DPC Ireland vs. Facebook + Nuclear Power • Table.Briefings

Dear reader,

The Irish data protection authority DPC has big plans: It wants to ban Facebook and Instagram from transferring personal data and has forwarded a draft decision to the other European supervisory authorities to this end. That would mean a de facto ban on the two services in the EU. But Falk Steiner explains why this process is likely to take several more years.

France’s energy strategy relies largely on nuclear power. The nuclear power plants are actually supposed to relieve the European electricity market – but exactly the opposite threatens to happen this coming winter. France will have to import electricity. Claire Stam explains how it could come to this.

The EU must not only diversify its energy sources, but also establish new, stable trade relations. It was only at the beginning of July that the EU concluded a deal with New Zealand. Now the EU Commission has already made a new push: the Mercosur agreement. Read more about it in the news.

I wish you an interesting reading and a nice weekend.

Your
Lisa-Martina Klein

Facebook shutdown remains a long way off

By

Falk Steiner

The data protection drama between the supervisory authority DPC Ireland and Facebook is entering the next round. The Irish data protection authority has now forwarded its draft decision to the other European supervisory authorities. According to a report in the Irish Independent, it states that the DPC wants to prohibit Facebook and Instagram from transferring personal data in the future. This could mean the shutdown of these services for the EU. According to the report, the popular short message service WhatsApp would not be affected.

Data protectors face long deliberations

However, it is likely to be a long road until then. The draft decision is unlikely to please many other European data protection authorities – it does not contain any penalties for unlawful transfers of personal data in the past. Within one month, the data protection authorities of the other member states can now submit their objections to the Irish proposal. This could be followed by a dispute resolution procedure under Article 65 of the GDPR.

Max Schrems of the Austrian data protection NGO Noyb doesn’t expect a quick decision: “In other cases, this took another year altogether because the DPC didn’t voluntarily implement the objections of the other authorities and took more than half a year to bring the case to a vote.” Schrems’ complaint to the DPC gave rise to the current proceedings. His own case remains open.

However, even after the decision of the European Data Protection Board, Meta would still have legal recourse; here, too, further time is likely to pass before the decision is finally legally binding. The fact that some more time is likely to pass before the decision is final suits Meta and the political leaders.

TADPF could save Facebook

By then, the Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework (TADPF) could already provide a new legal basis for the transfer of personal data to the USA. However, the Irish draft decision also increases the pressure on the White House.

The EU is still waiting for the Biden administration’s drafts of its announced presidential orders, the so-called Executive Orders (EO). These are to form the basis for a new adequacy decision by the Commission. Only when these are available can the Commission even consider whether they form a sufficient basis for this.

The challenge for the US side is to at least come close to the criteria of the European Court of Justice. The European Court of Justice made it clear in its Safe Harbor decision, and then two years ago in its Privacy Shield decision, that the United States did not offer EU citizens an adequate level of protection for personal data. In particular, the collection of data by intelligence services and law enforcement agencies would have to be restricted – and this is to be achieved without having to change laws in Congress. Joe Biden had personally announced the renewal in the spring. “We welcome the EU-US agreement for a new legal framework that will allow the continued transfer of data across borders,” the Irish Independent quoted a Meta spokesman as saying.

Should the TADPF be finalized before a final decision, Meta could breathe a sigh of relief for the time being: the entire procedure would start all over again – and Max Schrems and Noyb would first have to file a lawsuit against the TADPF, after which the DPC could continue the proceedings. Yet at that point, more years are likely to have passed.

France’s nuclear power: A drag on the European electricity market

By

Claire Stam

The inclusion of nuclear power in the taxonomy and the announcement of the nationalization of the energy group EDF do nothing to change the fact that France is heading straight for a deficit in electricity generation this winter. Also because import capacity from neighboring countries to make up the shortfall will be severely limited. This is currently leading to a further exceptional rise in wholesale prices in France.

On June 3, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that there was “no risk of a blackout” in France next winter, while the German government sounded the alarm at the same time and launched its energy emergency plan – for good reason. “If there is a need, we will supply ourselves on the European market,” the head of state said in Paris, justifying his reactive stance and stating that he wanted to “reassure” the French.

These statements do not reassure the French or the players on the European electricity market: “Currently, we have prices on the wholesale electricity market in France that are 700 percent higher than usual. And we risk a price increase of up to 2000 percent this winter,” says Thomas Pellerin-Carlin, Director of the Jacques Delors Institute Energy Center in Paris.

Half of the nuclear reactors in maintenance

Cyrille Cormier, an independent analyst of European energy systems based in Marseille, reports that the market is expecting a peak price of about €1,400 per megawatt-hour for the coming winter. “We’re reaching record levels that we haven’t seen since 2012, when there was a big cold snap in France. As for baseload market prices, they are now over €300 per megawatt-hour in the short and medium-term, whereas before the COVID-19 crisis they averaged around €50,” the expert said.

The reason for this is, among other things, the shutdown of 27 of the 56 nuclear reactors in France, as maintenance work has been postponed due to the COVID-19 virus and is thus due now for several power plants. Yet above all because of the recent detection of corrosion problems in several plants, the causes and actual extent of which are still unknown. “Currently, at least 12 reactors are said to be affected by micro-cracks, and it is suspected that more micro-cracks will occur in other reactors in the coming months,” Cormier said.

A quite momentous failure, considering that nuclear power accounts for 70 percent of France’s energy mix. France could produce about 60 percent less electricity than usual next winter, according to Cormier. According to official figures, France generated 91.7 TWh of nuclear power in the first quarter of 2022, down 7.5 TWh from a year earlier. This ensures that France will have to import electricity from neighboring countries, even though the country is normally an energy exporter in the summer.

