The flight of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad from Damascus marks a turning point in the Middle East – comparable to the fall of Saddam Hussein in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, writes my colleague Markus Bickel in Table.Spezial: “How the fall of Assad is shifting the balance of power in the Middle East.”
Nobody can say at the moment what the capture of the Syrian capital by the Islamists of the Al-Qaeda successor organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham will bring in the coming days. Not even in Brussels, where the new EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, has just taken office.
“The end of Assad’s dictatorship” is a positive development, wrote Kallas on Platform X. The fall of the regime also showed the weakness of Assad’s backers, Russia and Iran. Kallas announced that the EU would now “work with all constructive partners” in the region.
That is a start. We can only hope that Syria will be spared the fate of Libya or Afghanistan. Unfortunately, democracy as a form of government is currently not so popular either in Europe or worldwide that it will be easy to find supporters for it in Syria. This will be one of the many geopolitical challenges of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s second term of office.
Have a good start to the new week,
In the last mandate, the Directorate-General for the Environment (DG ENV) of the Von der Leyen Commission paid NGOs to take action against the Mercosur free trade agreement. The annex to the contract concluded with the NGO European Environmental Bureau states, for example, that the NGO should lobby the EU and the member states on the matter. The aim is to stop the ratification of the trade agreement. This contradicts the aim of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the then Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis to conclude the trade agreement.
The so-called working package of the contract states that the NGO should document a meeting with the Commission and with four MEPs dealing with trade as proof of its work on the matter. In addition, the NGO should send lobby letters to MEPs and the Commission. DG ENV also obliges the NGO to lobby another DG of the Commission, DG GROW, with EU funds.
In the Commission’s written reply to the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, the Commission does not dispute the content of the Treaty. Rather, it states: The treaty was about “advocating for a more sustainable and fairer EU trade agenda.” The aim was to stop the ratification of the agreement “in its current version.”
The NGO concerned, European Environmental Bureau (eeb), is an EU umbrella organization of environmental NGOs from 41 countries. In Germany, for example, members are:
With the contract, excerpts of which Table.Media has seen, the NGO receives an annual operating grant of €700,000 as part of the Life program. This involves two approvals of operating grants with the titles LIFE21NGO/BE/EEB and LIFE22NGO/BE/EEB.
The Executive Agency CINEA (European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency), headed by Paloma Alba Garrote, is operationally responsible for the conclusion and content of this and many similar contracts in the Life program under the Multiannual Financial Framework MFF (2021 to 2027).
CINEA was founded in 2021 to implement parts of the Green Deal operationally. CINEA is subordinate to DGs ENV and CLIMA. At the time the contracts were concluded, Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius and Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the Commission for the Green Deal, were responsible for DG ENV and DG CLIMA.
As part of the discharge of the 2023 EU budget, the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control has investigated the structure of contracts for NGO funding. Around 30 contracts have been inspected by MEPs under the highest level of secrecy. At today’s meeting of the Committee on Budgetary Control, Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin will face critical questions.
Other examples of criticized contracts are the agreements with Carbon Market Watch (LIFE21NGO/BE/CMW; LIFE22NGO/BE/CMW). The NGO, whose founders include Bread for the World and Misereor, is obliged to lobby members of the European Parliament. Carbon Market Watch has received funding from the EU budget amounting to €205,000 per year.
For example, the NGO employees are required to provide evidence of a certain number of meetings with MEPs. They are given specific sentences to incorporate into EU laws. This approach is considered constitutionally problematic under the principle of separation of powers because the executive spends money to influence the legislature.
The contract with HEAL, Health and Environment Alliance, is intended to organize support for bans on glyphosate and PFAS. It provides for meetings with three to five cabinet members of commissioners and talks with representatives of the EU Council Presidency and EU environment ministers before key councils. HEAL received €598,000 a year from the EU budget.
The contract with Client Earth is also intended to accelerate the coal phase-out in Germany by 2030. Client Earth is an environmental rights organization that has eight locations worldwide and wants to change things through legal action. Client Earth has received €350,000 a year from the EU budget. The contract stipulates, for example, that the NGO will file lawsuits against the Garzweiler and Boxberg coal-fired power plants. The aim is also to achieve the closure of the Datteln 4 coal-fired power plant in NRW.
