Mark Rutte is a political survival artist. The right-wing liberal politician has been in power in the Netherlands for almost 13 years, and in a very fragmented party landscape. On Friday, the 56-year-old buried his fourth coalition. And yet he can hope for another term in office if he wants to.
Today, the parliament in The Hague will discuss the situation and the date for a new election – probably in November. The alliance of Rutte’s VVD party with the left-liberal D66, the Christian Union and the Christian Democratic CDA lasted only about one and a half years. The coalition partners did not want to support the Prime Minister’s demand to restrict family reunification for war refugees.
The ex-partners accuse Rutte of forcing the break. In fact, there is much to suggest that Rutte is acting in a calculated manner. He has little to fear from the political competition in the center and on the left: The D66 and CDA are doing poorly in the polls, and their party leaders Sigrid Kaag and Wopke Hoekstra are internally controversial. The early parliamentary elections could come too soon for the new Farmer-Citizen Movement, which was successful in the provincial elections. If this scenario proves to be true, Rutte could lead the government again – possibly at the head of a new right-wing alliance.
Have a good start to the week.
Among European Parliament employees who participated in a survey, around half have already experienced sexual, psychological or physical harassment or violence there. This is according to the survey by the MeTooEP initiative, which is published today and available to Table.Media.
The initiators had written to all the approximately 10,000 employees in Parliament by e-mail and asked for information. From June 27 to July 5, 1001 employees responded; 655 respondents identified as women, 312 as men.
According to the survey, around 16 percent have already experienced sexual harassment or violence in the EP environment. Forty-eight percent of respondents have experienced psychological violence or harassment and seven percent physical violence or harassment, according to the survey. Men and women reported psychological harassment or violence in roughly equal proportions.
Regardless of their own experience, 412 respondents reported witnessing sexual, psychological or physical harassment in the work environment. According to the survey, 423 people who were victims of harassment raised the incident within the EP. In 164 cases, there had been no consequences. 39 respondents said they had been advised to leave the EP.
MeTooEP is presenting the preliminary survey results today, with the final results to be presented in September. The initiators want to underline the need for reforms. Tonight, the EP presidium will discuss stricter measures against harassment and bullying for the first time.
The anti-harassment proposals, drafted by the Quaestors at the request of House Speaker Roberta Metsola, provide:
But eight of 14 vice presidents say the Quaestors’ proposed measures do not go far enough. They call for more far-reaching steps in a letter that Table.Media was able to read.
Today, the EP Presidium is also discussing better protection for whistleblowers. The General Secretariat has drawn up initial proposals for this. Procedures on how misconduct can be reported confidentially in the future and through which channels evidence can be provided are to be introduced, as well as how reported cases are followed up. There is also a demand that anonymous reports of misconduct be followed up.
In 2019, the EU adopted a whistleblower directive for private and public companies, which had to be transposed into national law by the member states by December 2021. However, the directive explicitly does not apply to EU institutions. 21 member states had not yet transposed the directive into national law when it came into force.
Both the measures for better protection against harassment and bullying in the European Parliament and better whistleblower protection are part of Roberta Metsola’s 14-point plan, which the Parliament President wants to implement as a consequence of the Eva Kaili bribery scandal. After the summer break, the reforms are to be adopted by the EP Presidium and the Parliament. In September, the transparency working group of the Constitutional Committee, headed by Rainer Wieland (CDU), will also present its proposals.
It cannot be assumed that all gas distribution networks will be converted to hydrogen. What reads so succinctly in the explanatory memorandum to the German Buildings Energy Act (GEG) actually raises many unpleasant questions:
Since the dismissal of State Secretary for Economic Affairs Patrick Graichen the German government has put all these issues on the back burner. At best, they have been flashing up anecdotally in opening speeches for parliamentary summer parties these days. In Brussels, however, the member states and Parliament had already decided on these issues months ago – in their positions on the Gas Market Directive.
In Article 51, the Commission wanted to oblige transmission system operators to also publish information on planned closures and conversions – for hydrogen, for example – in their regular plans for network expansion. However, whether and which lines this relates to should be left to grid operators for the time being.
The distribution networks in the municipalities, which are far more crucial for heating, were ignored completely. Parliament and the Council, on the other hand, also want to hold distribution network operators accountable, albeit in different ways.
The Council position starts with individual connections to the gas network. In Article 34, the member states want to transfer responsibility for decommissioning distribution networks to their national regulatory authorities. The regulators are not only to approve decommissioning plans but also to define criteria for disconnecting users from the gas network.
The political implications of this approach could be significant. The furor caused by the Federal Network Agency’s plans for “charging restrictions” for EVs comes to mind. The Council explicitly justifies the possible disconnection of users from the gas grid with the goal of climate neutrality.
