The Hungarian Council Presidency begins at a time when new appointments are being made to the European institutions. The MEPs are currently in the middle of negotiations on the composition of the political groups and committees. The committees will be cut at the Conference of Presidents on July 11. Ursula von der Leyen could be re-elected as President of the Commission during the first sitting week of the new European Parliament on July 16.
The Hungarian Council Presidency expects the new Commission to start work in November – after the parliamentarians have approved the Commissioners-designate. The Hungarians have announced that the first trilogues of the new legislature will take place in the fall. These include negotiations on the outstanding Green Deal dossiers.
MEPs are questioning this timetable. It is possible that the Commission could actually start work in the fall, according to the Parliament. However, it could happen that some of the Commission candidates initially fail the hearings in Parliament. In this case, the trilogues could only begin in January under the Polish Presidency.
A French parliamentarian recalls the case of Sylvie Goulard, who was proposed by Emmanuel Macron in 2019. Parliament rejected Goulard and Thierry Breton was appointed in her place.
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
In the future, accredited parliamentary assistants (APAs) of MEPs will no longer be allowed to participate in trilogues. This is what the administration of the European Parliament is proposing for the next parliamentary term. The proposal is contained in the draft code of conduct for interinstitutional negotiations. At their meeting on July 11, the heads of the political groups will vote on whether the guidelines will enter into force in their current or amended form at the start of the tenth parliamentary term on July 16.
The paper, which is available to Table.Briefings, takes up proposals drawn up by a reform commission called “Parliament 2024” under the leadership of President Roberta Metsola.
However, there is resistance in the EPP, S&D and Green groups to the plan to no longer allow APAs in trilogue negotiations. The parliamentary administration’s proposal for the staffing of trilogues reads as follows: “One group adviser per political group may attend the trilogue meetings and support the rapporteur and shadow rapporteurs as well as the associated preparatory and follow-up meetings.” The Association of Accredited Parliamentary Assistants, the APA Committee, is up in arms against this wording.
The Code of Conduct for trilogues aims to establish robust and uniform rules for Parliament’s participants in unofficial conciliation procedures and to strengthen Parliament’s role vis-à-vis the Commission and the Council. trilogues have become the standard conciliation procedure between the two co-legislators, Parliament and the Council, with the participation of the Commission. The regular conciliation procedure was last used more than twelve years ago. Attempts to revive the regular conciliation procedure have failed.
The trilogues were recently handled very differently by the committees of the European Parliament. There was some criticism of the process because negotiations were conducted with little transparency and substantial changes to the legal texts were negotiated in private. It was also criticized that there were no clear definitions for the competences in technical trilogues, which were dealt with at the level of the parliamentary assistants to the rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs.
The Code wants to oblige the chairs of the committees concerned to take part in the trilogue meetings. This should already be standard practice. However, not all committee chairs have done so. In addition, the code stipulates that, as a rule, only the committee chairperson, who is also supposed to lead the parliamentary negotiating team, and the rapporteur are entitled to speak in the trilogues.
“The chair of the negotiating team and the rapporteur may take the floor in trilogues on behalf of Parliament”, the paper states. Exceptionally, shadow rapporteurs from the political groups should also be able to present their position at the intervention of the committee chair.
The Code of Conduct also stipulates that, as a rule, all negotiations should take place in the presence of the entire negotiating team. Time-outs, during which the committee chair and the rapporteur negotiate with the other side, should be the exception. Article 3(7) on time-outs literally states: “These meetings shall in principle be kept as short as possible and Parliament should not be under-represented in the number of participants.” Immediately following such recesses, the results should be forwarded to Parliament’s negotiating team.
It should also be possible to negotiate technical issues at separate trilogue meetings in the future. However, the mandate for these technical trilogues must be “limited in scope and duration” and “must not include political issues”.
While technical trilogues were previously often conducted solely by assistants and parliamentary group staff on the parliamentary side, the Code now provides for them to be “moderated by the committee secretariat under the supervision of the chair of the negotiating team”. Here too, the administration will no longer require the participation of assistants in the future.
