Should nuclear power and natural gas be classified as sustainable in the EU taxonomy? MEPs from almost all parties want to prevent this – today at noon, the roll call vote on the veto on the Commission proposal will take place. The result is by no means certain, which is mainly due to one political group: the EPP. The spokesman for environmental policy, Peter Liese, assumed yesterday evening that his group would have a majority against the veto. But the party seems divided on the issue, writes Leonie Düngefeld. And the German population is also divided on this issue, as a recent Civey survey commissioned by Table.Media shows.
Yesterday, the European Parliament approved the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act by a large majority. But for the DMA and DSA to take effect, the new regulations must also be enforced. In the future, the EU Commission will bear the main burden of supervising digital companies, something it partly never intended to do in the first place. Now, the authority is undergoing an internal reorganization. At the same time, it is looking for experts. But those are notoriously scarce. Till Hoppe and Falk Steiner have the details.
A multi-billion promise from the G7, the EU’s Global Gateway Initiative and many affirming words: Western countries want to position themselves as Africa’s energetic partners – not least to limit China’s influence on the continent. But Chinese involvement is extremely welcome in Africa. Studies show that the People’s Republic has long since overtaken Europe in some areas, and young Africans now perceive it as the superpower with the most positive influence. Even the debts of African countries to China, which are often discussed in the West, are not considered a major problem by experts, Katja Scherer has learned.
It will be a close call: Today, the European Parliament votes in Strasbourg on whether to label nuclear energy and natural gas projects as sustainable economic activities. Yesterday afternoon, MEPs debated the decision in plenary, and today at noon the roll call vote will take place. An absolute majority is required for a successful veto of the Commission’s proposal. One of the reasons why this could fail is the divided EPP group.
With the second delegated act on the EU taxonomy proposed in January, the Commission wants to designate nuclear energy and natural gas as sustainable economic activities. In March, MEPs from the Greens/EFA and S&D objected to it, formally launching the veto procedure. Then, on May 20, a cross-party alliance of MEPs from the Environment and Economics Committees tabled a resolution. In mid-June, both committees voted in favor of the resolution (Europe.Table reported).
Arguments against the legal act have increased in recent months, said Michael Bloss (Greens/EFA). Gas and nuclear power are inherently unsustainable, he said, and the Commission’s proposal is merely the result of successful lobbying by France, Germany and Russian gas companies. Moreover, the taxonomy was written before the Russian attack on Ukraine and would therefore ignore the current geopolitical situation. Russia would benefit tremendously from the inclusion of natural gas in the taxonomy, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, recently warned (Europe.Table reported).
Another point of criticism is the lack of democratic process surrounding the act. “Parliament has been bypassed in this process,” Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA) said yesterday during the plenary debate in Strasbourg. “There was no public consultation, the parliament was only invited unofficially.”
Finance Commissioner Mairead McGuinness made it clear in Parliament, “Gas is a fossil fuel, gas is not green.” And yet some member states would need gas and nuclear as interim solutions during the energy transition. But that does not mean there is an obligation to invest in gas or nuclear. “We need all instruments to abandon oil and coal,” said French MEP Gilles Boyer (Renew). “This is the only way to be able to implement the Green Deal in the short term.”
A recent Civey survey commissioned by Table.Media shows: If the EU were to reject the classification of natural gas and nuclear power as sustainable, a very close majority of Germans would consider that to be wrong. Green and SPD voters in particular would support a rejection. Whether nuclear power should be classified as sustainable by the EU divides the Germans. The greatest support comes from the AfD, FDP and CDU/CSU electorates. Germans are also divided over the classification of natural gas as sustainable, but this is rejected by a larger number of respondents.
For the parliamentary veto to be successful, an absolute majority (353 MEPs) would have to vote in favor of the objection. MEPs who are not present will thus count as a vote against. Consequently, the increasing number of Covid cases could also influence the outcome of the vote.
The Greens will vote unanimously for the objection, as will the majority of left-wing MEPs. About 80 percent of the S&D group will support the veto, estimated Dutch MEP Paul Tang. This includes the German and French delegations of the Social Democrats. The Finnish and Romanian MEPs in the group would reject the objection.
The situation is different in the Renew Group: Its group spokeswoman told Europe.Table that a majority of about 70 percent of the group’s members would vote against the objection. “I’m very disappointed with my group at this point,” Swedish MEP Emma Wiesner said at a press conference yesterday. “This is a political product, and it’s been caught in a political ping pong game between Paris and Berlin. And unfortunately, that is also very visible in the Renew group.”