Client Earth is also obliged to file 30 lawsuits against agricultural businesses that carry out their activities in protected areas. The aim is also to use the courts to revoke exemptions granted to these farmers by the authorities. The aim is to achieve a reversal of the burden of proof. For example, farmers should be forced to prove that their activities do not cause any damage to the environment.
A whistleblower first drew attention to the controversial contracts in 2023. The European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control then initially inspected contracts on a random basis and documented the breaches.
The contracts between CINEA and NGOs are now being systematically reviewed. Discussions with the Commission have been ongoing for months. The Committee has submitted questions to the Commission for written answers and clarification. The then Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski and Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra have already been questioned by the committee.
According to information from Table.Briefings, the Commission examined the contracts internally. The Corporate Management Board, an internal control body, was involved. The Secretary General of the Commission, Ilze Juhansone, and the Director General BUDG, Stephanie Riso, took care of it.
DG BUDG then published new guidelines on financing. This new two-page guideline is available to Table.Briefings. No drastic measures are taken. It merely warns of possible reputational damage to the EU if NGOs lobby other EU institutions on behalf of the Commission.
Serafin, who is coming to the committee today, has also already submitted written answers to around 20 of the committee’s questions. In its answers, the Commission does not dispute the criticized contents of the contracts. However, one searches in vain for a sense of guilt. Only at one point does something resembling understanding for Parliament’s criticism emerge. For example, one written answer states: “The Commission has repeatedly said that operating grants, when linked to detailed activities with EU institutions and their representatives, entail a reputational risk – even when they do not violate the legal framework.”
However, Serafin is also likely to deny today that the Commission has any responsibility. The Commission’s answers repeatedly state that “the institutions that receive funding under such grants remain fully and solely responsible for their own views, which may not coincide with those of the Commission.”
The Commission has apparently responded in the meantime. It is said to have written to the NGOs asking them to refrain from lobbying MEPs and other EU institutions in future. Affected NGOs have reported on this in the media. The Committee on Budgetary Control is trying to clarify the background.
Federal Digital Minister Volker Wissing expects good cooperation with the new Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen (Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy). “She has a very innovation-friendly approach, which I welcome,” said Wissing in an interview with Table.Briefings on the sidelines of the Telecoms Council in Brussels. “I therefore believe that our call for more competition will fall on sympathetic ears.” Innovation-friendly regulation is the decisive factor in the new legislature. Wissing expects continued good cooperation with the USA in the digital sector.
On Friday in Brussels, the Council approved conclusions on the EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and the Commission’s White Paper on the future of connectivity. The ministers also held a policy debate on the objectives of the 2030 program for the digital decade.
At the meeting on Friday, Wissing called for better protection of infrastructure. “Infrastructures are becoming increasingly security-relevant. That is why we consider their security a priority.” For example, Europe needs more resilience for undersea cables. Two submarine cables were recently damaged in the Baltic Sea. Sweden is investigating sabotage.
“We need to consistently invest in new submarine cables in order to build up redundancies. We also need additional repair capacities so that we can defend ourselves in the event of damage.” This task cannot be left to the private sector alone, Wissing continued. It is in the public interest in terms of security and is a task “that cannot be solved on a national level alone, it is a classic European task.”
Henna Virkkunen, who was attending the Council for the first time, announced that she wanted to turn Europe into an AI continent. “It is no secret that we would have liked a somewhat leaner AI Act,” said Wissing, looking back on the negotiations on the AI Act. But in the end, it was an acceptable compromise. “I also see an opportunity in regulation, because it allows us to establish trust in the ‘AI made in Europe’ brand.” He is certain that “trust in artificial intelligence can be a very decisive market advantage.”
He tried to dispel the fears of many companies that Germany would once again engage in gold-plating and unnecessarily complicate the AI Act at its implementation. “We definitely don’t want that,” said the minister. “A low-bureaucracy implementation of the AI Act is entirely in my interest.” However, the implementation law is on hold due to the break in the traffic light coalition.
