The preliminary decision on the list of CDU candidates from NRW for the European elections will be made at the weekend. Five male MEPs are worried about a promising place on the list and their professional future. NRW state leader Hendrik Wüst wants to use the zipper procedure. This means that three women and three men will be placed on each of the first six promising list positions. According to the quota decided by the CDU Bundestag party conference, two female candidates in the top six would be sufficient.
The list that General Secretary Paul Ziemiak wants to present to the eight district leaders on Saturday is likely to include Sabine Verheyen’s name. The MEP from Aachen therefore has nothing to worry about for the time being. It is considered certain that Verena Mertens from East Westphalia and Miriam Viehmann from Bergisches Land will also make the cut. All five CDU MEPs from NRW would like to continue: Peter Liese, Markus Pieper, Dennis Radtke, Stefan Berger and Axel Voss.
For two men, the weekend is likely to bring disillusionment. The mood is correspondingly unsettled. On Sunday afternoon, the state executive committee will meet and decide on the list for the delegates’ meeting. When the delegates come together on Feb. 3 and vote on each seat, it will be exciting once again: battles have been announced. Verheyen, who is deputy state chairwoman, must also be prepared for this.
Have a nice weekend!
The second attempt should now work: This week in the Political and Security Committee (PSC), the EU ambassadors agreed in principle to a proposal by Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell for a naval mission in the Red Sea. According to diplomats, no member state opposed the European contribution to securing maritime traffic from attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebels. Spain had blocked a first attempt in December.
However, the naval mission is unlikely to be launched before the end of February. The mission is not formally on the agenda at the meeting of foreign ministers on Monday, but is likely to be a topic in the discussion on the situation in the Middle East. Following the agreement in principle, the details of the mission still need to be worked out, according to diplomats. Specifically, the mandate and area of operations as well as the location of the headquarters and the question of the necessary assets.
The German government is ready to participate in the mission, according to Sebastian Fischer, spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office. We are talking about the frigate “Hessen”, which could set off for the Red Sea as early as the beginning of February. Before the Bundeswehr can take part in the mission, however, it needs the approval of the Bundestag. The aim is that the foreign ministers of the member states can then formally decide to launch the mission at the meeting on Feb. 19.
The EU must do its part to guarantee safe passage for commercial shipping in the Red Sea, MEP Hannah Neumann, Chair of the Delegation for relations with the Arabian Peninsula, warned this week. The German Green criticized in the EU Parliament that the member states had taken so long. The USA, together with the UK, has long been present with its Operation Prosperity Guardian mission, although some EU states have recently seen their reservations confirmed in view of the precision attacks by US and British forces on Huthi weapons depots and drone launch pads.
Actually, the case should also be clear to the Europeans. The trade route via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea is of strategic importance for Europe’s economy. In a first attempt, Foreign Affairs Commissioner Borrell proposed in December to build on the Spanish-led EU anti-piracy mission Atalanta and extend its mandate to include protection against Houthi rebels.
This would have enabled the mission to be launched quickly. However, Spain’s head of government Pedro Sanchez opposed this out of consideration for his left-wing coalition partners, who are critical of any proximity to Washington in the Gaza conflict. At the second attempt, Spain practiced “constructive abstention”, according to diplomats. According to Josep Borrell’s new proposal, the operation is now to build on another naval mission in the region, namely Agenor, a French-led surveillance operation in the Strait of Hormuz, an important artery for the transportation of oil.
The operation has been supported by a “coalition of the willing” consisting of nine states, including Germany, since 2020 following attacks on oil tankers. The European External Action Service’s proposal envisages at least three frigates for the new mission. Aircraft, helicopters and drones for aerial surveillance are also planned.
Agenor would extend its operational area to the Red Sea under its current or possibly new name “Aspis”, as reported by Der Spiegel and others, but the headquarters would remain in Abu Dhabi as before. In addition to Germany, Sweden has also signaled its intention to participate with a frigate. The armed forces have been asked to examine the possibilities for Swedish support, according to the Ministry of Defense in Stockholm. Italy, France and Greece are already present in the region with warships.
It remains to be seen whether the naval mission will only be allowed to escort commercial ships or, in the event of attacks, also actively combat drones or even destroy Huthi rebel launch pads. According to diplomats, the necessary “assets” would also have to be determined depending on the mandate. However, proactive strikes against military targets in Yemen, as recently carried out by the USA and the UK, are not envisaged.