The Renew Group, which includes deputies from Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party (formerly La République En Marche), is considered largely French-dominated. France strongly lobbied for the inclusion of nuclear energy in the EU taxonomy, seeing it as a preferred means of filling the coffers of the financially troubled French energy company EDF. Several MEPs from other political groups cite calculations that French companies would benefit most from the taxonomy.
The position of many EPP deputies remained uncertain until yesterday evening. Luxembourg’s Christophe Hansen was still optimistic before the afternoon plenary debate: “It will be close, but I think we will get a majority.” The CDU/CSU group, in particular, is torn: Environmental policy spokesman Peter Liese, economic policy spokesman Markus Ferber, and Hildegard Bentele campaigned for the objection. Others, such as SME spokesman Markus Pieper, retained their opposition to the veto. Peter Liese’s fear that the majority of his group would ultimately vote against the objection came true in the evening, at least in the internal vote: 107 EPP members spoke in favor of the classification of gas and nuclear energy as sustainable, 31 against.
The rift in the EPP already became clear a little over a month ago, when the party leaders failed to come to an agreement with the other groups on a compromise to reform the European Emissions Trading System (ETS). The first vote in early June went badly wrong, with the Greens and Social Democrats voting against the report by rapporteur Peter Liese. The ETS reform only passed in the second attempt.
A secret ballot would be more conducive to a successful veto, said Christophe Hansen, the influence of the respective national political contexts being very high. Jaroslav Zajíček, Deputy Head of the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the EU and Permanent Representative to Coreper I, also noted this: Member states would lobby their respective MEPs to vote in line with national interests, he said at a press briefing in Brussels.
On Monday, a joint article by French Minister of Energy Agnès Pannier-Runacher and five other ministers from Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia was published in the French newspaper Les Echos. Including nuclear energy in the EU taxonomy would be crucial in the fight against climate change and energy dependence, it said. Claire Stam, Lukas Scheid and Leonie Düngefeld
In the future, the EU Commission will bear the main burden of supervising digital companies. Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), it will first designate which companies are to be classified as gatekeepers and then ensure that they comply with the specific rules of conduct. In addition, under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European Parliament and member states entrusted the Brussels authority with the designation and supervision of very large online platforms (VLOPs) – something the authority initially did not intend.
When the two legal acts take effect after a transitional period, probably next spring, it will essentially be up to the Commission to tame powerful corporations such as Google, Amazon, Facebook/Meta and Apple. The authority wants to do this “with over 100 full-time staff“, as Breton announced yesterday in a LinkedIn post. These are to be drawn internally primarily from the Connect and Competition Directorates-General. In addition, the Commission wants to hire additional external experts.
The European Parliament considers this number far too low. MEPs call for 150 posts to be funded from the EU budget for the DMA alone. And even that will hardly be enough, says rapporteur Andreas Schwab. A separate team would have to take care of every single service that falls under the DMA as a gatekeeper’s “core platform service,” including case handlers, data specialists and other experts. After all, it is expected that among them will be major players with highly complex services, such as YouTube. “Only if we engage in dialogue at eye level can we be sure that EU legislation gets the respect it deserves,” the CDU politician warns.
Consumer advocates fear that Breton and Vice President Margrethe Vestager, who is responsible for competition, are underestimating the dimension of the task. It is “absolutely crucial that the Commission provides the necessary means to enforce the Digital Markets Act,” demands Ursula Pachl, Vice President of the umbrella organization BEUC.
However, Breton’s 2024 projected headcount of more than 100 is not expected to be the end of the line. According to a commission spokesman, the agency estimates it will need at least 150 staff to enforce the DSA, which would require about 80 positions for the DMA. According to the agency’s financial plan, 55 of those positions should be filled internally, with the remaining 25 from outside sources. The Commission intends to pay for the DSA posts, at least in part, from the new supervisory fees that the act imposes on the major platforms and search engines for which the Commission will exercise direct supervision.
The commission is already looking for external expertise, especially from data scientists and algorithm experts, as Breton writes. Such experts are notoriously scarce, as supervisors are now competing in the job market with the very corporations they are supposed to control. Breton, however, is counting on establishing a European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency together with the in-house Joint Research Center. The top experts gathered there are to help the Commission effectively enforce the new accountability requirements for Google, Facebook and others in the DSA.
