Work program ’24 + COP 28 + &#8216 • Table.Briefings

Dear reader,

Whether the dispute over electricity market reform is resolved today by the energy ministers or not, it already shows one thing: how unsuitable the EU still is for enlargement. How often have smaller member states criticized the fact that nothing in the Union can be decided against Berlin and Paris? For months now, these two capitals have been blocking a decision that could mean lower electricity prices for all of Europe.

It is astonishing how little has moved in recent months despite all the papers. The issue is still subsidized electricity prices for national industries. France recently tried to lure Germany with longer transition periods for its green power producers and the prospect of undisturbed renewable expansion in the next three to five years.

The counterproposals of Berlin and its allies are partly ludicrous. One option: all member states should benefit from the low generation costs of French nuclear power plants. More serious is the limitation of industrial subsidies – to an EU average, for example.

Today we will see whether the Council Presidency and the other member states have enough patience to let Germany and France continue to set the time frame. Emmanuel Macron has already given this time frame: At the end of October, at the Franco-German cabinet meeting.

Your
Manuel Berkel

Work program 2024: bureaucracy reduction, but no REACH

As expected, the draft of the Commission’s new 2024 work program lists a number of measures to cut red tape, including postponing the sector-specific sustainability reporting standards (ESRS) by two years to 2026. This will directly relieve the burden on the companies affected by it, the Commission writes in the program, which is to be presented today and is available to Table.Media.

The Commission also wants to tighten up reporting in certain areas within the framework of the taxonomy. The new sustainability reporting was criticized particularly harshly by companies and business associations – it would overburden medium-sized companies in particular. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had taken up the vociferous criticism, including from the EPP, and in the spring held out the prospect of eliminating duplicate or disproportionately burdensome requirements.

Portal to facilitate posting

In Annex II of the work program, the Commission lists the regulations it intends to tackle in order to ease the burden on companies. This also includes the bureaucratically regulated posting of employees to other EU countries. The Commission wants to create a standardized, multilingual online portal through which the posting can be registered. However, it is up to the member states whether they participate.

The DIHK itself recently submitted almost 50 of its own proposals for reducing bureaucracy. The postponement of the ESRS standards would help in the first few years, but would not reduce the basic scope and level of detail of reporting, says Benjamin Baykal, who is responsible for reducing bureaucracy at the association. Many medium-sized companies are already obliged to report on sustainability from the 2025 financial year onwards, he says. “For the vast majority of these companies, intended reporting scope is still not proportionate,” Baykal says.

Time is of the essence

With regard to the online portal for employee secondment and the A1 certificate, it is important how this is implemented in concrete terms and that all member states participate as far as possible.

It is also crucial that the proposed reductions in the burden are adopted quickly. However, time is running out in view of the approaching European elections in June 2024: If the proposals are to be implemented in this legislative period, the discussions in the Council and the European Parliament must be completed by the last plenary session in April.

Even with proposals that are actually straightforward, this is an extremely ambitious timetable, warns the economic policy spokesman of the EPP Group, Markus Ferber: “There is a danger that the project to reduce bureaucracy will turn into a pipe bursting failure because the Commission has taken too long.”

The CSU politician also calls for the introduction of a bureaucracy cost index that can be viewed by the public in the long term, in order to be able to intervene at an early stage if compliance costs threaten to get out of hand again. In its work program, the Commission promises to collect further cutback proposals and address them in “rationalization plans” even beyond 2024.

Consumer advocates react with disappointment

The work program provides an overview of which proposals the Commission intends to present and when. Missing from it are the legislative proposal on food labeling (“Nutri-Score”) and the Sustainable Food Systems Act, once considered the centerpiece of the Farm-to-Fork strategy and the Green Deal. Originally, this proposal was to be ready in the third quarter of this year.

Environmental and consumer organizations expressed disappointment: Commission President von der Leyen was presenting consumers with a “disappointing work program in the area of nutrition”, said Camille Perrin, senior food policy officer at the European Bureau of Consumer Unions (BEUC). Elisa Kollenda, nutrition policy officer at WWF Germany, called on the EU Commission to make a clear statement on the future of the law: “Letting it slip under the radar without comment is not an appropriate strategy.”

‘Waiting for Godot’ at REACH

The Commission has also remained silent on the reform of the European chemicals regulation REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). “We seem to be waiting for Godot, even though all stakeholders, from industry to NGOs, have strongly advocated an ambitious and timely revision of REACH,” criticized Martin Hojsík (Renew), a member of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee.