From nuclear ‘asset’ to nuclear ‘liability’

Any shortfall in nuclear production will be made up by gas, Cormier explains. However, gas storage facilities are only 60 to 65 percent full. That means France will be importing a lot of energy this winter, which will affect neighboring European countries such as Germany, Belgium, and even Switzerland. “Where France could have contributed to relieving the European market with its nuclear power generation, it is instead contributing to the tightening of the European electricity market,” he analyzes.

This situation is also the price of a “strategic and industrial mistake” on the part of the French leadership, the expert said. “The French state has relied on the retention of nuclear power, which has resulted in the underdevelopment of renewable energy in France. This is despite the fact that the country has great potential,” Cormier stresses.

The wind energy sector remains weak: as of March 31, 2022, installed capacity was just over 19 GW, which is less than half of the targets set in France’s multi-year energy program. And as for photovoltaic solar energy, France produces only a third of the amount of Germany or Italy.

Challenges around energy-saving measure

Despite the rise in prices and the decline in nuclear power, the official position of the country’s leaders on electricity supply for the winter has not changed, notes Thomas Pellerin-Carlin of the Jacques Delors Institute. “There is always a risk that the power supply in France will be interrupted, especially if the winter is cold,” he says. To remedy this, Pellerin-Carlin sees two options: Reducing energy consumption and lowering prices. However, the government is doing next to nothing in the area of energy conservation.

For Cyrille Cormier, France’s response to the current problems is also worrying. “It would need urgent energy-saving measures, such as the urgent equipment of heat pumps or the reduction of air conditioning in the service sector,” he demands. In general, the expert notes that “all European countries have not yet taken emergency measures” that could respond to an emergency situation.

Mercosur Agreement: EU Commission launches push

The EU Commission is making a new attempt to adopt the free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries following the conclusion of the free trade agreement with New Zealand. The Russian attack on Ukraine also marked a turning point for trade policy and triggered a new dynamic, a senior EU official said. The deal with the four South American countries is the most important the EU has ever negotiated, both economically and geopolitically. In addition, it is hoped to be able to present an agreement with Chile in the near future.

The Commission had already reached an agreement with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay in 2019, but the agreement has not yet been signed due to opposition in the Council and the European Parliament. Criticism relates on the one hand to the fact that the treaty promotes deforestation of the rainforest in the Amazon region through higher agricultural imports, or at least does not effectively prevent this. Less openly formulated are the concerns of farmers, particularly in France and Ireland, who fear new competition, especially from South American cattle breeders.

The Commission intends to rebut the objections regarding the protection of the rainforest by means of a legally binding supplementary declaration to the trade agreement. The Commission is currently working on a so-called Joint Interpretative Instrument, the official said. The aim is to regulate in detail what is meant by the effective implementation of the Paris climate agreement as agreed in the trade treaty. In its national program under the Paris Agreement Brazil had made “very interesting commitments” to protect the Amazon rainforest.

He added that they want to tie in with this and also regulate monitoring on the ground. “Because our problem is not the content of the Mercosur agreement, but what is happening in the rainforest in Brazil,” the official said. As a second safety net, she said, the planned law will ensure that products from deforested areas are not allowed to enter the EU market. This, too, should increase acceptance of the Mercosur agreement.

One burger per citizen

Before submitting the supplementary declaration, however, the Commission will first wait for the presidential elections in Brazil. The conditions will depend on whether the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who has little interest in climate protection, is re-elected or whether his predecessor Lula becomes president again. The left-wing politician is likely to be more open to protecting the Amazon, but could demand renegotiations of the agreement – which would be difficult from the EU’s point of view.

The supplementary declaration is to follow the same legal model as that for the CETA agreement and form part of the ratification process in the member states. In the case of the agreement with Canada, which has been provisionally in force since 2017, the Bundestag yesterday initiated the ratification process, an agreement of the traffic light parliamentary groups had paved the way for this.

Once the sustainability issues are addressed, the concerns of domestic farmers can be addressed. Right now, she said, the two arguments are heavily conflated in the debate. “That makes it difficult to really address the underlying issues.” During negotiations, the commission has managed to keep imports from South America tightly limited via tariff rate quotas. “For beef, that’s equivalent to one hamburger per year per citizen,” she said. In addition traceability could be used to ensure that the imported meat did not come from the Amazon region either. tho

New expert group on carbon extraction

A new expert group on carbon extraction will begin work in December, the commission announced Wednesday. The Climate Directorate-General published a call for applications to fill the 70-member expert panel. The panel will advise the Commission on the implementation of the Sustainable Carbon Cycle Strategy. The commission wants to develop tradable certificates for sustainable CO2 removal. The new market is aimed at farmers (carbon farming), forest managers and industry. The carbon is to be either stored or used in products and managed in cycles. ber

Photovoltaics: IEA calls for more diverse supply chains

More than 80 percent of global photovoltaic equipment supply chains are currently concentrated in China. To meet international climate targets, governments need to expand and diversify solar panel production more. This is the conclusion of a special report published yesterday by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The report examines PV supply chains from raw materials to final product. It covers the five main segments of polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells, and modules and highlights risks and vulnerabilities at each stage of the manufacturing process.

According to the IEA, global solar module production capacity has shifted from Europe, Japan, and the US to China over the past decade. Chinese industrial and innovation policies have helped photovoltaics become the most affordable power generation technology in many parts of the world. However, this has also led to imbalances in PV supply chains.

PV monopoly China burdens supply chains

China now has a share of 80 percent in all production stages. If the production plants currently under construction are added, the share of important elements such as polysilicon and wafers even rises to more than 95 percent, according to the IEA. Supply bottlenecks and high raw material prices, in turn, have led to an increase in prices for solar systems of around 20 percent in the past year.

