The municipal waste management sector is to become part of the European emissions trading system from 2026; the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment had voted in favor of this. Germany, however, has other plans and wants to include emissions from waste incineration in national law. Leonie Düngefeld and Lukas Scheid analyze why German associations are calling for a uniform solution across Europe.
Now is not the time to tighten the belt, EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said yesterday in Brussels – but that does not mean a return to unlimited spending. Investments, especially in climate protection and digitization, are necessary despite the current situation, according to Brussels. That’s why the government will not return to strict debt rules until 2024. However, there still doesn’t seem to be an adequate solution to the growing debt problem in the eurozone, as Eric Bonse reports.
After the EU Commission published the drafts of two delegated acts one-fuels in the transport sector, the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA) fears that national solo efforts could put the brakes on the production of large quantities of green hydrogen. Read more about this in the News.
Martin Selmayr‘s political mentor Jean-Claude Juncker gave him the nickname “monster”. In the EU Commission (and beyond), the former secretary general and head of cabinet was feared for his work mania and hunger for power. Juncker’s successor Ursula von der Leyen sent the top official to Vienna as a representative, but Selmayr is by no means taking it slow there either. Hans-Peter Siebenhaar and David Zauner met the 51-year-old and talked to him about his motivation and ambitions – the result is a Profile that is well worth reading.
The EU Commission recommends that the general escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact be applied in 2023 as well and that the strict debt rules for the eurozone not be returned to until 2024. Because of major uncertainties and downside risks, the rules – new debt below 3 percent of economic output, debt level not exceeding 60 percent – could not be fully implemented next year either, Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said on Monday in Brussels. However, that was no carte blanche to run up debts.
“We are not proposing a return to unlimited spending,” Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni also stressed. However, this was not the time to tighten the belt either. Brussels continues to recommend investments in climate protection and digitization. A new goal is “energy independence” from Russia. Last week, the EU Commission presented a plan for this (“REPowerEU”). It involves massive new spending, with up to €300 billion earmarked from EU funds alone. The member states are also to invest heavily to replace fossil fuels from Russia and promote green energy.
The task now is to link “REPowerEU” with the European Semester and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (ARF), according to the Brussels-based authority. This provides “a solid framework for effective strategic coordination and thus addressing the current challenges,” the Commission said. However, Dombrovskis and Gentiloni again failed to provide answers to the question of how the growing debt problem in the eurozone is to be solved. The Brussels experts seem at a loss and are already pushing the problem along for the third year. Even the promised reform of the debt rules is making no headway.
The French EU presidency wanted to bag this reform in the spring. However, now concrete proposals are not expected until the summer. It could be many months before the reform is implemented. France, which would prefer to scrap the Stability Pact, and Germany are worlds apart. Meanwhile, warnings of a new crisis are mounting. “During the pandemic, government debt literally exploded,” said CSU financial expert and MEP Markus Ferber. “Now interest rates are also rising. This is an explosive mixture.”
“Break the debt shackles,” demands Martin Schirdewan of the Left Party. The EU debt rules are outdated and belong in the history books. In view of the many crises, what is needed is “a strong economic and investment policy – not debt brakes”. The European Trade Union Confederation expressed similar views. It was wrong to exhort EU countries to save, said ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini . The suspension of debt rules shows that they no longer serve their purpose. What was needed was investment and higher wages.
In contrast, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner appealed to the EU to end “the addiction to ever more debt as quickly as possible”. Germany will again comply with the debt brake from 2023, he said on the sidelines of a meeting of the finance and economics ministers of the euro countries in Brussels.
The setting for Martin Selmayr and the grandees of Europe could not have been more magnificent. In Salzburg’s Castle Leopoldskron, the Head of the EU Commission’s representation in Austria assumed the role of the host. This magnificent 18th-century building, surrounded by a large pond and park, is the intimate setting for the Global Europe Seminar organized by Austrian Commissioner Johannes Hahn.
Selmayr relishes in the elegant stage he can provide for the great and powerful. The guest list includes Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, and Finland’s Governing Council member Olli Rehn.
In 2019, Martin Selmayr had to give up his post as Secretary-General of the EU Commission. Instead of pulling the strings in the labyrinth of Brussels’ Berlaymont, the German now leads nearly two dozen employees in the Commission’s Vienna representation. When the former Head of Cabinet of Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker moved to Austria in November 2019, sadness about his departure was limited among many officials in Brussels.
