When the EU Commission formally adopts the progress reports with the recommendations today, the focus should be entirely on Ukraine. However, yesterday’s discussions continued on a side stage until the very end. The heads of cabinet of the 27 EU Commissioners were also unable to agree on Tuesday whether Bosnia-Herzegovina should now also be given the green light to start accession negotiations.
In Ukraine, however, the surprise effect has long since fizzled out following Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Kyiv at the weekend. She had expressly praised Ukraine’s efforts to join the EU. As expected, the EU Commission will recommend starting accession negotiations with Ukraine. Kyiv has not met all seven conditions in full. In particular, there are still deficits in the fight against corruption, judicial reform and minority rights. However, Ukraine should still be able to make up for this before negotiations can begin in March, it is said.
The recommendation corresponds to a “yes, but,” diplomats say. This is a concession to the member states, who have to agree at the December summit before things can actually get underway. In Ukraine’s wake, Moldova has also received a positiverecommendation and can therefore hope to start accession negotiations in the spring.
Still lagging behind but at least one place ahead is Georgia, whichis to be granted candidate status. The decision was controversial for a long time, as the pro-Russian government in Tbilisi has shown little commitment to reform. However, the positive signal takes the strongly pro-European sentiment among the population into account, which should not be discouraged.
The picture is much more mixed in the reports on the Balkan states, where there has been more regression than progress in some cases and the blockade in the dialog between Serbia and Kosovo is having a negative impact. The decision on Bosnia and Herzegovina is to be taken today in the College. If the accession process were purely “merit based,” as is always emphasized, the case would be clear. But today, enlargement policy is also geopolitics. Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Italy, among others, are to press through their Commissioners not to leave a fragmented Bosnia-Herzegovina in a dangerous vacuum.
The EU finance ministers will make another attempt in Brussels on Thursday to reach an agreement on the planned new debt rules. The basis for the ministers’ talks is a revised document from the Spanish Council Presidency, which outlines potential lines of agreement for the four “landing zones” and is available to Table.Media.
According to the document, multi-annual country-specific budgets are to be drawn up for all member states, as proposed by the EU Commission. These should be designed in such a way that they guarantee a solid budget policy and credible debt reduction over the period. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner in particular is insisting on this. To this end, the Spanish Presidency is proposing a series of accompanying protective measures, including debt sustainability, minimum debt reduction and protection of deficit resilience.
Debt reduction of 0.5 GDP points
With a view to lasting budget sustainability, the document states that for member states with a deficit of more than three percent of gross domestic product (GDP), consolidation should be ensured with an annual structural primary adjustment of at least 0.5 percentage points of GDP. This will continue until the excessive deficit has been corrected and applies without prejudice to the provisions of the regulation on the corrective component of the new fiscal framework.
Concerning the minimum debt reduction, Madrid proposes that as long as a state has a debt ratio of more than 60 percent of GDP, budget planning must ensure that the debt ratio is reduced by the end of the adjustment period. The debt reduction is to be achieved via an annual minimum target in percentage points of GDP, which has yet to be defined.
Safety margin for new debt
Spain is also proposing a basic safety margin for a sound budgetary policy in order to ensure that new debt remains at a sufficient distance from the limit of three percent of GDP. This margin should apply to all countries, regardless of their level of debt, and therefore also to countries that are credibly reducing their debt or acting cautiously about their deficit. According to observers, however, this may not suit every member state, as the safety margin, depending on its size, can massively restrict budgetary room for maneuvering.
Concerning the fiscal space for investment and reform incentives, the Presidency adopts the Commission’s approach of being able to extendthe medium-term budget from four to seven years. “Reforms and investments that strengthen growth and resilience play a key role in ensuring long-term debt sustainability while taking the EU’s strategic priorities into account,” it says. Madrid also explicitly refers to higher defense spending. When initiating excessive deficit procedures, an increase in state defense investment is to be “explicitly taken into account as a specific, relevant factor.”
Working group to examine the Commission’s analysis
In order to safeguard the institutional balance, Spain is proposing not only increased transparency but also the establishment of a special working group on the methodology of debt sustainability analysis (DSA). This is to include national experts as well as representatives of the Commission, the ECB and the European Fiscal Board. The Commission’s DSA approach is to be the starting point for the working group. However, the working group should examine possible methodological improvements for later plans, including the underlying assumptions, and submit proposals if necessary.
In addition, the European Fiscal Board is to be established as a permanent body in the regulation of the preventive component. Furthermore, Madrid wants to strengthen the Committee’s independence and access to information.
New dynamics in the negotiations
There is no change in the initiation of deficit procedures. If a country’s new debt exceeds the limit of three percent of GDP, the correction path for net expenditure must show an annual structural primary adjustment of at least 0.5 percentage points of GDP. The Brussels Commission had also advocated the initiation of excessive debt procedures. These deficit procedures are now to be adapted to the new framework.
In the run-up to the Ecofin meeting, diplomats clarified that the negotiations had recently gained momentum. We will certainly have to wait and see what is said at Ecofin, but a convergence of positions cannot be ruled out so that the Council Presidency can start work on the draft legislation. For Germany, it was particularly important that Spain had included the safety margin for the deficit in the document to ensure a credible and sustainably sound budgetary policy. Contribution: Till Hoppe
The agreement came faster than expected – after just four hours of negotiations in the trilogue procedure. However, there was no real delight in the European Parliament on Tuesday. This is because the now-agreed new rules for political advertising on the Internet will not come into force in time for the European elections.
This misses a key objective of the EU Commission’s 2021 regulation on transparency and targeting of political advertising. It was intended to safeguard the election against manipulation and external interference and help prevent abuse such as that perpetrated by Cambridge Analytica. Nothing will come of it now.
If Parliament and the Council approve the agreement as expected, the new regulation will probably not take effect until 2025 – 18 months after publication in the Official Journal. According to the Council, the national authorities will not be able to adapt to the new rules any faster. “A great disappointment,” many in Parliament complain.
Mandatory labeling for political advertising
What has been agreed? In the future, political advertising on the Internet must be labeled as such. It must be made transparent who has financed it. There will also be a European database in which all online advertising will be recorded. The European Parliament sees this as a great success.
Actors from third countries are no longer allowed to place or finance political advertising before elections or referendums. A deadline of three months has been set. This will make it more difficult for foreign actors to spread misinformation in Europe and intervene in democratic processes, explained the rapporteur in the European Parliament, Sandro Gozi (Renew).
There was much controversy over targeting – i.e. how precisely advertising may be tailored to specific target groups. The member states were able to assert themselves here. The EU is sticking to the principle of consent. Users must therefore continue to give their consent if their data is tobe collected by political providers.
