Final sticking points of the DSA + Le Pe • Table.Briefings

Dear reader,

The conclusion is drawing nearer: Today at 10 AM, negotiators will meet for what could be the final trilogue on the Digital Services Act. All sides have already signaled in advance that they want to finish the negotiations. Yet there are still numerous points of contention. Among other things, a ban on personalized advertising, the crisis mechanism proposed by the Commission to protect against disinformation, and a supervisory fee for large platforms are up for debate. Till Hoppe gives an overview.

A staunch European against a patriot: in the French presidential election campaign, two candidates clash who couldn’t be any more different. Even though Macron has the lead according to current polls, Brussels is looking to France with concern. Under Le Pen, Europe would lose its engine, writes Tanja Kuchenbecker. The rule of law, freedom of the press, and the rights of minorities would be at risk, and sanctions against Russia would be difficult to enforce.

The situation in France ahead of the election also keeps our columnist Claire Stam in Brussels busy. She takes a look at Macron’s promise to strengthen environmental and climate protection in his new government and asks who the brains behind this plan might be.

Your
Sarah Schaefer

DSA: these are the last sticking points

By

Till Hoppe

Christel Schaldemose prefers to keep a low profile: she wants to avoid “going into too much detail” before the possible final trilogue on Friday, said the Socialist rapporteur of the European Parliament for the Digital Services Act (DSA) during her appearance in the Internal Market Committee on Wednesday. This much is certain: There are still a number of contentious issues.

This morning at 10 AM, the negotiators from Parliament, the French Council Presidency, and the EU Commission will meet for the fifth time. It is likely to be a long meeting because all sides have signaled that they want to reach a conclusion now. The government in Paris wants to give President Emmanuel Macron another political success at the EU level before the runoff election on Sunday. After all, the DSA wants nothing less than to reformulate the basic rules of the online world.

However, there are still “some big hurdles that need to be cleared out of the way for the agreement,” as SPD MEP Tiemo Woelken says. An overview:

Personalized advertising: The Parliament wants to enforce a far-reaching ban. All online platforms are to be prohibited from combining personal information of minors from different services into profiles for advertising purposes. They should also not be allowed to use sensitive data, for example on religious beliefs or sexual orientation, unless users give their express consent. The French Council Presidency has recently moved toward Schaldemose and Co. on this issue. Yesterday, however, experts were still working on how such bans can be formulated in a legally clean way. It has also not yet been finally clarified how the platforms are to determine that minors are actually sitting in front of the screen without collecting extra data.
Dark patterns: Website operators often tempt their users to select settings that suit them, for example, by using color-coded buttons. The Council and Parliament agree in principle that they want to put a legal stop to this – already legally questionable – form of manipulation, at least on online platforms. However, the MEPs want to go further: The manipulation ban should also include the notorious cookie banners as well as do-not-track functions. “This would allow us to finally put an end to cookie terror, which is an abuse of the GDPR, especially by the advertising industry,” says Woelken. Yet the council argues the issue would be better addressed in the e-privacy regulation, which is also currently being negotiated in the trilogue.
Recommendation systems: The DSA, says Green Party MEP Alexandra Geese, “should seal the end of algorithms that flush fear- and anger-driven posts to the top.” The law should oblige platforms to be more transparent. For example, they should have to disclose central data to researchers. In addition, the parliament has urged that the companies should clearly explain in their terms of use which criteria their algorithms use to decide what content users see in their timelines. Users should also be able to change the settings of the recommendation systems themselves and have posts displayed in chronological order instead of on the basis of their personal interests (and data). The Council has recently moved closer to the MEPs on this issue, and an agreement seems to be within reach.
Crisis mechanism: In the wake of the Ukraine war, the EU Commission proposed at the end of March that a crisis mechanism should take effect in the event of natural disasters, terrorist attacks or war. The authority could then order, on the basis of the DSA, that very large platforms (more than 45 million monthly users) must carry out a risk assessment of how they can deal with an accompanying wave of disinformation, for example, and oblige them to take appropriate remedial action. However, the Council does not want to leave this far-reaching power to the Commission. The mechanism is to be triggered only if two-thirds of the national supervisory authorities (the Digital Service Coordinator – DSC) agree. In addition, the crisis mode is to be limited to a maximum of three months.
Supervision fee: The Commission had proposed in March that the major platforms should be asked to pay for supervision. Such a fee would be no more than 0.1 percent of annual turnover and, according to Vice President Margrethe Vestager, would generate €20 to €30 million a year. The money is intended to cover the costs incurred by the authority in enforcing the DSA, for example in personnel costs. Criticism of this comes from the industry: “It seems strange that within the framework of the DSA, companies should now pay for their own supervision – this corresponds to a paradigm shift in the financing of supervisory structures as a whole,” says Rebekka Weiss, Head of Trust & Security at Bitkom. The European Parliament also still has concerns, but different ones: because the revenue would flow outside the established budget process, MEPs fear a precedent.

Le Pen: what an election victory would mean for the EU

The hoped-for revenge for 2017 – it did not happen, the French media said about Marine Le Pen after the almost three-hour TV duel on Wednesday. There was no clear winner this time, but Macron had the advantage. Once again, it became clear that in the French election campaign, two candidates for the presidency are facing each other who could not be more different. The pro-European and the patriot, the globalist and the nationalist, the liberal and the ultra-right.