The upcoming Digital Networks Act was also discussed at the Council. “Based on the White Paper on the future of the telecommunications market, I would like to see a debate on how we can increase overall competitiveness driven by innovation and without state intervention,” said Wissing. To this end, parts of competition and company law would have to be put to the test. “If we improve the rules of the game for everyone so that companies can grow and be globally competitive, we don’t need billion-dollar funds for selected sectors.”
Wissing called for the regulation already introduced with the Digital Services and Digital Markets Act (DSA and DMA) to be adapted. “We need to look at platform regulation continuously and repeatedly and readjust it if necessary.” With the DSA, the EU has a promising instrument to hold platforms accountable for illegal content. “Now it has to prove its effectiveness, for example with the proceedings against TikTok.” He therefore welcomes the fact that Virkkunen is taking a close look at what happens during elections and securing the data for later analysis.
Wissing gave a positive assessment of the cooperation in digital policy with the USA to date. “We have agreed on cooperation with the USA that works very well and is very valuable.” There are many issues to be clarified in the future, such as the handling of data and new technological possibilities. “We hope, of course, that we can continue these good dialog formats.”
So far, however, there have been no talks with the new decision-makers. “I therefore don’t want to start with prejudices, but simply wait and see.” However, Wissing clarified: “We are not prepared to shape our policies outside of our values. This means that we will always base our decisions on our values and expect the same from our partners in the USA.” There are also situations where a ‘deal’ within the framework of our values could be possible. “But that is the framework within which we operate. We will see what is possible.”
However, it would also be in the American interest if both sides exchanged research results, for example in the field of autonomous driving, and harmonized regulations. “If the markets diverge completely in terms of regulation, it is difficult to do business globally with such technologies.”
Wissing called for: “We need closer cooperation in Europe.” He had held many bilateral talks in Brussels and repeatedly reminded everyone “that we need to agree more on industrial and energy policy issues. If we work together to advance solutions, we can use our answers to influence the regulation of future technologies worldwide.”
If a constitutional court annuls a democratic election, it should have unquestionable reasons for doing so. It remains to be seen whether the Romanian Constitutional Court had such grounds when it annulled the first round of the presidential election on November 24, 2024, last Friday and canceled the run-off election scheduled for December 8, 2024.
Following a recount of the votes, the constitutional judges had confirmed the election result as valid a few days earlier with the surprising victory of right-wing populist Călin Georgescu ahead of conservative-liberal politician Elena Lasconi (Union Save Romania, USR). The presidential election is expected to be rescheduled for next spring.
In their unanimous decision, the nine constitutional judges relied on information from the Romanian secret services. According to them, a “foreign state actor” had illegally influenced the election decision through massive cyberattacks and thousands of online accounts on the social networks TikTok and Telegram.
In fact, the 62-year-old agricultural engineer Georgescu barely made a physical appearance during the election campaign. He spread his political messages critical of the EU and NATO via video clips on social networks. Georgescu, who propagates Romania’s neutrality in the Ukraine war, denies that this was done with financial and logistical support from Russia.
Despite the run-off election being canceled, Georgescu went to his polling station on Sunday morning to cast his vote. Journalists took the opportunity to ask him about his personal acquaintance with crypto investor Bogdan Peșchir, whose houses and offices in Brașov were searched by the investigating authorities on Saturday. Peșchir allegedly paid several TikTok users $381,000 between October 24 and November 24, 2024, to campaign for Georgescu without labeling it as political advertising. Geogescu denied knowing Peșchir.
It is a violation of Romanian electoral law to disseminate political content via social media without labeling it as political advertising. However, whether the violation is serious enough to annul the presidential election is disputed.
Romania’s outgoing Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who was the third-placed candidate of the post-communist Social Democrats (PSD) to drop out of the race for the highest office in the state, saw the annulment of the election as the “only correct solution.” According to him, the information gathered by the national secret services showed “that the result of the vote was blatantly distorted by Russian interference.”
In complete contrast and surprisingly in unison, the two supposed opponents in the run-off, Georgescu and Lasconi, condemned the judge’s decision. They declared independently of each other that it “tramples Romanian democracy underfoot”. “In a democracy,” criticized the URS candidate, “presidents are not appointed by a simple signature or by negotiations behind the scenes.” Instead, “the will of the Romanian people must be respected.” In recent years, her party has made a name for itself as an anti-corruption party.