No targeting on sexual orientation and religion
However, some improvements will be introduced. For example, there will be a ban on targeting sensitive data such as sexual orientation, health or religion. This ban will apply to all players in the supply chain, and not just to platforms as in the DSA.
Data from third-party providers may no longer be used for political targeting. Anyone who does not want to see targeted advertising from political parties or other political players simply has to switch on the do-not-track function in their browser. A separate opt-out is no longer necessary.
But what is the EU’s definition of political advertising? This was also the subject of lengthy discussions between the institutions. According to the agreement, it refers to all commercial messages on behalf of political actors that are intended to influence voting behavior at local, national or European levels.
Communications industry has questions
However, political opinions and personal views expressed in online forums are not affected. Journalistic works in which, for example, a candidacy for an electoral office is announced should also not be considered political advertising – provided they are not sponsored by political actors.
Despite these clarifications, there are still unanswered questions from an industry perspective that could delay implementation. For example, Claudia Canelles Quaroni from the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) warns that it is unclear how the rules on targeting could be implemented.
“It is crucial to ensure sufficient clarity so that publishers of political advertising can properly implement the new EU rules on advertising without compromising freedom of expression during elections,” said Quaroni. The technical details will have to be discussed in the coming weeks.
Better protection in the upcoming federal election
The EU Commission is satisfied. The new regulation will enable citizens to “recognize messages intended to influence their political views and decisions,” explained the Brussels authority. It did not address the problem that the new EU law comes too late for the European elections.
For René Repasi MEP from the SPD, this is a major “downer.” The important ban on foreign interference will not come in June 2024. However, the measures for the non-discriminatory provision of cross-border political advertising (including for European political parties and groups) are already taking effect, said Repasi.
His colleague Alexandra Geese from the Green Party is already looking ahead to the next general election. “Voters will be better protected against manipulation in the next general election because sensitive data such as sexual orientation, religion or political views can no longer be used to send out targeted political advertising,” she told Table.Media.
However, the restrictions on targeting did not go far enough, explained Geese. It will still be possible for the same party to play out contradictory advertising messages such as “Right of way for combustion engines” to men in rural regions and “We protect the climate” to young women in large cities. Nevertheless, the new regulation is a step in the right direction.
Desinformation
European election 2024
News
Suspected corruption: Portugal’s head of government Costa resigns
The Portuguese head of government António Costa has unexpectedly resigned due to corruption investigations by the judiciary against him and other members of the government. Costa said in a brief statement on Tuesday that President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had accepted his resignation. “As I understand it, the position of prime minister is not compatible with any suspicion about his integrity or good conduct and certainly not with any suspicion of having committed a criminal act,” the 62-year-old said. He had been “surprised” in the morning by the news that the investigation was also directed at him. He also emphasized his innocence. “I am closing this phase with a clear conscience,” said the socialist.
Portuguese police had searched more than 40 homes and offices this morning, including Costa’s residence. According to media reports, five people were arrested, including Costa’s Cabinet Chief Vítor Escaría. The state news agency Lusa and the state TV station RTP reported suspicions of illegal practices such as bribery and taking advantage in the awarding of concessions for lithium mining in Montalegre and the production of so-called green hydrogen near the city of Sines.
Strong economy and social action
Costa’s resignation is an abrupt interruption to a success story that has lasted almost eight years. It was only in January last year that Costa and his Socialist Party (PS) won an absolute majority in Lisbon’s national parliament, the Assembleia da República. Most recently, the Socialist was considered a possible candidate for the post of President of the European Council after the European elections.
Many voters attributed the country’s strong economic growth following the euro crisis to the socialist Costa. The unemployment rate has fallen rapidly and recently stood at just over six percent. Costa’s government increased the monthly minimum wage from €505 to €820. Costa managed the balancing act of showing social responsibility while also consolidating the once ailing state finances. Between 2020 and 2022 alone, the relative national debt in relation to gross domestic product was reduced from around 135% to just under 114%.
Rebelo de Sousa can now appoint an interim head of government and dissolve parliament. There will then have to be a new election. Its outcome was initially challenging to predict. Until Tuesday morning, Costa was considered the favorite in the next regular parliamentaryelection, which was not expected until 2026, according to polls. dpa
Grüner Wasserstoff
EU Parliament calls for fossil fuel subsidies to be halted by 2025
On Tuesday, the EU Parliament’s Environment Committee adopted a resolution by a large majority setting out MEPs’ demands for the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai at the end of the month (COP28). In it, they call for an end to direct and indirect subsidies for fossil fuels at both EU and national levels “as soon as possible, but no later than 2025.” The member states also want to work towards an end to fossil fuel subsidies in Dubai but did not set a date in their negotiating mandate.
The EU’s environmental and climate politicians are also calling for the Loss and Damage Fund to be made operational in Dubai, with all major emitters, including the EU countries, providing funds for the countries most affected by climate change. It also supports a global target for tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030 and calls for a “tangible phase-out of fossil fuels as soon as possible.”
A delegation of MEPs is taking part in the international climate negotiations at COP28 as an observer. However, negotiations take place within the circle of states, which is why Parliament’s position is merely an appeal. In Dubai, the MEPs also want to take part in the daily coordination meetings of the EU countries for the first time, where strategic negotiating decisions are made during the COP. The resolution still has to be confirmed in the November plenary session (November 20-23). luk
Commission wants to make combined transport more attractive
Freight transports in which trucks only cover a small part of the route, with ships and trains covering the rest, are to be promoted more in the future. This is provided for in the Commission’s legislative proposal for intermodal transport. This intermodal transport – also known as combined transport – is to become more efficient and competitive. The Commission proposes to promote combined transport if the negative external costs of road transport are reduced by at least 40 percent. Negative external costs include noise and environmental emissions.
Providers must demonstrate thereduction of negative external costs by at least 40 percent on digitalplatforms set up as part of the regulation on electronic freight transport information (eFTI). In addition, the member states are to be obliged to reduce the average costs of combined transport for door-to-door deliveries by at least ten percent over the next seven years. Combined transport is also to be made more attractive for freight forwarders by exempting trucks on feeder services to freight transshipment points by rail or ship from temporary driving bans.
Temporary exemptions from driving bans
The Combined Transport Directive dates back to 1992 and the Commission failed twice to reform it. It had to withdraw its proposals from 1998 and 2017 because the co-legislators could not reach an agreement.