The top official was reviled by his opponents as Rasputin. His meteoric rise even earned him the scandal hashtag #selmayrgate in 2018. Even then, the envy of the smart and power-conscious lawyer with a talent for moderating was great. Extremely hard-working string-pullers are seldom held in the highest esteem – be it in the Commission or other organizations.
Selmayr has kept his tireless diligence in his task in Austria. Under his direction, the Commission’s representation is omnipresent in the country. Whether in the media, on social networks, or at events – no one can get past Selmayr in the Austrian capital. And if someone doesn’t want to come to Selmayr, he will come to them. The 51-year-old has cycled more than 2,000 kilometers from Lake Constance to Lake Neusiedl on his non-electric renovated bicycle from school days to discuss and argue about the future of the Union.
In the process, the EU official on two wheels also had to endure harsh criticism. “I also felt a lot of frustration. People spoke to us without any inhibitions,” Selmayr recounts. The border closures in the first phase of the pandemic, for example, were sharply criticized by his interlocutors. The EU does not have the best reputation in Austria.
But that does not faze Selmayr. The staunch European has held 700 discussions. He is proud of this: “The bicycle tour was a contact with reality.” To understand the sensitivities of the member states, he says, the representations are very valuable to the Commission: “They are the eyes, ears, and voice of the Commissions in the national capitals.”
The passionate man from Brussels has grown fond of Austria. “I am very happy in Austria,” he affirms during his marathon of appointments at Castle Leopoldskron. When asked whether he had felt a phantom pain after moving from Brussels to Vienna, Selmayr answered with a clear “No”.
In the same breath, the son of a civil servant from the Rhineland adds: “Austria has given me a very warm welcome. Here, there is no arrogance of a large member state. Here, Europe is a natural part of domestic politics.” That has its advantages. Selmayr comes and goes to the Chancellor’s Office in Vienna and other control centers of the Republic of Austria. The government’s more pro-European course after the unglamorous end of the Sebastian Kurz era has helped him.
However, Selmayr does not reveal whether the task truly fulfills him. After all, the part-time law professor is only 51 years old. What’s his plan? “I’m a commission official until I’m 67, and I’m passionate about it,” he said evasively. “My task in Austria could last a long time, but it could also end any day,” he adds ambiguously.
Selmayr has naturally devoted his academic work to project Europe. He is the Honorary Director of the Center for European Law in Passau. He also lectures on European law as an Honorary Professor at the University of Saarland and the Donau University Krems.
Selmayr sees himself as a passionate diplomat for Europe, especially in times of war. His grandparents’ confirmation present, a trip to Verdun, was a particularly defining experience, he says. He still thinks of the white crosses stretching all the way to the horizon.
His grandfather Heinz Gaedcke was himself still a child during the 1st World War. As a general in the Wehrmacht, he had later experienced the horror of war firsthand and created it with his own hands. “It is up to your generation to make sure that this never happens again. That was the end of civilization,” his grandfather told him. To him, that made it clear that peace was not a certainty, that people had to work for it. “The mantle of civilization is very thin.”
Many insiders believe that Austria is just a cozy waiting room for new tasks for Selmayr. The ambitious official certainly does not lack loyalty. “I serve the President of the Commission wherever she pleases.” Such devotion is never a bad thing for a public servant. And Selmayr is patient: “I supported the representation of the EU Commission in Austria for many years in Brussels. At that time, it had a model function within the Commission representations. That’s why I also wanted the job in Vienna.”
Selmayr has repeatedly proven that he can work until he drops. As Juncker’s “sherpa”, he has negotiated delicate and complex issues such as Brexit. In the process, he has also learned to endure media criticism. The British media have not exactly treated him with kid gloves. However, the nickname “monster” originates from his political foster father, Jean-Claude Juncker himself, Selmayr emphasizes. It refers to his iron discipline and therefore has a positive connotation.
Selmayr also works tirelessly on and off stage during the conference in Salzburg. He updates his network and forges new contacts. Selmayr is both a sprinter and a cross-country skier. He is already thinking about the day after tomorrow, say his critics. At the end of 2024, Ursula von der Leyen’s current term of office ends. Then the cards for top positions in the Commission will also be reshuffled.
He is ready for new tasks in the “most efficient administration in the world” in the near or distant future. “I won’t be sad if I am called back to Brussels again. There are many exciting tasks in the Commission,” he says. Meanwhile, his critics can hope for a new Selmayr. “I never stop working on myself,” he says very seriously. All that’s left now is the call to the European capital. Hans-Peter Siebenhaar and David Zauner
The municipal waste management sector is to become part of the European emissions trading system from 2026; the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment had voted in favor of this. Germany, however, has other plans and wants to include emissions from waste incineration in national law. Leonie Düngefeld and Lukas Scheid analyze why German associations are calling for a uniform solution across Europe.