The German Chemical Industry Association declined to comment on the absence of REACH from the Commission’s new work program. “The fact that REACH is not in the work program is not something we can evaluate very well. Because, as we know, it is in the last program, and this has not yet been completed,” a spokeswoman said when asked.

REACH should actually have been revised by the end of last year. But von der Leyen bowed to pressure from industry and the EPP and postponed the revision by a whole year. Whether the Brussels authority will now submit its proposal in the fourth quarter of this year, as initially announced, is becoming increasingly unlikely. Till Hoppe, Claire Stam

COP28: EU sets negotiating mandate

By

Lukas Knigge

With a course correction on an essential detail, the EU is heading into the COP28 negotiations in Dubai, starting at the end of November. The Europeans are pushing for the expansion of renewables, energy efficiency, and rapid decarbonization of the economy. They do not wish to generally use the controversial CCS technology in the energy sector – as they had demanded earlier this spring.

The EU’s environmental ministers established the following negotiation positions for COP28:

Tripling of renewables to 11 TW by 2030
Doubling the pace of improving energy efficiency by 2030
Global phase-out of unabated fossil fuel use this decade
Peak consumption of fossil fuels this decade
Quickest possible elimination of subsidies for fossil fuels
Enhanced mobilization of financial resources from all sources to support climate protection measures, including for Loss & Damage

The term “unabated” caused the most contention during EU internal negotiations. It pertains to the role of CO2 capture tecehnologies (CCS) in decarbonization. On one hand, the EU wishes to accept it concerning the global exit from fossil fuel use. They demand a “global phase-out of unabated fossil fuels”. Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggest that CCS is essential for achieving climate targets in sectors that are otherwise hard to decarbonize.

The energy sector is a different story. Here, the EU now aims globally for a “largely fossil-free energy system well before 2050”, explicitly without CO2 capture. The widespread use of CCS in energy production is, however, the position of the COP host, the United Arab Emirates, and other oil-producing countries. The EU had similarly positioned itself this spring. Then, Europeans called only for an “energy system free from unabated fossil fuels”. The new stance is now more stringent against oil nations, as it revokes the EU position from March, where CCS was considered for the energy sector.

‘No blank check for fossil fuels’

If the EU prevails with this demand in the Dubai negotiations, the loophole for CCS in the energy sector would be significantly limited. CCS is regarded as an exceptional application that is cost-effective and meaningful only in specific sectors, analyzed Linda Kalcher, founder and director of the think tank Strategic Perspectives. “Thus, oil and gas companies are not given a blank check to continue emissions as before.” This is an important signal to international partners and clearly differentiates the EU from the position of the COP presidency, according to Kalcher.

Germany’s special envoy for international climate policy, Jennifer Morgan, also told Table.Media it was a success for ambitious climate protection. The EU’s position is a clear signal for the “transition to a socio-ecological and fair” economic system.

Additionally, EU countries at COP28 want to ensure that by the end of the 2030s, no new coal-fired power plants will be built worldwide. Subsidies for fossil fuels should also be discontinued unless they combat energy poverty or contribute to a fair green transition. The EU negotiation position on climate financing will be decided in today’s meeting of the economic and finance ministers.

No new NDC: minus 55 percent remains

A significant issue for the COP28 climate negotiations could be the substantially scaled-back update of the EU’s climate target for 2030. The European negotiators won’t be able to present a higher target than before in Dubai. The EU’s climate target (NDC) lodged with the UN remains at a CO2 reduction of at least 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990.

EU representatives repeatedly stated their intentions to raise the EU NDC to minus 57 percent after finalizing the Fit-for-55 package negotiations. This won’t happen now. While the EU will officially submit an update of its climate target, it’s merely an additional declaration on how the existing target will be achieved. There’s no mention of raising the NDC, and the number 57 doesn’t appear in the declaration. Green climate politician Michael Bloss therefore accused the new EU Climate Commissioner Hoekstra of a “crash landing”.

Many countries did not want to see this number in the text, explained Council President and Spain’s Environment Minister Teresa Ribera regarding the lack of an increase. However, she emphasized that the EU would exceed its climate target through the “Fit for 55” measures. This is reflected in the declaration. In Dubai, where the EU will urge other countries to increase their climate targets, this might not come across as particularly convincing. After all, what’s crucial is what’s on paper. And for the EU, that remains 55.

