As Secretary General of the European Parliament, Klaus Welle has been one of the most influential people in Brussels over the past 14 years. He talks to Markus Grabitz about the importance of secret services in protecting the EU institutions, the upcoming European elections – and the merits of theEuropeanParliament. “I would definitely advise an MEP who loves the freedom of the mandate to join the European Parliament,” Welle says in the interview.
Airbnb and Co are handy for tourists and other people looking for a temporary place to stay – but in many European cities, these platforms are causing major problems. Last fall, the Commission presented a draft to make short-term rentals more transparent and sustainable. Member states are largely following the proposals, as Corinna Visser reports. From a German perspective, however, there are still possible improvements, for example in data protection.
Suddenly, complicated renegotiations are looming where agreement had technically existed: Because Federal Minister for Transport Volker Wissing (FDP) is now questioning Germany’s agreement, the necessary majority for an end to internal combustion vehicles in 2035 is in question. Wissing and his party see the blame with the Commission and an unfulfilled recital. However, Lukas Scheid analyzes the different interpretations of the recital.
Your Sarah Schaefer
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Klaus Welle: ‘EU institutions are largely unprotected’
Klaus Welle was Secretary General of the European Parliament from 2009 until the end of 2022.
Mr. Welle, are there structural weaknesses in the European Parliament that explain why the corruption scandal could occur?
There have also been bribery scandals in other parliaments. However, it is striking that the EU has no secret service structures. Presumably, an intelligence service is the only way to get to the bottom of bribery by third countries. The EU institutions are largely defenseless in this regard. To my knowledge, there was a meeting of national authorities a few years ago. At that meeting, Belgium was asked to take care of the European Parliament. I think it is likely that since the arrests in early December, we are seeing the consequences of that meeting.
How do you evaluate the fact that no one felt responsible before?
If you look at the importance of the EU, not just the Parliament, the complete lack of protection was an untenable state of affairs. The EU is in great tension not only with Russia but also with China. It is progress that Belgium now cares. But I have doubts that this is enough. The EU organizes a continental democracy that is threatened by authoritarian states. It must be able to defend itself.
Would a solution like that at NATO be conceivable? For some years now, there has been a liaison office there where information from national services is pooled and evaluated.
For the European Parliament, I can say that this is the pattern that is being followed. In the last parliamentary budget, for which I was responsible, a number of posts were created in order to become capable of dialog in this very area. Only time will tell whether these posts are sufficient.
‘Those who love the freedom of the mandate should join the EP’
As Secretary General, you pursued the goal of strengthening the European Parliament, for example, establishing the Scientific Service and massively increasing the staffs of the political groups. Is the Parliament now on par with the other EU institutions?
In any case, I would advise a deputy who loves the freedom of the mandate to join the European Parliament. At the national level, the government majority and the parliamentary majority are so closely intertwined that the freedom of the individual deputy is very limited. There, you have to belong to a very small leadership group to be able to participate in decision-making. Things are different in the European Parliament. There, you have a lot of leeway if you are active and willing.
Do you prefer to measure the EP against the US Congress?
Yes. The United States has a political system that is comparable to that of the EU: there, Congress, the Senate and the government are constantly negotiating with each other, without it being clear in advance who is stronger. It’s very similar here between the Council, the Commission and Parliament. It has always been important to me that the Members of Parliament are also adequately advised. On the other side are the 27 governments with their ministries. This means that MEPs need the support of the committee secretariats, the Scientific Service and from the parliamentary groups so that Parliament can be an equal legislator.
Where do you see the need for improvement?
Parliament is strong when it wants to be strong. But there are always areas that evolve. Take the structures created in the financial crisis. They are more intergovernmental in nature and should be subject to parliamentary control in perpetuity. The same goes for Next Generation EU’s additional spending. If this spending is repeated, Parliament must be involved.
Does this also apply to security policy, where the EU has so far had little competence?
In my view, the area of security and defense policy will develop very dynamically on the basis of the treaties. The war in Ukraine is leading to a reflection on whether the EU is sensibly positioned in security policy. After all, the war is not just a campaign by Russia against the Ukrainians. Rather, Putin is challenging Europe’s geopolitical system as it emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
‘Top candidates make European elections more attractive’
It was largely your idea to put forward top candidates for the European elections. The idea worked in 2014, but not in 2019.
Top candidates make the European election more attractive. Voters should have the opportunity to vote not only on the constituency candidate, but also on the person at the top of the executive. I believe that is why voter turnout in 2019 has also increased enormously. The EU political system is complex. Making the complexity more tangible is important. This can be done by giving voters a choice between people who stand for political orientations.
Will there still be top candidates in 2024?
It’s like soccer: if the score is 1:1, we go into overtime. In 2014 the top candidate prevailed; in 2019, not quite. But: two top candidates are now the first vice presidents of the Commission. That is something. It has thus become clearer that ultimately three party families form a coalition in the Commission. So the politicization of the Commission has progressed. And for 2024, it is important to understand the constitutional reality of the EU: Unlike at the national level, we have two chambers with equal rights, the Council and the Parliament. So even when selecting the top candidates, we have to take into account which politician has a chance of convincing both the MEPs and the heads of state and government.
Would transnational lists also make the European election more attractive?
They do not exist in the US. This means that transnational lists are not mandatory for a federal system. But they could very well make it clear that the European election is not a national by-election but has a strong European component. But if you want that, you need a fair system.
Specifically?
It must be clear that the large countries do not dominate the small ones when drawing up the lists. And it must be ensured that there are not two classes of deputies afterwards. So, the MEPs from the European lists who are the superstars and the other MEPs who are responsible for constituency work. In addition: Germany has still not completed the last EU electoral law reform and introduced the blocking clause. Before tackling the very complex reform of the transnational lists now, the adopted blocking clause should be implemented first.
Do you see any other opportunities to make the European elections more attractive?
The Parliament could decide to confirm only commissioners who have previously stood in European elections. Many candidates for Commission posts already do so, but not all. It would certainly be a way to strengthen the link between the election and the executive. The relationship between the commissioner and the parliament would change: A politician who first has to face the citizens’ vote, then becomes an MEP and then a commissioner, has a different relationship with the citizens’ chamber than a politician who has never belonged to it.
Corruption
European election 2024
European Parliament
European policy
Combustion engine phase-out: one sentence, multiple readings
A preliminary vote in the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) was spontaneously postponed on Wednesday. Actually, the EU ambassadors should have signaled their approval for the trilateral agreement on the revised fleet limits for passenger cars so that nothing unforeseen would happen during the final vote in the Council of Ministers on Tuesday. But because the necessary qualified majority is currently not certain, this vote in Coreper was postponed until Friday.
The Swedish presidency is nevertheless sticking to its plan to hold a ministerial vote on Tuesday on the de facto 2035 phase-out of internal combustion vehicles enshrined in the new fleet limits.