The runoff election in France will also be the fateful election for Europe. But European or foreign issues are unlikely to determine how the French vote. An anti-European in the Élysée Palace seems to have lost its terror among many French since 2017. Purchasing power, social issues, and the environment have been big topics in recent days as both candidates look to win voters from leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Macron is ahead by 55 to 56 percent, according to recent polls, and he has gained points in recent days.

Macron said he believed in Europe and in Franco-German cooperation as an engine. Le Pen called for a fundamental transformation of the European Union into a community of strong nations. In 2017, she had still clearly advocated leaving the EU and the euro. Le Pen now said she wants to stay in the EU, but, “I want to change it thoroughly.” Brussels should clearly take a back seat. Among other things, she advocates that French law take precedence over EU law. Her focus is entirely on the French.

‘A kind of coup d’état’

She plans a referendum to change the constitution on immigration policy. The idea is to install a “national priority” that also favors French people over other Europeans in jobs and social benefits. She wants to bypass parliament with the referendum. She refers to Article 11 of the constitution, which is limited, however.

Constitutional lawyer Dominique Rousseau told Le Monde newspaper, “This is a kind of coup d’état“. He said it was questionable whether immigration policy would even fall under the article. In addition, he said, national priority is tantamount to discrimination and contradicts the principle of equality in the constitution’s republican tradition. Moreover, the Constitutional Council could be called upon before the referendum to determine whether a referendum is even valid under the article in this case. Constitutional lawyers believe that Le Pen did not really prepare her approach. She is desperately trying to push through something that does not comply with the constitution.

Germany was only a marginal topic in the debate. Macron praised the Franco-German axis, while Le Pen was more skeptical. Germany has always been too assertive in Europe, she observed in the European Parliament: “Germany has always doggedly defended its projects.” She now wants to defend France’s concerns.

The Ukraine war was also a topic of contention: Macron accused Le Pen of being too close to Russia, claiming she was dependent on Russia, that many of her decisions depended on it. “When you speak of Russia, you speak of your banker,” Macron said. Le Pen proposes close cooperation between NATO and Russia, despite the Ukraine war, to avoid Russia’s rapprochement with China.

Sanctions would be difficult to enforce

But she would also seek to weaken NATO, even have France leave entirely. Should Le Pen come to power, Europe’s united front in Ukraine could break up, sanctions against Russia would be difficult to enforce because she sees sanctions against oil and gas as a burden for the French population, as she emphasized in the duel. Military aid could also come to a halt.

A right-wing extremist in the Élysée Palace could change Europe completely. This does not necessarily require changes to the law or the treaties. Le Pen has toned down her Euroskeptic positions, but her main goal remains: She wants to undermine the EU from within. Together with Poland and Hungary, she could block projects. The rule of law, freedom of the press, and the rights of minorities would be at risk. Germany would lose its most important partner and Europe its engine.

European policy projects such as climate and defense policy could come to a standstill. Le Pen wants to focus defense on France, and she rejects the Green Deal climate pact. She also has reservations about free trade because it harms French producers, especially farmers, she made clear in the debate. She wants to pay less money into the EU budget. Border controls are to be reintroduced, over and above Schengen rules. France should be less dependent on Germany. She spoke of “strategic differences” in armaments projects and does not want to allow Germany to destroy the French nuclear industry.

The third man of the campaign

But it’s not so easy to change the European rules, economist Eric Chaney, who advises the think tank Institut Montaigne, commented in Le Monde: “It only works in a dynamic of cooperation with our partners, especially Germany.” Yet Le Pen would also be a problem for France and thus Europe for economic reasons. If she comes to power, the French deficit could increase, should interest rates rise. “The market could react with a loss of confidence and higher interest rates,” warned Stéphane Déo, head of the market strategy at French investment house Ostrum Asset Management. Especially as it also shows little willingness to consolidate debt.

Away from the duel, the third man in the campaign, leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who had been just behind Le Pen in the first round of voting, came forward. He is aiming for victory in the parliamentary elections in June. If he succeeds, he will already stake his claim to the post of prime minister.

Regionally, the left has more chances than the far-right Le Pen, who is usually stopped by an anti-Le Pen front. However, the conservatives and socialists are also still strong regionally. With Mélenchon, Macron would get a difficult partner in the “cohabitation,” and a Le Pen-Mélenchon combination would probably be completely doomed to fail. Tanja Kuchenbecker

Inflation rate in euro zone rises to 7.4 percent

In the euro zone, the price surge continued, pushing inflation to a record high. Energy prices remain the strongest driver. In March, consumer prices rose by 7.4 percent year-on-year, as the statistics office Eurostat announced on Thursday in Luxembourg after a second estimate. In a first estimate, a slightly higher rate of 7.5 percent had been determined. In February, the rate had been 5.9 percent.

The inflation rate in the eurozone has never been so high since the introduction of the common currency in 1999. Since last summer, inflation has steadily increased, with record levels already being reached most recently. The war in Ukraine and the tough COVID-19 measures in China recently intensified price pressure.