‘Poland is back’

The official election result is not yet known, but already the forecasts made many in Brussels and Berlin breathe a sigh of relief: “Poland is back”, Romanian EPP parliamentarian Siegfried Mureșan wrote on X on Monday. The deputy head of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Michael Link, sees “a great opportunity to reform Europe institutionally, to strengthen it economically and to breathe new life into the deadlocked Weimar Triangle together with Poland and France”.

The results of by-election polls published on Monday morning by the polling institute Ipsos largely confirmed an initial forecast made on Sunday evening: According to the poll, Jarosław Kaczyński’s Law and Justice Party (PiS) will again be the strongest force in the Sejm with around 36.6 percent of the vote. But the national conservatives, who are critical of Europe, stand alone.

This means that the democratic opposition with the liberal Civic Platform, the center-right “Third Way” alliance and the Left has the best chances of forming a coalition and taking power. With some 248 deputies, it would have 17 seats more than the required majority, according to the forecast. The second-place Civic Coalition, which won 31 percent of the vote, is likely to have Donald Tusk as its new prime minister. Official results are not expected until Tuesday morning.

Opposition has reached new strata of voters

The opposition has succeeded in mobilizing not only its supporters, but also new layers of voters. Never since the fall of communism has voter turnout been higher than yesterday – almost 73 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots. Among the youngest voters between the ages of 18 and 29, turnout increased by 20 percent compared to the last elections – to over 68 percent.

In cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants, voter turnout was 80 percent. There, the Civic Coalition won more than 43 percent of the vote, while PiS won only about half as much. PiS failed among the youngest voters: With 14.9 percent, the Kaczyński party was only in fifth place. Twice as many young people voted for the Civic Coalition.

PiS has thus become even more of a party elected by old white people in the countryside: In rural villages, the party received 48.6 percent of the vote. The election results reflect the country’s dichotomy. While the Civic Coalition won in the richer, educated and developed parts of the country in the north and west, the poorer, agricultural voivodeships in the east and south voted for PiS.

Kaczyński could try to poach deputies

Now a government formation is imminent. PiS Chairman Kaczyński will urge President Andrzej Duda to entrust the PiS, as the election winner, with forming a government – even though no other groups want to form a coalition with it. Duda is a political foster son of Kaczyński; he can hardly be expected to oppose him.

This means that Kaczyński can stall for time until the constituent session of the new Sejm on Nov. 14 and try to poach deputies from other groups. If the PiS candidate fails to win a majority in the Sejm, he will have to give way to the opposition by Dec. 1 at the latest. “Poland would lose a lot of time unnecessarily”, said Poland’s former president Aleksander Kwaśniewski, appealing to Duda to play a constructive role.

End of the permanent dispute with Brussels

However, the three parties of the democratic opposition must also agree as quickly as possible on appointments to the ministries and present a joint government program. They should succeed in doing so, because despite all their programmatic differences, they are united in one goal: to remove the authoritarian PiS from power.

All potential coalition partners want to end their predecessors’ permanent dispute with Brussels, restore the rule of law and also cooperate in other areas such as common security and missile defense. The PiS’s permanent criticism of Germany will also fall silent. For the opposition, Berlin is a partner, not a rival.

However, the success of the new government will largely depend on the position of the president. Duda can block any new law passed by Parliament, which can then only be overcome with a three-fifths majority. For example, he can torpedo court reform or the restructuring of state television.

Depoliticization of state institutions

In any case, the list of homework is very long. The new government must stimulate economic growth, which has recently come to a standstill. At more than 10 percent, inflation is among the highest in Europe, and the budget deficit and national debt are exploding. The management of state-owned enterprises, which PiS has filled with loyal command receivers, must be completely replaced, and the central bank and other state institutions must be depoliticized.

The new government must hold accountable those PiS politicians who have broken the law or enriched themselves illegally. Such charges are to be prepared by the new prosecutor’s office, which will be separate from the office of justice minister. Some PiS ministers could then even be brought before the state tribunal.

The most difficult task, however, will be to reunite the Poles. After eight years of Kaczyński, the supporters of the opposition and the PiS are at loggerheads. There is no room for compromise. Above all, PiS leader Kaczyński is convinced of his infallibility. Andrzej Rybak

Two dead after shooting in Brussels

Belgian authorities have raised the terror alert level for the capital Brussels to the highest level four after a shooting that left two dead. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo wrote on X on Monday evening that Swedish citizens had been killed. The fight against terror will be waged together, he added on the service formerly known as Twitter.