It is regarded in The Hague as the biggest political gamble since the Second World War. Head of government Dick Schoof and his coalition took office in the Netherlands on Tuesday. The 67-year-old starts with the handicap of having been only an emergency solution. Although Dick Schoof had previously been an influential top civil servant, unlike his predecessors he had never been through an election campaign or conducted political negotiations, according to the newspaper “De Volkskrant”.
Dick Schoof’s most important task will now be to form a team from a heterogeneous cabinet. The authority with which he will do this is one of many unanswered questions. In any case, the head of government in The Hague does not have his own power base.
There will be no summer break for the ministers. The coalition has given itself until the autumn to formulate a government program based on the framework agreement between the four parties. Tensions are inevitable. As is well known, election winner Geert Wilders and his far-right Freedom Party PVV had to relinquish the post of head of government because otherwise the right-wing liberal VVD, the national conservative NSC and the populist farmers’ movement BBB would not have agreed to the coalition. It is feared that the leaders of the four parties will want to comment on and influence government business from the Second Chamber in The Hague.
On a positive note, the right-wing liberal VVD party of previous head of government Mark Rutte and the national conservative NSC party of former Christian Democrat Pieter Omtzigt have made efforts to fill some of the key positions with people of trust. This is also a signal of a certain continuity to the European partners, NATO, and with a view to supporting Ukraine.
Caspar Veldkamp, an experienced top diplomat who, according to NRC Handelsblad, is very familiar with the portfolio, will become Foreign Minister. The 60-year-old confidant of Pieter Omtzigt has already been stationed in Warsaw and Washington during his career and has served as ambassador in Tel Aviv and Athens. Ruben Brekelmans from the right-wing liberal VVD party is the new Minister of Defense. As a member of parliament, the 37-year-old has campaigned for more investment in defense and an increase in aid for Ukraine.
David Van Weel (VVD), now Minister of Justice and Security, has also made a name for himself as an important supporter of Ukraine. The 48-year-old was security policy advisor to Mark Rutte and, since 2020, to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. In the public debate, he repeatedly and vehemently defended himself against the Russian narrative that the West would give up and that Ukraine had no chance. In his new key role, he will have to keep an eye on whether Geert Wilders keeps his promise and actually leaves his PVV’s unconstitutional demands in the icebox. Concerns about the rule of law have not been allayed in the VVD and NSC with regard to cooperation with Geert Wilders.
VVD member and future Finance Minister Eelco Heinen is also in the cabinet as a watchdog. Money is the biggest point of conflict between the coalition partners. The VVD and NSC stand for austerity and a balanced budget. Massive savings are to be made in areas such as development cooperation and administration. However, it is unclear how, for example, the 22% cut in state employees is to be implemented. The PVV and BBB, on the other hand, would prefer to spend more money, for example on 100,000 homes a year or on halving the deductible for healthcare costs.
In fact, the new government will quickly find itself confronted with the same problems that Mark Rutte’s cabinet recently failed to solve. Namely with housing construction, nitrogen emissions in agriculture, the lack of places to take in asylum seekers, and trust in politics in general. Three of the four coalition partners scored points with protest votes in the elections and have therefore promised a new policy. Meeting these expectations will be a challenge for Dick Schoof and his cabinet, which could cause the government to fail.
Geert Wilders and the PVV ministers in the government remain a factor of uncertainty. The right-wing populist had to withdraw his first choice for the post of Minister for Asylum and Migration shortly before the defense on Tuesday, as the candidate did not pass the security check. Now Marjolein Faber got the job, who had to distance herself at the hearing from the term “Umvolkung”, which she had used as an MEP in connection with immigration. She is aware that the term from the vocabulary of conspiracy theorists implies a deliberate plan and that this is wrong, she says.