“China has been instrumental in driving down the cost of solar globally, which is positive for the clean energy transition in several ways,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “At the same time, the degree of geographic concentration in global supply chains also presents a potential challenge that governments need to address.” Accelerating the global transition to clean energy and the resulting growth in demand will put even more strain on these supply chains.

Photovoltaics creates jobs

To meet international energy and climate targets, the global deployment of solar will have to grow at a tremendous rate, the report says. This, in turn, would require a significant expansion of production capacity, it said. Annual additions of PV capacity to power systems would need to more than quadruple globally by 2030 to meet the IEA’s path to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Global production capacity for polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells, and modules would need to more than double by 2030. In addition existing production facilities must be modernized.

The IEA report also assesses how jobs, investment, production costs, emissions and recycling will develop along global PV supply chains in the future. New PV production facilities could attract $120 billion in global investment by 2030, according to the analysis. In addition, the sector could increase the number of jobs in PV production to one million by 2030, doubling the number of jobs, especially in the production of modules and cells. leo

Boris Johnson resigns as party leader

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned as leader of his Conservative Party. However, he intends to continue as head of government until a successor is elected, Johnson said in London on Thursday. He himself was elected to office by his party nearly three years ago.

Shortly before announcing his resignation, Johnson appointed new ministers. However, numerous party friends are calling for the 58-year-old to step down as head of government immediately, and the opposition is demanding a new election. Johnson has come under massive pressure in recent days. Several cabinet members and dozens of parliamentary government employees resigned from their posts. Most recently, even Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi, who was only appointed to office on Tuesday, urged him to resign.

Zahawi, like Secretary of State Liz Truss and Commerce Secretary Penny Mardaunt, is considered a possible successor. Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace leads in polls. Officially, only Attorney General Suella Braverman has announced her candidacy so far. Opposition leader Keir Starmer of the Labour Party welcomed Johnson’s resignation. However, he called for a “fresh start” now. “We need a Labour government,” Starmer said. “We are ready.”

The latest government crisis in Westminster was triggered by an affair involving Johnson’s party colleague Chris Pincher, who is accused of sexual harassment. It had previously emerged that Johnson knew of older, similar allegations against Pincher, but nevertheless elevated him to an important parliamentary party post. However, his spokesman had previously denied this several times.

Russia has gloated over media reports of Johnson’s expected resignation. “Ukraine’s ‘best friends’ are leaving. ‘Victory’ is in danger!” the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and former President Dmitry Medvedev, wrote Thursday on the Telegram messaging service. Johnson’s departure was the “rightful result of British impudence and politics from the gutter. Especially on an international level,” Medvedev opined.

The British prime minister is one of the most ardent supporters of the Ukrainian government in its fight against Russia’s war of aggression. Medvedev wrote that perhaps more of Ukraine’s allies could break away. “We are waiting for news from Germany, Poland, and the Baltic States,” the former leader said. However, governments there are not wobbling.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of a serious crisis in Britain. “As far as Mr Johnson goes, he does not like us. And we do not like him either,” Peskov said, according to the Interfax agency. At the same time, he expressed hope that “more professional people” would eventually come to power in Britain who also understood the need for dialogue. “But at the moment, that hardly seems likely.” dpa

IMF chief to brief EU finance ministers – recession possible

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva will brief European finance ministers in Brussels early next week on the gloomy outlook for the global economy. This was announced on Thursday from German government circles. A significantly more pessimistic assessment is to be expected.

Georgieva had told Reuters news agency on Wednesday that the economic outlook had deteriorated significantly since April. “We are in very difficult waters.” A recession could not be ruled out, she said. “The risks have increased.” This year will be difficult, he said, “but perhaps even tougher in 2023.” The Bulgarian at the helm of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pointed to spreading inflation, hefty interest rate hikes, a slowdown in Chinese growth and sanctions against Russia and countermeasures by the government in Moscow, among other factors.

According to Georgieva, the IMF will again lower its forecasts for the global economy in the coming weeks. This would be the third time. Currently, the Fund is still forecasting growth of 3.6 percent this year. By comparison, in 2021 the global economy was still growing strongly, by 6.1 percent – a recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. rtr

ECB Minutes – Discussion of stronger rate hike in July

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) monetary watchdogs discussed a more substantial rate hike in July at the regular June interest rate meeting. “A number of members expressed an initial preference to keep the door open for a larger hike at the July meeting,” show the minutes of the June 8-9 rate meeting, released by the ECB in Frankfurt on Thursday.

The Governing Council must retain the discretion to adjust the size of the rate step should new information become available for the July rate meeting that materially affects the medium-term inflation outlook according to the minutes.

At its June interest rate meeting, the euro central bank had announced that it would be abandoning years of ultra-loose monetary policy due to the ongoing surge in inflation in the eurozone. It was finally decided to hold out the prospect of the first interest rate hike since 2011 for July. The main interest rates are then to be raised by 0.25 percentage points each.

For the September interest rate meeting, it also signaled a possibly even more substantial hike. Only six days after the regular June interest rate meeting, the monetary watchdogs then convened for a special meeting. A sharp widening of the spreads between the government bonds of the euro countries had put the ECB on alert.

Monetary watchdogs agreed that a gradual approach should not necessarily be interpreted as slow action in small steps, the minutes added. This means that it could also go beyond a quarter of a percentage point. It was underlined that a gradual approach should not interfere with the Governing Council’s duty to do what is necessary at all times to ensure price stability in the medium term. The ECB’s next interest rate meeting is scheduled for July 21. rtr

EU Parliament calls for ambitious SAF quotas

The EU Parliament defined its position on the “ReFuelEU Aviation” legislative proposal in Strasbourg on Thursday. The proposal from the EU Commission’s Fit-for-55 package is intended to promote the use of sustainable fuels in aircraft and at airports in the EU. In doing so, the parliamentarians largely adopt the compromises of the dossier negotiated in the EU Parliament’s Transport Committee (TRAN).