On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices rose by 2.4 percent in March. Here, an increase of 2.5 percent had initially been determined.

Inflation was once again driven by an extremely sharp increase in energy prices, which rose by 44.4 percent year-on-year. Food and beverages were 5.0 percent more expensive in March than a year ago.

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) medium-term inflation target of two percent is thus clearly exceeded. In the meantime, there are also signs of a turn toward higher interest rates at the ECB. A number of Council members recently signaled an interest rate increase for July. dpa

IEA chief and minister call for energy savings

With nine recommendations on how to save energy, the International Energy Agency (IEA) is calling on people to “do their part” to reduce energy dependence on Russia. On Thursday, the IEA, together with the EU Commission, presented a report to raise awareness of the benefits of energy savings and to help people understand the importance of putting energy efficiency at the heart of planning and investment.

The nine recommendations are:

Turn down heating and air conditioning
Turn down boiler
Work in a home-office
Drive less
Reduce speed
Car-free Sunday
Ride a bike or walk
Use public transport
Train instead of plane

This would save 600,000 barrels of oil per day and almost one-third of Nord Stream 1’s gas capacity (a total of 17 billion cubic meters of gas per year), according to IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. In addition, this would save an average EU household €450 a year.

The recommendations were supported by the energy ministers of several EU countries. At the presentation of the report, Claude Turmes from Luxembourg, however, called for regulatory measures in addition to recommendations for voluntary energy savings. No one will voluntarily slow down in the long term if others do not. Therefore, coordinated measures are needed from the EU for speed limits, reduction of heating energy, and home office regulations.

BMWK State Secretary Patrick Graichen also conceded that a lower speed limit was an obvious way to save energy. But that’s not how politics works, he defended himself against the side-swipes from the other panelists, since Germany doesn’t have a speed limit at all.

Great potential for energy savings at companies

Graichen also criticized the fact that six of the nine recommendations would save oil, but only three would save gas. Saving oil is not enough to reduce dependence on Russia, he said. Therefore, one must also look at what can be achieved with small investments. As an example, he cited a hybrid heating system in which a heat pump is installed in addition to the boiler.

Companies also have a high potential for energy savings. According to the State Secretary, the necessary investment costs are recouped after two to three years. He promised that 90 percent of companies could reduce their energy consumption by up to ten percent within 12 to 18 months. Energy-saving and energy efficiency had recently lost “drive” but were now back on the agenda.

IEA Director Fatih Birol recalled the oil crisis in the 1970s, which gave a boost to energy efficiency efforts. He said he hoped that Europe would now, as it did then, but the issue back at the top of its list of priorities.

Claude Turmes declared the EU energy ministers’ meeting on June 27 to be the “moment of truth” for this, as they will decide on the recast of the Renewable Energies Directive (RED III) as well as the Energy Efficiency Directive. luk

Experts: Russian cyber troops can undermine sanctions

Hackers active on Russia’s behalf can at least partially undermine economic sanctions over the attack on Ukraine, according to security experts. Russian cyber forces are capable of raising money through financial market manipulation, said Sandro Gaycken, founder of the Digital Society Institute at the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) Berlin. “It’s also conceivable that they are working with criminal ransomware gangs to extort ransoms from attacked companies in the West.”

Earlier, several US experts had warned that the Kremlin would respond to the sanctions with targeted cyberattacks. In response, US President Joe Biden had called on companies and organizations to immediately strengthen their cyber defenses.

Russia will take subversive measures to get fresh money, Gaycken said. “They are able to manipulate stock market trading, you can criminally influence bets on falling stock prices.” Criminal activity is also possible incorporate mergers and acquisitions, he said. Front companies of Russian oligarchs could also be used for this purpose. “If Russia needs a lot of money quickly, which is what it looks like at the moment, then this can result in massive manipulative attacks on the global economy. For the West, this means that defenses must be raised if we are not to be and totally robbed.”

Gaycken called for not limiting oneself to pure defense: “Quite a few banks have had good experience with responding to attacks on their infrastructure with targeted ‘hackbacks’. These cases have shown that you can conduct such counterattacks very precisely without suffering major collateral damage.” dpa

EU energy sanctions against Russia: Hungary wants more details

Hungary wants to see the details of a European Union proposal for sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports before it decides whether to block those or not, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff said on Thursday.

Hungary has been firmly opposed to a gas and oil embargo, which Budapest has said would wreck the Hungarian economy. The country imports about 80% of its gas and 65% of the oil it needs from Russia, with MOL’s MOLB.BU refineries at Szazhalombatta and in Bratislava, Slovakia, predominantly processing Russian oil at the moment.

Germany will stop importing oil from Russia by the end of the year, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Wednesday.

When asked about Baerbock’s comments, and whether Hungary would veto EU sanctions on Russian oil and gas, Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas said: “We would like to see what kinds of proposals are on the table and whether there is an alternative to replace resources arriving from Russia.” Gulyas added that with respect to gas imports, there was no such alternative in the foreseeable future.

“Not just the Hungarian, but also the German economy would be wrecked and slide into a deep recession without Russian gas…so any debate about this, or moralizing, is pointless,” he said.