The biography of the new Minister of Economic Affairs, Dirk Beljaarts from the PVV, is also striking. He has been honorary consul for Hungary in the Netherlands for the past nine years. The former hotel manager shares Geert Wilder’s love of Hungary, according to NRC Handelsblad. The right-wing populist is married to a Hungarian woman and a political ally of Viktor Orbán.
As the European Union tackles its priorities for the next five years, it faces key challenges, including competition from China and the United States, energy security concerns and high energy costs. To remain competitive, Europe needs a comprehensive industrial strategy that promotes economic security and decarbonization. This strategy can drive the reindustrialization of the economy and turn the EU from a mere consumer of imported technologies back into a clean technology pioneer.
Germany, as Europe’s industrial powerhouse, plays a central role in defining this new European industrial strategy. German companies expect predictability, a stable investment environment, and a stronger EU single market to be successful. A fragmented market would stifle innovation, increase costs, and reduce competitiveness – a risk that neither Germany nor the EU can afford.
Germany is well positioned in the global industrial race for net-zero technologies, particularly in renewable energies, electric vehicles and batteries. The potential for industries such as “battery valleys” – for example Northvolt’s latest car battery plant near Heide – heat pump clusters and green steel giants such as the German low-carbon steel producer Salzgitter is immense. However, this is not yet enough to compete with China and the USA, both of which are investing heavily in innovation, zero-emission production, and value chains.
In the race to the top, it will be crucial to invest in the European economy instead of relying on energy and technology imports. In this way, the EU could end the era of imports that makes supply chains vulnerable to price shocks and geopolitical unrest. Missing the opportunity to develop a new zero-emission industry in Europe risks locking us into a costly dependency that will impact Germany’s economic position.
A European industrial strategy could generate over €233 billion of additional value creation in Europe’s advanced manufacturing sectors by 2040. By leveraging Germany’s industrial strength and advocating for a united, adequately funded approach, the EU can achieve economic stability, create jobs, and secure global leadership in clean technologies. Germany’s commitment to fund its own industry is an important step, but a collective effort across the EU will maximize the benefits and ensure long-term success.
Germany’s role in promoting a robust European industrial strategy is crucial. As Europe’s economic powerhouse, Germany benefits from a comprehensive industrial strategy in which all EU economies thrive, ensuring shared prosperity and stability. By leveraging its experience with targeted funding mechanisms such as contracts for difference, Germany can help develop efficient and effective investment programs across the EU.
Decarbonizing the industrial base is imperative given the current high energy prices caused by gas dependency. The EU can promote the electrification of the economy, build better interconnected grids, and ensure cheaper and more reliable access to sources of zero-emission electricity for businesses. This step not only ensures energy security, but also strengthens Germany’s industrial base.
A single European market is essential to stimulate demand for green products. The introduction of lead markets and the use of public procurement to promote innovative and circular products can put Germany at the center of a new industrial revolution. Strengthening the single market will create jobs, stimulate innovation, and secure the industrial base needed for Germany and Europe to succeed.
Unlocking investment in net-zero production in Europe is crucial to securing raw material supplies, increasing efficiency, and mitigating geopolitical risks. This endeavor requires significant public investment at EU level. Germany alone will not be able to attract and build a solid industrial base for net-zero production. A well-financed European industrial strategy can afford this. Germany’s leadership in this initiative is crucial. This will help the EU become a global leader in clean technologies and seize the opportunities of this new industrial era.
By integrating these strategies, Germany can lead the EU to economic resilience, job creation and global leadership in clean technologies, ensuring long-term stability and prosperity for all member states.
Germany’s strategic role in the European industrial strategy cannot be overstated. By leveraging its industrial strength and advocating for a united, adequately funded and ambitious industrial strategy, Germany can help the EU achieve its twin goals of economic prosperity and net-zero emissions.
The stakes are high, but the rewards – economic resilience, job creation and global leadership in clean technologies – are definitely worth the effort. The future of European industry is not just a German priority, it is a European imperative.