The Commission is currently undergoing internal reorganization in order to be ready to act at the start of next spring. The DMA requires that experts from the various Directorates-General work closely together. Breton wants to structure the work along the lines of the tasks: The technical team will take care of the interoperability of messenger services, for example, while another team will deal with social issues such as the risk management audits that the major platforms will have to undergo in the future, according to the DSA. The economic team, on the other hand, will address the question of the conditions under which gatekeeper platforms must grant others access to their data. The teams, in turn, are to cooperate closely with each other.
In addition, the Commission also wants to tap the expertise of the member states. According to the DSA, each member state is to designate a supervisory authority (the Digital Services Coordinator) to take the lead in enforcement against the provider located in the respective territory. The DMA, in turn, provides for coordination mechanisms between the Commission and national antitrust authorities. Given the complex interplay, Vestager has announced an implementation strategy. With Falk Steiner
Once again, they have wrested a great promise from each other. The G7 countries want to spend €600 billion to expand infrastructure in developing countries. This was recently announced at their meeting at Schloss Elmau.
The EU is at the forefront of this project. It wants to raise half of the money pledged, €100 billion more than the USA. And that’s not the only promise Brussels has recently made to poorer countries – especially in Africa. “Together we can build a more prosperous, peaceful, and sustainable future for all,” EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has said repeatedly in her speeches. In February, she announced €150 billion in investments at the EU-Africa summit. The European Global Gateway initiative also has a strong focus on Africa, for example with a new submarine cable between the continents.
These efforts aim to counter China’s growing influence on the African continent. In doing so, the West relies on a simple narrative: The EU is fundamentally the better partner for Africa, European politicians and institutions repeatedly emphasize. Unlike China, the EU builds high-quality infrastructure, does not drive countries into debt, and works closely with the local population. “It is up to us to give the world a positive, strong investment impulse,” von der Leyen said at the G7 meeting. “This is how we show our partners in the developing world that they have a choice.” That this choice is not automatically pro-EU, however, is often overlooked in the West.
Contrary to what is portrayed in Europe, China is not perceived as a bad partner in Africa – on the contrary. A recent study commissioned by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation shows: China has surpassed Europe in infrastructure projects and commodity trade with Africa. A majority of 1,600 decision-makers surveyed on the continent praised China’s quick decisions, rapid implementation of projects, and Beijing’s non-interference in domestic affairs.
Europe’s belief in the superiority of its own values contrasts with Africans’ sober view of Chinese achievements, says Stefan Schott, Project Director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in East Africa. “To put it simply: A road that is completed after a short construction period by the Chinese is also a value in the perception of Africans and more concrete than some European projects to promote democracy, human rights or sustainability.”
A recent study by the South African Ichikowitz Family Foundation draws a similar conclusion. It states that young Africans now perceive China as the major power with the most positive influence in Africa – for the first time, the People’s Republic is ahead of the USA and Europe. 76 percent of 4,500 young people surveyed in 15 countries like the fact that China is bringing them new roads, modern smartphones, and new job opportunities. “There is no question that China is the dominant player in Africa today,” said Ivor Ichikowitz, South African entrepreneur and founder of the Family Foundation. “Overall, we are seeing a much more positive approach to China, that’s going to drive a lot more engagement with China.”
China has a newcomer bonus in Africa, says Tom Bayes, explaining the results of the study. Bayes is an independent Africa-China researcher who recently studied the narratives China uses to expand its influence in Africa for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Beijing is perceived by many in Africa as a role model and development partner, he says. “When China announces new ventures, it gets a lot of attention – even though Europe and the US have been doing similar things on a larger scale for years.” Africa is a good market for Beijing to sell domestic overproduction, such as industrial goods, Bayes believes. “But China does a much better job than the EU of selling African countries on its own interests as an equal partnership.”
Among other things, there are historical reasons for this. While the West is still burdened with its colonial heritage, cooperation with China has been rather positive from the beginning. As early as the 1970s, China invested in the continent and, for example, expanded the railroad line between Tanzania and Zambia, writes the Tanzanian newspaper The Citizen. Tanzania and Zambia tried in vain to get Western support for the construction. Then the Chinese arrived and were received by Zambia’s then-president Kenneth Kaunda “as friends, as comrades with common struggle,” a narrative that China maintains to this day.
