representatives from manufacturers, medium-sized suppliers, trade unions and electricity producers. This group is supposed to meet every three months to assess the progress of the transformation. Breton hinted that if targets are missed, a shift away from a focus on EVs is also conceivable: “If necessary, we will change our plans and consider other technical solutions.”
The EU Commission will present its proposal for the next stage of emissions regulation (Euro 7) in a few days. Breton would not comment on the leaked drafts. “Until the decision by the College on Wednesday, the limit values and the provisions on conditions can still change.”
The Commission pursues two goals with Euro 7: “First, the pollutants emitted by combustion engines are to be significantly reduced.” The limit values for nitrogen oxides and other pollutants are to be lowered. “Second, for the first time, there are also to be limits for fine particles released by braking and tire abrasion.”
A draft for Euro 7, first quoted by Europe.Table, stated that the limits for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles would be reduced only slightly. The background to this is also the sharp increases in the prices of energy and raw materials. For heavy commercial vehicles, on the other hand, the Commission wants to enforce very strict limits. Truck manufacturers are reportedly facing major technical and financial burdens.
Breton criticizes the US government’s Inflation Reduction Act, which offers large government subsidies for EVs produced in the US “It’s very unfortunate that our like-minded partners have not only started a race for subsidies but are also taking discriminatory measures against manufacturers from the EU.”
China, Breton added, has become a serious competitor for car manufacturers from Europe. Breton warned Chinese EV manufacturers, “We will be very careful to ensure that competition remains fair. If EVs from China don’t meet EU regulatory requirements, such as with the EU Battery Directive, they won’t get market access.”
As winter approaches, EU countries are getting more serious about how they can work together to overcome a possible gas shortage. In the Council today, the Energy Working Group discusses the Commission’s proposals of Oct. 18, which deal with solidarity-based gas supplies and measures against high prices. Because of the “political sensitivity”, however, the Council Presidency has postponed some topics to a technical seminar next Monday, as it says in the submission, which Contexte published yesterday.
Among the thorny issues is an authorization for the Council to adopt a regulation on how gas should be distributed and priced among member states in an emergency. The existing SoS regulation is not sufficient for an exceptional situation such as the absence of Russian gas supplies, it has been said repeatedly in recent months. At other points, the Council Presidency is already making concrete proposals on how it intends to amend the Commission proposal.
One controversial point is the circumstances under which the non-essential needs of protected customers, such as households, may be restricted. The controversial nature of this point is shown by the partly contradictory additions. According to Article 31, member states may now only refuse solidarity in a situation of shortage if they themselves would have to restrict the vital needs of protected customers.
According to the new recital 64a, on the other hand, member states should be allowed to decide for themselves whether they want to distinguish between essential and non-essential needs at all: “A member state applying for solidarity measures and deciding not to make this distinction should not be obliged to demonstrate that non-essential consumption could be reduced before submitting a solidarity application.”
“Concerns” have also been expressed by EU states about the volumes of gas they are allowed to withhold under the regulation to secure their electricity supplies. The figures had been supplied by the network operators’ association ENTSO-E, and the member states are now to declare their requirements as soon as possible.
The Council Presidency expects “further discussions” on the distribution of costs if one state had to supply another in a shortage situation. Currently, the plan is to base the price on a 30-day average. This favors the state that asks for solidarity, the draft says.
Other parts of the regulation deal with curbing high gas prices. For the next gas storage filling season, the Commission wants European companies to procure part of their requirements jointly, if possible. The new draft now clarifies that former Russian energy companies, which are currently under trusteeship by EU states, may also participate in demand aggregation and joint procurement. This addition is likely to be tailor-made for the former Gazprom Germania, which has been under trusteeship of the German Federal Network Agency for months under the new name Securing Energy for Europe (SEFE).
Discussions on the controversial temporary price cap are also not expected to occur until after the Monday technical seminar. The market correction mechanism is intended to allow the temporary introduction of a price corridor for the important gas reference index TTF.
