The formation of a government in Madrid is beginning to have an impact on the Spanish presidency. Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez yesterday secured the support of two separatist parties in the first important parliamentary vote.
A PSOE candidate was elected as president of the Chamber of Deputies. One quid pro quo: Sánchez now has the opportunity to enshrine Catalan as an official language in EU institutions, tweeted Carles Puigdemont, who lives in exile in Brussels. Read what else is known about the agreements between the parties in Isabel Cuesta Camacho‘s feature.
Meanwhile, the EU Commission announced on Thursday important details on the transitional phase of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Among them: What data must importers of CBAM goods provide and how should they calculate their emissions? But the fact that this information is only coming now is causing criticism from the industry.
Because the reporting requirements will already apply from October 1, although no financial compensation will be due until the end of 2025. Despite the short preparation period, penalties could be due in the event of reporting failures. Lukas Scheid analyzes what exactly the Commission is now stipulating for companies.
From Oct. 1, 2023, importers of cement, iron and steel, aluminum, fertilizers, electricity and hydrogen will have to report emissions from the production of their products when they import into the EU. On Thursday, the Commission published the final implementing regulation for the transitional phase of the CBAM until the end of 2025, during which only reporting is required but no financial compensation is due.
Information that importers must provide includes:
The CBAM is part of the EU Commission’s Fit for 55 package and is intended to protect European industry from carbon leakage, while free emission allowances in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) are melting away at the same time as the CBAM is introduced. When importing goods, importers at EU borders pay the carbon price European producers must pay through the ETS. In this way, polluters of greenhouse gas emissions should be able to pay without putting European companies at a disadvantage on the global market.
In its implementing regulation, the Commission specifies two possible calculation methods for the emissions of imported goods:
In the case of incomplete or incorrect data, member states are to levy penalties of between €10 and €50 per unreported ton of emissions.
That penalties can be levied at all in this early phase of the transition period is criticized, above all, by the industry. “Companies actually need many months of preparation for such extensive supply chain regulations – especially to agree on the exchange of the required CBAM data with third-country suppliers,” warns Volker Treier, head of foreign trade at the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce. He calls for grace periods for failures to comply with reporting obligations during the transition phase.
In addition, the DIHK criticizes that Germany has not determined which authority is responsible for CBAM implementation. The CBAM reporting portals are also not available to companies, it said. A spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Finance told Table.Media, “The determination and appointment of the nationally competent authority in Germany is currently coordinated in the federal government and will take place promptly.” Both the Commission and the member states are aware, he said, that the CBAM is a new instrument with new challenges for all parties involved. There will thus continue to be a careful balancing of these challenges and the legitimate information interests, the BMF spokesman added.
It is seen positively in industry circles that the Commission has published guidelines for the practical implementation of the CBAM with the implementing regulation, as well as organizing industry-specific webinars for stakeholders. According to the Commission, the required IT tools to help importers report and calculate emissions are also under development.
As Poland fears a disadvantage for its citizens as a result of the CBAM, the country is taking legal action against the instrument before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Poland imports cement, fertilizer, steel and aluminum as well as electricity. Therefore, the CBAM would lead to higher costs for end consumers and make products manufactured in Poland more expensive. The law threatens the country’s energy security, Poland’s Climate Minister Anna Moskwa complained last week.
Moreover, the government in Warsaw says that the CBAM could only have been adopted unanimously in the Council – instead of just by a qualified majority – because of its tax implications. However, it is considered unlikely that Poland will be successful with the lawsuit.
Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE party won Thursday’s vote for the presidency of Congress with a narrow majority of 178 votes. For the election of Francina Armengol, 176 votes would have been sufficient. For this, the Socialists had reached agreements with the Catalan separatist parties Esquerra Republicana per Catalunya (ERC) and Junts, the party of Carles Puigdemont.
It was agreed that Catalan would be introduced as an official language in both the Spanish and European parliaments. Sánchez also wants to push an amnesty law through Parliament that would affect dozens of people involved in Catalonia’s attempted declaration of independence in 2017 – it was not entirely clear yesterday whether the latter had been agreed with both separatist parties.
However, ERC and Puigdemont stressed that their support for the election of Sánchez is not yet assured. The agreement between PSOE and Junts is also likely to influence the Spanish presidency. Puigdemont wrote on the short message service X yesterday that as EU Council president, Sánchez now has the opportunity to establish Catalan as one of the official languages in the EU institutions.
The two parties also agreed to continue the commission of inquiry into the Pegasus surveillance software. Dozens of independence supporters had allegedly been spied on via their cell phones. A commission of inquiry into the April 2017 attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, is also expected to clarify whether there was a link between the National Intelligence Service (CNI) and an imam. The attacks killed 16 people, including a German tourist.