In addition, China is learning fast. The quality of Chinese construction projects had been a problem ten years ago, says Bayes. Now, that is no longer the case. Beijing is also trying to defuse the accusation that China is bringing too many of its workers to Africa. “For example, China has recently been building more education centers in Africa and bringing African students to China on scholarships.”
Cobus van Staden, a foreign policy expert at the South African Institute of International Affairs and co-host of the renowned “China in Africa Podcast,” agrees. He confirms that poor quality is hardly an issue in Chinese construction projects anymore. Rather, he says, China has set new standards in terms of how quickly projects can be implemented. The expert also considers the Western view of African countries’ debts to China to be exaggerated. “It’s true that it’s a problem in individual countries, for example in Zambia or Angola,” he says. “But it’s not the only source of debt problems on the continent.” Some debts to Western donors also caused trouble.
China is also currently taking its relations with Africa to a new level. This became clear at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (China.Table reported) in November, an important summit that has been held every three years since the turn of the millennium. “In the future, we will see fewer large infrastructure projects and more political and technological cooperation between China and Africa,” says Foreign Policy Expert Cobus van Staden. He says that means the countries will try harder to find a common position in international organizations such as the UN. And they will strengthen their cooperation in the areas of Internet expansion, satellite navigation, and digitization.
There could also be direct competition between China and the EU in the development of green technologies in Africa in the future. “China has built up a lot of expertise in solar and wind energy in recent years and has a keen interest in exporting it,” says Africa-China expert Tom Bayes. At the same time, the EU is trying to position itself as Africa’s partner in the expansion of renewable energy.
The EU should pay even closer attention to the impact of grand gestures in these efforts, Bayes advises. The EU’s long refusal to release Covid vaccine patents, for example, has gone down very badly in Africa. The Global Gateway Initiative, on the other hand, is a good step toward more cooperation. However, Africa is still waiting for concrete plans, says van Staden.
The EU must listen carefully to what African countries want – and not use its own high standards to exclude certain countries and projects per se. Becoming a pawn between China and Europe, for example, is not in Africa’s interest, van Staden stresses. “There is a lot of need for development in Africa. We need all partners.” Katja Scherer
How he became a figurehead and voice of the German start-up scene? Christian Miele points to his two core virtues: “I’ve been guided in my life by curiosity and my gut feeling.” These two guardrails have led him away from the family business – yes, it’s the Mieles who manufacture the electrical appliances – and into the world of startups. During his time working for the investment company Rocket Internet in Berlin, he completely fell for the start-up mentality: “Solving problems, trying out innovative solutions and working with full vigor toward a goal. I knew: This is where I can develop to my full potential.”
Miele founded, looked around at other startups, sold again. Today, he focuses on two positions: His investor activities as a partner at the globally operating venture capital firm Headline, and his honorary position as Chairman of the Board at the German Startups Association.
Miele is convinced that “courage and a willingness to take risks must be rewarded” – he is doubly committed to this because of his two-pronged occupation. At Headline, he supports and advises up-and-coming companies on specific concerns. As a stakeholder at the Start-up Association, his goal is to achieve beneficial conditions for the entire German start-up landscape by bundling and articulating the interests of 1,200 members.
For Miele, the Digital Market Act (DMA) is a step in the right direction, which he sees as a path toward “more equal opportunities with a view to the platform economy,” because “both German and European startups and scaleups have too often been held back by large tech giants in the past”.
The DMA, provided its enforcement can be ensured, will make a significant contribution to creating better framework conditions for ambitious start-ups. For Miele, this is imperative; after all, the central slogan of his association is: “We are convinced: Start-ups are the companies of the future.”
In the present, Miele sees Germany’s competitiveness “in the midfield in international comparison, despite the positive development, clearly behind the USA, UK and Sweden too”. This is the result of studies conducted by the association. Accordingly, he appears excited about the comprehensive start-up strategy announced by the German “traffic light” coalition.
Ideally, it should be possible to find more attractive regulations for employee equity participation, to introduce simplified visa rules for skilled workers and strengthen financing options in the growth phase. Then, on this foundation, startups with a “doer attitude” could unleash the potential of startups as societal “problem solvers and innovation drivers”.