The reason for the wobbly majority is a threat from German Minister for Transport Volker Wissing (FDP). Unless the EU Commission makes a proposal on how e-fuels can be used in combustion engines even after 2035, the FDP will not give the green light. Italy, Poland and Bulgaria will also not agree. If Wissing makes good on his threat, the blocking minority would be reached with the four countries and the phasing out of internal combustion engines would be off the table for the time being. This would lead to complicated renegotiations.
Recital 9a is not an obligation
The demand for a corresponding Commission proposal was underlined on Wednesday by government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. Accordingly, it is the position of the entire federal government. It is based on recital 9a of the legislative proposal. In it, the Commission is called upon to make a proposal on how passenger cars can be operated with CO2-neutral fuels even after 2035.
According to the EU Commission, the responsible Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans had already expressed his support for this aspect in the summer. At the same time, however, Timmermans had emphasized at the time that the EU Commission alone had the right to take legislative initiatives and that the recital did not imply any legal obligation.
What is also clear is that the legislative proposal must first be formally adopted for that recital to be valid in purely legal terms. The Swedish Council presidency is trying to mediate and emphasizes that there is no reason to assume that the Commission would not submit this proposal.
Different readings of the recital
It is questionable, however, what this proposal might look like. This is due to the possible interpretations of recital 9a. It states that the exemption for cars running on e-fuels would run “outside the EU fleet limits”. The Ministry for the Environment has already emphasized on several occasions that, in its view, this refers to special vehicles, for example for the police, fire department or ambulances, to which the EU regulation does not apply.
The FDP does not share this reading and believes that a new parallel system would be created. “For normal passenger cars that can demonstrably be refueled exclusively with e-fuels, the limit values and thus the combustion engine phase-out would not apply,” Lukas Köhler, climate policy spokesman for the FDP, tells Table.Media. Without a clear signal from the Commission on how the recital will be implemented, the FDP is unlikely to agree.
If it becomes clear in Coreper on Friday that the necessary majority will not be reached, the Council presidency could still remove the issue from the agenda of the ministerial meeting next Tuesday. This would give the German government more time to reach an agreement and, if necessary, to demand more concrete commitments from the Commission. A spokesman for the German Ministry for the Environment said Wednesday that talks within the coalition are well on the way to reaching an agreement.
Climate & Environment
Climate Policy
Transport policy
Short-term rent: Council sees little need for changes to Commission draft
The EU wants to create more transparency in the market for short-term rented accommodation. Today, the ministers responsible for the internal market and industry want to decide in Brussels on their General Approach to the corresponding regulation, which the Commission presented last November. The majority of member states were in favor of the Commission’s proposal, but wanted to be able to retain the existing registration systems in some EU countries.
The short-term rental of accommodation to tourists via platforms such as Airbnb or Booking is causing major problems in many European cities. The aim of the Commission’s Short-Term Accommodation Rental Services Regulation was to:
Create common EU standards on how hosts can display short-term rented accommodation online (individual registration number);
Establish a system through which hosts, online platforms, member state authorities and statistical offices exchange data at national and EU level.
Member states may adopt their own rules for short-term rentals
The member states did not make any extensive changes to the Commission’s draft. An opt-in model is envisaged. This means that the provisions of the regulation are to apply only to those member states, regions and municipalities that use registration procedures and/or request data from online platforms. According to the draft, regulatory measures remain a matter for the member states. This was also an important point for Germany.
The proposed regulation on short-term rentals is a good example of the sector-specific approach that Germany is taking to strengthen the internal market for services, the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs said in response to a query from Table.Media. Member states could thus better enforce member state law, for example, to prevent the misappropriation of residential space. “At the same time, online platforms and providers of short-term accommodation, many of them SMEs, will find it easier to operate in the market through low-bureaucracy electronic procedures.”
Parliament still at the beginning of the discussion
However, from the German perspective, there arestill possible improvements that could be taken up in the trilogue, for example concerning data protection. Controls by online platforms could also be better aligned with the standards of the Digital Services Act, according to Brussels.
The German Association of Towns and Municipalities hopes that the procedure will now proceed quickly: “In order to enable all municipalities to achieve the necessary transparency in short-term rentals, the votes on the European regulation should now be completed promptly.”
The EU Parliament has not even started the negotiations yet. The rapporteur in the Internal Market Committee (IMCO) is Kim Sparrentak (Greens/EFA). Her draft could be ready in May, according to her office. The opinions of the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the proposal are also still pending. In contrast, the European Data Protection Supervisor has already issued an opinion in December 2022.
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Federal Government
Events
March 7, 2023; 3-5 p.m., Brussels (Belgium)/online ERCST, PresentationThe inclusion of hydrogen in the EU CBAM, ERCST’s assessment The European Roundtable on Climate Change and Sustainable Transition (ERCST) intends to present the assessment’s conclusions concerning the rationale and implications of the hydrogen inclusion in the EU CBAM.INFO & REGISTRATION
News
Subsidies: German government does not want to have to cooperate with EU states
The German government wants to extend state aid for companies to respond to the energy crisis and increase production capacities for clean technologies. For example, companies should no longer have to prove a drop in profits if they want to receive compensation for increased energy prices, writes the German government in its response to a consultation by the Directorate General for Competition on the TCTF state aid framework.
It is the central building block for the Green Industrial Plan, with which the EU Commission responds to subsidies from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of the USA. The response was available to Table.Media yesterday, initially reported by Reuters.
Extended funding period
The criterion of a drop in profits makes it considerably more difficult for energy-intensive companies to access the electricity and gas price brake, the German government writes in its response. Aid for increased energy prices should also be able to be paid not only until the end of 2023, but until the end of April 2024, according to Berlin.
Further demands of the federal government are:
an extension of subsidies for the expansion of renewable energies and storage, the decarbonization of industry and for production capacities for green technologies from the end of 2025 to 2027, and
funding opportunities for hydrogen power plants, with which Germany aims to make the coal phase-out climate-neutral.
Subsidies for digital technologies
The EU Commission wants to extend support for production capacities from green technologies to digital technologies. In addition, the maximum amounts are to be increased from €100 to €200 million and from €150 to €400 million in C-assisted areas. In some cases, significantly higher subsidies are possible in the US for plants such as battery factories.
Particularly critical for Germany is the concentration of aid on the most disadvantaged regions of the EU. For structurally weak regions (C-assisted areas), which also exist in Germany, the requirements for cooperation with other member states are higher, according to the Commission draft. This will be particularly relevant if EU states want to pay subsidies that exceed the maximum limits in order to match the subsidies provided by third countries (so-called “matching”).
State funds also for refineries in Leuna and Schwedt
“Within narrow limits, individual projects outside assisted areas should also be eligible for aid if spill-over effects occur,” the federal government demands. According to the document, matching should also be possible if the project is located in a C-assisted area. For Germany, this would largely eliminate the obligation to cooperate.