The Hungarian Council Presidency begins at a time when new appointments are being made to the European institutions. The MEPs are currently in the middle of negotiations on the composition of the political groups and committees. The committees will be cut at the Conference of Presidents on July 11. Ursula von der Leyen could be re-elected as President of the Commission during the first sitting week of the new European Parliament on July 16.
The Hungarian Council Presidency expects the new Commission to start work in November – after the parliamentarians have approved the Commissioners-designate. The Hungarians have announced that the first trilogues of the new legislature will take place in the fall. These include negotiations on the outstanding Green Deal dossiers.
MEPs are questioning this timetable. It is possible that the Commission could actually start work in the fall, according to the Parliament. However, it could happen that some of the Commission candidates initially fail the hearings in Parliament. In this case, the trilogues could only begin in January under the Polish Presidency.
A French parliamentarian recalls the case of Sylvie Goulard, who was proposed by Emmanuel Macron in 2019. Parliament rejected Goulard and Thierry Breton was appointed in her place.
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
In the future, accredited parliamentary assistants (APAs) of MEPs will no longer be allowed to participate in trilogues. This is what the administration of the European Parliament is proposing for the next parliamentary term. The proposal is contained in the draft code of conduct for interinstitutional negotiations. At their meeting on July 11, the heads of the political groups will vote on whether the guidelines will enter into force in their current or amended form at the start of the tenth parliamentary term on July 16.
The paper, which is available to Table.Briefings, takes up proposals drawn up by a reform commission called “Parliament 2024” under the leadership of President Roberta Metsola.
However, there is resistance in the EPP, S&D and Green groups to the plan to no longer allow APAs in trilogue negotiations. The parliamentary administration’s proposal for the staffing of trilogues reads as follows: “One group adviser per political group may attend the trilogue meetings and support the rapporteur and shadow rapporteurs as well as the associated preparatory and follow-up meetings.” The Association of Accredited Parliamentary Assistants, the APA Committee, is up in arms against this wording.
The Code of Conduct for trilogues aims to establish robust and uniform rules for Parliament’s participants in unofficial conciliation procedures and to strengthen Parliament’s role vis-à-vis the Commission and the Council. trilogues have become the standard conciliation procedure between the two co-legislators, Parliament and the Council, with the participation of the Commission. The regular conciliation procedure was last used more than twelve years ago. Attempts to revive the regular conciliation procedure have failed.
The trilogues were recently handled very differently by the committees of the European Parliament. There was some criticism of the process because negotiations were conducted with little transparency and substantial changes to the legal texts were negotiated in private. It was also criticized that there were no clear definitions for the competences in technical trilogues, which were dealt with at the level of the parliamentary assistants to the rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs.
The Code wants to oblige the chairs of the committees concerned to take part in the trilogue meetings. This should already be standard practice. However, not all committee chairs have done so. In addition, the code stipulates that, as a rule, only the committee chairperson, who is also supposed to lead the parliamentary negotiating team, and the rapporteur are entitled to speak in the trilogues.
“The chair of the negotiating team and the rapporteur may take the floor in trilogues on behalf of Parliament”, the paper states. Exceptionally, shadow rapporteurs from the political groups should also be able to present their position at the intervention of the committee chair.
The Code of Conduct also stipulates that, as a rule, all negotiations should take place in the presence of the entire negotiating team. Time-outs, during which the committee chair and the rapporteur negotiate with the other side, should be the exception. Article 3(7) on time-outs literally states: “These meetings shall in principle be kept as short as possible and Parliament should not be under-represented in the number of participants.” Immediately following such recesses, the results should be forwarded to Parliament’s negotiating team.
It should also be possible to negotiate technical issues at separate trilogue meetings in the future. However, the mandate for these technical trilogues must be “limited in scope and duration” and “must not include political issues”.
While technical trilogues were previously often conducted solely by assistants and parliamentary group staff on the parliamentary side, the Code now provides for them to be “moderated by the committee secretariat under the supervision of the chair of the negotiating team”. Here too, the administration will no longer require the participation of assistants in the future.