The dead are believed to be Swedish soccer fans, according to initial reports. A match between Belgium and Sweden in the city was stopped at half-time at the request of the players, Swedish broadcaster TV6 reported. According to a Reuters reporter at the stadium, visitors were asked not to leave it for the time being.

According to the Belga news agency, an armed man had gotten off a scooter in the north of the city center and fired shots in the street. When several people fled into a building entrance, he allegedly chased them and shot at them. Police did not initially confirm this information.

Some media reported that the crime could have an Islamist background. However, there was initially no confirmation of this. rtr/dpa

Fleet limits for trucks: Council positions itself

EU environment ministers have given their general direction on the proposal for CO2 fleet limits for commercial vehicles. The body of member states backs the Commission’s proposal to reduce manufacturers’ fleet limits by 45 percent from 2030 to 2035 and by 90 percent by 2040. A complete phase-out of internal combustion engines, as in the case of passenger cars and vans, was not agreed.

From 2025 to 2030, average emissions of the climate gas CO2 must be reduced by 15 percent. In 2027, the proposal is to be reviewed in light of the expansion of infrastructure for zero-emission vehicles (review).

The Council’s position contains a passage for the crediting of renewable fuels such as biomethane (carbon correction factor) only in the review clause. It does not contain an article in the legislative text on synthetic fuels.

Combustion engine phase-out for city buses as of 2035

As a criterion for zero-emission vehicles in the negotiations with the co-legislator Parliament, the member states want to enforce that they emit no more than three grams of CO2 per kilometer driven. The Commission had proposed five grams per kilometer as a threshold.

The question of when to phase out internal combustion engines for city buses remained controversial until the end. In its compromise, the Spanish Council Presidency had proposed that no new city buses with combustion engines should be allowed after 2030. Member states such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and France were opposed to this and called for a later phase-out of internal combustion technology for city buses.

Finally, the member states agreed that no new city buses with internal combustion engines may be registered until 2035. By 2030, manufacturers of city buses should have reduced the fleet limit by 85 percent. mgr

Wastewater: trilogue can begin

As expected, EU environment ministers have voted in favor of a general approach on the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. After the European Parliament adopted its position earlier this month, the trilogue negotiations between the two institutions can now begin.

The core of the general approach is mandatory treatment to remove a wide range of micropollutants – “quaternary treatment” or fourth stage treatment – for wastewater treatment plants with a wastewater load of 200,000 inhabitants or more. In smaller localities, this will be based on a risk assessment. As envisaged in the Commission’s proposal, pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturers are to share in the costs of introducing the fourth treatment stage in the future. “From a German point of view, this is to be welcomed”, says the Federal Ministry for the Environment.

The exact form of this producer responsibility, especially the scope of the financing obligation and the circle of industries to be included, will be discussed in further negotiations with the European Parliament and the Commission, the statement continues.

Weakened polluter pays principle

Earlier this month, the EU Parliament voted by a large majority in favor of a weakened polluter-pays principle in the revision of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive compared to the Commission’s draft. According to the compromise, the industry – in particular manufacturers of pharmaceutical products and cosmetics – is to share 80 percent of the cost of cleaning up polluted water, rather than 100 percent as the Commission had proposed.

The German municipal water industry welcomed the decision for a polluter pays principle, but would like to see a full-cost approach without 20 percent co-financing from national funds.

The revision of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) is one of the results of the Zero Pollution Action Plan (ZPA) and part of the Green Deal. The policy has not been amended since its adoption in 1991. Currently, the directive focuses on pollution from domestic sources. Other sources that are now growing in importance, such as so-called perpetual chemicals (PFAS), microplastics, pathogens and antimicrobial resistance polluters, have received less attention. cst

Heads of state and government sort themselves out on the subject of Israel

The EU heads of state and government are struggling to find unity in dealing with the crisis in the Middle East. To that end, they convened late Tuesday afternoon for a virtual crisis summit. “We saw the need to bring some order to the discussion”, a senior EU official said of the meeting, scheduled at short notice by EU Council President Charles Michel.