Berlin also wants funding opportunities for the conversion of refineries “if they serve to accelerate the transformation process toward climate protection and sustainability.” In Germany, this applies in particular to Leuna and Schwedt, which “are currently facing a particularly far-reaching transformation of their economic structure due to the consequences of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine”. ber
Parliament and Council clash over Energy Efficiency Directive
Representatives of the European Parliament and the Council will meet for trilogue this Thursday evening to make progress in negotiations on the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). The two sides are at odds over the ambition level of the targets and the legally binding nature of the measures.
On the agenda of the negotiations are the binding targets for building renovations, energy savings targets and energy efficiency targets, as well as the binding nature of these measures, a parliamentary source told Table.Media. Another round of trilogue negotiations is scheduled for March 9.
“It is very difficult to work with the Council,” the parliamentarians regret. The Council is not prepared to make concessions, would postpone many binding elements and try to obtain as many exceptions as possible.
Stockholm’s compromise proposal
For its part, the Swedish Council Presidency highlights its compromise proposal to achieve an 11 to 12 percent reduction in energy consumption in the EU by 2030 in return for the introduction of new flexibilities. The target remains below the 14.5 percent sought bythe EU Parliament, but comes closer to what the Commission is aiming for, namely an EU-wide reduction in energy consumption of at least 13 percent compared to the 2020 reference scenario.
Stockholm also clarifies that only the target on final energy consumption would be binding. The MEPs, on the other hand, call for a calculation based on primary energy consumption, which is a more restrictive requirement. Sweden makes the increase in ambition conditional on new flexibilities. This means that the formula for determining the level of each member state’s contribution to this European target would be only partially binding – and only for calculating certain factors that affect efficiency efforts.
Annual energy savings
The Presidency also proposes that delegations increasethe 2030 annual energy savings commitmentupto 1.9 percent (from the 1.5 percent adopted by the Council), provided that certain measures taken in another framework can be counted. This would include, for example, the inclusion of measures to meetminimum energy performance standards for buildings or measures taken during the energy crisis (other than rationing and curtailment measures).
For their part, MEPs want to set this commitment at 2 percent from 2024, while the Commission proposes 1.5 percent.
There are also proposals on other compromises, such as the possibility of increasing the target for reducing the final energy consumption of all public facilities to 2 percent, as requested by the Parliament. At the same time, the possibility of exempting public transport is foreseen.
The fact that member states are rejecting mandatory renovation quotas for public buildings, especially social housing, at a time when Europeans are still suffering from inflation and high energy prices is “inappropriate,” said Adeline Rochet. This would pose “a risk to the achievement of Europe’s 2030 climate targets,” added Rochet, who is senior policy advisor for energy efficiency at Brussels-based think tank E3G. cst
Energy
Energy efficiency
Gebäudesektor
Nuclear industry wants EU funding
Following a push by Poland, the European nuclear industry is now also pushing for EU funding for new nuclear power plant construction. “We will push for the exclusion of nuclear power plants to be withdrawn when existing support funds are revised and also for there to be no automatic exclusion in future funds,” a Nuclear Europe spokeswoman said.
The background to this is that, according to the association, no financial support for new nuclear power plants is currently possible through instruments such as InvestEU or the Just Transition Fund. Investors would only have access to loans under Euratom.
Nuclear Europe bases its demand on the EU’s financial taxonomy, which, after heated debate, included investments in nuclear power plants as sustainable investments. “Given that nuclear energy is now included as an eligible sector in the sustainable finance taxonomy, we believe that these automatic exclusions [in EU funds] are no longer justified,” the association spokeswoman explained.
Poland and France plan new reactors
Earlier, at the Energy Council in Stockholm on Tuesday, Poland’s Energy Minister Anna Moskwa called for EU funding to support new nuclear power plants. According to its 2019 energy strategy for 2040, the Polish government wants to build six reactors in the country, which are scheduled to be operational starting in 2033. France’s EdF has also expressed interest in building the plants, according to a survey by the World Nuclear Association.
It was also revealed yesterday that France is considering building more than 14 new nuclear power plants by 2050. “Initially, we are talking about six reactors, with eight more under consideration,” French Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher told the business newspaper Les Echos on Wednesday. “But I clearly asked the industry the question: Can you go beyond 14 reactors by 2050?” She pointed to climate protection as justification. “Achieving CO2 neutrality by 2050 requires that we produce massively more electricity.”
On Tuesday, Pannier-Runacher initiated a meeting of eleven EU countries to underpin the role of nuclear energy in the decarbonization of the continent. ber/dpa
Energy
Nuclear power
Taxonomy
Agreement on green bond standard
EU negotiators have agreed on the introduction of a standard for green bonds. It is intended to help unify the fragmented market. This is overdue due to the growing financial importance of this financial instrument, especially in Europe.
The compromise aims to:
Identify “high quality” green bonds and companies to avoid greenwashing;
Make it clear to issuers what economic activities are possible with the proceeds;
Establish a “clear reporting process” on the use of proceeds;
Standardize the work of external auditors to build confidence in the audit process.
In addition, companies using the standards will have to prove that the proceeds from their green bonds comply with the EU’s list of environmentally friendly activities, known as the taxonomy. However, the agreement between the Council and Parliament provides them with a 15 percent margin for activities not yet covered by the framework.
So far, there is no single definition for green bonds. Thus, the products are difficult to compare, and there is also a high risk of greenwashing.
The world’s first green bond regulation
“Green bonds that don’t use the standards are likely to be viewed with increasing suspicion,” said Paul Tang (S&D), Parliament’s chief negotiator. With an annual trading volume of €100 trillion, the European bond market is the most popular option for companies and governments to raise funds, he adds.
With this agreement, he said, the EU has taken “a big step toward greening this massive market.” “We have gone one step further by linking green bonds to the overall green transformation of companies.”
Tsvetelina Kuzmanova, senior policy advisor at sustainable EU finance think tank E3G, has a similar view: The agreement is a major breakthrough for green bond (EuGB) markets, she told Table.Media. It not only increases transparency and creates certainty for investors, but also provides incentives for long-term transition planning, she said.
“Companies applying the EU green bond standards will have to demonstrate how their investments contribute to their own transformation plans. This will significantly drive green transformation at the corporate level,” explained Kuzmanova.
Financing of the Green Deal
The standards are based on the recommendations of the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and are part of the Commission’s 2018 Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth and the Green Deal.