Gulyas said it would take several months, or up to a year and hundreds of billions of forints to adjust MOL’s refineries to enable them to process non-Russian oil.

Gas sanctions are seen as a last resort in the EU’s package of potential energy measures, because of Europe’s dependence on it for industrial use and home heating. rtr/sas

New EU Ambassador to China

Spanish diplomat Jorge Toledo Albiñana is to become the European Union’s new ambassador to China, EU circles told China.Table on Thursday. Toledo is currently Spain’s ambassador to Japan. The 57-year-old would succeed France’s Nicolas Chapuis as EU ambassador to Beijing, who is expected to step down from his post in the fall. The European External Action Service (EEAS) did not yet confirm the change.

Toledo is the second high-ranking European representative who transfers from Tokyo to China: Germany’s new ambassador to Beijing, Patricia Flor, also worked in the Japanese capital before her assignment in the People’s Republic. Toledo was born in the German city of Ludwigshafen and has already served in various diplomatic positions for Spain and the EU. ari

What’s cooking in Brussels?

By Claire Stam

It is an understatement to say that Brussels is holding its breath until the results of Sunday’s election in France are known. According to the latest polls, Emmanuel Macron will emerge victorious from the second round of the presidential election. And while the presidential candidate’s campaign team is focusing on the final spurt, the ingredients for the recipe for the next government are already being selected in the background.

Macron’s announcement last Saturday in Marseille that environmental and climate protection will be a high priority in his new government raised eyebrows. After all, the president’s environmental and climate record in France has been heavily criticized. However, Jean-Luc Mélenchon came along and Emmanuel Macron has to win, if not the hearts of his voters, at least their votes.

He has therefore proposed the appointment of a prime minister “directly responsible for ecological planning” and supported by “two strong ministers,” one responsible for energy planning and the other for territorial ecological planning.

Who will these two “strong ministers” be? The German-speaking and Germanophile Bruno Le Maire, the current Minister of Economy and Finance? Barbara Pompili, the current minister for the ecological transition? Pascal Canfin, who knows the sensitive dossiers of climate and energy inside out?

The response in the EU Parliament corridors, if the current chairman of the influential Environment Committee in the EU Parliament might leave for Paris, is that he has too much to lose. Most feel that he knows his dossiers very well and has managed to consolidate his influence by mastering the very subtle game of Brussels negotiations.

Risky political decision

It is important to note that in France, a candidate for a ministerial post must first win his seat as a member of the National Assembly in order to secure his political legitimacy. The next parliamentary elections will be held on June 12 and 19 this year. So we are talking about a risky political decision. The success of this plan is not certain.

This happened, for example, to Alain Juppé, who was appointed by President Sarkozy in May 2007 to head a super-ministry that included sustainable development, energy, and transport. Unfortunately for him, he was forced out of office just one month after his appointment due to his surprising defeat in the parliamentary elections.

Speaking to Europe.Table, a veteran of European politics stressed that Pascal Canfin’s outspoken views against the extension of the ETS to the transport and buildings sectors fully support the position of Paris. To put it plainly, alongside Thierry Breton in the Commission, he is the other European ace in the European Parliament that Macron can rely on to support France’s positions in Brussels.

Paris expects that Emmanuel Macron, if re-elected, is likely to announce the line-up of his future government in the first week of May.

Meanwhile, political groups will meet in the European Parliament next week to prepare for the next plenary session, which will be held in Strasbourg the following week. “This means that the European Parliament will be less vocal and will leave the media field more freely to the European Commission,” the insider tells us.

So the baton is informally passed from Rue Wiertz to Berlaymont, where preparations are underway for the next visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to India next Sunday and Monday.

Based on the model of Dabbawala, the tried-and-true Indian delivery system, von der Leyen will try to leave something on the doorstep of Indian guests in New Delhi that could appeal to Indian palates. The task is not easy, as Alicia García-Herrero explains. García-Herrero is a senior research fellow and specialist for the Asia-Pacific at European think tank Bruegel.

New conditions for negotiations with India

“The UK started trade negotiations with India before the EU, and the UK is moving fast. The EU has now realized that it does not want to miss the train for a trade deal with India,” the expert said, noting that negotiations stalled in 2012.

As you read these lines, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss economic cooperation, defense and security. New Delhi and London also plan to announce new trade partnerships between the two countries.

According to García-Herrero, there is one major difference from the 2012 negotiations: Back then, the EU was still fully cooperating with China, and European companies were investing in Chinese production. “Now the situation is completely different, because supply chains have been restructured, and EU companies need another location for production. India is the most obvious choice, as the country has a large population, a good ICT workforce and still very low wages,” García-Herrero said.

The expert also points out that cooperation with India has become vital for the European Union in light of Russian aggression in Ukraine: the West, especially the EU and the US, needs the support of major emerging economies for its Russia policy. “In this regard, India has a key role to play.” It has remained neutral, but rather pro-Russian in its neutrality. “This is concerning because the US, as well as the EU, is building an Indo-Pacific strategy with a partner that doesn’t seem to be there when it’s needed.”