Now is not the time to tighten the belt, EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni said yesterday in Brussels – but that does not mean a return to unlimited spending. Investments, especially in climate protection and digitization, are necessary despite the current situation, according to Brussels. That’s why the government will not return to strict debt rules until 2024. However, there still doesn’t seem to be an adequate solution to the growing debt problem in the eurozone, as Eric Bonse reports.
After the EU Commission published the drafts of two delegated acts one-fuels in the transport sector, the German Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA) fears that national solo efforts could put the brakes on the production of large quantities of green hydrogen. Read more about this in the News.
Martin Selmayr‘s political mentor Jean-Claude Juncker gave him the nickname “monster”. In the EU Commission (and beyond), the former secretary general and head of cabinet was feared for his work mania and hunger for power. Juncker’s successor Ursula von der Leyen sent the top official to Vienna as a representative, but Selmayr is by no means taking it slow there either. Hans-Peter Siebenhaar and David Zauner met the 51-year-old and talked to him about his motivation and ambitions – the result is a Profile that is well worth reading.
The EU Commission recommends that the general escape clause of the Stability and Growth Pact be applied in 2023 as well and that the strict debt rules for the eurozone not be returned to until 2024. Because of major uncertainties and downside risks, the rules – new debt below 3 percent of economic output, debt level not exceeding 60 percent – could not be fully implemented next year either, Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said on Monday in Brussels. However, that was no carte blanche to run up debts.
“We are not proposing a return to unlimited spending,” Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni also stressed. However, this was not the time to tighten the belt either. Brussels continues to recommend investments in climate protection and digitization. A new goal is “energy independence” from Russia. Last week, the EU Commission presented a plan for this (“REPowerEU”). It involves massive new spending, with up to €300 billion earmarked from EU funds alone. The member states are also to invest heavily to replace fossil fuels from Russia and promote green energy.
The task now is to link “REPowerEU” with the European Semester and the Recovery and Resilience Facility (ARF), according to the Brussels-based authority. This provides “a solid framework for effective strategic coordination and thus addressing the current challenges,” the Commission said. However, Dombrovskis and Gentiloni again failed to provide answers to the question of how the growing debt problem in the eurozone is to be solved. The Brussels experts seem at a loss and are already pushing the problem along for the third year. Even the promised reform of the debt rules is making no headway.
The French EU presidency wanted to bag this reform in the spring. However, now concrete proposals are not expected until the summer. It could be many months before the reform is implemented. France, which would prefer to scrap the Stability Pact, and Germany are worlds apart. Meanwhile, warnings of a new crisis are mounting. “During the pandemic, government debt literally exploded,” said CSU financial expert and MEP Markus Ferber. “Now interest rates are also rising. This is an explosive mixture.”
“Break the debt shackles,” demands Martin Schirdewan of the Left Party. The EU debt rules are outdated and belong in the history books. In view of the many crises, what is needed is “a strong economic and investment policy – not debt brakes”. The European Trade Union Confederation expressed similar views. It was wrong to exhort EU countries to save, said ETUC General Secretary Luca Visentini . The suspension of debt rules shows that they no longer serve their purpose. What was needed was investment and higher wages.
In contrast, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner appealed to the EU to end “the addiction to ever more debt as quickly as possible”. Germany will again comply with the debt brake from 2023, he said on the sidelines of a meeting of the finance and economics ministers of the euro countries in Brussels.
The setting for Martin Selmayr and the grandees of Europe could not have been more magnificent. In Salzburg’s Castle Leopoldskron, the Head of the EU Commission’s representation in Austria assumed the role of the host. This magnificent 18th-century building, surrounded by a large pond and park, is the intimate setting for the Global Europe Seminar organized by Austrian Commissioner Johannes Hahn.
Selmayr relishes in the elegant stage he can provide for the great and powerful. The guest list includes Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič, Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, and Finland’s Governing Council member Olli Rehn.
In 2019, Martin Selmayr had to give up his post as Secretary-General of the EU Commission. Instead of pulling the strings in the labyrinth of Brussels’ Berlaymont, the German now leads nearly two dozen employees in the Commission’s Vienna representation. When the former Head of Cabinet of Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker moved to Austria in November 2019, sadness about his departure was limited among many officials in Brussels.