Markus Ferber (CSU), member of the Transport Committee: “What we need now is momentum, speed and lean regulation.” Improvements to the definition of combined transport, the conditions for competitiveness and fewer gray areas are a good approach. Ferber also praised the proposal to exempt HGVs in combined transport from temporary driving bans: “Neither watering down nor a policy of bans will help combined transport to move from a niche to the limelight.” mgr
VDMA boss questions subsidies for German steel industry
The President of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) is questioning state subsidies for the transformation of steel manufacturers in Germany. “We need to think about the basic materials industry from a European perspective and not primarily from a German one,” said Karl Haeusgen in Berlin on Tuesday. There is far more green energy available in southern Spain or Scandinavia than in Salzgitter, Duisburg or Saarlouis, he said. The question could thus be “How appropriate it is for individual companies to be supported in their green transformation at these locations.”
The German government wants to provide massive support to domestic steel companies such as Thyssen-Krupp in decarbonizing their production. In July, the EU Commission approved aid of up to €2 billion to help Thyssen-Krupp convert to clean hydrogen at its Duisburg site. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck recently emphasized in his industrial strategy: “The transformation should take place here in Germany.”
Wind turbines as an element of sovereignty
Haeusgen counters that, given the cross-border supply chains in the EU internal market, it makes no differenceto customers “whether I buy this steel in Northern Europe, Western Europe or Southern Europe.” Europe’s great strength, the close networking of companies, is not tied to Germany. In addition, job cuts at individual locations would no longer have such a dramatic impact as in the past due to the capacity of the labor market to absorb them. “That’s why we should have a little more courage to embrace structural change.”
Haeusgen also spoke out in favor of considering wind turbines as a building block for the EU’s strategic autonomy and as relevant to security. If components from Chinese suppliers such as Huawei were no longer allowed to be installed in routers, then “Chinese wind turbines in the energy generation grid would be downright grotesque,” he argued. Moreover, China has forced foreign manufacturers out of its market. tho
Energy price brake: DIHK calls for greater relief
SMEs and the energy industry are strongly criticizing the announced extension of the European energy price brake for companies. Many companies have already reached their maximum limits of possible relief, said Deputy DIHK Managing Director Achim Dercks to Table.Media yesterday. “This applies in particular to many medium-sized industrial companies that are suffering from high energy prices. For these companies, an extension of the price brake without a European adjustment of the aid framework will not lead to any further relief.”
Ministry of Economic Affairs sees one requirement fulfilled
“Among other things, the extended TCTF is also the basis and prerequisite for an application to extend the energy price brake,” confirmed a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday. The extension of the German energy price brake must also be approved by the Commission under state aid law.
Meanwhile, the municipal utilities association VKU believes that it is not feasible to implement this nationwide on time. To make matters worse, it is unclear from the EU Commission’s proposal whether and what adjustments will be made to the content, said VKU Managing Director Ingbert Liebing in a statement yesterday. The extension process will probably continue well into December.
SMEs and households also affected
It is also unclear how many companies would even benefit from the brake in view of the renewed fall in electricity and gas prices. An extension would be an insurance policy for the economy as a whole to cushion the risks of high energy prices over the winter, said Dercks. Energy expert Hanns Koenig from Aurora Energy Research takes a different view: “I would assume that an extension would only benefit very few companies, if at all.”
The BDI sees certain companies affected. “Companies whose contracts expired during last year’s high price periods and which had to conclude expensive follow-up contracts could well continue to have a significant need to compensate for their energy costs,” said Carsten Rolle, Head of the Energy and Climate Policy Department, yesterday.
However, the Commission’s announcement does not only affect the energy-intensive industry. The TCTF section on “limited amounts of aid” will also be extended. The German energy price brake for SMEs with amounts of up to €2 million is based on this. The Commission has significantly lower requirements for this segment than for large companies. According to the BMWK, the relief for households is also linked to the TCTF – although there are also differing assessments on this in Brussels. ber
Gaspreise
Report: A quarter of ‘carbon bombs’ financed by EU companies
At least 107 of the world’s 425 largest fossil fuel extraction projects are operated by EU-based companies such as Total Energies, Shell, RWE and ENI or financed by major European banks. This is shown in a report published on Tuesday by CAN Europe, Friends of the Earth Europe and other civil society organizations. They are calling for legally binding climate targets for companies and the EU financial sector in the EU Due Diligence and Corporate Social Responsibility Directive (CSDDD).
The 425 projects known as “carbon bombs” were identified in a study in 2022. They each have the potential to release more than one gigaton of carbon (GtCO₂). According to IPCC research, the remaining carbon budget for a 50% probability of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is around 500 gigatons of carbon dioxide. For a two-degree scenario, the figure is 1,150 gigatons.
Due diligence law should oblige companies to transition plans
The involvement of EU companies and banks in these projects undermines the EU’s goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, as a large proportion of the emissions are returned to the EU as Scope 3 emissions, the report states. The projected total emissions of the 107 projects associated with the EU alone amount to 333.9 GtCO₂ after extraction and combustion. This is 17 times the emissions that the EU is allowed to emit by 2030.
The projects mentioned include the Athabasca oil sands project in Canada, in which at least 15 companies from the EU are involved as investors, including BNP Paribas, Shell plc and Total Energies SE. The report also lists other oil and gas fields in Libya, Kazakhstan, Norway and Argentina.
The NGOs are calling for these projects to be stopped. The fact that the majority of these projects are located outside Europe should not be used as an excuse for inaction. They are also calling for an obligation for companies in the EU to define credible transition plans with concrete and absolute emission reduction targets in line with the Paris Agreement in the EU Due Diligence Act.
The Due Diligence Act is currently negotiated in Brussels. Unlike the EU Commission and the Council, the Parliament is also calling for climate transition plans for companies. The next high-level trilogue meeting will take place on November 22. According to information from Table.Media, an agreement could be reached at this meeting or by early December at the latest. leo
Grid operators demand better framework conditions
European telecommunications companies hope that the Digital Networks Act (DNA) announced by the Internal Market Commissioner will improve their competitive situation. However, they fear that it will come too late. The cost of capital is higher than the return on investment, said Christel Heydemann, CEO of Orange. “Something is wrong with the set-up,” added Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges at an event organized by the FT and the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) on the state of the industry in Europe.
The fact that the market capitalization of European telecommunications companies has fallen so dramatically is not due to bad managers who have not invested enough, said Höttges. The reason was the fundamentally wrong framework conditions. The USA had a lively digital dynamic and there was also a master plan in Asia. Europe is in a sandwich situation. There are too many players in competition, excessive bureaucracy, no fair share of network costs for internet providers and no market consolidation. No sustainable infrastructurecan be created on this basis.