EUROPE.TABLE EDITORS

Till
Hoppe

Charlotte
Wirth

Falk
Steiner

Timo
Landenberger

Corinna
Visser

Lukas
Knigge

Eric
Bonse

Sarah
Schaefer

Manuel
Berkel

Lisa-Martina
Klein

Markus
Grabitz

Stephan
Israel

Claire
Stam

Dear reader,

The conclusion is drawing nearer: Today at 10 AM, negotiators will meet for what could be the final trilogue on the Digital Services Act. All sides have already signaled in advance that they want to finish the negotiations. Yet there are still numerous points of contention. Among other things, a ban on personalized advertising, the crisis mechanism proposed by the Commission to protect against disinformation, and a supervisory fee for large platforms are up for debate. Till Hoppe gives an overview.

A staunch European against a patriot: in the French presidential election campaign, two candidates clash who couldn’t be any more different. Even though Macron has the lead according to current polls, Brussels is looking to France with concern. Under Le Pen, Europe would lose its engine, writes Tanja Kuchenbecker. The rule of law, freedom of the press, and the rights of minorities would be at risk, and sanctions against Russia would be difficult to enforce.

The situation in France ahead of the election also keeps our columnist Claire Stam in Brussels busy. She takes a look at Macron’s promise to strengthen environmental and climate protection in his new government and asks who the brains behind this plan might be.

Your
Sarah Schaefer

DSA: these are the last sticking points

By

Till Hoppe

Christel Schaldemose prefers to keep a low profile: she wants to avoid “going into too much detail” before the possible final trilogue on Friday, said the Socialist rapporteur of the European Parliament for the Digital Services Act (DSA) during her appearance in the Internal Market Committee on Wednesday. This much is certain: There are still a number of contentious issues.

This morning at 10 AM, the negotiators from Parliament, the French Council Presidency, and the EU Commission will meet for the fifth time. It is likely to be a long meeting because all sides have signaled that they want to reach a conclusion now. The government in Paris wants to give President Emmanuel Macron another political success at the EU level before the runoff election on Sunday. After all, the DSA wants nothing less than to reformulate the basic rules of the online world.

However, there are still “some big hurdles that need to be cleared out of the way for the agreement,” as SPD MEP Tiemo Woelken says. An overview:

Personalized advertising: The Parliament wants to enforce a far-reaching ban. All online platforms are to be prohibited from combining personal information of minors from different services into profiles for advertising purposes. They should also not be allowed to use sensitive data, for example on religious beliefs or sexual orientation, unless users give their express consent. The French Council Presidency has recently moved toward Schaldemose and Co. on this issue. Yesterday, however, experts were still working on how such bans can be formulated in a legally clean way. It has also not yet been finally clarified how the platforms are to determine that minors are actually sitting in front of the screen without collecting extra data.
Dark patterns: Website operators often tempt their users to select settings that suit them, for example, by using color-coded buttons. The Council and Parliament agree in principle that they want to put a legal stop to this – already legally questionable – form of manipulation, at least on online platforms. However, the MEPs want to go further: The manipulation ban should also include the notorious cookie banners as well as do-not-track functions. “This would allow us to finally put an end to cookie terror, which is an abuse of the GDPR, especially by the advertising industry,” says Woelken. Yet the council argues the issue would be better addressed in the e-privacy regulation, which is also currently being negotiated in the trilogue.
Recommendation systems: The DSA, says Green Party MEP Alexandra Geese, “should seal the end of algorithms that flush fear- and anger-driven posts to the top.” The law should oblige platforms to be more transparent. For example, they should have to disclose central data to researchers. In addition, the parliament has urged that the companies should clearly explain in their terms of use which criteria their algorithms use to decide what content users see in their timelines. Users should also be able to change the settings of the recommendation systems themselves and have posts displayed in chronological order instead of on the basis of their personal interests (and data). The Council has recently moved closer to the MEPs on this issue, and an agreement seems to be within reach.
Crisis mechanism: In the wake of the Ukraine war, the EU Commission proposed at the end of March that a crisis mechanism should take effect in the event of natural disasters, terrorist attacks or war. The authority could then order, on the basis of the DSA, that very large platforms (more than 45 million monthly users) must carry out a risk assessment of how they can deal with an accompanying wave of disinformation, for example, and oblige them to take appropriate remedial action. However, the Council does not want to leave this far-reaching power to the Commission. The mechanism is to be triggered only if two-thirds of the national supervisory authorities (the Digital Service Coordinator – DSC) agree. In addition, the crisis mode is to be limited to a maximum of three months.
Supervision fee: The Commission had proposed in March that the major platforms should be asked to pay for supervision. Such a fee would be no more than 0.1 percent of annual turnover and, according to Vice President Margrethe Vestager, would generate €20 to €30 million a year. The money is intended to cover the costs incurred by the authority in enforcing the DSA, for example in personnel costs. Criticism of this comes from the industry: “It seems strange that within the framework of the DSA, companies should now pay for their own supervision – this corresponds to a paradigm shift in the financing of supervisory structures as a whole,” says Rebekka Weiss, Head of Trust & Security at Bitkom. The European Parliament also still has concerns, but different ones: because the revenue would flow outside the established budget process, MEPs fear a precedent.