Accordingly, aviation fuel suppliers are to supply so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) from 2025. In 2025, the SAF share of total consumption at European airports is to be two percent, rising to 37 percent by 2040 and 85 percent by 2050. The Commission had proposed 32 percent for 2040 and 63 percent for 2050.

The addition of SAF reduces greenhouse gas emissions in aviation in order to achieve the EU’s climate targets, says EU transport politician Ismail Ertug (SPD), praising the result of the vote. “By 2050, aircraft should fly almost exclusively on sustainable and synthetic aviation fuels, for example from hydrogen or e-fuels. Currently, sustainable fuels account for only 0.1 percent of kerosene,” Ertug said.

A motion by the Green Party to ban the use of fossil fuels by 2050 was rejected by a clear majority.

No fuels from palm oil

It was open until the very end how the extension of the definition of SAF would be voted on. One definition submitted for a vote included environmentally harmful raw materials such as palm oil distillates and food and feed crops for fuel production. However, MEPs rejected this option.

Biofuels produced from animal fats and other organic distillates, on the other hand, should be able to be used for aviation until 2034. Animal fats are byproducts of animal slaughter, the environmental umbrella organization T&E criticizes the vote. They would be used in competing industries, leading to shortages in other sectors. In addition, palm oil is often used as a substitute for animal fats, writes T&E.

Green Party MEP Jutta Paulus had therefore called for SAF to consist exclusively of synthetic fuels based on hydrogen and renewable electricity. Although corresponding amendments were rejected, the parliamentary report nevertheless provides for a significant increase in the proportion of synthetic aviation fuels. Thus, by 2050, at least half of the SAF should consist of synthetic fuels.

In addition to the biofuels mentioned above, the other half can also consist of carbon-based fuels produced from gases from waste processing or production processes in industrial plants.

Fund to support the airline industry

To support the decarbonization of the aviation sector, Parliament has proposed the creation of a fund for the period 2023 to 2050. It will support investment in sustainable aviation fuels, innovative aircraft propulsion technologies and research into new engines.

In addition, MEPs asked the Commission to develop an EU-wide environmental performance labeling system for aircraft, aircraft operators and commercial flights by 2024. luk

What’s cooking in Brussels

By Claire Stam

Vepřo knedlo zelo is on the menu this week, perhaps the most traditional Czech dish: roast pork with dumplings and pickled cabbage. Since the Czech Republic took over the rotating EU presidency from France on July 1, the back-and-forth between Brussels and Prague has grown more intense by the day. And the EU diplomats can swap the famous French fries for a vepřo knedlo zelo at Maison Antoine on Place Jourdan, just behind the Council building.

In the kitchens next week, Czech diplomats will start taking the temperature of member states regarding negotiations with the European Parliament on the Fit-for-55 package. “On the climate-related dossiers of the Fit-for-55 package, the Parliament is ready, the negotiations can start now,” announced Jaroslav Zajíček, Deputy Head of the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU Permanent Representative to COREPER I Ambassador

“We are working to ensure that all dossiers related to the Fit for 55 package are included in the trilogues this fall, and it is our goal to advance these negotiations as far as possible,” the diplomat continued. No one can say whether the trilogues will be finished by the end of the year, as the issue of energy and energy supply has become a highly sensitive one.

Energy security ‘more pressing than the green transition’

At this point, it is worth recalling that in this crazy week, the German government announced that it would bail out the energy giant Uniper (July 4). This was followed two days later by Paris‘ announcement to fully nationalize EDF (July 6). On the same day, a majority of MEPs approved the European Commission’s proposal to include gas and nuclear power in the now very famous taxonomy. And that’s not all: the Czech Presidency subsequently announced an extraordinary meeting on July 26 to discuss the preparation of the EU’s energy system for winter.

The meeting in Brussels will take place at a time when the EU is struggling to find enough gas to get through the winter without Russian fossil fuels. Several European countries have faced full or partial disruptions in supplies of Russian gas since the war in Ukraine began. The last energy council was held in Luxembourg on June 27, where ministers approved a regulation to ensure that gas storage capacity in the EU is filled before winter.

Indeed, energy security is high on the agenda of the Czech Presidency. Prague makes no secret of the fact that it will focus on EU energy security issues, “which is currently more pressing than the green transition,” according to the Presidency’s website. “We are working very closely with France and Sweden,” continued the diplomat, who “applauded” the French presidency for its negotiating leadership on the Fit-For-55 package. Stockholm will take over on January 1, 2023.

No vacation for the Czechs

Indeed, the French administration and the entire government in Brussels have been marching in line behind the French representation and its ambassador, Philippe Léglise-Costa, who has now been announced as the future Secretary-General of the Council. In the end, Paris managed to force an agreement on almost the entire Fit-for-55 package, first in Ecofin through CBAM in March, then in the transport formation in early June, and in the energy and then the environment formation in late June.

“If you had asked me a year ago where we are today, I would have doubted that we could be this far along with general guidelines on most texts. We are facing the biggest legislative package the EU has ever seen,” Diederick Samsom, Head of the cabinet for Commissioner Frans Timmermans, said at the “Think 2030” colloquium organized by Iddri on June 29. However, these compromises were reached at the price of several concessions that somewhat softened the ambitions of the package, and accommodated the budgetary concerns of several capitals.

As a reminder, these are 14 legislative texts in preparation, originally presented by the European Commission on July 14 last year. They include the EU’s new target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030 and the broader goal of becoming CO2 neutral by 2050.

And another thing: in the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic, diplomats and employees have no vacation planned.