According to diplomats, it had to be done quickly to end the divergent messages of recent days. In a joint statement, the EU states condemned in the strongest terms the “brutal terrorist attack by Hamas in Israel”. There is no justification for terror, they said. “We strongly emphasize Israel’s right to self-defense”, the statement said. But this must be done in accordance with humanitarian and international law, it said.

By convening the virtual summit, Michel is trying to win back the initiative. The rivalry between the Council president and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also likely to be at stake. Some statements made in recent days had not reflected the position of the Council or the member states, according to a senior EU official. What is primarily meant is Ursula von der Leyen’s clear positioning on Israel’s side, demonstrated with the quick solidarity visit to Tel Aviv.

Potential for conflict with Berlin

No one disputes the right of the Commission President to travel wherever she wants, according to sources close to Michel. However, “certain statements in a certain environment” are problematic. Michel, EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell and some member states such as Spain, France and Ireland do not dispute Israel’s right to defend itself. But they call for a stronger focus on ensuring that Israel complies with international law in its military response.

At the meeting, the heads of state and government want to talk about peace efforts and contacts in states of the Arab world. But the call for a ceasefire could also become an issue.

There is potential for conflict in this, especially with Berlin. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who will travel to Israel and then to Egypt on Tuesday, is doing so with one goal in mind: to assure Israel of Germany’s unconditional solidarity and support. At least at the present time, an appeal for a quick ceasefire would not be appropriate. sti

€6 billion for the Western Balkans

The EU Commission is providing €6 billion to the six Western Balkan states to boost the reform process and accelerate their accession to the Union. With two billion euros in grants and four billion in loans, the gross domestic product of the six states should double before the end of the decade, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday in Tirana after the conclusion of the summit in the so-called “Berlin Process”.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama urged a rapid accession process. “The countries should have joined the EU long ago”, Scholz said. EU Council President Charles Michel said the EU and the Western Balkan countries must be ready to receive and join in 2030. The Commission president, on the other hand, stressed that accession would depend on actual reforms.

Scholz: no progress in Bosnia

Scholz and von der Leyen were cautious about demands that Bosnia be given the green light by the EU in December to begin accession negotiations. There had been no progress on reforms, the chancellor criticized. Von der Leyen announced that the EU Commission would present an assessment of all EU accession candidates on Nov. 8. After that, the EU heads of state and government will have to decide in December. Above all, the leader of the Serbian republic is held responsible for the blockade in Bosnia.

Scholz and von der Leyen urged Serbia and Kosovo to settle their tensions. “Both sides must de-escalate”, Scholz said ahead of the conference, referring to an attack by a Serbian group on a police station in northern Kosovo. “It is important for Serbia and Kosovo to cooperate with each other”, von der Leyen also stressed. The place for that, she said, was within the framework of the EU-led normalization dialogue. The dispute between the two states overshadowed the meeting.

The six countries in the region agreed Monday to continue mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Von der Leyen said the EU would gradually ease access to the EU’s single market and increase financial aid in return for completed reform steps. Albania’s Prime Minister Rama praised the €6 billion package as a completely new step. The Western Balkan countries would now be rewarded for reforms already on their way into the EU and not only after accession. rtr

Stationary border controls start in eastern Germany

Immediately after the concession of Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD), the Federal Police began stationary border controls at the German borders in the east. In Brandenburg and Saxony, it started on Monday evening with fixed controls. After a long period of hesitation, Faeser had previously notified the EU Commission of stationary controls at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.

As her ministry announced on Monday, the temporary checks by the federal police directly at the border with Austria, which have already been in place since the fall of 2015, are also to be extended for another six months. Faeser justified the step with the limitation of irregular migration. She is also concerned with “combating smuggling of migrants even more strongly”, the statement said.

In Brandenburg, checks began at several locations, a spokeswoman for the Federal Police Headquarters in Berlin told the German Press Agency. On the city bridge in Frankfurt (Oder), federal police officers checked directly at the border. dpa

Visiting Mickey Mouse

Almost like a fairy tale: European parliamentarians and their staff took an involuntary trip to Mickey Mouse and Sleeping Beauty yesterday. The European Parliament’s charter train, which was supposed to take its guests from Brussels to Strasbourg, took a wrong turn.

Due to a wrong switch, the train did not stop in Strasbourg, but in front of Disneyland Paris – and that on the day of the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company, of all things. On Oct. 16, 1923, Walt Disney founded the Disney Brother Cartoon Studio with his brother Roy.