For Miele, it’s now round two at the start-up association. Last December, he was elected for a new term of two years. He intends to use this time, how could it be any different, as efficiently as possible: “We’re continuing to step on the gas to provide startups in Germany with better framework conditions.” Julius Schwarzwälder
Should nuclear power and natural gas be classified as sustainable in the EU taxonomy? MEPs from almost all parties want to prevent this – today at noon, the roll call vote on the veto on the Commission proposal will take place. The result is by no means certain, which is mainly due to one political group: the EPP. The spokesman for environmental policy, Peter Liese, assumed yesterday evening that his group would have a majority against the veto. But the party seems divided on the issue, writes Leonie Düngefeld. And the German population is also divided on this issue, as a recent Civey survey commissioned by Table.Media shows.
Yesterday, the European Parliament approved the Digital Markets Act and the Digital Services Act by a large majority. But for the DMA and DSA to take effect, the new regulations must also be enforced. In the future, the EU Commission will bear the main burden of supervising digital companies, something it partly never intended to do in the first place. Now, the authority is undergoing an internal reorganization. At the same time, it is looking for experts. But those are notoriously scarce. Till Hoppe and Falk Steiner have the details.
A multi-billion promise from the G7, the EU’s Global Gateway Initiative and many affirming words: Western countries want to position themselves as Africa’s energetic partners – not least to limit China’s influence on the continent. But Chinese involvement is extremely welcome in Africa. Studies show that the People’s Republic has long since overtaken Europe in some areas, and young Africans now perceive it as the superpower with the most positive influence. Even the debts of African countries to China, which are often discussed in the West, are not considered a major problem by experts, Katja Scherer has learned.
It will be a close call: Today, the European Parliament votes in Strasbourg on whether to label nuclear energy and natural gas projects as sustainable economic activities. Yesterday afternoon, MEPs debated the decision in plenary, and today at noon the roll call vote will take place. An absolute majority is required for a successful veto of the Commission’s proposal. One of the reasons why this could fail is the divided EPP group.
With the second delegated act on the EU taxonomy proposed in January, the Commission wants to designate nuclear energy and natural gas as sustainable economic activities. In March, MEPs from the Greens/EFA and S&D objected to it, formally launching the veto procedure. Then, on May 20, a cross-party alliance of MEPs from the Environment and Economics Committees tabled a resolution. In mid-June, both committees voted in favor of the resolution (Europe.Table reported).
Arguments against the legal act have increased in recent months, said Michael Bloss (Greens/EFA). Gas and nuclear power are inherently unsustainable, he said, and the Commission’s proposal is merely the result of successful lobbying by France, Germany and Russian gas companies. Moreover, the taxonomy was written before the Russian attack on Ukraine and would therefore ignore the current geopolitical situation. Russia would benefit tremendously from the inclusion of natural gas in the taxonomy, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Andriy Melnyk, recently warned (Europe.Table reported).
Another point of criticism is the lack of democratic process surrounding the act. “Parliament has been bypassed in this process,” Bas Eickhout (Greens/EFA) said yesterday during the plenary debate in Strasbourg. “There was no public consultation, the parliament was only invited unofficially.”
Finance Commissioner Mairead McGuinness made it clear in Parliament, “Gas is a fossil fuel, gas is not green.” And yet some member states would need gas and nuclear as interim solutions during the energy transition. But that does not mean there is an obligation to invest in gas or nuclear. “We need all instruments to abandon oil and coal,” said French MEP Gilles Boyer (Renew). “This is the only way to be able to implement the Green Deal in the short term.”
A recent Civey survey commissioned by Table.Media shows: If the EU were to reject the classification of natural gas and nuclear power as sustainable, a very close majority of Germans would consider that to be wrong. Green and SPD voters in particular would support a rejection. Whether nuclear power should be classified as sustainable by the EU divides the Germans. The greatest support comes from the AfD, FDP and CDU/CSU electorates. Germans are also divided over the classification of natural gas as sustainable, but this is rejected by a larger number of respondents.
For the parliamentary veto to be successful, an absolute majority (353 MEPs) would have to vote in favor of the objection. MEPs who are not present will thus count as a vote against. Consequently, the increasing number of Covid cases could also influence the outcome of the vote.
The Greens will vote unanimously for the objection, as will the majority of left-wing MEPs. About 80 percent of the S&D group will support the veto, estimated Dutch MEP Paul Tang. This includes the German and French delegations of the Social Democrats. The Finnish and Romanian MEPs in the group would reject the objection.
The situation is different in the Renew Group: Its group spokeswoman told Europe.Table that a majority of about 70 percent of the group’s members would vote against the objection. “I’m very disappointed with my group at this point,” Swedish MEP Emma Wiesner said at a press conference yesterday. “This is a political product, and it’s been caught in a political ping pong game between Paris and Berlin. And unfortunately, that is also very visible in the Renew group.”