The agreement was preceded by long disputes about how strict the rules should be. There was also wrangling over whether it should apply to all issuers marketing green bonds in Europe. In December, EU negotiators failed to reach an agreement as the Parliament and member states debated how much flexibility issuers should have in how they invest the proceeds. cst
Green Deal
Taxonomy
F-gases: Environment Committee calls for ban by 2050
The EU Parliament’s Environment Committee voted on Wednesday on its position to reduce emissions of fluorinated gases. MEPs want to make the new requirements proposed by the Commission even stricter and completely ban products containing so-called F-gases by 2050. In sectors where it is technologically and economically feasible, it should also be mandatory to switch to alternatives for F-gases.
Alongside CO2, methane and nitrous oxide (laughing gas), F-gases also belong to the group of climate-damaging greenhouse gases. F-gasesare used in sprays or as refrigerants in refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and heat pumps. Partially halogenated hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) make up the bulk of F-gas emissions, but perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluorides (SF6) and nitrogen trifluorides (NF3) are also used in various industrial processes, for example to insulate transmission lines in the power grid.
In most cases, natural alternatives are readily available, stresses Bas Eickhout (Greens), the rapporteur responsible for the legislative proposal. “That’s why we voted for an ambitious position to completely phase out F-gases by 2050 and in most sectors already by the end of this decade.” Many European companies are already at the forefront of this development and would benefit because of their market position and export opportunities, the Dutch MEP said.
Problems for heat pump industry
Nevertheless, some industries are also critical of the parliament’s position. “The impact this would have on heat pumps clashes with the EU’s decarbonization targets, which envisage a doubling of annual sales of heat pumps,” writes the European Heat Pump Association. An additional 10 million units are expected to be sold by early 2027.
While the heat pump sector has committed to support theswitch from F-gases to natural refrigerants whenever possible, the accelerated phase-out does not take into account current production and installation capacity. “There is a risk that the number of available heat pumps in certain market segments will be significantly reduced and consumers will revert to fossil fuels,” the association said.
The report is to be submitted to the full plenum for a vote at the end of March. Trilogue negotiations with the EU Commission and Council will then begin. luk
Climate & Environment
Climate Policy
Pesticide regulation: dispute over timetable in EP
A dispute has broken out between the committees involved over the timing of votes on the pesticides regulation in the European Parliament. The divided competencies lie with the Environment Committee (ENVI) and the Agriculture Committee (AGRI). ENVI Chairman Pascal Canfin (Renew) wants to decide on the report before the summer break in July and is aiming for a plenary vote in September.
AGRI Chairman Norbert Lins (CDU), like the Council, wants the Commission to present an extended impact assessment, for example, on expected crop losses, before the Parliament decides. Lins wants to vote in committee in September and in plenary in November.
Rapporteur Sarah Wiener (Greens) presents her report on the legislative proposal today. The Council is not expected to have a position before the end of the year. mgr
Agriculture
Climate & Environment
European Parliament
Pesticides
Commission to allow accompanied truck driving
Accompanied driving is to be introduced throughout the EU for cars, vans and heavy trucks. In the future, it will be possible to take the test at the age of 17. Until their 18th birthday, however, novice drivers would have to be accompanied by an adult with a driver’s license. This is provided for in the Commission’s proposal for a package to increase road safety, which the Commission presented on Wednesday.
The introduction of accompanied driving is intended to make vocational training as a truck driver more attractive. Until now, many apprentices have dropped out of training because they had to wait until their 18th birthday before they were allowed to drive. In individual member states, such as Germany and Austria, the accompanied driving model already exists for passenger cars. The measure has been shown to reduce the likelihood of accidents among young novice drivers. What is new now is that accompanied driving is to be offered in all EU states and will also count for trucks.
Digital driver’s license
The Commission also proposes a uniform digital driver’s license. The probationary period for novice drivers is to be at least two years, and novice drivers are not allowed to drive under the influence of any alcohol during the probationary period. Driving bans are to apply throughout the EU in the future. Until now, this was not possible if the driver committed the offense in a country other than the one in which they acquired the driver’s license.
The Commission also wants to ensure that traffic offenders who commit crimes in other EU countries can also be held accountable for them. So far, the authorities already share information on the identity of the owner. However, only 40 percent of traffic tickets issued to non-residents are paid because, in many cases, the debt was not enforced in another EU country. Here, the Commission wants to ensure that law enforcement authorities have access to national driver’s license registers.
In addition, the list of offenses that can be punished across borders is to be expanded. In addition to DUI and speeding, EU-wide penalties will also be enforced in the following cases in the future:
tailgating;
unsafe passing;
unsafe parking;
crossing solid lines;
driving against the direction of travel;
disregarding emergency lanes;
driving with overloaded vehicles. mgr
European policy
Heads
Claus Müller – Hamburg’s flag in Brussels
Claus Müller is head of the Hanse-Office (Hamburg) in Brussels.
It quickly becomes clear that Claus Müller is proud of his origins: “I’m an eighth-generation Hamburger,” he says, even if he jokingly adds that he was considered a black sheep in his family. “For six generations, I’ve been the first not to become the typical Hamburg merchant.”
But that’s not quite true, because today, it’s his job to sell Hamburg and its interests well to the EU. Claus Müller heads the Hamburg part of the Hanse-Office in Brussels. This is the joint representation of the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein in the EU.
Müller’s main task is to inform Hamburg’s citizens about current EU projects at an early stage. At the same time, he represents and promotes Hamburg and Hamburg’s interests in Brussels. “It’s important to have a presence and fly the Hamburg flag high at a variety of events.” The added value of the Hanse-Office, he says, is to be on the spot and to expand networks in European institutions.
‘Not only listeners, but also spokespersons’
“After all, we sometimes have different interests or focuses than the federal government, and that’s where it’s important not to be dependent on the federal government’s reporting. That way, we can form our own picture and our own opinion,” he says.
He sees his work as a kind of early reporting system. And that, he says, has evolved over time into a two-way street. “We are not only listeners but also spokespersons.” Before a proposal comes to the table at the European Commission, for example, the Hanse-Office can bring its expertise to the process, he explained.
Particularly relevant for Hamburg’s economy at the moment, he said, is European industrial and trade policy with the proposed measures for the realignment of state aid and the IPCEI regulations. Müller is also convinced that the EU could do even better from Hamburg’s point of view if it made more money available for research, innovation and digitization.
Three degrees and ten years of study
Müller studied history with a minor in economics and law studies in Switzerland and international relations in Great Britain. The studies took a lot of time, says the now 60-year-old: “My family is horrified that I really studied for ten years. But at least three degrees came out of it.”
After graduation, it was off to Bonn. “I started at the Foreign Office with an unfinished dissertation and had the most ghastly year of my life there because I had two full-time jobs, so to speak. Finishing the dissertation at night and doing the introductory course during the day.” In 2006, he was transferred from the Foreign Office to Brussels. It’s a location he still holds in high regard today – not least because he enjoys going on weekend trips with his family. “Belgium is very central and you can get anywhere quickly.” Sarah Tekath
As Secretary General of the European Parliament, Klaus Welle has been one of the most influential people in Brussels over the past 14 years. He talks to Markus Grabitz about the importance of secret services in protecting the EU institutions, the upcoming European elections – and the merits of theEuropeanParliament. “I would definitely advise an MEP who loves the freedom of the mandate to join the European Parliament,” Welle says in the interview.