MEPs in Strasbourg on Thursday called for effective measures against the pollution through plastic pellets in the wake of the environmental disaster in northern Spain. “Unfortunately, this disaster is just the tip of the iceberg”, said Ska Keller (Greens). “It’s not even one percent of the plastic pellets that are lost every year.” Keller is shadow rapporteur for a draft law that addresses this problem and aims to reduce the environmental impact of microplastics.
26 tons of plastic granulate, i.e. millions of white, lentil-sized plastic pellets, leaked into the sea from a cargo container that went overboard off the Portuguese coast in December. In other cases, the quantity was significantly larger: in 2021, the container ship “X-Press Pearl” caught fire off the coast of Sri Lanka and sank. 11,000 tons of plastic granulate were released.
Accidents during transportation are not the only situation in which plastic pellets end up in the environment. Losses can occur at various points along the entire value chain: in the production of new or recycled pellets, in processing, during transportation and in waste management. Causes include, for example, packaging damage, a lack of wastewater treatment in the companies or careless handling of the pellets.
The pellets are preliminary products for all plastic articles. They are produced from crude oil and then processed further. According to the Plastics Europe association, the European industry uses plastic raw materials in three main forms:
According to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, 12 million tons of
plastic pellets were produced in Germany in 2019, with 15,000 tons being released into the environment every year. However, there is currently no method to measure pellet losses accurately. The EU Commission estimates the amount of EU-wide losses at 52,140 to 184,290 tons per year.
If the pellets end up in the environment, they not only pose a direct threat to nature off the Spanish coast, where birds, fish and shellfish are at risk of suffocating on the tiny pellets. Over time, however, the pellets continue to decompose in the environment – and are one of the largest sources of microplastics alongside paints, tires and textiles.
The EU wants to reduce the release of microplastics into the environment by 30 percent by 2030. The legislative proposal presented by EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius in October should also contribute to this. According to the proposal, all players who handle plastic granulate should be legally obliged to prevent losses and draw up a risk assessment plan. In the event of a loss, they must take immediate action to remedy the damage.
They must also report their economic activities involving pellets to the relevant authorities. Larger companies require a certificate issued by an independent third party. Smaller companies must submit a self-declaration. The Commission expects the measures to reduce the release of plastic pellets by up to 74 percent.
Depending on the size of the plant or transportation activity, players should adhere to certain best practices for handling that have already been implemented by pioneers in the industry. The Plastics Europe association, for example, has launched the voluntary “Zero Pellet Loss” initiative and is also the main European organizer of the global “Operation Clean Sweep” program. In this program, member companies commit to measures such as:
One thing about the EU Commission’s draft seems illogical, especially in the context of the accident off the Portuguese coast: maritime traffic is not addressed. The Commission’s argument is that a corresponding regulation would only work if it applied worldwide. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is already working on this. “The EU is lobbying the IMO for effective rules”, said Sinkevičius in Parliament yesterday. “This will avoid a patchwork of different national and regional regulations, as many containers are loaded in ports outside the EU.”
During a debate in the Environment Committee (ENVI) last week, social democratic, green and left-wing MEPs called for regulations on the transportation of pellets by sea to be added anyway. The Commission was open to improvements to the draft law. For example, a distinction could be made between international maritime transport and maritime transport within the EU in order to create rules for the latter.
Shadow rapporteur Keller also spoke out in favor of including other plastic precursors – flakes and powder – in the law in addition to pellets. Furthermore, the Parliament and the Commission are not yet in agreement on the size of the companies affected; the Commission wants less stringent requirements for smaller companies.
It is unlikely that the law will be passed in this legislative period. The Council does not appear to have any ambitions to move the dossier forward quickly. Parliament’s Environment Committee will vote on the report on March 19 and the vote in plenary is planned for April. There is little time left for the trilogue negotiations before the elections at the beginning of June.
The UN Maritime Organization’s Subcommittee on the Protection of the Marine Environment has been working on recommendations for international shipping for some time now. In a draft currently circulating, it recommends:
The subcommittee is expected to finalize the recommendations at its next meeting so that they can be adopted by the responsible committee of the authority in spring 2024.
There are sentences that hurt. Sentences like this one: “This person is not part of the government.” The sentence is written under the name of Clément Beaune, who was transport minister before President Emmanuel Macron’s government reshuffle. Since then, people in Paris have been asking themselves: What next? What will become of Clément Beaune?
Apparently, he has a concrete goal: Beaune has expressed his “interest” in leading the European election campaign of Macron’s Renaissance party, reports a Brussels source. However, he does not want to become a member of the European Parliament. This means that Beaune wants to become an EU Commissioner, according to reports in Paris. Especially as he had already aspired to become a commissioner in 2019, but then had to make way for Thierry Breton.