Although the western-oriented parties claimed a majority over the nationalist parties in the parliamentary elections on December 1, Georgescu was recently considered the favorite for the office of head of state. Nevertheless, Elena Lasconi said on Friday that she was convinced “that I would have won.” For the upcoming election rerun, she demonstrated confidence and the will to “defend our democracy.” She would win “because the Romanian people know that I will fight for them and unite them for a better Romania,” she said.
Călin Georgescu described the Constitutional Court’s decision as a “coup d’état.” The rule of law is “in an artificial coma” because “the judiciary is subordinate to political orders,” he complained. He was alluding to the fact that the majority of the nine constitutional court judges were nominated by the leading parties of recent years, the social democratic PSD and the national liberal PNL. The “corrupt system in Romania,” said Georgescu, had “made a pact with the devil.”
As complex as the decision of the Constitutional Court in Romania is, the view from the outside sometimes seems simplistic. “Putin is afraid of functioning democracies,” commented Tobias Cremer, foreign policy spokesperson for the European SPD. His influence on the Romanian presidential election proves how much pressure his system is under. According to the authors of Visegrad Insight, Adrian Mihaltianu and Bianca Felseghi, it is not enough to blame Georgescu’s success on TikTok. It could explain how Georgescu spread his nationalist and isolationist messages, but not their resonance. For this, “global trends towards anti-systemic voting behavior” and the specific frustrations of Romanians must be taken into account.
Jaume Duch was born in Barcelona in 1962 but worked for 37 years as a high-ranking EU official several hundred kilometers from the Costa del Maresme. For the last two decades, he has worked in Brussels as spokesman and Director-General for Communications at the EU Parliament. He is now returning to his home country as Minister for the European Union and Foreign Affairs.
Duch studied law at the University of Barcelona and specialized in EU law. Between 1986 and 1990, he was Professor of Public International Law at the University of Barcelona and coordinator of seminars on EU institutions and policies. In 1986, the year Spain joined the European Economic Community, he also began working for European organizations. Duch recalls: “I was the first professor to teach international law in Catalan.”
He is now entering the active political stage at an important time for Catalonia. After 14 years of separatist regional government, the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) has been back in power in Barcelona since the summer. In the election in May, the Socialists under Salvador Illa received the most votes and seats (42), although not an absolute majority (68). A deal with the separatists secured fiscal autonomy for the region and Illa the office of President of the Generalitat.
Duch sees this special situation as a historic moment for Catalonia. “We can now be part of the solution,” he says in an interview with Table.Briefings. This government wants to contribute to Spain’s progress. According to Duch, it is clear that Catalonia’s progress is linked to the progress of Spain as a whole.
The offer to join the Illa government came as a surprise to the communications expert, but at the right time. The European elections took place in May and the elections in Catalonia a month later. The change in the EU institutions meant that Duch was able to resign from his post in Brussels without interrupting the ongoing processes of a legislative term. “I could have continued as Speaker of the EU Parliament and was surprised to be offered a seat in the Illa government.” He felt honored and the decision was easy for him, he admits.
Duch believes that Catalonia’s fiscal independence and the promotion of Catalan as an official language in the EU is the right thing to do. “The funding system for autonomous regions in Spain is no longer adapted to the Catalan or Spanish reality,” he says and calls for a realignment of funding policy. According to Duch, Catalan becoming an official EU language is a question of linguistic justice. Catalan is spoken by around 10 million people. “Accordingly, there are more people who speak Catalan than some other official EU languages.”
On November 19, the Generalitat of Catalonia approved the Brussels Plan. Duch’s ministry is in charge of the “Pla Brussel-les.” It defines how Catalonia can expand its presence in EU bodies such as the Council, Commission, Parliament and the European Committee of the Regions. The plan focuses on housing, the common agricultural policy, the next multiannual financial framework and the recognition of Catalan as an official language of the EU.
The coexistence of Spain, Catalonia and Europe is important to Duch on both a political and personal level. He defines himself as Catalan, Spanish and European at the same time and emphasizes that his focus is not on ideologies or party acronyms, but on proposals that serve the good of the citizens. Isabel Cuesta
The flight of Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad from Damascus marks a turning point in the Middle East – comparable to the fall of Saddam Hussein in the wake of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, writes my colleague Markus Bickel in Table.Spezial: “How the fall of Assad is shifting the balance of power in the Middle East.”