ERC’s agreement with PSOE is similar to that of Junts but includes the longed-for amnesty. The parties involved were silent yesterday about whether this point was also agreed with Puidgemont’s party Junts.
While the PSOE won the presidency of Congress by a narrow majority on Thursday, the conservative People’s Party (PP) won the presidency of the upper house, the Senate: PP Senator Pedro Rollán received 142 votes, 12 votes more than the absolute majority of 130. Unlike in the lower house, the majority in the Senate results directly from electoral votes and not from coalitions.
At the end of July, PP leader and election winner Alberto Núñez Feijóo declared that he would veto any agreement between Sánchez and Puigdemont concerning either Catalan independence or an amnesty agreement with his majority in the Senate. Both plans violated the Spanish constitution.
The new Congress President Francina Armengol, former President of the Balearic Islands, announced in her first speech to allow the use of the Catalan, Basque and Galician languages in Congress with immediate effect.
After the constitution of the two chambers of Parliament, the new Congress President will meet with King Felipe VI to inform him about the state of parliamentary representation. The round of talks with the King will begin next Monday. After that, the monarch will ask to meet the political representatives, who will explain to him what support they have.
Olga Tokarczuk: House of Day, House of Night
A small town in Silesia near the Czech border, whose identity has changed a lot throughout history: Today Nowa Ruda is Polish, before that, it was German, before that Czech, once Austro-Hungarian. In this novel, the author – awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2019 – retells the moving fates of the people who live in this place.
My ancestors lived in Silesia until World War II, so this book particularly appealed to me. But after this first sample, I will definitely read more books by Olga Tokarczuk. Her new novel has just been published: “Empusion,” which is reminiscent of Thomas Mann’s “Zauberberg.”
Henry Sanderson: Volt Rush. The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green
And for those who are more comfortable with nonfiction than fiction: British journalist and author Henry Sanderson has traveled the globe to paint a very concrete picture of the Green Deal dilemma. The green transformation is causing new dependencies and new power struggles over access to scarce metals and minerals. For “Volt Rush,” Sanderson visited various sites of these struggles: lithium and cobalt mines in Chile and the Democratic Republic of Congo, battery manufacturers in China, car companies in Germany. He describes in a very impressive way the new challenges posed by climate targets and how it might be possible to overcome them.
The formation of a government in Madrid is beginning to have an impact on the Spanish presidency. Socialist leader Pedro Sánchez yesterday secured the support of two separatist parties in the first important parliamentary vote.
A PSOE candidate was elected as president of the Chamber of Deputies. One quid pro quo: Sánchez now has the opportunity to enshrine Catalan as an official language in EU institutions, tweeted Carles Puigdemont, who lives in exile in Brussels. Read what else is known about the agreements between the parties in Isabel Cuesta Camacho‘s feature.
Meanwhile, the EU Commission announced on Thursday important details on the transitional phase of the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Among them: What data must importers of CBAM goods provide and how should they calculate their emissions? But the fact that this information is only coming now is causing criticism from the industry.
Because the reporting requirements will already apply from October 1, although no financial compensation will be due until the end of 2025. Despite the short preparation period, penalties could be due in the event of reporting failures. Lukas Scheid analyzes what exactly the Commission is now stipulating for companies.
From Oct. 1, 2023, importers of cement, iron and steel, aluminum, fertilizers, electricity and hydrogen will have to report emissions from the production of their products when they import into the EU. On Thursday, the Commission published the final implementing regulation for the transitional phase of the CBAM until the end of 2025, during which only reporting is required but no financial compensation is due.
Information that importers must provide includes:
The CBAM is part of the EU Commission’s Fit for 55 package and is intended to protect European industry from carbon leakage, while free emission allowances in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) are melting away at the same time as the CBAM is introduced. When importing goods, importers at EU borders pay the carbon price European producers must pay through the ETS. In this way, polluters of greenhouse gas emissions should be able to pay without putting European companies at a disadvantage on the global market.
In its implementing regulation, the Commission specifies two possible calculation methods for the emissions of imported goods:
In the case of incomplete or incorrect data, member states are to levy penalties of between €10 and €50 per unreported ton of emissions.
That penalties can be levied at all in this early phase of the transition period is criticized, above all, by the industry. “Companies actually need many months of preparation for such extensive supply chain regulations – especially to agree on the exchange of the required CBAM data with third-country suppliers,” warns Volker Treier, head of foreign trade at the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce. He calls for grace periods for failures to comply with reporting obligations during the transition phase.