The deliberations come at a time of further warnings about gas shortages. Europe faces massive shortages of gas storage for the following winter this summer, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA). If imports of Russian gas by pipeline are completely halted and China resumes importing liquefied natural gas at usual levels, it could face a shortfall of nearly half the gas needed to fill 95 percent of its storage facilities, the IEA said Thursday.
“Looking at recent trends and likely developments in global and European gas markets, we see that Europe will face an even bigger challenge next winter,” said IEA Director Fatih Birol. Governments, therefore, need to push ahead immediately with measures to improve energy efficiency and use renewables and heat pumps, and reduce gas demand, he added. with dpa
The short-term rental of apartments to tourists is booming – and causing major problems in Europe’s metropolises. In recent years, many cities from Barcelona to Vienna to Athens have taken rental platforms such as Airbnb, Booking or FeWo-direkt (Expedia) to court. Often unsuccessfully. The Commission is expected to present its legislative proposal on short-term rental (STR) next week to solve the problems. The platforms do not have to fear tough regulation; it is much more about harmonization and transparency.
With its legislative proposal, the Commission wants to ensure “that public authorities have better data to develop and enforce proportionate rules for short-term accommodation rentals, “Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton wrote in mid-September in response to a letter from European cities and parliamentarians urging regulation.
Cities complain that short-term rentals increase pressure on the already usually scarce supply of housing and further drive up the cost of rent and living in cities. City dwellers also complain about the “touristification” of their cities. The hotel industry, in turn, resists unregulated private competition.
Take Vienna, for example: Two-thirds of Vienna’s residents live in publicly subsidized apartments with capped rents. “They are built for living and not for economic use,” says a spokesman for the city of Vienna. The city has also had this clarified in court. This is about protecting Vienna’s housing, “high-quality tourism that enjoys acceptance among the population” and “proper, efficient enforcement of rules,” says Vienna Deputy Mayor and Housing Councillor Kathrin Gaál.
Since tourism is an important industry in many cities like Vienna, many cities do not want a ban on short-term rentals. But they do want transparent rules and an overview of how many apartments are sublet for short periods, when and where. Corresponding requests for information have been repeatedly rejected by the rental platforms – also with reference to the GDPR.
The complexity of this issue is also reflected in the fact that the Commission received 5692 responses to its consultation in 2021. The legislative proposal was a long time coming.
With the proposal, the EU Commission wants to eliminate the patchwork of national and local rules for rental platforms such as Airbnb. According to information from EU circles, the draft essentially consists of two elements:
The approach enables municipalities to obtain the relevant information from the platforms, the districts say. They learn, for example, how much living space in certain areas is reserved for short-term rentals at certain times. At the same time, they would be able to see if individual hosts were renting out their apartments more frequently than permitted by law. Whether a city introduces an upper limit for rentals at all, and whether this is 100 or 200 days per year, is therefore up to them.
For platform providers, the bureaucratic burden would remain manageable. Instead of local differences, they would have to fulfill uniform EU-wide information requirements, which would also be limited to core data. In the event of legal violations by users, another piece of legislation comes into force on Nov. 16: the Digital Services Act. It obliges providers of intermediary services to remove illegal content if ordered to do so by the authorities.
Some parliamentarians co-signed the cities’ letter to the Commission, including Martin Schirdewan (GUE/NGL) and René Repasi (S&D). Affordable housing should not be turned into expensive short-term hotels, demands Schirdewan. “This requires accountability of platforms, comprehensive disclosure of platform data and a mandatory registration system.”
For Repasi, another aspect that is important is the protection of platform users. “I expect minimum requirements for the quality of the apartment or room offered, especially in terms of sustainability criteria,” says Repasi. The proposal should also include rules for the platforms themselves that go beyond the DSA. “Platforms should have an obligation to know the sellers on their platforms and verify, exclude if necessary, as well as be liable for cases of infringement or poor performance.”
The companies concerned, such as Airbnb, Booking and Expedia, are also in favor of uniform European rules on short-term rentals. “Airbnb is committed to digital, simple registration systems across Europe,” says a spokeswoman. The company supports the idea of a Europe-wide registration requirement for hosts. In Hamburg, where there has already been a digital registration system since 2018, Airbnb is already cooperating with the city, she said. In NRW and Berlin, Airbnb also wants to implement a corresponding registration.