Of course, that doesn’t sound bad at first: Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain instead of a caucus meeting, Indiana Jones roller coaster instead of a parliamentary debate, and perhaps a ride in one of the Mad Hatter’s teacups from “Alice in Wonderland” as a finale.

However, the magic did not last long. As passengers reported, the train driver then got the train on the right track reasonably quickly, and the passengers arrived in Strasbourg about 45 minutes late. That’s far too short for a trip to the realm of Disney characters. Anyone who has ever been to Disneyland knows that you spend most of your time standing in line anyway. Sarah Schaefer

EUROPE.TABLE EDITORS

Till
Hoppe

Charlotte
Wirth

Falk
Steiner

Timo
Landenberger

Corinna
Visser

Lukas
Knigge

Eric
Bonse

Sarah
Schaefer

Manuel
Berkel

Lisa-Martina
Klein

Markus
Grabitz

Stephan
Israel

Claire
Stam

Dear reader,

Whether the dispute over electricity market reform is resolved today by the energy ministers or not, it already shows one thing: how unsuitable the EU still is for enlargement. How often have smaller member states criticized the fact that nothing in the Union can be decided against Berlin and Paris? For months now, these two capitals have been blocking a decision that could mean lower electricity prices for all of Europe.

It is astonishing how little has moved in recent months despite all the papers. The issue is still subsidized electricity prices for national industries. France recently tried to lure Germany with longer transition periods for its green power producers and the prospect of undisturbed renewable expansion in the next three to five years.

The counterproposals of Berlin and its allies are partly ludicrous. One option: all member states should benefit from the low generation costs of French nuclear power plants. More serious is the limitation of industrial subsidies – to an EU average, for example.

Today we will see whether the Council Presidency and the other member states have enough patience to let Germany and France continue to set the time frame. Emmanuel Macron has already given this time frame: At the end of October, at the Franco-German cabinet meeting.

Your
Manuel Berkel

Work program 2024: bureaucracy reduction, but no REACH

As expected, the draft of the Commission’s new 2024 work program lists a number of measures to cut red tape, including postponing the sector-specific sustainability reporting standards (ESRS) by two years to 2026. This will directly relieve the burden on the companies affected by it, the Commission writes in the program, which is to be presented today and is available to Table.Media.

The Commission also wants to tighten up reporting in certain areas within the framework of the taxonomy. The new sustainability reporting was criticized particularly harshly by companies and business associations – it would overburden medium-sized companies in particular. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had taken up the vociferous criticism, including from the EPP, and in the spring held out the prospect of eliminating duplicate or disproportionately burdensome requirements.

Portal to facilitate posting

In Annex II of the work program, the Commission lists the regulations it intends to tackle in order to ease the burden on companies. This also includes the bureaucratically regulated posting of employees to other EU countries. The Commission wants to create a standardized, multilingual online portal through which the posting can be registered. However, it is up to the member states whether they participate.

The DIHK itself recently submitted almost 50 of its own proposals for reducing bureaucracy. The postponement of the ESRS standards would help in the first few years, but would not reduce the basic scope and level of detail of reporting, says Benjamin Baykal, who is responsible for reducing bureaucracy at the association. Many medium-sized companies are already obliged to report on sustainability from the 2025 financial year onwards, he says. “For the vast majority of these companies, intended reporting scope is still not proportionate,” Baykal says.

Time is of the essence

With regard to the online portal for employee secondment and the A1 certificate, it is important how this is implemented in concrete terms and that all member states participate as far as possible.

It is also crucial that the proposed reductions in the burden are adopted quickly. However, time is running out in view of the approaching European elections in June 2024: If the proposals are to be implemented in this legislative period, the discussions in the Council and the European Parliament must be completed by the last plenary session in April.

Even with proposals that are actually straightforward, this is an extremely ambitious timetable, warns the economic policy spokesman of the EPP Group, Markus Ferber: “There is a danger that the project to reduce bureaucracy will turn into a pipe bursting failure because the Commission has taken too long.”

The CSU politician also calls for the introduction of a bureaucracy cost index that can be viewed by the public in the long term, in order to be able to intervene at an early stage if compliance costs threaten to get out of hand again. In its work program, the Commission promises to collect further cutback proposals and address them in “rationalization plans” even beyond 2024.

Consumer advocates react with disappointment

The work program provides an overview of which proposals the Commission intends to present and when. Missing from it are the legislative proposal on food labeling (“Nutri-Score”) and the Sustainable Food Systems Act, once considered the centerpiece of the Farm-to-Fork strategy and the Green Deal. Originally, this proposal was to be ready in the third quarter of this year.