Le Pen: what an election victory would mean for the EU

The hoped-for revenge for 2017 – it did not happen, the French media said about Marine Le Pen after the almost three-hour TV duel on Wednesday. There was no clear winner this time, but Macron had the advantage. Once again, it became clear that in the French election campaign, two candidates for the presidency are facing each other who could not be more different. The pro-European and the patriot, the globalist and the nationalist, the liberal and the ultra-right.

The runoff election in France will also be the fateful election for Europe. But European or foreign issues are unlikely to determine how the French vote. An anti-European in the Élysée Palace seems to have lost its terror among many French since 2017. Purchasing power, social issues, and the environment have been big topics in recent days as both candidates look to win voters from leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Macron is ahead by 55 to 56 percent, according to recent polls, and he has gained points in recent days.

Macron said he believed in Europe and in Franco-German cooperation as an engine. Le Pen called for a fundamental transformation of the European Union into a community of strong nations. In 2017, she had still clearly advocated leaving the EU and the euro. Le Pen now said she wants to stay in the EU, but, “I want to change it thoroughly.” Brussels should clearly take a back seat. Among other things, she advocates that French law take precedence over EU law. Her focus is entirely on the French.

‘A kind of coup d’état’

She plans a referendum to change the constitution on immigration policy. The idea is to install a “national priority” that also favors French people over other Europeans in jobs and social benefits. She wants to bypass parliament with the referendum. She refers to Article 11 of the constitution, which is limited, however.

Constitutional lawyer Dominique Rousseau told Le Monde newspaper, “This is a kind of coup d’état“. He said it was questionable whether immigration policy would even fall under the article. In addition, he said, national priority is tantamount to discrimination and contradicts the principle of equality in the constitution’s republican tradition. Moreover, the Constitutional Council could be called upon before the referendum to determine whether a referendum is even valid under the article in this case. Constitutional lawyers believe that Le Pen did not really prepare her approach. She is desperately trying to push through something that does not comply with the constitution.

Germany was only a marginal topic in the debate. Macron praised the Franco-German axis, while Le Pen was more skeptical. Germany has always been too assertive in Europe, she observed in the European Parliament: “Germany has always doggedly defended its projects.” She now wants to defend France’s concerns.

The Ukraine war was also a topic of contention: Macron accused Le Pen of being too close to Russia, claiming she was dependent on Russia, that many of her decisions depended on it. “When you speak of Russia, you speak of your banker,” Macron said. Le Pen proposes close cooperation between NATO and Russia, despite the Ukraine war, to avoid Russia’s rapprochement with China.

Sanctions would be difficult to enforce

But she would also seek to weaken NATO, even have France leave entirely. Should Le Pen come to power, Europe’s united front in Ukraine could break up, sanctions against Russia would be difficult to enforce because she sees sanctions against oil and gas as a burden for the French population, as she emphasized in the duel. Military aid could also come to a halt.

A right-wing extremist in the Élysée Palace could change Europe completely. This does not necessarily require changes to the law or the treaties. Le Pen has toned down her Euroskeptic positions, but her main goal remains: She wants to undermine the EU from within. Together with Poland and Hungary, she could block projects. The rule of law, freedom of the press, and the rights of minorities would be at risk. Germany would lose its most important partner and Europe its engine.

European policy projects such as climate and defense policy could come to a standstill. Le Pen wants to focus defense on France, and she rejects the Green Deal climate pact. She also has reservations about free trade because it harms French producers, especially farmers, she made clear in the debate. She wants to pay less money into the EU budget. Border controls are to be reintroduced, over and above Schengen rules. France should be less dependent on Germany. She spoke of “strategic differences” in armaments projects and does not want to allow Germany to destroy the French nuclear industry.

The third man of the campaign

But it’s not so easy to change the European rules, economist Eric Chaney, who advises the think tank Institut Montaigne, commented in Le Monde: “It only works in a dynamic of cooperation with our partners, especially Germany.” Yet Le Pen would also be a problem for France and thus Europe for economic reasons. If she comes to power, the French deficit could increase, should interest rates rise. “The market could react with a loss of confidence and higher interest rates,” warned Stéphane Déo, head of the market strategy at French investment house Ostrum Asset Management. Especially as it also shows little willingness to consolidate debt.

Away from the duel, the third man in the campaign, leftist Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who had been just behind Le Pen in the first round of voting, came forward. He is aiming for victory in the parliamentary elections in June. If he succeeds, he will already stake his claim to the post of prime minister.

Regionally, the left has more chances than the far-right Le Pen, who is usually stopped by an anti-Le Pen front. However, the conservatives and socialists are also still strong regionally. With Mélenchon, Macron would get a difficult partner in the “cohabitation,” and a Le Pen-Mélenchon combination would probably be completely doomed to fail. Tanja Kuchenbecker

Inflation rate in euro zone rises to 7.4 percent

In the euro zone, the price surge continued, pushing inflation to a record high. Energy prices remain the strongest driver. In March, consumer prices rose by 7.4 percent year-on-year, as the statistics office Eurostat announced on Thursday in Luxembourg after a second estimate. In a first estimate, a slightly higher rate of 7.5 percent had been determined. In February, the rate had been 5.9 percent.

The inflation rate in the eurozone has never been so high since the introduction of the common currency in 1999. Since last summer, inflation has steadily increased, with record levels already being reached most recently. The war in Ukraine and the tough COVID-19 measures in China recently intensified price pressure.