It is regarded in The Hague as the biggest political gamble since the Second World War. Head of government Dick Schoof and his coalition took office in the Netherlands on Tuesday. The 67-year-old starts with the handicap of having been only an emergency solution. Although Dick Schoof had previously been an influential top civil servant, unlike his predecessors he had never been through an election campaign or conducted political negotiations, according to the newspaper “De Volkskrant”.
Dick Schoof’s most important task will now be to form a team from a heterogeneous cabinet. The authority with which he will do this is one of many unanswered questions. In any case, the head of government in The Hague does not have his own power base.
There will be no summer break for the ministers. The coalition has given itself until the autumn to formulate a government program based on the framework agreement between the four parties. Tensions are inevitable. As is well known, election winner Geert Wilders and his far-right Freedom Party PVV had to relinquish the post of head of government because otherwise the right-wing liberal VVD, the national conservative NSC and the populist farmers’ movement BBB would not have agreed to the coalition. It is feared that the leaders of the four parties will want to comment on and influence government business from the Second Chamber in The Hague.
On a positive note, the right-wing liberal VVD party of previous head of government Mark Rutte and the national conservative NSC party of former Christian Democrat Pieter Omtzigt have made efforts to fill some of the key positions with people of trust. This is also a signal of a certain continuity to the European partners, NATO, and with a view to supporting Ukraine.
Caspar Veldkamp, an experienced top diplomat who, according to NRC Handelsblad, is very familiar with the portfolio, will become Foreign Minister. The 60-year-old confidant of Pieter Omtzigt has already been stationed in Warsaw and Washington during his career and has served as ambassador in Tel Aviv and Athens. Ruben Brekelmans from the right-wing liberal VVD party is the new Minister of Defense. As a member of parliament, the 37-year-old has campaigned for more investment in defense and an increase in aid for Ukraine.
David Van Weel (VVD), now Minister of Justice and Security, has also made a name for himself as an important supporter of Ukraine. The 48-year-old was security policy advisor to Mark Rutte and, since 2020, to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. In the public debate, he repeatedly and vehemently defended himself against the Russian narrative that the West would give up and that Ukraine had no chance. In his new key role, he will have to keep an eye on whether Geert Wilders keeps his promise and actually leaves his PVV’s unconstitutional demands in the icebox. Concerns about the rule of law have not been allayed in the VVD and NSC with regard to cooperation with Geert Wilders.
VVD member and future Finance Minister Eelco Heinen is also in the cabinet as a watchdog. Money is the biggest point of conflict between the coalition partners. The VVD and NSC stand for austerity and a balanced budget. Massive savings are to be made in areas such as development cooperation and administration. However, it is unclear how, for example, the 22% cut in state employees is to be implemented. The PVV and BBB, on the other hand, would prefer to spend more money, for example on 100,000 homes a year or on halving the deductible for healthcare costs.
In fact, the new government will quickly find itself confronted with the same problems that Mark Rutte’s cabinet recently failed to solve. Namely with housing construction, nitrogen emissions in agriculture, the lack of places to take in asylum seekers, and trust in politics in general. Three of the four coalition partners scored points with protest votes in the elections and have therefore promised a new policy. Meeting these expectations will be a challenge for Dick Schoof and his cabinet, which could cause the government to fail.
Geert Wilders and the PVV ministers in the government remain a factor of uncertainty. The right-wing populist had to withdraw his first choice for the post of Minister for Asylum and Migration shortly before the defense on Tuesday, as the candidate did not pass the security check. Now Marjolein Faber got the job, who had to distance herself at the hearing from the term “Umvolkung”, which she had used as an MEP in connection with immigration. She is aware that the term from the vocabulary of conspiracy theorists implies a deliberate plan and that this is wrong, she says.