Consolidation and scaling as a possible solution
To illustrate this, industry representatives repeatedly referred to the example of Luxembourg (population around 650,000) with four different mobile network providers. In China, a mobile network operator has an average of around 450 million customers, in the USA there are 110 million customers and in Europe just five million, calculated Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global. The 110 mobile network operators in Europe all bought the same equipment at the same price and set up separate networks. “It’s unbelievable how inefficient this is,” said Fries. Making it more difficult for providers to merge is not a well-thought-out regulatory approach, he added. “In our opinion, industry-wide consolidation and scaling would be a possible solution to these challenges.”
The announced Digital Network Act is a good thing, Heydemann said. “But if we have to wait two years, many operators will be taken over or split up by foreign investors and many investments will not take place.” Speed is thus of the essence. Currently, network operators are still regulated by 27 different countries. What is missing is a single European market for telecommunications, said Höttges. And a different awareness: The supposedly monopolistic network operators are only dwarfs in the digital age. vis
LobbyControl calls for Amazon break-up
LobbyControl is calling for Amazon to beunbundled under ownership law. The Cologne-based association presented a legal opinion to this effect on Tuesday. “We believe that breaking up the company is necessary and also possible under German antitrust law,” said Max Bank, Campaigner at LobbyControl at the presentation of the report.
The NGO refers to the Competition Enforcement Act, which came into force on Monday. This 11th amendment to the Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB) provides the German Cartel Office with new instruments to enforce fair competition. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck called it the biggest reform of competition law since Ludwig Erhard. LobbyControl is calling for these instruments to be applied to Amazon.
Amazon as a ‘threat to democracy’
Kim Künstner, an expert in antitrust law and author of the report, believes that unbundling Amazon is appropriate from a competition perspective alone. Amazon’s five business areas – retail, marketplace, cloud services, smart home products and logistics – are strongly interlinked. This leads to conflicts of interest and unfair trading practices. In addition, there are “overall social consequences of Amazon’s conduct” such as the company’s great political lobbying power, data protection problems, tax avoidance and working conditions in the company’s logistics centers. LobbyControl considers this to be a “threat to democracy.”
Max Bank from LobbyControl sees an international trend towards stricter competition monitoring, meaning that breaking up large corporations “is no longer completely absurd.” In fact, the US competition authority, the FTC, is currently conducting proceedings against the company for market manipulation. The European Commission, in turn, has classified Amazon as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) – with the corresponding obligations.
Unbundling already an issue in the EU
Expert Künstner sees parallels in the EU Commission’s dealings with Google in the area of advertising technology. The EU Commission bases its threat to unbundle Google’s ownership in the online advertising market on the need to eliminate an “inherent conflict of interest”, according to the report.
Overall, however, the European stance is too cautious, says Bank. “The Cartel Office can play a pioneering role and thus promote a trend reversal in Europe.” av, vis
Amazon
Competition policy
Competition procedure
SpaceX to launch European satellites into space
The European Union has reached a tentative deal with the company SpaceX that its Falcon 9 rockets will help launch four Galileo navigation satellites. This was announced by European officials on Tuesday. According to EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, the deal is worth €180 million.
The agreement spans two launches, scheduled for April and July next year, carrying two satellites each, Breton told reporters in Seville, Spain, following EU ministerial talks on competitiveness in space yesterday. However, the agreement with SpaceX is still subject to approval.
The background to the deal is capacity problems in Europe. These were triggered by delays to the Ariane 6 launcher, a grounding for the smaller Italian Vega-C following a failed launch in 2022, and the loss of access to Russian Soyuz rockets as a result of the Ukraine conflict.
SpaceX also launches Hera research probe
The European Space Agency (ESA), which includes most EU states, had already approached Elon Musk’s SpaceX last year to launch its Euclid space telescope,which will investigate evidence of dark matter and dark energy in the universe.
In 2024, the private US company will also launch Europe’s scientific Hera probe, a follow-up mission to NASA’s DART spacecraft, which last year succeeded in altering the path of a moonlet satellite in the first test of a future planetary defense system. rtr
Heads
Jakob Greiner – The voice of Telekom in Brussels
Jakob Greiner is Vice President European Affairs at Deutsche Telekom.
According to them, European telecommunications companies have a problem: they lack the money to expand the network to reach the ambitious targets the EU Commission has set up for 2030. As head of Deutsche Telekom’s Brussels office, Jakob Greiner represents the interests of the European telecommunications groupwith the highest turnover – and is campaigning for reforms in his sector. From the company’s point of view, the market is too fragmented and too heavily regulated, explains Greiner. He hopes for changes in the coming years: “The Commission has recognized the problem, now concrete measures must follow,” says the 41-year-old.
Greiner is a lawyer, studied in Munich and Bayreuth and specialized in European law. He went to Brussels for the first time in 2012 as a parliamentary assistant to CSU MEP Monika Hohlmeier. He is fascinated by the mixture of law and politics: “I wouldn’t have experienced this if I had ended up in a law firm or the legal department of a company,” says Greiner. “Nothing is more political than the European Parliament.”
‘You get stuck in Brussels’
After almost three years in politics, the lawyer moves to the business world, to the office of Deutsche Telekom. He stays in Brussels. “First you go to Brussels for two or three years,” says Greiner. “Then you stick around because the subject matter is so exciting.” Today, he works at the Group headquarters in Bonn and is only in Brussels every two to three weeks. Half a dozen employees there work for the interests of Deutsche Telekom.
EU Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton announced reforms in the telecommunications sector in October. The proposal for the Digital Networks Act (DNA) is not yet on the table. However, Breton spoke in favor of more concentration in the market and larger European telecommunications groups, so-called European champions. Large companies such as Telekom would benefit from such a reform. “It’s also about the necessary scaling thesector needs to make the necessary investments that we need to expand the network,” says Jakob Greiner.
Faster network expansion
By 2030, all households in the EU should be connected to the fiber optic network and the mobile 5G network should be available nationwide. It is crucial that Europe does not fall behind the USA and China, explains Greiner: “If we have an ailing infrastructure, this will also have a direct impact on the competitiveness of European companies.”
To speed up the expansion of the network, the EU is working on the Gigabit InfrastructureAct, which aims to accelerate approval procedures, among other things. According to the Parliament’s draft, authorities will only have two months to obtain approval. “We would be absolutely happy with that,” says Jakob Greiner and warns: Member states must not put the brakes on the reforms now. Jana Hemmersmeier
When the EU Commission formally adopts the progress reports with the recommendations today, the focus should be entirely on Ukraine. However, yesterday’s discussions continued on a side stage until the very end. The heads of cabinet of the 27 EU Commissioners were also unable to agree on Tuesday whether Bosnia-Herzegovina should now also be given the green light to start accession negotiations.