Nobody can say at the moment what the capture of the Syrian capital by the Islamists of the Al-Qaeda successor organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham will bring in the coming days. Not even in Brussels, where the new EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, has just taken office.
“The end of Assad’s dictatorship” is a positive development, wrote Kallas on Platform X. The fall of the regime also showed the weakness of Assad’s backers, Russia and Iran. Kallas announced that the EU would now “work with all constructive partners” in the region.
That is a start. We can only hope that Syria will be spared the fate of Libya or Afghanistan. Unfortunately, democracy as a form of government is currently not so popular either in Europe or worldwide that it will be easy to find supporters for it in Syria. This will be one of the many geopolitical challenges of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s second term of office.
Have a good start to the new week,
In the last mandate, the Directorate-General for the Environment (DG ENV) of the Von der Leyen Commission paid NGOs to take action against the Mercosur free trade agreement. The annex to the contract concluded with the NGO European Environmental Bureau states, for example, that the NGO should lobby the EU and the member states on the matter. The aim is to stop the ratification of the trade agreement. This contradicts the aim of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the then Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis to conclude the trade agreement.
The so-called working package of the contract states that the NGO should document a meeting with the Commission and with four MEPs dealing with trade as proof of its work on the matter. In addition, the NGO should send lobby letters to MEPs and the Commission. DG ENV also obliges the NGO to lobby another DG of the Commission, DG GROW, with EU funds.
In the Commission’s written reply to the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control, the Commission does not dispute the content of the Treaty. Rather, it states: The treaty was about “advocating for a more sustainable and fairer EU trade agenda.” The aim was to stop the ratification of the agreement “in its current version.”
The NGO concerned, European Environmental Bureau (eeb), is an EU umbrella organization of environmental NGOs from 41 countries. In Germany, for example, members are:
With the contract, excerpts of which Table.Media has seen, the NGO receives an annual operating grant of €700,000 as part of the Life program. This involves two approvals of operating grants with the titles LIFE21NGO/BE/EEB and LIFE22NGO/BE/EEB.
The Executive Agency CINEA (European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency), headed by Paloma Alba Garrote, is operationally responsible for the conclusion and content of this and many similar contracts in the Life program under the Multiannual Financial Framework MFF (2021 to 2027).
CINEA was founded in 2021 to implement parts of the Green Deal operationally. CINEA is subordinate to DGs ENV and CLIMA. At the time the contracts were concluded, Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius and Frans Timmermans, Vice-President of the Commission for the Green Deal, were responsible for DG ENV and DG CLIMA.
As part of the discharge of the 2023 EU budget, the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control has investigated the structure of contracts for NGO funding. Around 30 contracts have been inspected by MEPs under the highest level of secrecy. At today’s meeting of the Committee on Budgetary Control, Budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin will face critical questions.
Other examples of criticized contracts are the agreements with Carbon Market Watch (LIFE21NGO/BE/CMW; LIFE22NGO/BE/CMW). The NGO, whose founders include Bread for the World and Misereor, is obliged to lobby members of the European Parliament. Carbon Market Watch has received funding from the EU budget amounting to €205,000 per year.
For example, the NGO employees are required to provide evidence of a certain number of meetings with MEPs. They are given specific sentences to incorporate into EU laws. This approach is considered constitutionally problematic under the principle of separation of powers because the executive spends money to influence the legislature.
The contract with HEAL, Health and Environment Alliance, is intended to organize support for bans on glyphosate and PFAS. It provides for meetings with three to five cabinet members of commissioners and talks with representatives of the EU Council Presidency and EU environment ministers before key councils. HEAL received €598,000 a year from the EU budget.
The contract with Client Earth is also intended to accelerate the coal phase-out in Germany by 2030. Client Earth is an environmental rights organization that has eight locations worldwide and wants to change things through legal action. Client Earth has received €350,000 a year from the EU budget. The contract stipulates, for example, that the NGO will file lawsuits against the Garzweiler and Boxberg coal-fired power plants. The aim is also to achieve the closure of the Datteln 4 coal-fired power plant in NRW.