The top official was reviled by his opponents as Rasputin. His meteoric rise even earned him the scandal hashtag #selmayrgate in 2018. Even then, the envy of the smart and power-conscious lawyer with a talent for moderating was great. Extremely hard-working string-pullers are seldom held in the highest esteem – be it in the Commission or other organizations.
Selmayr has kept his tireless diligence in his task in Austria. Under his direction, the Commission’s representation is omnipresent in the country. Whether in the media, on social networks, or at events – no one can get past Selmayr in the Austrian capital. And if someone doesn’t want to come to Selmayr, he will come to them. The 51-year-old has cycled more than 2,000 kilometers from Lake Constance to Lake Neusiedl on his non-electric renovated bicycle from school days to discuss and argue about the future of the Union.
In the process, the EU official on two wheels also had to endure harsh criticism. “I also felt a lot of frustration. People spoke to us without any inhibitions,” Selmayr recounts. The border closures in the first phase of the pandemic, for example, were sharply criticized by his interlocutors. The EU does not have the best reputation in Austria.
But that does not faze Selmayr. The staunch European has held 700 discussions. He is proud of this: “The bicycle tour was a contact with reality.” To understand the sensitivities of the member states, he says, the representations are very valuable to the Commission: “They are the eyes, ears, and voice of the Commissions in the national capitals.”
The passionate man from Brussels has grown fond of Austria. “I am very happy in Austria,” he affirms during his marathon of appointments at Castle Leopoldskron. When asked whether he had felt a phantom pain after moving from Brussels to Vienna, Selmayr answered with a clear “No”.
In the same breath, the son of a civil servant from the Rhineland adds: “Austria has given me a very warm welcome. Here, there is no arrogance of a large member state. Here, Europe is a natural part of domestic politics.” That has its advantages. Selmayr comes and goes to the Chancellor’s Office in Vienna and other control centers of the Republic of Austria. The government’s more pro-European course after the unglamorous end of the Sebastian Kurz era has helped him.
However, Selmayr does not reveal whether the task truly fulfills him. After all, the part-time law professor is only 51 years old. What’s his plan? “I’m a commission official until I’m 67, and I’m passionate about it,” he said evasively. “My task in Austria could last a long time, but it could also end any day,” he adds ambiguously.
Selmayr has naturally devoted his academic work to project Europe. He is the Honorary Director of the Center for European Law in Passau. He also lectures on European law as an Honorary Professor at the University of Saarland and the Donau University Krems.
Selmayr sees himself as a passionate diplomat for Europe, especially in times of war. His grandparents’ confirmation present, a trip to Verdun, was a particularly defining experience, he says. He still thinks of the white crosses stretching all the way to the horizon.
His grandfather Heinz Gaedcke was himself still a child during the 1st World War. As a general in the Wehrmacht, he had later experienced the horror of war firsthand and created it with his own hands. “It is up to your generation to make sure that this never happens again. That was the end of civilization,” his grandfather told him. To him, that made it clear that peace was not a certainty, that people had to work for it. “The mantle of civilization is very thin.”
Many insiders believe that Austria is just a cozy waiting room for new tasks for Selmayr. The ambitious official certainly does not lack loyalty. “I serve the President of the Commission wherever she pleases.” Such devotion is never a bad thing for a public servant. And Selmayr is patient: “I supported the representation of the EU Commission in Austria for many years in Brussels. At that time, it had a model function within the Commission representations. That’s why I also wanted the job in Vienna.”
Selmayr has repeatedly proven that he can work until he drops. As Juncker’s “sherpa”, he has negotiated delicate and complex issues such as Brexit. In the process, he has also learned to endure media criticism. The British media have not exactly treated him with kid gloves. However, the nickname “monster” originates from his political foster father, Jean-Claude Juncker himself, Selmayr emphasizes. It refers to his iron discipline and therefore has a positive connotation.
Selmayr also works tirelessly on and off stage during the conference in Salzburg. He updates his network and forges new contacts. Selmayr is both a sprinter and a cross-country skier. He is already thinking about the day after tomorrow, say his critics. At the end of 2024, Ursula von der Leyen’s current term of office ends. Then the cards for top positions in the Commission will also be reshuffled.
He is ready for new tasks in the “most efficient administration in the world” in the near or distant future. “I won’t be sad if I am called back to Brussels again. There are many exciting tasks in the Commission,” he says. Meanwhile, his critics can hope for a new Selmayr. “I never stop working on myself,” he says very seriously. All that’s left now is the call to the European capital. Hans-Peter Siebenhaar and David Zauner