On a month-on-month basis, consumer prices rose by 2.4 percent in March. Here, an increase of 2.5 percent had initially been determined.

Inflation was once again driven by an extremely sharp increase in energy prices, which rose by 44.4 percent year-on-year. Food and beverages were 5.0 percent more expensive in March than a year ago.

The European Central Bank’s (ECB) medium-term inflation target of two percent is thus clearly exceeded. In the meantime, there are also signs of a turn toward higher interest rates at the ECB. A number of Council members recently signaled an interest rate increase for July. dpa

IEA chief and minister call for energy savings

With nine recommendations on how to save energy, the International Energy Agency (IEA) is calling on people to “do their part” to reduce energy dependence on Russia. On Thursday, the IEA, together with the EU Commission, presented a report to raise awareness of the benefits of energy savings and to help people understand the importance of putting energy efficiency at the heart of planning and investment.

The nine recommendations are:

Turn down heating and air conditioning
Turn down boiler
Work in a home-office
Drive less
Reduce speed
Car-free Sunday
Ride a bike or walk
Use public transport
Train instead of plane

This would save 600,000 barrels of oil per day and almost one-third of Nord Stream 1’s gas capacity (a total of 17 billion cubic meters of gas per year), according to IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. In addition, this would save an average EU household €450 a year.

The recommendations were supported by the energy ministers of several EU countries. At the presentation of the report, Claude Turmes from Luxembourg, however, called for regulatory measures in addition to recommendations for voluntary energy savings. No one will voluntarily slow down in the long term if others do not. Therefore, coordinated measures are needed from the EU for speed limits, reduction of heating energy, and home office regulations.

BMWK State Secretary Patrick Graichen also conceded that a lower speed limit was an obvious way to save energy. But that’s not how politics works, he defended himself against the side-swipes from the other panelists, since Germany doesn’t have a speed limit at all.

Great potential for energy savings at companies

Graichen also criticized the fact that six of the nine recommendations would save oil, but only three would save gas. Saving oil is not enough to reduce dependence on Russia, he said. Therefore, one must also look at what can be achieved with small investments. As an example, he cited a hybrid heating system in which a heat pump is installed in addition to the boiler.

Companies also have a high potential for energy savings. According to the State Secretary, the necessary investment costs are recouped after two to three years. He promised that 90 percent of companies could reduce their energy consumption by up to ten percent within 12 to 18 months. Energy-saving and energy efficiency had recently lost “drive” but were now back on the agenda.

IEA Director Fatih Birol recalled the oil crisis in the 1970s, which gave a boost to energy efficiency efforts. He said he hoped that Europe would now, as it did then, but the issue back at the top of its list of priorities.

Claude Turmes declared the EU energy ministers’ meeting on June 27 to be the “moment of truth” for this, as they will decide on the recast of the Renewable Energies Directive (RED III) as well as the Energy Efficiency Directive. luk

Experts: Russian cyber troops can undermine sanctions

Hackers active on Russia’s behalf can at least partially undermine economic sanctions over the attack on Ukraine, according to security experts. Russian cyber forces are capable of raising money through financial market manipulation, said Sandro Gaycken, founder of the Digital Society Institute at the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) Berlin. “It’s also conceivable that they are working with criminal ransomware gangs to extort ransoms from attacked companies in the West.”

Earlier, several US experts had warned that the Kremlin would respond to the sanctions with targeted cyberattacks. In response, US President Joe Biden had called on companies and organizations to immediately strengthen their cyber defenses.

Russia will take subversive measures to get fresh money, Gaycken said. “They are able to manipulate stock market trading, you can criminally influence bets on falling stock prices.” Criminal activity is also possible incorporate mergers and acquisitions, he said. Front companies of Russian oligarchs could also be used for this purpose. “If Russia needs a lot of money quickly, which is what it looks like at the moment, then this can result in massive manipulative attacks on the global economy. For the West, this means that defenses must be raised if we are not to be and totally robbed.”

Gaycken called for not limiting oneself to pure defense: “Quite a few banks have had good experience with responding to attacks on their infrastructure with targeted ‘hackbacks’. These cases have shown that you can conduct such counterattacks very precisely without suffering major collateral damage.” dpa

EU energy sanctions against Russia: Hungary wants more details

Hungary wants to see the details of a European Union proposal for sanctions on Russian oil and gas imports before it decides whether to block those or not, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff said on Thursday.

Hungary has been firmly opposed to a gas and oil embargo, which Budapest has said would wreck the Hungarian economy. The country imports about 80% of its gas and 65% of the oil it needs from Russia, with MOL’s MOLB.BU refineries at Szazhalombatta and in Bratislava, Slovakia, predominantly processing Russian oil at the moment.

Germany will stop importing oil from Russia by the end of the year, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Wednesday.

When asked about Baerbock’s comments, and whether Hungary would veto EU sanctions on Russian oil and gas, Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas said: “We would like to see what kinds of proposals are on the table and whether there is an alternative to replace resources arriving from Russia.” Gulyas added that with respect to gas imports, there was no such alternative in the foreseeable future.