Airbnb and Co are handy for tourists and other people looking for a temporary place to stay – but in many European cities, these platforms are causing major problems. Last fall, the Commission presented a draft to make short-term rentals more transparent and sustainable. Member states are largely following the proposals, as Corinna Visser reports. From a German perspective, however, there are still possible improvements, for example in data protection.
Suddenly, complicated renegotiations are looming where agreement had technically existed: Because Federal Minister for Transport Volker Wissing (FDP) is now questioning Germany’s agreement, the necessary majority for an end to internal combustion vehicles in 2035 is in question. Wissing and his party see the blame with the Commission and an unfulfilled recital. However, Lukas Scheid analyzes the different interpretations of the recital.
Your Sarah Schaefer
Feature
Klaus Welle: ‘EU institutions are largely unprotected’
Klaus Welle was Secretary General of the European Parliament from 2009 until the end of 2022.
Mr. Welle, are there structural weaknesses in the European Parliament that explain why the corruption scandal could occur?
There have also been bribery scandals in other parliaments. However, it is striking that the EU has no secret service structures. Presumably, an intelligence service is the only way to get to the bottom of bribery by third countries. The EU institutions are largely defenseless in this regard. To my knowledge, there was a meeting of national authorities a few years ago. At that meeting, Belgium was asked to take care of the European Parliament. I think it is likely that since the arrests in early December, we are seeing the consequences of that meeting.
How do you evaluate the fact that no one felt responsible before?
If you look at the importance of the EU, not just the Parliament, the complete lack of protection was an untenable state of affairs. The EU is in great tension not only with Russia but also with China. It is progress that Belgium now cares. But I have doubts that this is enough. The EU organizes a continental democracy that is threatened by authoritarian states. It must be able to defend itself.
Would a solution like that at NATO be conceivable? For some years now, there has been a liaison office there where information from national services is pooled and evaluated.
For the European Parliament, I can say that this is the pattern that is being followed. In the last parliamentary budget, for which I was responsible, a number of posts were created in order to become capable of dialog in this very area. Only time will tell whether these posts are sufficient.
‘Those who love the freedom of the mandate should join the EP’
As Secretary General, you pursued the goal of strengthening the European Parliament, for example, establishing the Scientific Service and massively increasing the staffs of the political groups. Is the Parliament now on par with the other EU institutions?
In any case, I would advise a deputy who loves the freedom of the mandate to join the European Parliament. At the national level, the government majority and the parliamentary majority are so closely intertwined that the freedom of the individual deputy is very limited. There, you have to belong to a very small leadership group to be able to participate in decision-making. Things are different in the European Parliament. There, you have a lot of leeway if you are active and willing.
Do you prefer to measure the EP against the US Congress?
Yes. The United States has a political system that is comparable to that of the EU: there, Congress, the Senate and the government are constantly negotiating with each other, without it being clear in advance who is stronger. It’s very similar here between the Council, the Commission and Parliament. It has always been important to me that the Members of Parliament are also adequately advised. On the other side are the 27 governments with their ministries. This means that MEPs need the support of the committee secretariats, the Scientific Service and from the parliamentary groups so that Parliament can be an equal legislator.
Where do you see the need for improvement?
Parliament is strong when it wants to be strong. But there are always areas that evolve. Take the structures created in the financial crisis. They are more intergovernmental in nature and should be subject to parliamentary control in perpetuity. The same goes for Next Generation EU’s additional spending. If this spending is repeated, Parliament must be involved.
Does this also apply to security policy, where the EU has so far had little competence?
In my view, the area of security and defense policy will develop very dynamically on the basis of the treaties. The war in Ukraine is leading to a reflection on whether the EU is sensibly positioned in security policy. After all, the war is not just a campaign by Russia against the Ukrainians. Rather, Putin is challenging Europe’s geopolitical system as it emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
‘Top candidates make European elections more attractive’
It was largely your idea to put forward top candidates for the European elections. The idea worked in 2014, but not in 2019.
Top candidates make the European election more attractive. Voters should have the opportunity to vote not only on the constituency candidate, but also on the person at the top of the executive. I believe that is why voter turnout in 2019 has also increased enormously. The EU political system is complex. Making the complexity more tangible is important. This can be done by giving voters a choice between people who stand for political orientations.
Will there still be top candidates in 2024?
It’s like soccer: if the score is 1:1, we go into overtime. In 2014 the top candidate prevailed; in 2019, not quite. But: two top candidates are now the first vice presidents of the Commission. That is something. It has thus become clearer that ultimately three party families form a coalition in the Commission. So the politicization of the Commission has progressed. And for 2024, it is important to understand the constitutional reality of the EU: Unlike at the national level, we have two chambers with equal rights, the Council and the Parliament. So even when selecting the top candidates, we have to take into account which politician has a chance of convincing both the MEPs and the heads of state and government.
Would transnational lists also make the European election more attractive?
They do not exist in the US. This means that transnational lists are not mandatory for a federal system. But they could very well make it clear that the European election is not a national by-election but has a strong European component. But if you want that, you need a fair system.
Specifically?
It must be clear that the large countries do not dominate the small ones when drawing up the lists. And it must be ensured that there are not two classes of deputies afterwards. So, the MEPs from the European lists who are the superstars and the other MEPs who are responsible for constituency work. In addition: Germany has still not completed the last EU electoral law reform and introduced the blocking clause. Before tackling the very complex reform of the transnational lists now, the adopted blocking clause should be implemented first.
Do you see any other opportunities to make the European elections more attractive?
The Parliament could decide to confirm only commissioners who have previously stood in European elections. Many candidates for Commission posts already do so, but not all. It would certainly be a way to strengthen the link between the election and the executive. The relationship between the commissioner and the parliament would change: A politician who first has to face the citizens’ vote, then becomes an MEP and then a commissioner, has a different relationship with the citizens’ chamber than a politician who has never belonged to it.
Corruption
European election 2024
European Parliament
European policy
Combustion engine phase-out: one sentence, multiple readings
A preliminary vote in the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) was spontaneously postponed on Wednesday. Actually, the EU ambassadors should have signaled their approval for the trilateral agreement on the revised fleet limits for passenger cars so that nothing unforeseen would happen during the final vote in the Council of Ministers on Tuesday. But because the necessary qualified majority is currently not certain, this vote in Coreper was postponed until Friday.
The Swedish presidency is nevertheless sticking to its plan to hold a ministerial vote on Tuesday on the de facto 2035 phase-out of internal combustion vehicles enshrined in the new fleet limits.