The Parliament’s position, on the other hand, takes a more decentralized approach. The MEPs emphasize the planning sovereignty of the municipalities and want to involve local residents at an early stage. On the one hand, in the new Article 52a, they adopt the obligation for municipalities to draw up heat plans, as introduced by the recast Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). The Parliament and Council intend to adopt the Efficiency Directive as early as July 11 and 24, respectively.
The Parliament wants to supplement local heat planning with gas network planning by distribution system operators in the Gas Market Directive. As with the transmission networks, the decommissioning and conversion of natural gas pipelines are also to be included in the planning. There is no sharp end date for the gas network. However, the position contains two softer requirements that could have an impact on decommissioning plans:
However, the Parliament also wants to leave the final decision on which distribution networks to shut down to the national regulators: “The distribution system operator must implement the interventions decided by the regulator.”
The parliamentarians explicitly task the national governments with providing the regulatory authorities with legal clarity on decommissioning. Particularly inconvenient: Governments are to regulate financial support for network operators – for example, via new tax depreciation conditions if gas pipelines are decommissioned prematurely.
This would probably have to be financed by the general public. Because, according to the parliamentary position, governments should also ensure that network fees remain affordable for the shrinking number of users still connected to gas pipelines.
If the parliamentary position prevails in the trilogue, the member states will soon have to answer the questions they are currently avoiding.
“I learned that I’m a good talker because I gave a lot of team speeches,” Moritz Körner answers laughing when asked how his time as a field hockey coach at the club shaped him for his political career. “Also the idea of community: You only win as a team, you have to coordinate and aim to be successful together – and you have to motivate each other well.” The 33-year-old is the interior and budget policy spokesman for the FDP in the European Parliament.
During his master’s degree in political management, public policy and public administration at the NRW School of Governance at the University of Duisburg-Essen and an internship in Brussels, he comes into contact with Europe for the first time. He writes his master’s thesis on lobbying in the EU.
First, he joined the Young Liberals in North Rhine-Westphalia, even serving as their chairman for five years and as a member of the state parliament for the FDP until he was elected to the EU Parliament in 2019. “The saying goes, ‘If you have a grandpa, send him to Europe,’ and then it was decided to finally send someone young to Europe,” Körner says with a wink.
Körner has also been secretary general of the FDP in North Rhine-Westphalia since 2022. “I wouldn’t say at all that either one is worse or better, some ask if one would be Champions League and the other 2nd Bundesliga – no, I wouldn’t say that, it’s a completely different sport.” As a member of the state parliament, he said, one is much closer to concrete issues. On the other hand, Europe is no longer “somewhere” – European policy is now “absolute domestic policy.”
He cites the phasing out of the internal combustion engine and migration policy as examples. European policy has many effects, and you have to be networked well. He says that is why it is good for the party that the secretary general also does European policy. “That’s why I don’t have a leisure time problem. Being the state secretary general and an MEP simultaneously is challenging, but it’s an exciting task,” says Körner.
What excites him about Europe, he says, is that often completely new types of regulations are developed – and that across party and national borders. On issues of the rule of law, for example, he works closely with Daniel Freund from the Green Party. They are on the same page on this issue, he says, so they can get something done together.
Körner was primarily responsible for helping to negotiate the rule of law mechanism and put a lot of pressure on the EU Commission to finally apply it. “That was a struggle for years. I can’t even count how many resolutions we passed on this.” Last winter, the Commission relents and the mechanism is used against Hungary for the first time. “The question is now: Do we actually see reforms that lead to more rule of law?” he asks.
Countries like Hungary should follow EU rules, present reforms for a more independent judiciary or fight against corruption. “It’s so important that we have a clear stance here because others are looking to us,” Körner says, referring to the spy scandal in Greece or the debate about the occupation of the constitutional court in Spain. “That’s why it’s so important that there are finally consequences as far as Poland and Hungary are concerned, otherwise this will become more and more of a conflagration.”
In doing so, he said, we need to move away from using the mechanism as a “nuclear option.” “I would like to see the rule of law mechanism become a standard instrument used more often while keeping the more necessary consistency and making sure we see improvement in the rule of law.”
He said that given disputes between democracies and autocratic states such as Russia and China, the European Union must stand by its own values more strongly. “If we don’t have the rule of law and common values and rules anymore, first of all, the values union doesn’t work anymore, and secondly, the single market and the economic union, if you can’t agree on enforcing EU law.”
Moritz Körner says he is very worried. “But I also see progress and we have to keep at it so that we defend the rule of law in Europe,” he says. Meanwhile, Moritz Körner no longer has time for field hockey. When he has the opportunity, he still goes jogging. However, he says he was happy when the German field hockey team became world champions. “I watched all the games, even if not always live.” He is already looking forward to the European Championships in Mönchengladbach, he said. “The tickets have already been ordered.” Livia Hofmann
Mark Rutte is a political survival artist. The right-wing liberal politician has been in power in the Netherlands for almost 13 years, and in a very fragmented party landscape. On Friday, the 56-year-old buried his fourth coalition. And yet he can hope for another term in office if he wants to.