“Not just the Hungarian, but also the German economy would be wrecked and slide into a deep recession without Russian gas…so any debate about this, or moralizing, is pointless,” he said.

Gulyas said it would take several months, or up to a year and hundreds of billions of forints to adjust MOL’s refineries to enable them to process non-Russian oil.

Gas sanctions are seen as a last resort in the EU’s package of potential energy measures, because of Europe’s dependence on it for industrial use and home heating. rtr/sas

New EU Ambassador to China

Spanish diplomat Jorge Toledo Albiñana is to become the European Union’s new ambassador to China, EU circles told China.Table on Thursday. Toledo is currently Spain’s ambassador to Japan. The 57-year-old would succeed France’s Nicolas Chapuis as EU ambassador to Beijing, who is expected to step down from his post in the fall. The European External Action Service (EEAS) did not yet confirm the change.

Toledo is the second high-ranking European representative who transfers from Tokyo to China: Germany’s new ambassador to Beijing, Patricia Flor, also worked in the Japanese capital before her assignment in the People’s Republic. Toledo was born in the German city of Ludwigshafen and has already served in various diplomatic positions for Spain and the EU. ari

What’s cooking in Brussels?

By Claire Stam

It is an understatement to say that Brussels is holding its breath until the results of Sunday’s election in France are known. According to the latest polls, Emmanuel Macron will emerge victorious from the second round of the presidential election. And while the presidential candidate’s campaign team is focusing on the final spurt, the ingredients for the recipe for the next government are already being selected in the background.

Macron’s announcement last Saturday in Marseille that environmental and climate protection will be a high priority in his new government raised eyebrows. After all, the president’s environmental and climate record in France has been heavily criticized. However, Jean-Luc Mélenchon came along and Emmanuel Macron has to win, if not the hearts of his voters, at least their votes.

He has therefore proposed the appointment of a prime minister “directly responsible for ecological planning” and supported by “two strong ministers,” one responsible for energy planning and the other for territorial ecological planning.

Who will these two “strong ministers” be? The German-speaking and Germanophile Bruno Le Maire, the current Minister of Economy and Finance? Barbara Pompili, the current minister for the ecological transition? Pascal Canfin, who knows the sensitive dossiers of climate and energy inside out?

The response in the EU Parliament corridors, if the current chairman of the influential Environment Committee in the EU Parliament might leave for Paris, is that he has too much to lose. Most feel that he knows his dossiers very well and has managed to consolidate his influence by mastering the very subtle game of Brussels negotiations.

Risky political decision

It is important to note that in France, a candidate for a ministerial post must first win his seat as a member of the National Assembly in order to secure his political legitimacy. The next parliamentary elections will be held on June 12 and 19 this year. So we are talking about a risky political decision. The success of this plan is not certain.

This happened, for example, to Alain Juppé, who was appointed by President Sarkozy in May 2007 to head a super-ministry that included sustainable development, energy, and transport. Unfortunately for him, he was forced out of office just one month after his appointment due to his surprising defeat in the parliamentary elections.

Speaking to Europe.Table, a veteran of European politics stressed that Pascal Canfin’s outspoken views against the extension of the ETS to the transport and buildings sectors fully support the position of Paris. To put it plainly, alongside Thierry Breton in the Commission, he is the other European ace in the European Parliament that Macron can rely on to support France’s positions in Brussels.

Paris expects that Emmanuel Macron, if re-elected, is likely to announce the line-up of his future government in the first week of May.

Meanwhile, political groups will meet in the European Parliament next week to prepare for the next plenary session, which will be held in Strasbourg the following week. “This means that the European Parliament will be less vocal and will leave the media field more freely to the European Commission,” the insider tells us.

So the baton is informally passed from Rue Wiertz to Berlaymont, where preparations are underway for the next visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to India next Sunday and Monday.

Based on the model of Dabbawala, the tried-and-true Indian delivery system, von der Leyen will try to leave something on the doorstep of Indian guests in New Delhi that could appeal to Indian palates. The task is not easy, as Alicia García-Herrero explains. García-Herrero is a senior research fellow and specialist for the Asia-Pacific at European think tank Bruegel.

New conditions for negotiations with India

“The UK started trade negotiations with India before the EU, and the UK is moving fast. The EU has now realized that it does not want to miss the train for a trade deal with India,” the expert said, noting that negotiations stalled in 2012.

As you read these lines, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss economic cooperation, defense and security. New Delhi and London also plan to announce new trade partnerships between the two countries.

According to García-Herrero, there is one major difference from the 2012 negotiations: Back then, the EU was still fully cooperating with China, and European companies were investing in Chinese production. “Now the situation is completely different, because supply chains have been restructured, and EU companies need another location for production. India is the most obvious choice, as the country has a large population, a good ICT workforce and still very low wages,” García-Herrero said.

The expert also points out that cooperation with India has become vital for the European Union in light of Russian aggression in Ukraine: the West, especially the EU and the US, needs the support of major emerging economies for its Russia policy. “In this regard, India has a key role to play.” It has remained neutral, but rather pro-Russian in its neutrality. “This is concerning because the US, as well as the EU, is building an Indo-Pacific strategy with a partner that doesn’t seem to be there when it’s needed.”