Environmental and consumer organizations expressed disappointment: Commission President von der Leyen was presenting consumers with a “disappointing work program in the area of nutrition”, said Camille Perrin, senior food policy officer at the European Bureau of Consumer Unions (BEUC). Elisa Kollenda, nutrition policy officer at WWF Germany, called on the EU Commission to make a clear statement on the future of the law: “Letting it slip under the radar without comment is not an appropriate strategy.”

‘Waiting for Godot’ at REACH

The Commission has also remained silent on the reform of the European chemicals regulation REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals). “We seem to be waiting for Godot, even though all stakeholders, from industry to NGOs, have strongly advocated an ambitious and timely revision of REACH,” criticized Martin Hojsík (Renew), a member of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee.

The German Chemical Industry Association declined to comment on the absence of REACH from the Commission’s new work program. “The fact that REACH is not in the work program is not something we can evaluate very well. Because, as we know, it is in the last program, and this has not yet been completed,” a spokeswoman said when asked.

REACH should actually have been revised by the end of last year. But von der Leyen bowed to pressure from industry and the EPP and postponed the revision by a whole year. Whether the Brussels authority will now submit its proposal in the fourth quarter of this year, as initially announced, is becoming increasingly unlikely. Till Hoppe, Claire Stam

COP28: EU sets negotiating mandate

By

Lukas Knigge

With a course correction on an essential detail, the EU is heading into the COP28 negotiations in Dubai, starting at the end of November. The Europeans are pushing for the expansion of renewables, energy efficiency, and rapid decarbonization of the economy. They do not wish to generally use the controversial CCS technology in the energy sector – as they had demanded earlier this spring.

The EU’s environmental ministers established the following negotiation positions for COP28:

Tripling of renewables to 11 TW by 2030
Doubling the pace of improving energy efficiency by 2030
Global phase-out of unabated fossil fuel use this decade
Peak consumption of fossil fuels this decade
Quickest possible elimination of subsidies for fossil fuels
Enhanced mobilization of financial resources from all sources to support climate protection measures, including for Loss & Damage

The term “unabated” caused the most contention during EU internal negotiations. It pertains to the role of CO2 capture tecehnologies (CCS) in decarbonization. On one hand, the EU wishes to accept it concerning the global exit from fossil fuel use. They demand a “global phase-out of unabated fossil fuels”. Reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggest that CCS is essential for achieving climate targets in sectors that are otherwise hard to decarbonize.

The energy sector is a different story. Here, the EU now aims globally for a “largely fossil-free energy system well before 2050”, explicitly without CO2 capture. The widespread use of CCS in energy production is, however, the position of the COP host, the United Arab Emirates, and other oil-producing countries. The EU had similarly positioned itself this spring. Then, Europeans called only for an “energy system free from unabated fossil fuels”. The new stance is now more stringent against oil nations, as it revokes the EU position from March, where CCS was considered for the energy sector.

‘No blank check for fossil fuels’

If the EU prevails with this demand in the Dubai negotiations, the loophole for CCS in the energy sector would be significantly limited. CCS is regarded as an exceptional application that is cost-effective and meaningful only in specific sectors, analyzed Linda Kalcher, founder and director of the think tank Strategic Perspectives. “Thus, oil and gas companies are not given a blank check to continue emissions as before.” This is an important signal to international partners and clearly differentiates the EU from the position of the COP presidency, according to Kalcher.

Germany’s special envoy for international climate policy, Jennifer Morgan, also told Table.Media it was a success for ambitious climate protection. The EU’s position is a clear signal for the “transition to a socio-ecological and fair” economic system.

Additionally, EU countries at COP28 want to ensure that by the end of the 2030s, no new coal-fired power plants will be built worldwide. Subsidies for fossil fuels should also be discontinued unless they combat energy poverty or contribute to a fair green transition. The EU negotiation position on climate financing will be decided in today’s meeting of the economic and finance ministers.

No new NDC: minus 55 percent remains

A significant issue for the COP28 climate negotiations could be the substantially scaled-back update of the EU’s climate target for 2030. The European negotiators won’t be able to present a higher target than before in Dubai. The EU’s climate target (NDC) lodged with the UN remains at a CO2 reduction of at least 55 percent by 2030 compared to 1990.