The reason for the wobbly majority is a threat from German Minister for Transport Volker Wissing (FDP). Unless the EU Commission makes a proposal on how e-fuels can be used in combustion engines even after 2035, the FDP will not give the green light. Italy, Poland and Bulgaria will also not agree. If Wissing makes good on his threat, the blocking minority would be reached with the four countries and the phasing out of internal combustion engines would be off the table for the time being. This would lead to complicated renegotiations.
Recital 9a is not an obligation
The demand for a corresponding Commission proposal was underlined on Wednesday by government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit. Accordingly, it is the position of the entire federal government. It is based on recital 9a of the legislative proposal. In it, the Commission is called upon to make a proposal on how passenger cars can be operated with CO2-neutral fuels even after 2035.
According to the EU Commission, the responsible Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans had already expressed his support for this aspect in the summer. At the same time, however, Timmermans had emphasized at the time that the EU Commission alone had the right to take legislative initiatives and that the recital did not imply any legal obligation.
What is also clear is that the legislative proposal must first be formally adopted for that recital to be valid in purely legal terms. The Swedish Council presidency is trying to mediate and emphasizes that there is no reason to assume that the Commission would not submit this proposal.
Different readings of the recital
It is questionable, however, what this proposal might look like. This is due to the possible interpretations of recital 9a. It states that the exemption for cars running on e-fuels would run “outside the EU fleet limits”. The Ministry for the Environment has already emphasized on several occasions that, in its view, this refers to special vehicles, for example for the police, fire department or ambulances, to which the EU regulation does not apply.
The FDP does not share this reading and believes that a new parallel system would be created. “For normal passenger cars that can demonstrably be refueled exclusively with e-fuels, the limit values and thus the combustion engine phase-out would not apply,” Lukas Köhler, climate policy spokesman for the FDP, tells Table.Media. Without a clear signal from the Commission on how the recital will be implemented, the FDP is unlikely to agree.
If it becomes clear in Coreper on Friday that the necessary majority will not be reached, the Council presidency could still remove the issue from the agenda of the ministerial meeting next Tuesday. This would give the German government more time to reach an agreement and, if necessary, to demand more concrete commitments from the Commission. A spokesman for the German Ministry for the Environment said Wednesday that talks within the coalition are well on the way to reaching an agreement.
Climate & Environment
Climate Policy
Transport policy
Short-term rent: Council sees little need for changes to Commission draft
The EU wants to create more transparency in the market for short-term rented accommodation. Today, the ministers responsible for the internal market and industry want to decide in Brussels on their General Approach to the corresponding regulation, which the Commission presented last November. The majority of member states were in favor of the Commission’s proposal, but wanted to be able to retain the existing registration systems in some EU countries.
The short-term rental of accommodation to tourists via platforms such as Airbnb or Booking is causing major problems in many European cities. The aim of the Commission’s Short-Term Accommodation Rental Services Regulation was to:
Create common EU standards on how hosts can display short-term rented accommodation online (individual registration number);
Establish a system through which hosts, online platforms, member state authorities and statistical offices exchange data at national and EU level.
Member states may adopt their own rules for short-term rentals
The member states did not make any extensive changes to the Commission’s draft. An opt-in model is envisaged. This means that the provisions of the regulation are to apply only to those member states, regions and municipalities that use registration procedures and/or request data from online platforms. According to the draft, regulatory measures remain a matter for the member states. This was also an important point for Germany.
The proposed regulation on short-term rentals is a good example of the sector-specific approach that Germany is taking to strengthen the internal market for services, the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs said in response to a query from Table.Media. Member states could thus better enforce member state law, for example, to prevent the misappropriation of residential space. “At the same time, online platforms and providers of short-term accommodation, many of them SMEs, will find it easier to operate in the market through low-bureaucracy electronic procedures.”
Parliament still at the beginning of the discussion
However, from the German perspective, there arestill possible improvements that could be taken up in the trilogue, for example concerning data protection. Controls by online platforms could also be better aligned with the standards of the Digital Services Act, according to Brussels.
The German Association of Towns and Municipalities hopes that the procedure will now proceed quickly: “In order to enable all municipalities to achieve the necessary transparency in short-term rentals, the votes on the European regulation should now be completed promptly.”
The EU Parliament has not even started the negotiations yet. The rapporteur in the Internal Market Committee (IMCO) is Kim Sparrentak (Greens/EFA). Her draft could be ready in May, according to her office. The opinions of the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the proposal are also still pending. In contrast, the European Data Protection Supervisor has already issued an opinion in December 2022.
Digitization
Federal Government
Events
March 7, 2023; 3-5 p.m., Brussels (Belgium)/online ERCST, PresentationThe inclusion of hydrogen in the EU CBAM, ERCST’s assessment The European Roundtable on Climate Change and Sustainable Transition (ERCST) intends to present the assessment’s conclusions concerning the rationale and implications of the hydrogen inclusion in the EU CBAM.INFO & REGISTRATION
News
Subsidies: German government does not want to have to cooperate with EU states
The German government wants to extend state aid for companies to respond to the energy crisis and increase production capacities for clean technologies. For example, companies should no longer have to prove a drop in profits if they want to receive compensation for increased energy prices, writes the German government in its response to a consultation by the Directorate General for Competition on the TCTF state aid framework.
It is the central building block for the Green Industrial Plan, with which the EU Commission responds to subsidies from the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of the USA. The response was available to Table.Media yesterday, initially reported by Reuters.
Extended funding period
The criterion of a drop in profits makes it considerably more difficult for energy-intensive companies to access the electricity and gas price brake, the German government writes in its response. Aid for increased energy prices should also be able to be paid not only until the end of 2023, but until the end of April 2024, according to Berlin.
Further demands of the federal government are:
an extension of subsidies for the expansion of renewable energies and storage, the decarbonization of industry and for production capacities for green technologies from the end of 2025 to 2027, and
funding opportunities for hydrogen power plants, with which Germany aims to make the coal phase-out climate-neutral.
Subsidies for digital technologies
The EU Commission wants to extend support for production capacities from green technologies to digital technologies. In addition, the maximum amounts are to be increased from €100 to €200 million and from €150 to €400 million in C-assisted areas. In some cases, significantly higher subsidies are possible in the US for plants such as battery factories.
Particularly critical for Germany is the concentration of aid on the most disadvantaged regions of the EU. For structurally weak regions (C-assisted areas), which also exist in Germany, the requirements for cooperation with other member states are higher, according to the Commission draft. This will be particularly relevant if EU states want to pay subsidies that exceed the maximum limits in order to match the subsidies provided by third countries (so-called “matching”).
State funds also for refineries in Leuna and Schwedt
“Within narrow limits, individual projects outside assisted areas should also be eligible for aid if spill-over effects occur,” the federal government demands. According to the document, matching should also be possible if the project is located in a C-assisted area. For Germany, this would largely eliminate the obligation to cooperate.