In addition, the DIHK criticizes that Germany has not determined which authority is responsible for CBAM implementation. The CBAM reporting portals are also not available to companies, it said. A spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of Finance told Table.Media, “The determination and appointment of the nationally competent authority in Germany is currently coordinated in the federal government and will take place promptly.” Both the Commission and the member states are aware, he said, that the CBAM is a new instrument with new challenges for all parties involved. There will thus continue to be a careful balancing of these challenges and the legitimate information interests, the BMF spokesman added.
It is seen positively in industry circles that the Commission has published guidelines for the practical implementation of the CBAM with the implementing regulation, as well as organizing industry-specific webinars for stakeholders. According to the Commission, the required IT tools to help importers report and calculate emissions are also under development.
As Poland fears a disadvantage for its citizens as a result of the CBAM, the country is taking legal action against the instrument before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). Poland imports cement, fertilizer, steel and aluminum as well as electricity. Therefore, the CBAM would lead to higher costs for end consumers and make products manufactured in Poland more expensive. The law threatens the country’s energy security, Poland’s Climate Minister Anna Moskwa complained last week.
Moreover, the government in Warsaw says that the CBAM could only have been adopted unanimously in the Council – instead of just by a qualified majority – because of its tax implications. However, it is considered unlikely that Poland will be successful with the lawsuit.
Pedro Sánchez’s PSOE party won Thursday’s vote for the presidency of Congress with a narrow majority of 178 votes. For the election of Francina Armengol, 176 votes would have been sufficient. For this, the Socialists had reached agreements with the Catalan separatist parties Esquerra Republicana per Catalunya (ERC) and Junts, the party of Carles Puigdemont.
It was agreed that Catalan would be introduced as an official language in both the Spanish and European parliaments. Sánchez also wants to push an amnesty law through Parliament that would affect dozens of people involved in Catalonia’s attempted declaration of independence in 2017 – it was not entirely clear yesterday whether the latter had been agreed with both separatist parties.
However, ERC and Puigdemont stressed that their support for the election of Sánchez is not yet assured. The agreement between PSOE and Junts is also likely to influence the Spanish presidency. Puigdemont wrote on the short message service X yesterday that as EU Council president, Sánchez now has the opportunity to establish Catalan as one of the official languages in the EU institutions.
The two parties also agreed to continue the commission of inquiry into the Pegasus surveillance software. Dozens of independence supporters had allegedly been spied on via their cell phones. A commission of inquiry into the April 2017 attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils, is also expected to clarify whether there was a link between the National Intelligence Service (CNI) and an imam. The attacks killed 16 people, including a German tourist.
ERC’s agreement with PSOE is similar to that of Junts but includes the longed-for amnesty. The parties involved were silent yesterday about whether this point was also agreed with Puidgemont’s party Junts.
While the PSOE won the presidency of Congress by a narrow majority on Thursday, the conservative People’s Party (PP) won the presidency of the upper house, the Senate: PP Senator Pedro Rollán received 142 votes, 12 votes more than the absolute majority of 130. Unlike in the lower house, the majority in the Senate results directly from electoral votes and not from coalitions.
At the end of July, PP leader and election winner Alberto Núñez Feijóo declared that he would veto any agreement between Sánchez and Puigdemont concerning either Catalan independence or an amnesty agreement with his majority in the Senate. Both plans violated the Spanish constitution.
The new Congress President Francina Armengol, former President of the Balearic Islands, announced in her first speech to allow the use of the Catalan, Basque and Galician languages in Congress with immediate effect.
After the constitution of the two chambers of Parliament, the new Congress President will meet with King Felipe VI to inform him about the state of parliamentary representation. The round of talks with the King will begin next Monday. After that, the monarch will ask to meet the political representatives, who will explain to him what support they have.
Olga Tokarczuk: House of Day, House of Night
A small town in Silesia near the Czech border, whose identity has changed a lot throughout history: Today Nowa Ruda is Polish, before that, it was German, before that Czech, once Austro-Hungarian. In this novel, the author – awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2019 – retells the moving fates of the people who live in this place.
My ancestors lived in Silesia until World War II, so this book particularly appealed to me. But after this first sample, I will definitely read more books by Olga Tokarczuk. Her new novel has just been published: “Empusion,” which is reminiscent of Thomas Mann’s “Zauberberg.”
Henry Sanderson: Volt Rush. The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green
And for those who are more comfortable with nonfiction than fiction: British journalist and author Henry Sanderson has traveled the globe to paint a very concrete picture of the Green Deal dilemma. The green transformation is causing new dependencies and new power struggles over access to scarce metals and minerals. For “Volt Rush,” Sanderson visited various sites of these struggles: lithium and cobalt mines in Chile and the Democratic Republic of Congo, battery manufacturers in China, car companies in Germany. He describes in a very impressive way the new challenges posed by climate targets and how it might be possible to overcome them.