The Renew Group, which includes deputies from Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party (formerly La République En Marche), is considered largely French-dominated. France strongly lobbied for the inclusion of nuclear energy in the EU taxonomy, seeing it as a preferred means of filling the coffers of the financially troubled French energy company EDF. Several MEPs from other political groups cite calculations that French companies would benefit most from the taxonomy.
The position of many EPP deputies remained uncertain until yesterday evening. Luxembourg’s Christophe Hansen was still optimistic before the afternoon plenary debate: “It will be close, but I think we will get a majority.” The CDU/CSU group, in particular, is torn: Environmental policy spokesman Peter Liese, economic policy spokesman Markus Ferber, and Hildegard Bentele campaigned for the objection. Others, such as SME spokesman Markus Pieper, retained their opposition to the veto. Peter Liese’s fear that the majority of his group would ultimately vote against the objection came true in the evening, at least in the internal vote: 107 EPP members spoke in favor of the classification of gas and nuclear energy as sustainable, 31 against.
The rift in the EPP already became clear a little over a month ago, when the party leaders failed to come to an agreement with the other groups on a compromise to reform the European Emissions Trading System (ETS). The first vote in early June went badly wrong, with the Greens and Social Democrats voting against the report by rapporteur Peter Liese. The ETS reform only passed in the second attempt.
A secret ballot would be more conducive to a successful veto, said Christophe Hansen, the influence of the respective national political contexts being very high. Jaroslav Zajíček, Deputy Head of the Permanent Representation of the Czech Republic to the EU and Permanent Representative to Coreper I, also noted this: Member states would lobby their respective MEPs to vote in line with national interests, he said at a press briefing in Brussels.
On Monday, a joint article by French Minister of Energy Agnès Pannier-Runacher and five other ministers from Bulgaria, Croatia, Finland, Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia was published in the French newspaper Les Echos. Including nuclear energy in the EU taxonomy would be crucial in the fight against climate change and energy dependence, it said. Claire Stam, Lukas Scheid and Leonie Düngefeld
In the future, the EU Commission will bear the main burden of supervising digital companies. Under the Digital Markets Act (DMA), it will first designate which companies are to be classified as gatekeepers and then ensure that they comply with the specific rules of conduct. In addition, under the Digital Services Act (DSA), the European Parliament and member states entrusted the Brussels authority with the designation and supervision of very large online platforms (VLOPs) – something the authority initially did not intend.
When the two legal acts take effect after a transitional period, probably next spring, it will essentially be up to the Commission to tame powerful corporations such as Google, Amazon, Facebook/Meta and Apple. The authority wants to do this “with over 100 full-time staff“, as Breton announced yesterday in a LinkedIn post. These are to be drawn internally primarily from the Connect and Competition Directorates-General. In addition, the Commission wants to hire additional external experts.
The European Parliament considers this number far too low. MEPs call for 150 posts to be funded from the EU budget for the DMA alone. And even that will hardly be enough, says rapporteur Andreas Schwab. A separate team would have to take care of every single service that falls under the DMA as a gatekeeper’s “core platform service,” including case handlers, data specialists and other experts. After all, it is expected that among them will be major players with highly complex services, such as YouTube. “Only if we engage in dialogue at eye level can we be sure that EU legislation gets the respect it deserves,” the CDU politician warns.
Consumer advocates fear that Breton and Vice President Margrethe Vestager, who is responsible for competition, are underestimating the dimension of the task. It is “absolutely crucial that the Commission provides the necessary means to enforce the Digital Markets Act,” demands Ursula Pachl, Vice President of the umbrella organization BEUC.
However, Breton’s 2024 projected headcount of more than 100 is not expected to be the end of the line. According to a commission spokesman, the agency estimates it will need at least 150 staff to enforce the DSA, which would require about 80 positions for the DMA. According to the agency’s financial plan, 55 of those positions should be filled internally, with the remaining 25 from outside sources. The Commission intends to pay for the DSA posts, at least in part, from the new supervisory fees that the act imposes on the major platforms and search engines for which the Commission will exercise direct supervision.
The commission is already looking for external expertise, especially from data scientists and algorithm experts, as Breton writes. Such experts are notoriously scarce, as supervisors are now competing in the job market with the very corporations they are supposed to control. Breton, however, is counting on establishing a European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency together with the in-house Joint Research Center. The top experts gathered there are to help the Commission effectively enforce the new accountability requirements for Google, Facebook and others in the DSA.