The biography of the new Minister of Economic Affairs, Dirk Beljaarts from the PVV, is also striking. He has been honorary consul for Hungary in the Netherlands for the past nine years. The former hotel manager shares Geert Wilder’s love of Hungary, according to NRC Handelsblad. The right-wing populist is married to a Hungarian woman and a political ally of Viktor Orbán.
As the European Union tackles its priorities for the next five years, it faces key challenges, including competition from China and the United States, energy security concerns and high energy costs. To remain competitive, Europe needs a comprehensive industrial strategy that promotes economic security and decarbonization. This strategy can drive the reindustrialization of the economy and turn the EU from a mere consumer of imported technologies back into a clean technology pioneer.
Germany, as Europe’s industrial powerhouse, plays a central role in defining this new European industrial strategy. German companies expect predictability, a stable investment environment, and a stronger EU single market to be successful. A fragmented market would stifle innovation, increase costs, and reduce competitiveness – a risk that neither Germany nor the EU can afford.
Germany is well positioned in the global industrial race for net-zero technologies, particularly in renewable energies, electric vehicles and batteries. The potential for industries such as “battery valleys” – for example Northvolt’s latest car battery plant near Heide – heat pump clusters and green steel giants such as the German low-carbon steel producer Salzgitter is immense. However, this is not yet enough to compete with China and the USA, both of which are investing heavily in innovation, zero-emission production, and value chains.
In the race to the top, it will be crucial to invest in the European economy instead of relying on energy and technology imports. In this way, the EU could end the era of imports that makes supply chains vulnerable to price shocks and geopolitical unrest. Missing the opportunity to develop a new zero-emission industry in Europe risks locking us into a costly dependency that will impact Germany’s economic position.
A European industrial strategy could generate over €233 billion of additional value creation in Europe’s advanced manufacturing sectors by 2040. By leveraging Germany’s industrial strength and advocating for a united, adequately funded approach, the EU can achieve economic stability, create jobs, and secure global leadership in clean technologies. Germany’s commitment to fund its own industry is an important step, but a collective effort across the EU will maximize the benefits and ensure long-term success.
Germany’s role in promoting a robust European industrial strategy is crucial. As Europe’s economic powerhouse, Germany benefits from a comprehensive industrial strategy in which all EU economies thrive, ensuring shared prosperity and stability. By leveraging its experience with targeted funding mechanisms such as contracts for difference, Germany can help develop efficient and effective investment programs across the EU.
Decarbonizing the industrial base is imperative given the current high energy prices caused by gas dependency. The EU can promote the electrification of the economy, build better interconnected grids, and ensure cheaper and more reliable access to sources of zero-emission electricity for businesses. This step not only ensures energy security, but also strengthens Germany’s industrial base.
A single European market is essential to stimulate demand for green products. The introduction of lead markets and the use of public procurement to promote innovative and circular products can put Germany at the center of a new industrial revolution. Strengthening the single market will create jobs, stimulate innovation, and secure the industrial base needed for Germany and Europe to succeed.
Unlocking investment in net-zero production in Europe is crucial to securing raw material supplies, increasing efficiency, and mitigating geopolitical risks. This endeavor requires significant public investment at EU level. Germany alone will not be able to attract and build a solid industrial base for net-zero production. A well-financed European industrial strategy can afford this. Germany’s leadership in this initiative is crucial. This will help the EU become a global leader in clean technologies and seize the opportunities of this new industrial era.
By integrating these strategies, Germany can lead the EU to economic resilience, job creation and global leadership in clean technologies, ensuring long-term stability and prosperity for all member states.
Germany’s strategic role in the European industrial strategy cannot be overstated. By leveraging its industrial strength and advocating for a united, adequately funded and ambitious industrial strategy, Germany can help the EU achieve its twin goals of economic prosperity and net-zero emissions.
The stakes are high, but the rewards – economic resilience, job creation and global leadership in clean technologies – are definitely worth the effort. The future of European industry is not just a German priority, it is a European imperative.