Today, the parliament in The Hague will discuss the situation and the date for a new election – probably in November. The alliance of Rutte’s VVD party with the left-liberal D66, the Christian Union and the Christian Democratic CDA lasted only about one and a half years. The coalition partners did not want to support the Prime Minister’s demand to restrict family reunification for war refugees.
The ex-partners accuse Rutte of forcing the break. In fact, there is much to suggest that Rutte is acting in a calculated manner. He has little to fear from the political competition in the center and on the left: The D66 and CDA are doing poorly in the polls, and their party leaders Sigrid Kaag and Wopke Hoekstra are internally controversial. The early parliamentary elections could come too soon for the new Farmer-Citizen Movement, which was successful in the provincial elections. If this scenario proves to be true, Rutte could lead the government again – possibly at the head of a new right-wing alliance.
Have a good start to the week.
Among European Parliament employees who participated in a survey, around half have already experienced sexual, psychological or physical harassment or violence there. This is according to the survey by the MeTooEP initiative, which is published today and available to Table.Media.
The initiators had written to all the approximately 10,000 employees in Parliament by e-mail and asked for information. From June 27 to July 5, 1001 employees responded; 655 respondents identified as women, 312 as men.
According to the survey, around 16 percent have already experienced sexual harassment or violence in the EP environment. Forty-eight percent of respondents have experienced psychological violence or harassment and seven percent physical violence or harassment, according to the survey. Men and women reported psychological harassment or violence in roughly equal proportions.
Regardless of their own experience, 412 respondents reported witnessing sexual, psychological or physical harassment in the work environment. According to the survey, 423 people who were victims of harassment raised the incident within the EP. In 164 cases, there had been no consequences. 39 respondents said they had been advised to leave the EP.
MeTooEP is presenting the preliminary survey results today, with the final results to be presented in September. The initiators want to underline the need for reforms. Tonight, the EP presidium will discuss stricter measures against harassment and bullying for the first time.
The anti-harassment proposals, drafted by the Quaestors at the request of House Speaker Roberta Metsola, provide:
But eight of 14 vice presidents say the Quaestors’ proposed measures do not go far enough. They call for more far-reaching steps in a letter that Table.Media was able to read.
Today, the EP Presidium is also discussing better protection for whistleblowers. The General Secretariat has drawn up initial proposals for this. Procedures on how misconduct can be reported confidentially in the future and through which channels evidence can be provided are to be introduced, as well as how reported cases are followed up. There is also a demand that anonymous reports of misconduct be followed up.
In 2019, the EU adopted a whistleblower directive for private and public companies, which had to be transposed into national law by the member states by December 2021. However, the directive explicitly does not apply to EU institutions. 21 member states had not yet transposed the directive into national law when it came into force.
Both the measures for better protection against harassment and bullying in the European Parliament and better whistleblower protection are part of Roberta Metsola’s 14-point plan, which the Parliament President wants to implement as a consequence of the Eva Kaili bribery scandal. After the summer break, the reforms are to be adopted by the EP Presidium and the Parliament. In September, the transparency working group of the Constitutional Committee, headed by Rainer Wieland (CDU), will also present its proposals.
It cannot be assumed that all gas distribution networks will be converted to hydrogen. What reads so succinctly in the explanatory memorandum to the German Buildings Energy Act (GEG) actually raises many unpleasant questions:
Since the dismissal of State Secretary for Economic Affairs Patrick Graichen the German government has put all these issues on the back burner. At best, they have been flashing up anecdotally in opening speeches for parliamentary summer parties these days. In Brussels, however, the member states and Parliament had already decided on these issues months ago – in their positions on the Gas Market Directive.
In Article 51, the Commission wanted to oblige transmission system operators to also publish information on planned closures and conversions – for hydrogen, for example – in their regular plans for network expansion. However, whether and which lines this relates to should be left to grid operators for the time being.
The distribution networks in the municipalities, which are far more crucial for heating, were ignored completely. Parliament and the Council, on the other hand, also want to hold distribution network operators accountable, albeit in different ways.
The Council position starts with individual connections to the gas network. In Article 34, the member states want to transfer responsibility for decommissioning distribution networks to their national regulatory authorities. The regulators are not only to approve decommissioning plans but also to define criteria for disconnecting users from the gas network.
The political implications of this approach could be significant. The furor caused by the Federal Network Agency’s plans for “charging restrictions” for EVs comes to mind. The Council explicitly justifies the possible disconnection of users from the gas grid with the goal of climate neutrality.