Client Earth is also obliged to file 30 lawsuits against agricultural businesses that carry out their activities in protected areas. The aim is also to use the courts to revoke exemptions granted to these farmers by the authorities. The aim is to achieve a reversal of the burden of proof. For example, farmers should be forced to prove that their activities do not cause any damage to the environment.
A whistleblower first drew attention to the controversial contracts in 2023. The European Parliament’s Committee on Budgetary Control then initially inspected contracts on a random basis and documented the breaches.
The contracts between CINEA and NGOs are now being systematically reviewed. Discussions with the Commission have been ongoing for months. The Committee has submitted questions to the Commission for written answers and clarification. The then Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski and Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra have already been questioned by the committee.
According to information from Table.Briefings, the Commission examined the contracts internally. The Corporate Management Board, an internal control body, was involved. The Secretary General of the Commission, Ilze Juhansone, and the Director General BUDG, Stephanie Riso, took care of it.
DG BUDG then published new guidelines on financing. This new two-page guideline is available to Table.Briefings. No drastic measures are taken. It merely warns of possible reputational damage to the EU if NGOs lobby other EU institutions on behalf of the Commission.
Serafin, who is coming to the committee today, has also already submitted written answers to around 20 of the committee’s questions. In its answers, the Commission does not dispute the criticized contents of the contracts. However, one searches in vain for a sense of guilt. Only at one point does something resembling understanding for Parliament’s criticism emerge. For example, one written answer states: “The Commission has repeatedly said that operating grants, when linked to detailed activities with EU institutions and their representatives, entail a reputational risk – even when they do not violate the legal framework.”
However, Serafin is also likely to deny today that the Commission has any responsibility. The Commission’s answers repeatedly state that “the institutions that receive funding under such grants remain fully and solely responsible for their own views, which may not coincide with those of the Commission.”
The Commission has apparently responded in the meantime. It is said to have written to the NGOs asking them to refrain from lobbying MEPs and other EU institutions in future. Affected NGOs have reported on this in the media. The Committee on Budgetary Control is trying to clarify the background.
Federal Digital Minister Volker Wissing expects good cooperation with the new Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen (Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy). “She has a very innovation-friendly approach, which I welcome,” said Wissing in an interview with Table.Briefings on the sidelines of the Telecoms Council in Brussels. “I therefore believe that our call for more competition will fall on sympathetic ears.” Innovation-friendly regulation is the decisive factor in the new legislature. Wissing expects continued good cooperation with the USA in the digital sector.
On Friday in Brussels, the Council approved conclusions on the EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and the Commission’s White Paper on the future of connectivity. The ministers also held a policy debate on the objectives of the 2030 program for the digital decade.
At the meeting on Friday, Wissing called for better protection of infrastructure. “Infrastructures are becoming increasingly security-relevant. That is why we consider their security a priority.” For example, Europe needs more resilience for undersea cables. Two submarine cables were recently damaged in the Baltic Sea. Sweden is investigating sabotage.
“We need to consistently invest in new submarine cables in order to build up redundancies. We also need additional repair capacities so that we can defend ourselves in the event of damage.” This task cannot be left to the private sector alone, Wissing continued. It is in the public interest in terms of security and is a task “that cannot be solved on a national level alone, it is a classic European task.”
Henna Virkkunen, who was attending the Council for the first time, announced that she wanted to turn Europe into an AI continent. “It is no secret that we would have liked a somewhat leaner AI Act,” said Wissing, looking back on the negotiations on the AI Act. But in the end, it was an acceptable compromise. “I also see an opportunity in regulation, because it allows us to establish trust in the ‘AI made in Europe’ brand.” He is certain that “trust in artificial intelligence can be a very decisive market advantage.”
He tried to dispel the fears of many companies that Germany would once again engage in gold-plating and unnecessarily complicate the AI Act at its implementation. “We definitely don’t want that,” said the minister. “A low-bureaucracy implementation of the AI Act is entirely in my interest.” However, the implementation law is on hold due to the break in the traffic light coalition.