EUROPE.TABLE EDITORS

Till
Hoppe

Charlotte
Wirth

Falk
Steiner

Timo
Landenberger

Corinna
Visser

Lukas
Knigge

Eric
Bonse

Sarah
Schaefer

Manuel
Berkel

Lisa-Martina
Klein

Markus
Grabitz

Stephan
Israel

Claire
Stam

Dear reader,

The Irish data protection authority DPC has big plans: It wants to ban Facebook and Instagram from transferring personal data and has forwarded a draft decision to the other European supervisory authorities to this end. That would mean a de facto ban on the two services in the EU. But Falk Steiner explains why this process is likely to take several more years.

France’s energy strategy relies largely on nuclear power. The nuclear power plants are actually supposed to relieve the European electricity market – but exactly the opposite threatens to happen this coming winter. France will have to import electricity. Claire Stam explains how it could come to this.

The EU must not only diversify its energy sources, but also establish new, stable trade relations. It was only at the beginning of July that the EU concluded a deal with New Zealand. Now the EU Commission has already made a new push: the Mercosur agreement. Read more about it in the news.

I wish you an interesting reading and a nice weekend.

Your
Lisa-Martina Klein

Facebook shutdown remains a long way off

By

Falk Steiner

The data protection drama between the supervisory authority DPC Ireland and Facebook is entering the next round. The Irish data protection authority has now forwarded its draft decision to the other European supervisory authorities. According to a report in the Irish Independent, it states that the DPC wants to prohibit Facebook and Instagram from transferring personal data in the future. This could mean the shutdown of these services for the EU. According to the report, the popular short message service WhatsApp would not be affected.

Data protectors face long deliberations

However, it is likely to be a long road until then. The draft decision is unlikely to please many other European data protection authorities – it does not contain any penalties for unlawful transfers of personal data in the past. Within one month, the data protection authorities of the other member states can now submit their objections to the Irish proposal. This could be followed by a dispute resolution procedure under Article 65 of the GDPR.

Max Schrems of the Austrian data protection NGO Noyb doesn’t expect a quick decision: “In other cases, this took another year altogether because the DPC didn’t voluntarily implement the objections of the other authorities and took more than half a year to bring the case to a vote.” Schrems’ complaint to the DPC gave rise to the current proceedings. His own case remains open.

However, even after the decision of the European Data Protection Board, Meta would still have legal recourse; here, too, further time is likely to pass before the decision is finally legally binding. The fact that some more time is likely to pass before the decision is final suits Meta and the political leaders.

TADPF could save Facebook

By then, the Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework (TADPF) could already provide a new legal basis for the transfer of personal data to the USA. However, the Irish draft decision also increases the pressure on the White House.

The EU is still waiting for the Biden administration’s drafts of its announced presidential orders, the so-called Executive Orders (EO). These are to form the basis for a new adequacy decision by the Commission. Only when these are available can the Commission even consider whether they form a sufficient basis for this.

The challenge for the US side is to at least come close to the criteria of the European Court of Justice. The European Court of Justice made it clear in its Safe Harbor decision, and then two years ago in its Privacy Shield decision, that the United States did not offer EU citizens an adequate level of protection for personal data. In particular, the collection of data by intelligence services and law enforcement agencies would have to be restricted – and this is to be achieved without having to change laws in Congress. Joe Biden had personally announced the renewal in the spring. “We welcome the EU-US agreement for a new legal framework that will allow the continued transfer of data across borders,” the Irish Independent quoted a Meta spokesman as saying.

Should the TADPF be finalized before a final decision, Meta could breathe a sigh of relief for the time being: the entire procedure would start all over again – and Max Schrems and Noyb would first have to file a lawsuit against the TADPF, after which the DPC could continue the proceedings. Yet at that point, more years are likely to have passed.

France’s nuclear power: A drag on the European electricity market

By

Claire Stam

The inclusion of nuclear power in the taxonomy and the announcement of the nationalization of the energy group EDF do nothing to change the fact that France is heading straight for a deficit in electricity generation this winter. Also because import capacity from neighboring countries to make up the shortfall will be severely limited. This is currently leading to a further exceptional rise in wholesale prices in France.

On June 3, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that there was “no risk of a blackout” in France next winter, while the German government sounded the alarm at the same time and launched its energy emergency plan – for good reason. “If there is a need, we will supply ourselves on the European market,” the head of state said in Paris, justifying his reactive stance and stating that he wanted to “reassure” the French.

These statements do not reassure the French or the players on the European electricity market: “Currently, we have prices on the wholesale electricity market in France that are 700 percent higher than usual. And we risk a price increase of up to 2000 percent this winter,” says Thomas Pellerin-Carlin, Director of the Jacques Delors Institute Energy Center in Paris.

Half of the nuclear reactors in maintenance

Cyrille Cormier, an independent analyst of European energy systems based in Marseille, reports that the market is expecting a peak price of about €1,400 per megawatt-hour for the coming winter. “We’re reaching record levels that we haven’t seen since 2012, when there was a big cold snap in France. As for baseload market prices, they are now over €300 per megawatt-hour in the short and medium-term, whereas before the COVID-19 crisis they averaged around €50,” the expert said.

The reason for this is, among other things, the shutdown of 27 of the 56 nuclear reactors in France, as maintenance work has been postponed due to the COVID-19 virus and is thus due now for several power plants. Yet above all because of the recent detection of corrosion problems in several plants, the causes and actual extent of which are still unknown. “Currently, at least 12 reactors are said to be affected by micro-cracks, and it is suspected that more micro-cracks will occur in other reactors in the coming months,” Cormier said.

A quite momentous failure, considering that nuclear power accounts for 70 percent of France’s energy mix. France could produce about 60 percent less electricity than usual next winter, according to Cormier. According to official figures, France generated 91.7 TWh of nuclear power in the first quarter of 2022, down 7.5 TWh from a year earlier. This ensures that France will have to import electricity from neighboring countries, even though the country is normally an energy exporter in the summer.