Beaune had already wanted to run in the last European elections, but another adviser to the president, Stéphane Séjourné, was preferred to him, says the source from Paris. Séjourné, the ex-Renew leader in the European Parliament, was recently appointed Foreign Minister in the new government of Gabriel Attal.
Clément Beaune’s European profile is undeniable, so his appointment may seem obvious. However, Emmanuel Macron is facing a strategic choice when it comes to “his” lead candidate for the European elections, says the Brussels source. “The name Olivier Véran is also circulating as a possible number one on the list.”
Olivier who? The doctor was, among other things, health minister and government spokesperson in the various Macron governments. The French know him primarily because he had to deal with the Covid crisis in the country. Like Clément Beaune, he was a Macronist from the very beginning, but the government reshuffle also left him in a political vacuum.
“Macron is faced with two strategic decisions: Either he opts for a clearly national campaign, in which case he chooses Olivier Véran. Or the president chooses a clear European vision, in which case he opts for Clément Beaune.”
Clément Beaune stands for Macron’s European policy, which he played a key role in shaping, says the Brussels source. He was Macron’s advisor for European affairs when he was still Minister of Economy and Finance in 2014. He followed him to the Élysée Palace in 2017. He remained the president’s adviser on European affairs until 2020 and was the driving force behind the French EU Council Presidency.
In 2016, Macron – not yet a presidential candidate at the time – announced his ambition to no longer leave the defense of sovereignty to “the enemies of Europe” at the “summit of reform-minded Europeans”. “This is the Beaune coinage”, says the Brussels source. A year later, he was the main author of the famous Sorbonne speech, in which the word “sovereignty” appeared 19 times.
For its part, our Parisian source takes us into the depths of French politics to understand the background that led Beaune to Europe: Because Beaune was actually aiming to become the next mayor of Paris, he says. “But with the appointment of Rachida Dati in the new government, that’s over.”
Why? Here is an explanation in two steps:
“If Macron supports Dati in the next local elections, it is clear that there will be no place for Beaune“, summarizes the Parisian source. Europe is then likely to be the obvious option for him.
The preliminary decision on the list of CDU candidates from NRW for the European elections will be made at the weekend. Five male MEPs are worried about a promising place on the list and their professional future. NRW state leader Hendrik Wüst wants to use the zipper procedure. This means that three women and three men will be placed on each of the first six promising list positions. According to the quota decided by the CDU Bundestag party conference, two female candidates in the top six would be sufficient.
The list that General Secretary Paul Ziemiak wants to present to the eight district leaders on Saturday is likely to include Sabine Verheyen’s name. The MEP from Aachen therefore has nothing to worry about for the time being. It is considered certain that Verena Mertens from East Westphalia and Miriam Viehmann from Bergisches Land will also make the cut. All five CDU MEPs from NRW would like to continue: Peter Liese, Markus Pieper, Dennis Radtke, Stefan Berger and Axel Voss.
For two men, the weekend is likely to bring disillusionment. The mood is correspondingly unsettled. On Sunday afternoon, the state executive committee will meet and decide on the list for the delegates’ meeting. When the delegates come together on Feb. 3 and vote on each seat, it will be exciting once again: battles have been announced. Verheyen, who is deputy state chairwoman, must also be prepared for this.
Have a nice weekend!
The second attempt should now work: This week in the Political and Security Committee (PSC), the EU ambassadors agreed in principle to a proposal by Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell for a naval mission in the Red Sea. According to diplomats, no member state opposed the European contribution to securing maritime traffic from attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebels. Spain had blocked a first attempt in December.
However, the naval mission is unlikely to be launched before the end of February. The mission is not formally on the agenda at the meeting of foreign ministers on Monday, but is likely to be a topic in the discussion on the situation in the Middle East. Following the agreement in principle, the details of the mission still need to be worked out, according to diplomats. Specifically, the mandate and area of operations as well as the location of the headquarters and the question of the necessary assets.
The German government is ready to participate in the mission, according to Sebastian Fischer, spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office. We are talking about the frigate “Hessen”, which could set off for the Red Sea as early as the beginning of February. Before the Bundeswehr can take part in the mission, however, it needs the approval of the Bundestag. The aim is that the foreign ministers of the member states can then formally decide to launch the mission at the meeting on Feb. 19.