In Ukraine, however, the surprise effect has long since fizzled out following Ursula von der Leyen’s visit to Kyiv at the weekend. She had expressly praised Ukraine’s efforts to join the EU. As expected, the EU Commission will recommend starting accession negotiations with Ukraine. Kyiv has not met all seven conditions in full. In particular, there are still deficits in the fight against corruption, judicial reform and minority rights. However, Ukraine should still be able to make up for this before negotiations can begin in March, it is said.
The recommendation corresponds to a “yes, but,” diplomats say. This is a concession to the member states, who have to agree at the December summit before things can actually get underway. In Ukraine’s wake, Moldova has also received a positiverecommendation and can therefore hope to start accession negotiations in the spring.
Still lagging behind but at least one place ahead is Georgia, whichis to be granted candidate status. The decision was controversial for a long time, as the pro-Russian government in Tbilisi has shown little commitment to reform. However, the positive signal takes the strongly pro-European sentiment among the population into account, which should not be discouraged.
The picture is much more mixed in the reports on the Balkan states, where there has been more regression than progress in some cases and the blockade in the dialog between Serbia and Kosovo is having a negative impact. The decision on Bosnia and Herzegovina is to be taken today in the College. If the accession process were purely “merit based,” as is always emphasized, the case would be clear. But today, enlargement policy is also geopolitics. Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and Italy, among others, are to press through their Commissioners not to leave a fragmented Bosnia-Herzegovina in a dangerous vacuum.
The EU finance ministers will make another attempt in Brussels on Thursday to reach an agreement on the planned new debt rules. The basis for the ministers’ talks is a revised document from the Spanish Council Presidency, which outlines potential lines of agreement for the four “landing zones” and is available to Table.Media.
According to the document, multi-annual country-specific budgets are to be drawn up for all member states, as proposed by the EU Commission. These should be designed in such a way that they guarantee a solid budget policy and credible debt reduction over the period. German Finance Minister Christian Lindner in particular is insisting on this. To this end, the Spanish Presidency is proposing a series of accompanying protective measures, including debt sustainability, minimum debt reduction and protection of deficit resilience.
Debt reduction of 0.5 GDP points
With a view to lasting budget sustainability, the document states that for member states with a deficit of more than three percent of gross domestic product (GDP), consolidation should be ensured with an annual structural primary adjustment of at least 0.5 percentage points of GDP. This will continue until the excessive deficit has been corrected and applies without prejudice to the provisions of the regulation on the corrective component of the new fiscal framework.
Concerning the minimum debt reduction, Madrid proposes that as long as a state has a debt ratio of more than 60 percent of GDP, budget planning must ensure that the debt ratio is reduced by the end of the adjustment period. The debt reduction is to be achieved via an annual minimum target in percentage points of GDP, which has yet to be defined.
Safety margin for new debt
Spain is also proposing a basic safety margin for a sound budgetary policy in order to ensure that new debt remains at a sufficient distance from the limit of three percent of GDP. This margin should apply to all countries, regardless of their level of debt, and therefore also to countries that are credibly reducing their debt or acting cautiously about their deficit. According to observers, however, this may not suit every member state, as the safety margin, depending on its size, can massively restrict budgetary room for maneuvering.
Concerning the fiscal space for investment and reform incentives, the Presidency adopts the Commission’s approach of being able to extendthe medium-term budget from four to seven years. “Reforms and investments that strengthen growth and resilience play a key role in ensuring long-term debt sustainability while taking the EU’s strategic priorities into account,” it says. Madrid also explicitly refers to higher defense spending. When initiating excessive deficit procedures, an increase in state defense investment is to be “explicitly taken into account as a specific, relevant factor.”
Working group to examine the Commission’s analysis
In order to safeguard the institutional balance, Spain is proposing not only increased transparency but also the establishment of a special working group on the methodology of debt sustainability analysis (DSA). This is to include national experts as well as representatives of the Commission, the ECB and the European Fiscal Board. The Commission’s DSA approach is to be the starting point for the working group. However, the working group should examine possible methodological improvements for later plans, including the underlying assumptions, and submit proposals if necessary.
In addition, the European Fiscal Board is to be established as a permanent body in the regulation of the preventive component. Furthermore, Madrid wants to strengthen the Committee’s independence and access to information.
New dynamics in the negotiations
There is no change in the initiation of deficit procedures. If a country’s new debt exceeds the limit of three percent of GDP, the correction path for net expenditure must show an annual structural primary adjustment of at least 0.5 percentage points of GDP. The Brussels Commission had also advocated the initiation of excessive debt procedures. These deficit procedures are now to be adapted to the new framework.
In the run-up to the Ecofin meeting, diplomats clarified that the negotiations had recently gained momentum. We will certainly have to wait and see what is said at Ecofin, but a convergence of positions cannot be ruled out so that the Council Presidency can start work on the draft legislation. For Germany, it was particularly important that Spain had included the safety margin for the deficit in the document to ensure a credible and sustainably sound budgetary policy. Contribution: Till Hoppe
The agreement came faster than expected – after just four hours of negotiations in the trilogue procedure. However, there was no real delight in the European Parliament on Tuesday. This is because the now-agreed new rules for political advertising on the Internet will not come into force in time for the European elections.
This misses a key objective of the EU Commission’s 2021 regulation on transparency and targeting of political advertising. It was intended to safeguard the election against manipulation and external interference and help prevent abuse such as that perpetrated by Cambridge Analytica. Nothing will come of it now.
If Parliament and the Council approve the agreement as expected, the new regulation will probably not take effect until 2025 – 18 months after publication in the Official Journal. According to the Council, the national authorities will not be able to adapt to the new rules any faster. “A great disappointment,” many in Parliament complain.
Mandatory labeling for political advertising
What has been agreed? In the future, political advertising on the Internet must be labeled as such. It must be made transparent who has financed it. There will also be a European database in which all online advertising will be recorded. The European Parliament sees this as a great success.
Actors from third countries are no longer allowed to place or finance political advertising before elections or referendums. A deadline of three months has been set. This will make it more difficult for foreign actors to spread misinformation in Europe and intervene in democratic processes, explained the rapporteur in the European Parliament, Sandro Gozi (Renew).
There was much controversy over targeting – i.e. how precisely advertising may be tailored to specific target groups. The member states were able to assert themselves here. The EU is sticking to the principle of consent. Users must therefore continue to give their consent if their data is tobe collected by political providers.