The Parliament’s position, on the other hand, takes a more decentralized approach. The MEPs emphasize the planning sovereignty of the municipalities and want to involve local residents at an early stage. On the one hand, in the new Article 52a, they adopt the obligation for municipalities to draw up heat plans, as introduced by the recast Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). The Parliament and Council intend to adopt the Efficiency Directive as early as July 11 and 24, respectively.
The Parliament wants to supplement local heat planning with gas network planning by distribution system operators in the Gas Market Directive. As with the transmission networks, the decommissioning and conversion of natural gas pipelines are also to be included in the planning. There is no sharp end date for the gas network. However, the position contains two softer requirements that could have an impact on decommissioning plans:
However, the Parliament also wants to leave the final decision on which distribution networks to shut down to the national regulators: “The distribution system operator must implement the interventions decided by the regulator.”
The parliamentarians explicitly task the national governments with providing the regulatory authorities with legal clarity on decommissioning. Particularly inconvenient: Governments are to regulate financial support for network operators – for example, via new tax depreciation conditions if gas pipelines are decommissioned prematurely.
This would probably have to be financed by the general public. Because, according to the parliamentary position, governments should also ensure that network fees remain affordable for the shrinking number of users still connected to gas pipelines.
If the parliamentary position prevails in the trilogue, the member states will soon have to answer the questions they are currently avoiding.
“I learned that I’m a good talker because I gave a lot of team speeches,” Moritz Körner answers laughing when asked how his time as a field hockey coach at the club shaped him for his political career. “Also the idea of community: You only win as a team, you have to coordinate and aim to be successful together – and you have to motivate each other well.” The 33-year-old is the interior and budget policy spokesman for the FDP in the European Parliament.
During his master’s degree in political management, public policy and public administration at the NRW School of Governance at the University of Duisburg-Essen and an internship in Brussels, he comes into contact with Europe for the first time. He writes his master’s thesis on lobbying in the EU.
First, he joined the Young Liberals in North Rhine-Westphalia, even serving as their chairman for five years and as a member of the state parliament for the FDP until he was elected to the EU Parliament in 2019. “The saying goes, ‘If you have a grandpa, send him to Europe,’ and then it was decided to finally send someone young to Europe,” Körner says with a wink.
Körner has also been secretary general of the FDP in North Rhine-Westphalia since 2022. “I wouldn’t say at all that either one is worse or better, some ask if one would be Champions League and the other 2nd Bundesliga – no, I wouldn’t say that, it’s a completely different sport.” As a member of the state parliament, he said, one is much closer to concrete issues. On the other hand, Europe is no longer “somewhere” – European policy is now “absolute domestic policy.”
He cites the phasing out of the internal combustion engine and migration policy as examples. European policy has many effects, and you have to be networked well. He says that is why it is good for the party that the secretary general also does European policy. “That’s why I don’t have a leisure time problem. Being the state secretary general and an MEP simultaneously is challenging, but it’s an exciting task,” says Körner.
What excites him about Europe, he says, is that often completely new types of regulations are developed – and that across party and national borders. On issues of the rule of law, for example, he works closely with Daniel Freund from the Green Party. They are on the same page on this issue, he says, so they can get something done together.
Körner was primarily responsible for helping to negotiate the rule of law mechanism and put a lot of pressure on the EU Commission to finally apply it. “That was a struggle for years. I can’t even count how many resolutions we passed on this.” Last winter, the Commission relents and the mechanism is used against Hungary for the first time. “The question is now: Do we actually see reforms that lead to more rule of law?” he asks.
Countries like Hungary should follow EU rules, present reforms for a more independent judiciary or fight against corruption. “It’s so important that we have a clear stance here because others are looking to us,” Körner says, referring to the spy scandal in Greece or the debate about the occupation of the constitutional court in Spain. “That’s why it’s so important that there are finally consequences as far as Poland and Hungary are concerned, otherwise this will become more and more of a conflagration.”
In doing so, he said, we need to move away from using the mechanism as a “nuclear option.” “I would like to see the rule of law mechanism become a standard instrument used more often while keeping the more necessary consistency and making sure we see improvement in the rule of law.”
He said that given disputes between democracies and autocratic states such as Russia and China, the European Union must stand by its own values more strongly. “If we don’t have the rule of law and common values and rules anymore, first of all, the values union doesn’t work anymore, and secondly, the single market and the economic union, if you can’t agree on enforcing EU law.”
Moritz Körner says he is very worried. “But I also see progress and we have to keep at it so that we defend the rule of law in Europe,” he says. Meanwhile, Moritz Körner no longer has time for field hockey. When he has the opportunity, he still goes jogging. However, he says he was happy when the German field hockey team became world champions. “I watched all the games, even if not always live.” He is already looking forward to the European Championships in Mönchengladbach, he said. “The tickets have already been ordered.” Livia Hofmann