From nuclear ‘asset’ to nuclear ‘liability’

Any shortfall in nuclear production will be made up by gas, Cormier explains. However, gas storage facilities are only 60 to 65 percent full. That means France will be importing a lot of energy this winter, which will affect neighboring European countries such as Germany, Belgium, and even Switzerland. “Where France could have contributed to relieving the European market with its nuclear power generation, it is instead contributing to the tightening of the European electricity market,” he analyzes.

This situation is also the price of a “strategic and industrial mistake” on the part of the French leadership, the expert said. “The French state has relied on the retention of nuclear power, which has resulted in the underdevelopment of renewable energy in France. This is despite the fact that the country has great potential,” Cormier stresses.

The wind energy sector remains weak: as of March 31, 2022, installed capacity was just over 19 GW, which is less than half of the targets set in France’s multi-year energy program. And as for photovoltaic solar energy, France produces only a third of the amount of Germany or Italy.

Challenges around energy-saving measure

Despite the rise in prices and the decline in nuclear power, the official position of the country’s leaders on electricity supply for the winter has not changed, notes Thomas Pellerin-Carlin of the Jacques Delors Institute. “There is always a risk that the power supply in France will be interrupted, especially if the winter is cold,” he says. To remedy this, Pellerin-Carlin sees two options: Reducing energy consumption and lowering prices. However, the government is doing next to nothing in the area of energy conservation.

For Cyrille Cormier, France’s response to the current problems is also worrying. “It would need urgent energy-saving measures, such as the urgent equipment of heat pumps or the reduction of air conditioning in the service sector,” he demands. In general, the expert notes that “all European countries have not yet taken emergency measures” that could respond to an emergency situation.

Mercosur Agreement: EU Commission launches push

The EU Commission is making a new attempt to adopt the free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries following the conclusion of the free trade agreement with New Zealand. The Russian attack on Ukraine also marked a turning point for trade policy and triggered a new dynamic, a senior EU official said. The deal with the four South American countries is the most important the EU has ever negotiated, both economically and geopolitically. In addition, it is hoped to be able to present an agreement with Chile in the near future.

The Commission had already reached an agreement with Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay in 2019, but the agreement has not yet been signed due to opposition in the Council and the European Parliament. Criticism relates on the one hand to the fact that the treaty promotes deforestation of the rainforest in the Amazon region through higher agricultural imports, or at least does not effectively prevent this. Less openly formulated are the concerns of farmers, particularly in France and Ireland, who fear new competition, especially from South American cattle breeders.

The Commission intends to rebut the objections regarding the protection of the rainforest by means of a legally binding supplementary declaration to the trade agreement. The Commission is currently working on a so-called Joint Interpretative Instrument, the official said. The aim is to regulate in detail what is meant by the effective implementation of the Paris climate agreement as agreed in the trade treaty. In its national program under the Paris Agreement Brazil had made “very interesting commitments” to protect the Amazon rainforest.

He added that they want to tie in with this and also regulate monitoring on the ground. “Because our problem is not the content of the Mercosur agreement, but what is happening in the rainforest in Brazil,” the official said. As a second safety net, she said, the planned law will ensure that products from deforested areas are not allowed to enter the EU market. This, too, should increase acceptance of the Mercosur agreement.

One burger per citizen

Before submitting the supplementary declaration, however, the Commission will first wait for the presidential elections in Brazil. The conditions will depend on whether the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, who has little interest in climate protection, is re-elected or whether his predecessor Lula becomes president again. The left-wing politician is likely to be more open to protecting the Amazon, but could demand renegotiations of the agreement – which would be difficult from the EU’s point of view.

The supplementary declaration is to follow the same legal model as that for the CETA agreement and form part of the ratification process in the member states. In the case of the agreement with Canada, which has been provisionally in force since 2017, the Bundestag yesterday initiated the ratification process, an agreement of the traffic light parliamentary groups had paved the way for this.

Once the sustainability issues are addressed, the concerns of domestic farmers can be addressed. Right now, she said, the two arguments are heavily conflated in the debate. “That makes it difficult to really address the underlying issues.” During negotiations, the commission has managed to keep imports from South America tightly limited via tariff rate quotas. “For beef, that’s equivalent to one hamburger per year per citizen,” she said. In addition traceability could be used to ensure that the imported meat did not come from the Amazon region either. tho

New expert group on carbon extraction

A new expert group on carbon extraction will begin work in December, the commission announced Wednesday. The Climate Directorate-General published a call for applications to fill the 70-member expert panel. The panel will advise the Commission on the implementation of the Sustainable Carbon Cycle Strategy. The commission wants to develop tradable certificates for sustainable CO2 removal. The new market is aimed at farmers (carbon farming), forest managers and industry. The carbon is to be either stored or used in products and managed in cycles. ber

Photovoltaics: IEA calls for more diverse supply chains

More than 80 percent of global photovoltaic equipment supply chains are currently concentrated in China. To meet international climate targets, governments need to expand and diversify solar panel production more. This is the conclusion of a special report published yesterday by the International Energy Agency (IEA).

The report examines PV supply chains from raw materials to final product. It covers the five main segments of polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells, and modules and highlights risks and vulnerabilities at each stage of the manufacturing process.

According to the IEA, global solar module production capacity has shifted from Europe, Japan, and the US to China over the past decade. Chinese industrial and innovation policies have helped photovoltaics become the most affordable power generation technology in many parts of the world. However, this has also led to imbalances in PV supply chains.

PV monopoly China burdens supply chains

China now has a share of 80 percent in all production stages. If the production plants currently under construction are added, the share of important elements such as polysilicon and wafers even rises to more than 95 percent, according to the IEA. Supply bottlenecks and high raw material prices, in turn, have led to an increase in prices for solar systems of around 20 percent in the past year.