No targeting on sexual orientation and religion
However, some improvements will be introduced. For example, there will be a ban on targeting sensitive data such as sexual orientation, health or religion. This ban will apply to all players in the supply chain, and not just to platforms as in the DSA.
Data from third-party providers may no longer be used for political targeting. Anyone who does not want to see targeted advertising from political parties or other political players simply has to switch on the do-not-track function in their browser. A separate opt-out is no longer necessary.
But what is the EU’s definition of political advertising? This was also the subject of lengthy discussions between the institutions. According to the agreement, it refers to all commercial messages on behalf of political actors that are intended to influence voting behavior at local, national or European levels.
Communications industry has questions
However, political opinions and personal views expressed in online forums are not affected. Journalistic works in which, for example, a candidacy for an electoral office is announced should also not be considered political advertising – provided they are not sponsored by political actors.
Despite these clarifications, there are still unanswered questions from an industry perspective that could delay implementation. For example, Claudia Canelles Quaroni from the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) warns that it is unclear how the rules on targeting could be implemented.
“It is crucial to ensure sufficient clarity so that publishers of political advertising can properly implement the new EU rules on advertising without compromising freedom of expression during elections,” said Quaroni. The technical details will have to be discussed in the coming weeks.
Better protection in the upcoming federal election
The EU Commission is satisfied. The new regulation will enable citizens to “recognize messages intended to influence their political views and decisions,” explained the Brussels authority. It did not address the problem that the new EU law comes too late for the European elections.
For René Repasi MEP from the SPD, this is a major “downer.” The important ban on foreign interference will not come in June 2024. However, the measures for the non-discriminatory provision of cross-border political advertising (including for European political parties and groups) are already taking effect, said Repasi.
His colleague Alexandra Geese from the Green Party is already looking ahead to the next general election. “Voters will be better protected against manipulation in the next general election because sensitive data such as sexual orientation, religion or political views can no longer be used to send out targeted political advertising,” she told Table.Media.
However, the restrictions on targeting did not go far enough, explained Geese. It will still be possible for the same party to play out contradictory advertising messages such as “Right of way for combustion engines” to men in rural regions and “We protect the climate” to young women in large cities. Nevertheless, the new regulation is a step in the right direction.
Desinformation
European election 2024
News
Suspected corruption: Portugal’s head of government Costa resigns
The Portuguese head of government António Costa has unexpectedly resigned due to corruption investigations by the judiciary against him and other members of the government. Costa said in a brief statement on Tuesday that President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had accepted his resignation. “As I understand it, the position of prime minister is not compatible with any suspicion about his integrity or good conduct and certainly not with any suspicion of having committed a criminal act,” the 62-year-old said. He had been “surprised” in the morning by the news that the investigation was also directed at him. He also emphasized his innocence. “I am closing this phase with a clear conscience,” said the socialist.
Portuguese police had searched more than 40 homes and offices this morning, including Costa’s residence. According to media reports, five people were arrested, including Costa’s Cabinet Chief Vítor Escaría. The state news agency Lusa and the state TV station RTP reported suspicions of illegal practices such as bribery and taking advantage in the awarding of concessions for lithium mining in Montalegre and the production of so-called green hydrogen near the city of Sines.
Strong economy and social action
Costa’s resignation is an abrupt interruption to a success story that has lasted almost eight years. It was only in January last year that Costa and his Socialist Party (PS) won an absolute majority in Lisbon’s national parliament, the Assembleia da República. Most recently, the Socialist was considered a possible candidate for the post of President of the European Council after the European elections.
Many voters attributed the country’s strong economic growth following the euro crisis to the socialist Costa. The unemployment rate has fallen rapidly and recently stood at just over six percent. Costa’s government increased the monthly minimum wage from €505 to €820. Costa managed the balancing act of showing social responsibility while also consolidating the once ailing state finances. Between 2020 and 2022 alone, the relative national debt in relation to gross domestic product was reduced from around 135% to just under 114%.
Rebelo de Sousa can now appoint an interim head of government and dissolve parliament. There will then have to be a new election. Its outcome was initially challenging to predict. Until Tuesday morning, Costa was considered the favorite in the next regular parliamentaryelection, which was not expected until 2026, according to polls. dpa
Grüner Wasserstoff
EU Parliament calls for fossil fuel subsidies to be halted by 2025
On Tuesday, the EU Parliament’s Environment Committee adopted a resolution by a large majority setting out MEPs’ demands for the UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai at the end of the month (COP28). In it, they call for an end to direct and indirect subsidies for fossil fuels at both EU and national levels “as soon as possible, but no later than 2025.” The member states also want to work towards an end to fossil fuel subsidies in Dubai but did not set a date in their negotiating mandate.
The EU’s environmental and climate politicians are also calling for the Loss and Damage Fund to be made operational in Dubai, with all major emitters, including the EU countries, providing funds for the countries most affected by climate change. It also supports a global target for tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030 and calls for a “tangible phase-out of fossil fuels as soon as possible.”
A delegation of MEPs is taking part in the international climate negotiations at COP28 as an observer. However, negotiations take place within the circle of states, which is why Parliament’s position is merely an appeal. In Dubai, the MEPs also want to take part in the daily coordination meetings of the EU countries for the first time, where strategic negotiating decisions are made during the COP. The resolution still has to be confirmed in the November plenary session (November 20-23). luk
Commission wants to make combined transport more attractive
Freight transports in which trucks only cover a small part of the route, with ships and trains covering the rest, are to be promoted more in the future. This is provided for in the Commission’s legislative proposal for intermodal transport. This intermodal transport – also known as combined transport – is to become more efficient and competitive. The Commission proposes to promote combined transport if the negative external costs of road transport are reduced by at least 40 percent. Negative external costs include noise and environmental emissions.
Providers must demonstrate thereduction of negative external costs by at least 40 percent on digitalplatforms set up as part of the regulation on electronic freight transport information (eFTI). In addition, the member states are to be obliged to reduce the average costs of combined transport for door-to-door deliveries by at least ten percent over the next seven years. Combined transport is also to be made more attractive for freight forwarders by exempting trucks on feeder services to freight transshipment points by rail or ship from temporary driving bans.
Temporary exemptions from driving bans
The Combined Transport Directive dates back to 1992 and the Commission failed twice to reform it. It had to withdraw its proposals from 1998 and 2017 because the co-legislators could not reach an agreement.