The Commission is currently undergoing internal reorganization in order to be ready to act at the start of next spring. The DMA requires that experts from the various Directorates-General work closely together. Breton wants to structure the work along the lines of the tasks: The technical team will take care of the interoperability of messenger services, for example, while another team will deal with social issues such as the risk management audits that the major platforms will have to undergo in the future, according to the DSA. The economic team, on the other hand, will address the question of the conditions under which gatekeeper platforms must grant others access to their data. The teams, in turn, are to cooperate closely with each other.
In addition, the Commission also wants to tap the expertise of the member states. According to the DSA, each member state is to designate a supervisory authority (the Digital Services Coordinator) to take the lead in enforcement against the provider located in the respective territory. The DMA, in turn, provides for coordination mechanisms between the Commission and national antitrust authorities. Given the complex interplay, Vestager has announced an implementation strategy. With Falk Steiner
Once again, they have wrested a great promise from each other. The G7 countries want to spend €600 billion to expand infrastructure in developing countries. This was recently announced at their meeting at Schloss Elmau.
The EU is at the forefront of this project. It wants to raise half of the money pledged, €100 billion more than the USA. And that’s not the only promise Brussels has recently made to poorer countries – especially in Africa. “Together we can build a more prosperous, peaceful, and sustainable future for all,” EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has said repeatedly in her speeches. In February, she announced €150 billion in investments at the EU-Africa summit. The European Global Gateway initiative also has a strong focus on Africa, for example with a new submarine cable between the continents.
These efforts aim to counter China’s growing influence on the African continent. In doing so, the West relies on a simple narrative: The EU is fundamentally the better partner for Africa, European politicians and institutions repeatedly emphasize. Unlike China, the EU builds high-quality infrastructure, does not drive countries into debt, and works closely with the local population. “It is up to us to give the world a positive, strong investment impulse,” von der Leyen said at the G7 meeting. “This is how we show our partners in the developing world that they have a choice.” That this choice is not automatically pro-EU, however, is often overlooked in the West.
Contrary to what is portrayed in Europe, China is not perceived as a bad partner in Africa – on the contrary. A recent study commissioned by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation shows: China has surpassed Europe in infrastructure projects and commodity trade with Africa. A majority of 1,600 decision-makers surveyed on the continent praised China’s quick decisions, rapid implementation of projects, and Beijing’s non-interference in domestic affairs.
Europe’s belief in the superiority of its own values contrasts with Africans’ sober view of Chinese achievements, says Stefan Schott, Project Director of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation in East Africa. “To put it simply: A road that is completed after a short construction period by the Chinese is also a value in the perception of Africans and more concrete than some European projects to promote democracy, human rights or sustainability.”
A recent study by the South African Ichikowitz Family Foundation draws a similar conclusion. It states that young Africans now perceive China as the major power with the most positive influence in Africa – for the first time, the People’s Republic is ahead of the USA and Europe. 76 percent of 4,500 young people surveyed in 15 countries like the fact that China is bringing them new roads, modern smartphones, and new job opportunities. “There is no question that China is the dominant player in Africa today,” said Ivor Ichikowitz, South African entrepreneur and founder of the Family Foundation. “Overall, we are seeing a much more positive approach to China, that’s going to drive a lot more engagement with China.”
China has a newcomer bonus in Africa, says Tom Bayes, explaining the results of the study. Bayes is an independent Africa-China researcher who recently studied the narratives China uses to expand its influence in Africa for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. Beijing is perceived by many in Africa as a role model and development partner, he says. “When China announces new ventures, it gets a lot of attention – even though Europe and the US have been doing similar things on a larger scale for years.” Africa is a good market for Beijing to sell domestic overproduction, such as industrial goods, Bayes believes. “But China does a much better job than the EU of selling African countries on its own interests as an equal partnership.”
Among other things, there are historical reasons for this. While the West is still burdened with its colonial heritage, cooperation with China has been rather positive from the beginning. As early as the 1970s, China invested in the continent and, for example, expanded the railroad line between Tanzania and Zambia, writes the Tanzanian newspaper The Citizen. Tanzania and Zambia tried in vain to get Western support for the construction. Then the Chinese arrived and were received by Zambia’s then-president Kenneth Kaunda “as friends, as comrades with common struggle,” a narrative that China maintains to this day.