The upcoming Digital Networks Act was also discussed at the Council. “Based on the White Paper on the future of the telecommunications market, I would like to see a debate on how we can increase overall competitiveness driven by innovation and without state intervention,” said Wissing. To this end, parts of competition and company law would have to be put to the test. “If we improve the rules of the game for everyone so that companies can grow and be globally competitive, we don’t need billion-dollar funds for selected sectors.”
Wissing called for the regulation already introduced with the Digital Services and Digital Markets Act (DSA and DMA) to be adapted. “We need to look at platform regulation continuously and repeatedly and readjust it if necessary.” With the DSA, the EU has a promising instrument to hold platforms accountable for illegal content. “Now it has to prove its effectiveness, for example with the proceedings against TikTok.” He therefore welcomes the fact that Virkkunen is taking a close look at what happens during elections and securing the data for later analysis.
Wissing gave a positive assessment of the cooperation in digital policy with the USA to date. “We have agreed on cooperation with the USA that works very well and is very valuable.” There are many issues to be clarified in the future, such as the handling of data and new technological possibilities. “We hope, of course, that we can continue these good dialog formats.”
So far, however, there have been no talks with the new decision-makers. “I therefore don’t want to start with prejudices, but simply wait and see.” However, Wissing clarified: “We are not prepared to shape our policies outside of our values. This means that we will always base our decisions on our values and expect the same from our partners in the USA.” There are also situations where a ‘deal’ within the framework of our values could be possible. “But that is the framework within which we operate. We will see what is possible.”
However, it would also be in the American interest if both sides exchanged research results, for example in the field of autonomous driving, and harmonized regulations. “If the markets diverge completely in terms of regulation, it is difficult to do business globally with such technologies.”
Wissing called for: “We need closer cooperation in Europe.” He had held many bilateral talks in Brussels and repeatedly reminded everyone “that we need to agree more on industrial and energy policy issues. If we work together to advance solutions, we can use our answers to influence the regulation of future technologies worldwide.”
If a constitutional court annuls a democratic election, it should have unquestionable reasons for doing so. It remains to be seen whether the Romanian Constitutional Court had such grounds when it annulled the first round of the presidential election on November 24, 2024, last Friday and canceled the run-off election scheduled for December 8, 2024.
Following a recount of the votes, the constitutional judges had confirmed the election result as valid a few days earlier with the surprising victory of right-wing populist Călin Georgescu ahead of conservative-liberal politician Elena Lasconi (Union Save Romania, USR). The presidential election is expected to be rescheduled for next spring.
In their unanimous decision, the nine constitutional judges relied on information from the Romanian secret services. According to them, a “foreign state actor” had illegally influenced the election decision through massive cyberattacks and thousands of online accounts on the social networks TikTok and Telegram.
In fact, the 62-year-old agricultural engineer Georgescu barely made a physical appearance during the election campaign. He spread his political messages critical of the EU and NATO via video clips on social networks. Georgescu, who propagates Romania’s neutrality in the Ukraine war, denies that this was done with financial and logistical support from Russia.
Despite the run-off election being canceled, Georgescu went to his polling station on Sunday morning to cast his vote. Journalists took the opportunity to ask him about his personal acquaintance with crypto investor Bogdan Peșchir, whose houses and offices in Brașov were searched by the investigating authorities on Saturday. Peșchir allegedly paid several TikTok users $381,000 between October 24 and November 24, 2024, to campaign for Georgescu without labeling it as political advertising. Geogescu denied knowing Peșchir.
It is a violation of Romanian electoral law to disseminate political content via social media without labeling it as political advertising. However, whether the violation is serious enough to annul the presidential election is disputed.
Romania’s outgoing Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu, who was the third-placed candidate of the post-communist Social Democrats (PSD) to drop out of the race for the highest office in the state, saw the annulment of the election as the “only correct solution.” According to him, the information gathered by the national secret services showed “that the result of the vote was blatantly distorted by Russian interference.”
In complete contrast and surprisingly in unison, the two supposed opponents in the run-off, Georgescu and Lasconi, condemned the judge’s decision. They declared independently of each other that it “tramples Romanian democracy underfoot”. “In a democracy,” criticized the URS candidate, “presidents are not appointed by a simple signature or by negotiations behind the scenes.” Instead, “the will of the Romanian people must be respected.” In recent years, her party has made a name for itself as an anti-corruption party.