Berlin also wants funding opportunities for the conversion of refineries “if they serve to accelerate the transformation process toward climate protection and sustainability.” In Germany, this applies in particular to Leuna and Schwedt, which “are currently facing a particularly far-reaching transformation of their economic structure due to the consequences of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine”. ber
Parliament and Council clash over Energy Efficiency Directive
Representatives of the European Parliament and the Council will meet for trilogue this Thursday evening to make progress in negotiations on the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). The two sides are at odds over the ambition level of the targets and the legally binding nature of the measures.
On the agenda of the negotiations are the binding targets for building renovations, energy savings targets and energy efficiency targets, as well as the binding nature of these measures, a parliamentary source told Table.Media. Another round of trilogue negotiations is scheduled for March 9.
“It is very difficult to work with the Council,” the parliamentarians regret. The Council is not prepared to make concessions, would postpone many binding elements and try to obtain as many exceptions as possible.
Stockholm’s compromise proposal
For its part, the Swedish Council Presidency highlights its compromise proposal to achieve an 11 to 12 percent reduction in energy consumption in the EU by 2030 in return for the introduction of new flexibilities. The target remains below the 14.5 percent sought bythe EU Parliament, but comes closer to what the Commission is aiming for, namely an EU-wide reduction in energy consumption of at least 13 percent compared to the 2020 reference scenario.
Stockholm also clarifies that only the target on final energy consumption would be binding. The MEPs, on the other hand, call for a calculation based on primary energy consumption, which is a more restrictive requirement. Sweden makes the increase in ambition conditional on new flexibilities. This means that the formula for determining the level of each member state’s contribution to this European target would be only partially binding – and only for calculating certain factors that affect efficiency efforts.
Annual energy savings
The Presidency also proposes that delegations increasethe 2030 annual energy savings commitmentupto 1.9 percent (from the 1.5 percent adopted by the Council), provided that certain measures taken in another framework can be counted. This would include, for example, the inclusion of measures to meetminimum energy performance standards for buildings or measures taken during the energy crisis (other than rationing and curtailment measures).
For their part, MEPs want to set this commitment at 2 percent from 2024, while the Commission proposes 1.5 percent.
There are also proposals on other compromises, such as the possibility of increasing the target for reducing the final energy consumption of all public facilities to 2 percent, as requested by the Parliament. At the same time, the possibility of exempting public transport is foreseen.
The fact that member states are rejecting mandatory renovation quotas for public buildings, especially social housing, at a time when Europeans are still suffering from inflation and high energy prices is “inappropriate,” said Adeline Rochet. This would pose “a risk to the achievement of Europe’s 2030 climate targets,” added Rochet, who is senior policy advisor for energy efficiency at Brussels-based think tank E3G. cst
Energy
Energy efficiency
Gebäudesektor
Nuclear industry wants EU funding
Following a push by Poland, the European nuclear industry is now also pushing for EU funding for new nuclear power plant construction. “We will push for the exclusion of nuclear power plants to be withdrawn when existing support funds are revised and also for there to be no automatic exclusion in future funds,” a Nuclear Europe spokeswoman said.
The background to this is that, according to the association, no financial support for new nuclear power plants is currently possible through instruments such as InvestEU or the Just Transition Fund. Investors would only have access to loans under Euratom.
Nuclear Europe bases its demand on the EU’s financial taxonomy, which, after heated debate, included investments in nuclear power plants as sustainable investments. “Given that nuclear energy is now included as an eligible sector in the sustainable finance taxonomy, we believe that these automatic exclusions [in EU funds] are no longer justified,” the association spokeswoman explained.
Poland and France plan new reactors
Earlier, at the Energy Council in Stockholm on Tuesday, Poland’s Energy Minister Anna Moskwa called for EU funding to support new nuclear power plants. According to its 2019 energy strategy for 2040, the Polish government wants to build six reactors in the country, which are scheduled to be operational starting in 2033. France’s EdF has also expressed interest in building the plants, according to a survey by the World Nuclear Association.
It was also revealed yesterday that France is considering building more than 14 new nuclear power plants by 2050. “Initially, we are talking about six reactors, with eight more under consideration,” French Energy Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher told the business newspaper Les Echos on Wednesday. “But I clearly asked the industry the question: Can you go beyond 14 reactors by 2050?” She pointed to climate protection as justification. “Achieving CO2 neutrality by 2050 requires that we produce massively more electricity.”
On Tuesday, Pannier-Runacher initiated a meeting of eleven EU countries to underpin the role of nuclear energy in the decarbonization of the continent. ber/dpa
Energy
Nuclear power
Taxonomy
Agreement on green bond standard
EU negotiators have agreed on the introduction of a standard for green bonds. It is intended to help unify the fragmented market. This is overdue due to the growing financial importance of this financial instrument, especially in Europe.
The compromise aims to:
Identify “high quality” green bonds and companies to avoid greenwashing;
Make it clear to issuers what economic activities are possible with the proceeds;
Establish a “clear reporting process” on the use of proceeds;
Standardize the work of external auditors to build confidence in the audit process.
In addition, companies using the standards will have to prove that the proceeds from their green bonds comply with the EU’s list of environmentally friendly activities, known as the taxonomy. However, the agreement between the Council and Parliament provides them with a 15 percent margin for activities not yet covered by the framework.
So far, there is no single definition for green bonds. Thus, the products are difficult to compare, and there is also a high risk of greenwashing.
The world’s first green bond regulation
“Green bonds that don’t use the standards are likely to be viewed with increasing suspicion,” said Paul Tang (S&D), Parliament’s chief negotiator. With an annual trading volume of €100 trillion, the European bond market is the most popular option for companies and governments to raise funds, he adds.
With this agreement, he said, the EU has taken “a big step toward greening this massive market.” “We have gone one step further by linking green bonds to the overall green transformation of companies.”
Tsvetelina Kuzmanova, senior policy advisor at sustainable EU finance think tank E3G, has a similar view: The agreement is a major breakthrough for green bond (EuGB) markets, she told Table.Media. It not only increases transparency and creates certainty for investors, but also provides incentives for long-term transition planning, she said.
“Companies applying the EU green bond standards will have to demonstrate how their investments contribute to their own transformation plans. This will significantly drive green transformation at the corporate level,” explained Kuzmanova.
Financing of the Green Deal
The standards are based on the recommendations of the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance and are part of the Commission’s 2018 Action Plan on Financing Sustainable Growth and the Green Deal.