Markus Ferber (CSU), member of the Transport Committee: “What we need now is momentum, speed and lean regulation.” Improvements to the definition of combined transport, the conditions for competitiveness and fewer gray areas are a good approach. Ferber also praised the proposal to exempt HGVs in combined transport from temporary driving bans: “Neither watering down nor a policy of bans will help combined transport to move from a niche to the limelight.” mgr
VDMA boss questions subsidies for German steel industry
The President of the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) is questioning state subsidies for the transformation of steel manufacturers in Germany. “We need to think about the basic materials industry from a European perspective and not primarily from a German one,” said Karl Haeusgen in Berlin on Tuesday. There is far more green energy available in southern Spain or Scandinavia than in Salzgitter, Duisburg or Saarlouis, he said. The question could thus be “How appropriate it is for individual companies to be supported in their green transformation at these locations.”
The German government wants to provide massive support to domestic steel companies such as Thyssen-Krupp in decarbonizing their production. In July, the EU Commission approved aid of up to €2 billion to help Thyssen-Krupp convert to clean hydrogen at its Duisburg site. Federal Minister of Economics Robert Habeck recently emphasized in his industrial strategy: “The transformation should take place here in Germany.”
Wind turbines as an element of sovereignty
Haeusgen counters that, given the cross-border supply chains in the EU internal market, it makes no differenceto customers “whether I buy this steel in Northern Europe, Western Europe or Southern Europe.” Europe’s great strength, the close networking of companies, is not tied to Germany. In addition, job cuts at individual locations would no longer have such a dramatic impact as in the past due to the capacity of the labor market to absorb them. “That’s why we should have a little more courage to embrace structural change.”
Haeusgen also spoke out in favor of considering wind turbines as a building block for the EU’s strategic autonomy and as relevant to security. If components from Chinese suppliers such as Huawei were no longer allowed to be installed in routers, then “Chinese wind turbines in the energy generation grid would be downright grotesque,” he argued. Moreover, China has forced foreign manufacturers out of its market. tho
Energy price brake: DIHK calls for greater relief
SMEs and the energy industry are strongly criticizing the announced extension of the European energy price brake for companies. Many companies have already reached their maximum limits of possible relief, said Deputy DIHK Managing Director Achim Dercks to Table.Media yesterday. “This applies in particular to many medium-sized industrial companies that are suffering from high energy prices. For these companies, an extension of the price brake without a European adjustment of the aid framework will not lead to any further relief.”
Ministry of Economic Affairs sees one requirement fulfilled
“Among other things, the extended TCTF is also the basis and prerequisite for an application to extend the energy price brake,” confirmed a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday. The extension of the German energy price brake must also be approved by the Commission under state aid law.
Meanwhile, the municipal utilities association VKU believes that it is not feasible to implement this nationwide on time. To make matters worse, it is unclear from the EU Commission’s proposal whether and what adjustments will be made to the content, said VKU Managing Director Ingbert Liebing in a statement yesterday. The extension process will probably continue well into December.
SMEs and households also affected
It is also unclear how many companies would even benefit from the brake in view of the renewed fall in electricity and gas prices. An extension would be an insurance policy for the economy as a whole to cushion the risks of high energy prices over the winter, said Dercks. Energy expert Hanns Koenig from Aurora Energy Research takes a different view: “I would assume that an extension would only benefit very few companies, if at all.”
The BDI sees certain companies affected. “Companies whose contracts expired during last year’s high price periods and which had to conclude expensive follow-up contracts could well continue to have a significant need to compensate for their energy costs,” said Carsten Rolle, Head of the Energy and Climate Policy Department, yesterday.
However, the Commission’s announcement does not only affect the energy-intensive industry. The TCTF section on “limited amounts of aid” will also be extended. The German energy price brake for SMEs with amounts of up to €2 million is based on this. The Commission has significantly lower requirements for this segment than for large companies. According to the BMWK, the relief for households is also linked to the TCTF – although there are also differing assessments on this in Brussels. ber
Gaspreise
Report: A quarter of ‘carbon bombs’ financed by EU companies
At least 107 of the world’s 425 largest fossil fuel extraction projects are operated by EU-based companies such as Total Energies, Shell, RWE and ENI or financed by major European banks. This is shown in a report published on Tuesday by CAN Europe, Friends of the Earth Europe and other civil society organizations. They are calling for legally binding climate targets for companies and the EU financial sector in the EU Due Diligence and Corporate Social Responsibility Directive (CSDDD).
The 425 projects known as “carbon bombs” were identified in a study in 2022. They each have the potential to release more than one gigaton of carbon (GtCO₂). According to IPCC research, the remaining carbon budget for a 50% probability of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is around 500 gigatons of carbon dioxide. For a two-degree scenario, the figure is 1,150 gigatons.
Due diligence law should oblige companies to transition plans
The involvement of EU companies and banks in these projects undermines the EU’s goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, as a large proportion of the emissions are returned to the EU as Scope 3 emissions, the report states. The projected total emissions of the 107 projects associated with the EU alone amount to 333.9 GtCO₂ after extraction and combustion. This is 17 times the emissions that the EU is allowed to emit by 2030.
The projects mentioned include the Athabasca oil sands project in Canada, in which at least 15 companies from the EU are involved as investors, including BNP Paribas, Shell plc and Total Energies SE. The report also lists other oil and gas fields in Libya, Kazakhstan, Norway and Argentina.
The NGOs are calling for these projects to be stopped. The fact that the majority of these projects are located outside Europe should not be used as an excuse for inaction. They are also calling for an obligation for companies in the EU to define credible transition plans with concrete and absolute emission reduction targets in line with the Paris Agreement in the EU Due Diligence Act.
The Due Diligence Act is currently negotiated in Brussels. Unlike the EU Commission and the Council, the Parliament is also calling for climate transition plans for companies. The next high-level trilogue meeting will take place on November 22. According to information from Table.Media, an agreement could be reached at this meeting or by early December at the latest. leo
Grid operators demand better framework conditions
European telecommunications companies hope that the Digital Networks Act (DNA) announced by the Internal Market Commissioner will improve their competitive situation. However, they fear that it will come too late. The cost of capital is higher than the return on investment, said Christel Heydemann, CEO of Orange. “Something is wrong with the set-up,” added Deutsche Telekom CEO Tim Höttges at an event organized by the FT and the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association (ETNO) on the state of the industry in Europe.
The fact that the market capitalization of European telecommunications companies has fallen so dramatically is not due to bad managers who have not invested enough, said Höttges. The reason was the fundamentally wrong framework conditions. The USA had a lively digital dynamic and there was also a master plan in Asia. Europe is in a sandwich situation. There are too many players in competition, excessive bureaucracy, no fair share of network costs for internet providers and no market consolidation. No sustainable infrastructurecan be created on this basis.