Expedia also welcomes the Commission’s plans. “We believe the European Commission wants to avoid a fragmented regulatory framework for the short-term rental industry in Europe,” a spokesperson for the company shares. “A single regulatory environment with a harmonized mechanism for data sharing will allow authorities to collect industry data and then make fact-based policy decisions.” with Till Hoppe
It’s only 200 kilometers from Düsseldorf to Brussels, and similarly, on a political level, Germany’s largest federal state wants to express its alignment with the EU. At the end of October, the state cabinet of North Rhine-Westphalia, therefore, set out to meet in Brussels. The Austrian Johannes Hahn was invited as a guest. As Commissioner, he was once responsible for regional policy and is now responsible for the EU budget.
Mark Speich co-organized the trip. The State Secretary for Federal and European Affairs and International Affairs serves as the state government’s link to the federal government and the EU. Armin Laschet had appointed Speich in 2017 after his election as Minister President, and Speich retained his post under Laschet’s successor Hendrik Wüst. Prior to the 2021 federal election, he was being considered as a European policy advisor to Chancellor Laschet; as is well known, things turned out differently.
As head of the state representation in Berlin, Speich reports to Nathanael Liminski, the minister for federal and European affairs and influential head of the state chancellery in Düsseldorf. In Berlin, Speich does a lot of behind-the-scenes work, including as vice chairman of the International and Europe working group, which is helping to write the CDU’s new policy platform.
His career path is rather atypical for a German administrative career, says Speich. It was a “professional zigzag” that ultimately made the native of Bonn a state secretary.
After his studies, Speich intended to go into academia. In 1997, he initially worked as a personal assistant to the rector of the University of Bonn. After a career change via the Herbert Quandt Foundation, he later found his way into politics. A member of the CDU since 1991, he took over as head of the planning staff of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in 2006. “From there, I then returned to the corporate and foundation world,” says Speich.
Then, when Armin Laschet was elected Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, he asked Speich. The decision was not a difficult one, Speich recalls. That’s the thing about politics, once it has you hooked, it won’t let go: “It sticks and leaves its mark on you.”
As a representative of the state government, Speich is primarily interested in regional policy in Brussels. The EU structural funds contain many billions that are also to flow to North Rhine-Westphalia. Commissioner Hahn took with him the message that the funds should be measured not only in terms of current economic strength but also in terms of the need for transformation: “In North Rhine-Westphalia in particular, considerable investment will be needed to cope with the ecological and digital transformation,” says Speich.
In addition, the resources for the Cohesion Fund are currently being used for short-term crisis management. “In the future, there had better be a separate crisis budget in the EU budget,” he demanded. During the visit to Brussels, the acute burdens on industry and the acceleration of approval and notification procedures were also discussed, for example, for the transformation of the chemical industry.
One of his tasks is to head the German delegation to the Committee of the Regions. The topic of “coal regions in transition” shows how activities interlock, he said. One has to consider how the regions where coal plays a major economic role manage the transition, he said. Then you “go over to the Brandenburg office” and discuss how the interests of the German states can be better represented together, Speich says.
In the committee, you end up meeting representatives of Polish or even Spanish coal regions that are in the same situation. “We have different interests in some cases, but we have to try to find a common line,” says Speich, “That’s what’s interesting about it, and it’s also just great fun for me.” For example, he says, they have managed to significantly increase funding for the Just Transition Fund. But given the lengthy appropriations processes, he said, it will be difficult in terms of time to spend them by 2026 as required. “The period should therefore be extended,” Speich demands.
To unwind, he needs to get out, he says. “If I spend all day in front of screens, I need to go for a walk.” He spends his free time with his children or reading material that “has nothing to do with work at all”. He lives with his family in Berlin. From there, it’s off again – this time not in a zigzag, but in a triangle – to Düsseldorf and Brussels. Mirja Mader, Till Hoppe