The EU must do its part to guarantee safe passage for commercial shipping in the Red Sea, MEP Hannah Neumann, Chair of the Delegation for relations with the Arabian Peninsula, warned this week. The German Green criticized in the EU Parliament that the member states had taken so long. The USA, together with the UK, has long been present with its Operation Prosperity Guardian mission, although some EU states have recently seen their reservations confirmed in view of the precision attacks by US and British forces on Huthi weapons depots and drone launch pads.
Actually, the case should also be clear to the Europeans. The trade route via the Suez Canal and the Red Sea is of strategic importance for Europe’s economy. In a first attempt, Foreign Affairs Commissioner Borrell proposed in December to build on the Spanish-led EU anti-piracy mission Atalanta and extend its mandate to include protection against Houthi rebels.
This would have enabled the mission to be launched quickly. However, Spain’s head of government Pedro Sanchez opposed this out of consideration for his left-wing coalition partners, who are critical of any proximity to Washington in the Gaza conflict. At the second attempt, Spain practiced “constructive abstention”, according to diplomats. According to Josep Borrell’s new proposal, the operation is now to build on another naval mission in the region, namely Agenor, a French-led surveillance operation in the Strait of Hormuz, an important artery for the transportation of oil.
The operation has been supported by a “coalition of the willing” consisting of nine states, including Germany, since 2020 following attacks on oil tankers. The European External Action Service’s proposal envisages at least three frigates for the new mission. Aircraft, helicopters and drones for aerial surveillance are also planned.
Agenor would extend its operational area to the Red Sea under its current or possibly new name “Aspis”, as reported by Der Spiegel and others, but the headquarters would remain in Abu Dhabi as before. In addition to Germany, Sweden has also signaled its intention to participate with a frigate. The armed forces have been asked to examine the possibilities for Swedish support, according to the Ministry of Defense in Stockholm. Italy, France and Greece are already present in the region with warships.
It remains to be seen whether the naval mission will only be allowed to escort commercial ships or, in the event of attacks, also actively combat drones or even destroy Huthi rebel launch pads. According to diplomats, the necessary “assets” would also have to be determined depending on the mandate. However, proactive strikes against military targets in Yemen, as recently carried out by the USA and the UK, are not envisaged.
MEPs in Strasbourg on Thursday called for effective measures against the pollution through plastic pellets in the wake of the environmental disaster in northern Spain. “Unfortunately, this disaster is just the tip of the iceberg”, said Ska Keller (Greens). “It’s not even one percent of the plastic pellets that are lost every year.” Keller is shadow rapporteur for a draft law that addresses this problem and aims to reduce the environmental impact of microplastics.
26 tons of plastic granulate, i.e. millions of white, lentil-sized plastic pellets, leaked into the sea from a cargo container that went overboard off the Portuguese coast in December. In other cases, the quantity was significantly larger: in 2021, the container ship “X-Press Pearl” caught fire off the coast of Sri Lanka and sank. 11,000 tons of plastic granulate were released.
Accidents during transportation are not the only situation in which plastic pellets end up in the environment. Losses can occur at various points along the entire value chain: in the production of new or recycled pellets, in processing, during transportation and in waste management. Causes include, for example, packaging damage, a lack of wastewater treatment in the companies or careless handling of the pellets.
The pellets are preliminary products for all plastic articles. They are produced from crude oil and then processed further. According to the Plastics Europe association, the European industry uses plastic raw materials in three main forms:
According to the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, 12 million tons of
plastic pellets were produced in Germany in 2019, with 15,000 tons being released into the environment every year. However, there is currently no method to measure pellet losses accurately. The EU Commission estimates the amount of EU-wide losses at 52,140 to 184,290 tons per year.
If the pellets end up in the environment, they not only pose a direct threat to nature off the Spanish coast, where birds, fish and shellfish are at risk of suffocating on the tiny pellets. Over time, however, the pellets continue to decompose in the environment – and are one of the largest sources of microplastics alongside paints, tires and textiles.
The EU wants to reduce the release of microplastics into the environment by 30 percent by 2030. The legislative proposal presented by EU Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius in October should also contribute to this. According to the proposal, all players who handle plastic granulate should be legally obliged to prevent losses and draw up a risk assessment plan. In the event of a loss, they must take immediate action to remedy the damage.
They must also report their economic activities involving pellets to the relevant authorities. Larger companies require a certificate issued by an independent third party. Smaller companies must submit a self-declaration. The Commission expects the measures to reduce the release of plastic pellets by up to 74 percent.