Consolidation and scaling as a possible solution
To illustrate this, industry representatives repeatedly referred to the example of Luxembourg (population around 650,000) with four different mobile network providers. In China, a mobile network operator has an average of around 450 million customers, in the USA there are 110 million customers and in Europe just five million, calculated Mike Fries, CEO of Liberty Global. The 110 mobile network operators in Europe all bought the same equipment at the same price and set up separate networks. “It’s unbelievable how inefficient this is,” said Fries. Making it more difficult for providers to merge is not a well-thought-out regulatory approach, he added. “In our opinion, industry-wide consolidation and scaling would be a possible solution to these challenges.”
The announced Digital Network Act is a good thing, Heydemann said. “But if we have to wait two years, many operators will be taken over or split up by foreign investors and many investments will not take place.” Speed is thus of the essence. Currently, network operators are still regulated by 27 different countries. What is missing is a single European market for telecommunications, said Höttges. And a different awareness: The supposedly monopolistic network operators are only dwarfs in the digital age. vis
LobbyControl calls for Amazon break-up
LobbyControl is calling for Amazon to beunbundled under ownership law. The Cologne-based association presented a legal opinion to this effect on Tuesday. “We believe that breaking up the company is necessary and also possible under German antitrust law,” said Max Bank, Campaigner at LobbyControl at the presentation of the report.
The NGO refers to the Competition Enforcement Act, which came into force on Monday. This 11th amendment to the Act against Restraints of Competition (GWB) provides the German Cartel Office with new instruments to enforce fair competition. Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck called it the biggest reform of competition law since Ludwig Erhard. LobbyControl is calling for these instruments to be applied to Amazon.
Amazon as a ‘threat to democracy’
Kim Künstner, an expert in antitrust law and author of the report, believes that unbundling Amazon is appropriate from a competition perspective alone. Amazon’s five business areas – retail, marketplace, cloud services, smart home products and logistics – are strongly interlinked. This leads to conflicts of interest and unfair trading practices. In addition, there are “overall social consequences of Amazon’s conduct” such as the company’s great political lobbying power, data protection problems, tax avoidance and working conditions in the company’s logistics centers. LobbyControl considers this to be a “threat to democracy.”
Max Bank from LobbyControl sees an international trend towards stricter competition monitoring, meaning that breaking up large corporations “is no longer completely absurd.” In fact, the US competition authority, the FTC, is currently conducting proceedings against the company for market manipulation. The European Commission, in turn, has classified Amazon as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) – with the corresponding obligations.
Unbundling already an issue in the EU
Expert Künstner sees parallels in the EU Commission’s dealings with Google in the area of advertising technology. The EU Commission bases its threat to unbundle Google’s ownership in the online advertising market on the need to eliminate an “inherent conflict of interest”, according to the report.
Overall, however, the European stance is too cautious, says Bank. “The Cartel Office can play a pioneering role and thus promote a trend reversal in Europe.” av, vis
Amazon
Competition policy
Competition procedure
SpaceX to launch European satellites into space
The European Union has reached a tentative deal with the company SpaceX that its Falcon 9 rockets will help launch four Galileo navigation satellites. This was announced by European officials on Tuesday. According to EU Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton, the deal is worth €180 million.
The agreement spans two launches, scheduled for April and July next year, carrying two satellites each, Breton told reporters in Seville, Spain, following EU ministerial talks on competitiveness in space yesterday. However, the agreement with SpaceX is still subject to approval.
The background to the deal is capacity problems in Europe. These were triggered by delays to the Ariane 6 launcher, a grounding for the smaller Italian Vega-C following a failed launch in 2022, and the loss of access to Russian Soyuz rockets as a result of the Ukraine conflict.
SpaceX also launches Hera research probe
The European Space Agency (ESA), which includes most EU states, had already approached Elon Musk’s SpaceX last year to launch its Euclid space telescope,which will investigate evidence of dark matter and dark energy in the universe.
In 2024, the private US company will also launch Europe’s scientific Hera probe, a follow-up mission to NASA’s DART spacecraft, which last year succeeded in altering the path of a moonlet satellite in the first test of a future planetary defense system. rtr
Heads
Jakob Greiner – The voice of Telekom in Brussels
Jakob Greiner is Vice President European Affairs at Deutsche Telekom.
According to them, European telecommunications companies have a problem: they lack the money to expand the network to reach the ambitious targets the EU Commission has set up for 2030. As head of Deutsche Telekom’s Brussels office, Jakob Greiner represents the interests of the European telecommunications groupwith the highest turnover – and is campaigning for reforms in his sector. From the company’s point of view, the market is too fragmented and too heavily regulated, explains Greiner. He hopes for changes in the coming years: “The Commission has recognized the problem, now concrete measures must follow,” says the 41-year-old.
Greiner is a lawyer, studied in Munich and Bayreuth and specialized in European law. He went to Brussels for the first time in 2012 as a parliamentary assistant to CSU MEP Monika Hohlmeier. He is fascinated by the mixture of law and politics: “I wouldn’t have experienced this if I had ended up in a law firm or the legal department of a company,” says Greiner. “Nothing is more political than the European Parliament.”
‘You get stuck in Brussels’
After almost three years in politics, the lawyer moves to the business world, to the office of Deutsche Telekom. He stays in Brussels. “First you go to Brussels for two or three years,” says Greiner. “Then you stick around because the subject matter is so exciting.” Today, he works at the Group headquarters in Bonn and is only in Brussels every two to three weeks. Half a dozen employees there work for the interests of Deutsche Telekom.
EU Digital Commissioner Thierry Breton announced reforms in the telecommunications sector in October. The proposal for the Digital Networks Act (DNA) is not yet on the table. However, Breton spoke in favor of more concentration in the market and larger European telecommunications groups, so-called European champions. Large companies such as Telekom would benefit from such a reform. “It’s also about the necessary scaling thesector needs to make the necessary investments that we need to expand the network,” says Jakob Greiner.
Faster network expansion
By 2030, all households in the EU should be connected to the fiber optic network and the mobile 5G network should be available nationwide. It is crucial that Europe does not fall behind the USA and China, explains Greiner: “If we have an ailing infrastructure, this will also have a direct impact on the competitiveness of European companies.”
To speed up the expansion of the network, the EU is working on the Gigabit InfrastructureAct, which aims to accelerate approval procedures, among other things. According to the Parliament’s draft, authorities will only have two months to obtain approval. “We would be absolutely happy with that,” says Jakob Greiner and warns: Member states must not put the brakes on the reforms now. Jana Hemmersmeier