The agreement was preceded by long disputes about how strict the rules should be. There was also wrangling over whether it should apply to all issuers marketing green bonds in Europe. In December, EU negotiators failed to reach an agreement as the Parliament and member states debated how much flexibility issuers should have in how they invest the proceeds. cst
Green Deal
Taxonomy
F-gases: Environment Committee calls for ban by 2050
The EU Parliament’s Environment Committee voted on Wednesday on its position to reduce emissions of fluorinated gases. MEPs want to make the new requirements proposed by the Commission even stricter and completely ban products containing so-called F-gases by 2050. In sectors where it is technologically and economically feasible, it should also be mandatory to switch to alternatives for F-gases.
Alongside CO2, methane and nitrous oxide (laughing gas), F-gases also belong to the group of climate-damaging greenhouse gases. F-gasesare used in sprays or as refrigerants in refrigerators, freezers, air conditioners and heat pumps. Partially halogenated hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) make up the bulk of F-gas emissions, but perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulfur hexafluorides (SF6) and nitrogen trifluorides (NF3) are also used in various industrial processes, for example to insulate transmission lines in the power grid.
In most cases, natural alternatives are readily available, stresses Bas Eickhout (Greens), the rapporteur responsible for the legislative proposal. “That’s why we voted for an ambitious position to completely phase out F-gases by 2050 and in most sectors already by the end of this decade.” Many European companies are already at the forefront of this development and would benefit because of their market position and export opportunities, the Dutch MEP said.
Problems for heat pump industry
Nevertheless, some industries are also critical of the parliament’s position. “The impact this would have on heat pumps clashes with the EU’s decarbonization targets, which envisage a doubling of annual sales of heat pumps,” writes the European Heat Pump Association. An additional 10 million units are expected to be sold by early 2027.
While the heat pump sector has committed to support theswitch from F-gases to natural refrigerants whenever possible, the accelerated phase-out does not take into account current production and installation capacity. “There is a risk that the number of available heat pumps in certain market segments will be significantly reduced and consumers will revert to fossil fuels,” the association said.
The report is to be submitted to the full plenum for a vote at the end of March. Trilogue negotiations with the EU Commission and Council will then begin. luk
Climate & Environment
Climate Policy
Pesticide regulation: dispute over timetable in EP
A dispute has broken out between the committees involved over the timing of votes on the pesticides regulation in the European Parliament. The divided competencies lie with the Environment Committee (ENVI) and the Agriculture Committee (AGRI). ENVI Chairman Pascal Canfin (Renew) wants to decide on the report before the summer break in July and is aiming for a plenary vote in September.
AGRI Chairman Norbert Lins (CDU), like the Council, wants the Commission to present an extended impact assessment, for example, on expected crop losses, before the Parliament decides. Lins wants to vote in committee in September and in plenary in November.
Rapporteur Sarah Wiener (Greens) presents her report on the legislative proposal today. The Council is not expected to have a position before the end of the year. mgr
Agriculture
Climate & Environment
European Parliament
Pesticides
Commission to allow accompanied truck driving
Accompanied driving is to be introduced throughout the EU for cars, vans and heavy trucks. In the future, it will be possible to take the test at the age of 17. Until their 18th birthday, however, novice drivers would have to be accompanied by an adult with a driver’s license. This is provided for in the Commission’s proposal for a package to increase road safety, which the Commission presented on Wednesday.
The introduction of accompanied driving is intended to make vocational training as a truck driver more attractive. Until now, many apprentices have dropped out of training because they had to wait until their 18th birthday before they were allowed to drive. In individual member states, such as Germany and Austria, the accompanied driving model already exists for passenger cars. The measure has been shown to reduce the likelihood of accidents among young novice drivers. What is new now is that accompanied driving is to be offered in all EU states and will also count for trucks.
Digital driver’s license
The Commission also proposes a uniform digital driver’s license. The probationary period for novice drivers is to be at least two years, and novice drivers are not allowed to drive under the influence of any alcohol during the probationary period. Driving bans are to apply throughout the EU in the future. Until now, this was not possible if the driver committed the offense in a country other than the one in which they acquired the driver’s license.
The Commission also wants to ensure that traffic offenders who commit crimes in other EU countries can also be held accountable for them. So far, the authorities already share information on the identity of the owner. However, only 40 percent of traffic tickets issued to non-residents are paid because, in many cases, the debt was not enforced in another EU country. Here, the Commission wants to ensure that law enforcement authorities have access to national driver’s license registers.
In addition, the list of offenses that can be punished across borders is to be expanded. In addition to DUI and speeding, EU-wide penalties will also be enforced in the following cases in the future:
tailgating;
unsafe passing;
unsafe parking;
crossing solid lines;
driving against the direction of travel;
disregarding emergency lanes;
driving with overloaded vehicles. mgr
European policy
Heads
Claus Müller – Hamburg’s flag in Brussels
Claus Müller is head of the Hanse-Office (Hamburg) in Brussels.
It quickly becomes clear that Claus Müller is proud of his origins: “I’m an eighth-generation Hamburger,” he says, even if he jokingly adds that he was considered a black sheep in his family. “For six generations, I’ve been the first not to become the typical Hamburg merchant.”
But that’s not quite true, because today, it’s his job to sell Hamburg and its interests well to the EU. Claus Müller heads the Hamburg part of the Hanse-Office in Brussels. This is the joint representation of the federal states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein in the EU.
Müller’s main task is to inform Hamburg’s citizens about current EU projects at an early stage. At the same time, he represents and promotes Hamburg and Hamburg’s interests in Brussels. “It’s important to have a presence and fly the Hamburg flag high at a variety of events.” The added value of the Hanse-Office, he says, is to be on the spot and to expand networks in European institutions.
‘Not only listeners, but also spokespersons’
“After all, we sometimes have different interests or focuses than the federal government, and that’s where it’s important not to be dependent on the federal government’s reporting. That way, we can form our own picture and our own opinion,” he says.
He sees his work as a kind of early reporting system. And that, he says, has evolved over time into a two-way street. “We are not only listeners but also spokespersons.” Before a proposal comes to the table at the European Commission, for example, the Hanse-Office can bring its expertise to the process, he explained.
Particularly relevant for Hamburg’s economy at the moment, he said, is European industrial and trade policy with the proposed measures for the realignment of state aid and the IPCEI regulations. Müller is also convinced that the EU could do even better from Hamburg’s point of view if it made more money available for research, innovation and digitization.
Three degrees and ten years of study
Müller studied history with a minor in economics and law studies in Switzerland and international relations in Great Britain. The studies took a lot of time, says the now 60-year-old: “My family is horrified that I really studied for ten years. But at least three degrees came out of it.”
After graduation, it was off to Bonn. “I started at the Foreign Office with an unfinished dissertation and had the most ghastly year of my life there because I had two full-time jobs, so to speak. Finishing the dissertation at night and doing the introductory course during the day.” In 2006, he was transferred from the Foreign Office to Brussels. It’s a location he still holds in high regard today – not least because he enjoys going on weekend trips with his family. “Belgium is very central and you can get anywhere quickly.” Sarah Tekath