In addition, China is learning fast. The quality of Chinese construction projects had been a problem ten years ago, says Bayes. Now, that is no longer the case. Beijing is also trying to defuse the accusation that China is bringing too many of its workers to Africa. “For example, China has recently been building more education centers in Africa and bringing African students to China on scholarships.”
Cobus van Staden, a foreign policy expert at the South African Institute of International Affairs and co-host of the renowned “China in Africa Podcast,” agrees. He confirms that poor quality is hardly an issue in Chinese construction projects anymore. Rather, he says, China has set new standards in terms of how quickly projects can be implemented. The expert also considers the Western view of African countries’ debts to China to be exaggerated. “It’s true that it’s a problem in individual countries, for example in Zambia or Angola,” he says. “But it’s not the only source of debt problems on the continent.” Some debts to Western donors also caused trouble.
China is also currently taking its relations with Africa to a new level. This became clear at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (China.Table reported) in November, an important summit that has been held every three years since the turn of the millennium. “In the future, we will see fewer large infrastructure projects and more political and technological cooperation between China and Africa,” says Foreign Policy Expert Cobus van Staden. He says that means the countries will try harder to find a common position in international organizations such as the UN. And they will strengthen their cooperation in the areas of Internet expansion, satellite navigation, and digitization.
There could also be direct competition between China and the EU in the development of green technologies in Africa in the future. “China has built up a lot of expertise in solar and wind energy in recent years and has a keen interest in exporting it,” says Africa-China expert Tom Bayes. At the same time, the EU is trying to position itself as Africa’s partner in the expansion of renewable energy.
The EU should pay even closer attention to the impact of grand gestures in these efforts, Bayes advises. The EU’s long refusal to release Covid vaccine patents, for example, has gone down very badly in Africa. The Global Gateway Initiative, on the other hand, is a good step toward more cooperation. However, Africa is still waiting for concrete plans, says van Staden.
The EU must listen carefully to what African countries want – and not use its own high standards to exclude certain countries and projects per se. Becoming a pawn between China and Europe, for example, is not in Africa’s interest, van Staden stresses. “There is a lot of need for development in Africa. We need all partners.” Katja Scherer
How he became a figurehead and voice of the German start-up scene? Christian Miele points to his two core virtues: “I’ve been guided in my life by curiosity and my gut feeling.” These two guardrails have led him away from the family business – yes, it’s the Mieles who manufacture the electrical appliances – and into the world of startups. During his time working for the investment company Rocket Internet in Berlin, he completely fell for the start-up mentality: “Solving problems, trying out innovative solutions and working with full vigor toward a goal. I knew: This is where I can develop to my full potential.”
Miele founded, looked around at other startups, sold again. Today, he focuses on two positions: His investor activities as a partner at the globally operating venture capital firm Headline, and his honorary position as Chairman of the Board at the German Startups Association.
Miele is convinced that “courage and a willingness to take risks must be rewarded” – he is doubly committed to this because of his two-pronged occupation. At Headline, he supports and advises up-and-coming companies on specific concerns. As a stakeholder at the Start-up Association, his goal is to achieve beneficial conditions for the entire German start-up landscape by bundling and articulating the interests of 1,200 members.
For Miele, the Digital Market Act (DMA) is a step in the right direction, which he sees as a path toward “more equal opportunities with a view to the platform economy,” because “both German and European startups and scaleups have too often been held back by large tech giants in the past”.
The DMA, provided its enforcement can be ensured, will make a significant contribution to creating better framework conditions for ambitious start-ups. For Miele, this is imperative; after all, the central slogan of his association is: “We are convinced: Start-ups are the companies of the future.”
In the present, Miele sees Germany’s competitiveness “in the midfield in international comparison, despite the positive development, clearly behind the USA, UK and Sweden too”. This is the result of studies conducted by the association. Accordingly, he appears excited about the comprehensive start-up strategy announced by the German “traffic light” coalition.
Ideally, it should be possible to find more attractive regulations for employee equity participation, to introduce simplified visa rules for skilled workers and strengthen financing options in the growth phase. Then, on this foundation, startups with a “doer attitude” could unleash the potential of startups as societal “problem solvers and innovation drivers”.
For Miele, it’s now round two at the start-up association. Last December, he was elected for a new term of two years. He intends to use this time, how could it be any different, as efficiently as possible: “We’re continuing to step on the gas to provide startups in Germany with better framework conditions.” Julius Schwarzwälder