Depending on the size of the plant or transportation activity, players should adhere to certain best practices for handling that have already been implemented by pioneers in the industry. The Plastics Europe association, for example, has launched the voluntary “Zero Pellet Loss” initiative and is also the main European organizer of the global “Operation Clean Sweep” program. In this program, member companies commit to measures such as:
One thing about the EU Commission’s draft seems illogical, especially in the context of the accident off the Portuguese coast: maritime traffic is not addressed. The Commission’s argument is that a corresponding regulation would only work if it applied worldwide. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is already working on this. “The EU is lobbying the IMO for effective rules”, said Sinkevičius in Parliament yesterday. “This will avoid a patchwork of different national and regional regulations, as many containers are loaded in ports outside the EU.”
During a debate in the Environment Committee (ENVI) last week, social democratic, green and left-wing MEPs called for regulations on the transportation of pellets by sea to be added anyway. The Commission was open to improvements to the draft law. For example, a distinction could be made between international maritime transport and maritime transport within the EU in order to create rules for the latter.
Shadow rapporteur Keller also spoke out in favor of including other plastic precursors – flakes and powder – in the law in addition to pellets. Furthermore, the Parliament and the Commission are not yet in agreement on the size of the companies affected; the Commission wants less stringent requirements for smaller companies.
It is unlikely that the law will be passed in this legislative period. The Council does not appear to have any ambitions to move the dossier forward quickly. Parliament’s Environment Committee will vote on the report on March 19 and the vote in plenary is planned for April. There is little time left for the trilogue negotiations before the elections at the beginning of June.
The UN Maritime Organization’s Subcommittee on the Protection of the Marine Environment has been working on recommendations for international shipping for some time now. In a draft currently circulating, it recommends:
The subcommittee is expected to finalize the recommendations at its next meeting so that they can be adopted by the responsible committee of the authority in spring 2024.
There are sentences that hurt. Sentences like this one: “This person is not part of the government.” The sentence is written under the name of Clément Beaune, who was transport minister before President Emmanuel Macron’s government reshuffle. Since then, people in Paris have been asking themselves: What next? What will become of Clément Beaune?
Apparently, he has a concrete goal: Beaune has expressed his “interest” in leading the European election campaign of Macron’s Renaissance party, reports a Brussels source. However, he does not want to become a member of the European Parliament. This means that Beaune wants to become an EU Commissioner, according to reports in Paris. Especially as he had already aspired to become a commissioner in 2019, but then had to make way for Thierry Breton.
Beaune had already wanted to run in the last European elections, but another adviser to the president, Stéphane Séjourné, was preferred to him, says the source from Paris. Séjourné, the ex-Renew leader in the European Parliament, was recently appointed Foreign Minister in the new government of Gabriel Attal.
Clément Beaune’s European profile is undeniable, so his appointment may seem obvious. However, Emmanuel Macron is facing a strategic choice when it comes to “his” lead candidate for the European elections, says the Brussels source. “The name Olivier Véran is also circulating as a possible number one on the list.”
Olivier who? The doctor was, among other things, health minister and government spokesperson in the various Macron governments. The French know him primarily because he had to deal with the Covid crisis in the country. Like Clément Beaune, he was a Macronist from the very beginning, but the government reshuffle also left him in a political vacuum.
“Macron is faced with two strategic decisions: Either he opts for a clearly national campaign, in which case he chooses Olivier Véran. Or the president chooses a clear European vision, in which case he opts for Clément Beaune.”
Clément Beaune stands for Macron’s European policy, which he played a key role in shaping, says the Brussels source. He was Macron’s advisor for European affairs when he was still Minister of Economy and Finance in 2014. He followed him to the Élysée Palace in 2017. He remained the president’s adviser on European affairs until 2020 and was the driving force behind the French EU Council Presidency.
In 2016, Macron – not yet a presidential candidate at the time – announced his ambition to no longer leave the defense of sovereignty to “the enemies of Europe” at the “summit of reform-minded Europeans”. “This is the Beaune coinage”, says the Brussels source. A year later, he was the main author of the famous Sorbonne speech, in which the word “sovereignty” appeared 19 times.
For its part, our Parisian source takes us into the depths of French politics to understand the background that led Beaune to Europe: Because Beaune was actually aiming to become the next mayor of Paris, he says. “But with the appointment of Rachida Dati in the new government, that’s over.”
Why? Here is an explanation in two steps:
“If Macron supports Dati in the next local elections, it is clear that there will be no place for Beaune“, summarizes the Parisian source. Europe is then likely to be the obvious option for him.