“China has been instrumental in driving down the cost of solar globally, which is positive for the clean energy transition in several ways,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. “At the same time, the degree of geographic concentration in global supply chains also presents a potential challenge that governments need to address.” Accelerating the global transition to clean energy and the resulting growth in demand will put even more strain on these supply chains.

Photovoltaics creates jobs

To meet international energy and climate targets, the global deployment of solar will have to grow at a tremendous rate, the report says. This, in turn, would require a significant expansion of production capacity, it said. Annual additions of PV capacity to power systems would need to more than quadruple globally by 2030 to meet the IEA’s path to achieving climate neutrality by 2050. Global production capacity for polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells, and modules would need to more than double by 2030. In addition existing production facilities must be modernized.

The IEA report also assesses how jobs, investment, production costs, emissions and recycling will develop along global PV supply chains in the future. New PV production facilities could attract $120 billion in global investment by 2030, according to the analysis. In addition, the sector could increase the number of jobs in PV production to one million by 2030, doubling the number of jobs, especially in the production of modules and cells. leo

Boris Johnson resigns as party leader

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resigned as leader of his Conservative Party. However, he intends to continue as head of government until a successor is elected, Johnson said in London on Thursday. He himself was elected to office by his party nearly three years ago.

Shortly before announcing his resignation, Johnson appointed new ministers. However, numerous party friends are calling for the 58-year-old to step down as head of government immediately, and the opposition is demanding a new election. Johnson has come under massive pressure in recent days. Several cabinet members and dozens of parliamentary government employees resigned from their posts. Most recently, even Finance Minister Nadhim Zahawi, who was only appointed to office on Tuesday, urged him to resign.

Zahawi, like Secretary of State Liz Truss and Commerce Secretary Penny Mardaunt, is considered a possible successor. Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace leads in polls. Officially, only Attorney General Suella Braverman has announced her candidacy so far. Opposition leader Keir Starmer of the Labour Party welcomed Johnson’s resignation. However, he called for a “fresh start” now. “We need a Labour government,” Starmer said. “We are ready.”

The latest government crisis in Westminster was triggered by an affair involving Johnson’s party colleague Chris Pincher, who is accused of sexual harassment. It had previously emerged that Johnson knew of older, similar allegations against Pincher, but nevertheless elevated him to an important parliamentary party post. However, his spokesman had previously denied this several times.

Russia has gloated over media reports of Johnson’s expected resignation. “Ukraine’s ‘best friends’ are leaving. ‘Victory’ is in danger!” the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and former President Dmitry Medvedev, wrote Thursday on the Telegram messaging service. Johnson’s departure was the “rightful result of British impudence and politics from the gutter. Especially on an international level,” Medvedev opined.

The British prime minister is one of the most ardent supporters of the Ukrainian government in its fight against Russia’s war of aggression. Medvedev wrote that perhaps more of Ukraine’s allies could break away. “We are waiting for news from Germany, Poland, and the Baltic States,” the former leader said. However, governments there are not wobbling.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of a serious crisis in Britain. “As far as Mr Johnson goes, he does not like us. And we do not like him either,” Peskov said, according to the Interfax agency. At the same time, he expressed hope that “more professional people” would eventually come to power in Britain who also understood the need for dialogue. “But at the moment, that hardly seems likely.” dpa

IMF chief to brief EU finance ministers – recession possible

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva will brief European finance ministers in Brussels early next week on the gloomy outlook for the global economy. This was announced on Thursday from German government circles. A significantly more pessimistic assessment is to be expected.

Georgieva had told Reuters news agency on Wednesday that the economic outlook had deteriorated significantly since April. “We are in very difficult waters.” A recession could not be ruled out, she said. “The risks have increased.” This year will be difficult, he said, “but perhaps even tougher in 2023.” The Bulgarian at the helm of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pointed to spreading inflation, hefty interest rate hikes, a slowdown in Chinese growth and sanctions against Russia and countermeasures by the government in Moscow, among other factors.

According to Georgieva, the IMF will again lower its forecasts for the global economy in the coming weeks. This would be the third time. Currently, the Fund is still forecasting growth of 3.6 percent this year. By comparison, in 2021 the global economy was still growing strongly, by 6.1 percent – a recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. rtr

ECB Minutes – Discussion of stronger rate hike in July

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) monetary watchdogs discussed a more substantial rate hike in July at the regular June interest rate meeting. “A number of members expressed an initial preference to keep the door open for a larger hike at the July meeting,” show the minutes of the June 8-9 rate meeting, released by the ECB in Frankfurt on Thursday.

The Governing Council must retain the discretion to adjust the size of the rate step should new information become available for the July rate meeting that materially affects the medium-term inflation outlook according to the minutes.

At its June interest rate meeting, the euro central bank had announced that it would be abandoning years of ultra-loose monetary policy due to the ongoing surge in inflation in the eurozone. It was finally decided to hold out the prospect of the first interest rate hike since 2011 for July. The main interest rates are then to be raised by 0.25 percentage points each.

For the September interest rate meeting, it also signaled a possibly even more substantial hike. Only six days after the regular June interest rate meeting, the monetary watchdogs then convened for a special meeting. A sharp widening of the spreads between the government bonds of the euro countries had put the ECB on alert.

Monetary watchdogs agreed that a gradual approach should not necessarily be interpreted as slow action in small steps, the minutes added. This means that it could also go beyond a quarter of a percentage point. It was underlined that a gradual approach should not interfere with the Governing Council’s duty to do what is necessary at all times to ensure price stability in the medium term. The ECB’s next interest rate meeting is scheduled for July 21. rtr

EU Parliament calls for ambitious SAF quotas

The EU Parliament defined its position on the “ReFuelEU Aviation” legislative proposal in Strasbourg on Thursday. The proposal from the EU Commission’s Fit-for-55 package is intended to promote the use of sustainable fuels in aircraft and at airports in the EU. In doing so, the parliamentarians largely adopt the compromises of the dossier negotiated in the EU Parliament’s Transport Committee (TRAN).