Although the western-oriented parties claimed a majority over the nationalist parties in the parliamentary elections on December 1, Georgescu was recently considered the favorite for the office of head of state. Nevertheless, Elena Lasconi said on Friday that she was convinced “that I would have won.” For the upcoming election rerun, she demonstrated confidence and the will to “defend our democracy.” She would win “because the Romanian people know that I will fight for them and unite them for a better Romania,” she said.
Călin Georgescu described the Constitutional Court’s decision as a “coup d’état.” The rule of law is “in an artificial coma” because “the judiciary is subordinate to political orders,” he complained. He was alluding to the fact that the majority of the nine constitutional court judges were nominated by the leading parties of recent years, the social democratic PSD and the national liberal PNL. The “corrupt system in Romania,” said Georgescu, had “made a pact with the devil.”
As complex as the decision of the Constitutional Court in Romania is, the view from the outside sometimes seems simplistic. “Putin is afraid of functioning democracies,” commented Tobias Cremer, foreign policy spokesperson for the European SPD. His influence on the Romanian presidential election proves how much pressure his system is under. According to the authors of Visegrad Insight, Adrian Mihaltianu and Bianca Felseghi, it is not enough to blame Georgescu’s success on TikTok. It could explain how Georgescu spread his nationalist and isolationist messages, but not their resonance. For this, “global trends towards anti-systemic voting behavior” and the specific frustrations of Romanians must be taken into account.
Jaume Duch was born in Barcelona in 1962 but worked for 37 years as a high-ranking EU official several hundred kilometers from the Costa del Maresme. For the last two decades, he has worked in Brussels as spokesman and Director-General for Communications at the EU Parliament. He is now returning to his home country as Minister for the European Union and Foreign Affairs.
Duch studied law at the University of Barcelona and specialized in EU law. Between 1986 and 1990, he was Professor of Public International Law at the University of Barcelona and coordinator of seminars on EU institutions and policies. In 1986, the year Spain joined the European Economic Community, he also began working for European organizations. Duch recalls: “I was the first professor to teach international law in Catalan.”
He is now entering the active political stage at an important time for Catalonia. After 14 years of separatist regional government, the Catalan Socialist Party (PSC) has been back in power in Barcelona since the summer. In the election in May, the Socialists under Salvador Illa received the most votes and seats (42), although not an absolute majority (68). A deal with the separatists secured fiscal autonomy for the region and Illa the office of President of the Generalitat.
Duch sees this special situation as a historic moment for Catalonia. “We can now be part of the solution,” he says in an interview with Table.Briefings. This government wants to contribute to Spain’s progress. According to Duch, it is clear that Catalonia’s progress is linked to the progress of Spain as a whole.
The offer to join the Illa government came as a surprise to the communications expert, but at the right time. The European elections took place in May and the elections in Catalonia a month later. The change in the EU institutions meant that Duch was able to resign from his post in Brussels without interrupting the ongoing processes of a legislative term. “I could have continued as Speaker of the EU Parliament and was surprised to be offered a seat in the Illa government.” He felt honored and the decision was easy for him, he admits.
Duch believes that Catalonia’s fiscal independence and the promotion of Catalan as an official language in the EU is the right thing to do. “The funding system for autonomous regions in Spain is no longer adapted to the Catalan or Spanish reality,” he says and calls for a realignment of funding policy. According to Duch, Catalan becoming an official EU language is a question of linguistic justice. Catalan is spoken by around 10 million people. “Accordingly, there are more people who speak Catalan than some other official EU languages.”
On November 19, the Generalitat of Catalonia approved the Brussels Plan. Duch’s ministry is in charge of the “Pla Brussel-les.” It defines how Catalonia can expand its presence in EU bodies such as the Council, Commission, Parliament and the European Committee of the Regions. The plan focuses on housing, the common agricultural policy, the next multiannual financial framework and the recognition of Catalan as an official language of the EU.
The coexistence of Spain, Catalonia and Europe is important to Duch on both a political and personal level. He defines himself as Catalan, Spanish and European at the same time and emphasizes that his focus is not on ideologies or party acronyms, but on proposals that serve the good of the citizens. Isabel Cuesta