Accordingly, aviation fuel suppliers are to supply so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) from 2025. In 2025, the SAF share of total consumption at European airports is to be two percent, rising to 37 percent by 2040 and 85 percent by 2050. The Commission had proposed 32 percent for 2040 and 63 percent for 2050.

The addition of SAF reduces greenhouse gas emissions in aviation in order to achieve the EU’s climate targets, says EU transport politician Ismail Ertug (SPD), praising the result of the vote. “By 2050, aircraft should fly almost exclusively on sustainable and synthetic aviation fuels, for example from hydrogen or e-fuels. Currently, sustainable fuels account for only 0.1 percent of kerosene,” Ertug said.

A motion by the Green Party to ban the use of fossil fuels by 2050 was rejected by a clear majority.

No fuels from palm oil

It was open until the very end how the extension of the definition of SAF would be voted on. One definition submitted for a vote included environmentally harmful raw materials such as palm oil distillates and food and feed crops for fuel production. However, MEPs rejected this option.

Biofuels produced from animal fats and other organic distillates, on the other hand, should be able to be used for aviation until 2034. Animal fats are byproducts of animal slaughter, the environmental umbrella organization T&E criticizes the vote. They would be used in competing industries, leading to shortages in other sectors. In addition, palm oil is often used as a substitute for animal fats, writes T&E.

Green Party MEP Jutta Paulus had therefore called for SAF to consist exclusively of synthetic fuels based on hydrogen and renewable electricity. Although corresponding amendments were rejected, the parliamentary report nevertheless provides for a significant increase in the proportion of synthetic aviation fuels. Thus, by 2050, at least half of the SAF should consist of synthetic fuels.

In addition to the biofuels mentioned above, the other half can also consist of carbon-based fuels produced from gases from waste processing or production processes in industrial plants.

Fund to support the airline industry

To support the decarbonization of the aviation sector, Parliament has proposed the creation of a fund for the period 2023 to 2050. It will support investment in sustainable aviation fuels, innovative aircraft propulsion technologies and research into new engines.

In addition, MEPs asked the Commission to develop an EU-wide environmental performance labeling system for aircraft, aircraft operators and commercial flights by 2024. luk

What’s cooking in Brussels

By Claire Stam

Vepřo knedlo zelo is on the menu this week, perhaps the most traditional Czech dish: roast pork with dumplings and pickled cabbage. Since the Czech Republic took over the rotating EU presidency from France on July 1, the back-and-forth between Brussels and Prague has grown more intense by the day. And the EU diplomats can swap the famous French fries for a vepřo knedlo zelo at Maison Antoine on Place Jourdan, just behind the Council building.

In the kitchens next week, Czech diplomats will start taking the temperature of member states regarding negotiations with the European Parliament on the Fit-for-55 package. “On the climate-related dossiers of the Fit-for-55 package, the Parliament is ready, the negotiations can start now,” announced Jaroslav Zajíček, Deputy Head of the Czech Permanent Representation to the EU Permanent Representative to COREPER I Ambassador

“We are working to ensure that all dossiers related to the Fit for 55 package are included in the trilogues this fall, and it is our goal to advance these negotiations as far as possible,” the diplomat continued. No one can say whether the trilogues will be finished by the end of the year, as the issue of energy and energy supply has become a highly sensitive one.

Energy security ‘more pressing than the green transition’

At this point, it is worth recalling that in this crazy week, the German government announced that it would bail out the energy giant Uniper (July 4). This was followed two days later by Paris‘ announcement to fully nationalize EDF (July 6). On the same day, a majority of MEPs approved the European Commission’s proposal to include gas and nuclear power in the now very famous taxonomy. And that’s not all: the Czech Presidency subsequently announced an extraordinary meeting on July 26 to discuss the preparation of the EU’s energy system for winter.

The meeting in Brussels will take place at a time when the EU is struggling to find enough gas to get through the winter without Russian fossil fuels. Several European countries have faced full or partial disruptions in supplies of Russian gas since the war in Ukraine began. The last energy council was held in Luxembourg on June 27, where ministers approved a regulation to ensure that gas storage capacity in the EU is filled before winter.

Indeed, energy security is high on the agenda of the Czech Presidency. Prague makes no secret of the fact that it will focus on EU energy security issues, “which is currently more pressing than the green transition,” according to the Presidency’s website. “We are working very closely with France and Sweden,” continued the diplomat, who “applauded” the French presidency for its negotiating leadership on the Fit-For-55 package. Stockholm will take over on January 1, 2023.

No vacation for the Czechs

Indeed, the French administration and the entire government in Brussels have been marching in line behind the French representation and its ambassador, Philippe Léglise-Costa, who has now been announced as the future Secretary-General of the Council. In the end, Paris managed to force an agreement on almost the entire Fit-for-55 package, first in Ecofin through CBAM in March, then in the transport formation in early June, and in the energy and then the environment formation in late June.

“If you had asked me a year ago where we are today, I would have doubted that we could be this far along with general guidelines on most texts. We are facing the biggest legislative package the EU has ever seen,” Diederick Samsom, Head of the cabinet for Commissioner Frans Timmermans, said at the “Think 2030” colloquium organized by Iddri on June 29. However, these compromises were reached at the price of several concessions that somewhat softened the ambitions of the package, and accommodated the budgetary concerns of several capitals.

As a reminder, these are 14 legislative texts in preparation, originally presented by the European Commission on July 14 last year. They include the EU’s new target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2030 and the broader goal of becoming CO2 neutral by 2050.

And another thing: in the Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic, diplomats and employees have no vacation planned.