EU representatives repeatedly stated their intentions to raise the EU NDC to minus 57 percent after finalizing the Fit-for-55 package negotiations. This won’t happen now. While the EU will officially submit an update of its climate target, it’s merely an additional declaration on how the existing target will be achieved. There’s no mention of raising the NDC, and the number 57 doesn’t appear in the declaration. Green climate politician Michael Bloss therefore accused the new EU Climate Commissioner Hoekstra of a “crash landing”.

Many countries did not want to see this number in the text, explained Council President and Spain’s Environment Minister Teresa Ribera regarding the lack of an increase. However, she emphasized that the EU would exceed its climate target through the “Fit for 55” measures. This is reflected in the declaration. In Dubai, where the EU will urge other countries to increase their climate targets, this might not come across as particularly convincing. After all, what’s crucial is what’s on paper. And for the EU, that remains 55.

‘Poland is back’

The official election result is not yet known, but already the forecasts made many in Brussels and Berlin breathe a sigh of relief: “Poland is back”, Romanian EPP parliamentarian Siegfried Mureșan wrote on X on Monday. The deputy head of the FDP parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Michael Link, sees “a great opportunity to reform Europe institutionally, to strengthen it economically and to breathe new life into the deadlocked Weimar Triangle together with Poland and France”.

The results of by-election polls published on Monday morning by the polling institute Ipsos largely confirmed an initial forecast made on Sunday evening: According to the poll, Jarosław Kaczyński’s Law and Justice Party (PiS) will again be the strongest force in the Sejm with around 36.6 percent of the vote. But the national conservatives, who are critical of Europe, stand alone.

This means that the democratic opposition with the liberal Civic Platform, the center-right “Third Way” alliance and the Left has the best chances of forming a coalition and taking power. With some 248 deputies, it would have 17 seats more than the required majority, according to the forecast. The second-place Civic Coalition, which won 31 percent of the vote, is likely to have Donald Tusk as its new prime minister. Official results are not expected until Tuesday morning.

Opposition has reached new strata of voters

The opposition has succeeded in mobilizing not only its supporters, but also new layers of voters. Never since the fall of communism has voter turnout been higher than yesterday – almost 73 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots. Among the youngest voters between the ages of 18 and 29, turnout increased by 20 percent compared to the last elections – to over 68 percent.

In cities with more than 200,000 inhabitants, voter turnout was 80 percent. There, the Civic Coalition won more than 43 percent of the vote, while PiS won only about half as much. PiS failed among the youngest voters: With 14.9 percent, the Kaczyński party was only in fifth place. Twice as many young people voted for the Civic Coalition.

PiS has thus become even more of a party elected by old white people in the countryside: In rural villages, the party received 48.6 percent of the vote. The election results reflect the country’s dichotomy. While the Civic Coalition won in the richer, educated and developed parts of the country in the north and west, the poorer, agricultural voivodeships in the east and south voted for PiS.

Kaczyński could try to poach deputies

Now a government formation is imminent. PiS Chairman Kaczyński will urge President Andrzej Duda to entrust the PiS, as the election winner, with forming a government – even though no other groups want to form a coalition with it. Duda is a political foster son of Kaczyński; he can hardly be expected to oppose him.

This means that Kaczyński can stall for time until the constituent session of the new Sejm on Nov. 14 and try to poach deputies from other groups. If the PiS candidate fails to win a majority in the Sejm, he will have to give way to the opposition by Dec. 1 at the latest. “Poland would lose a lot of time unnecessarily”, said Poland’s former president Aleksander Kwaśniewski, appealing to Duda to play a constructive role.

End of the permanent dispute with Brussels

However, the three parties of the democratic opposition must also agree as quickly as possible on appointments to the ministries and present a joint government program. They should succeed in doing so, because despite all their programmatic differences, they are united in one goal: to remove the authoritarian PiS from power.

All potential coalition partners want to end their predecessors’ permanent dispute with Brussels, restore the rule of law and also cooperate in other areas such as common security and missile defense. The PiS’s permanent criticism of Germany will also fall silent. For the opposition, Berlin is a partner, not a rival.

However, the success of the new government will largely depend on the position of the president. Duda can block any new law passed by Parliament, which can then only be overcome with a three-fifths majority. For example, he can torpedo court reform or the restructuring of state television.

Depoliticization of state institutions

In any case, the list of homework is very long. The new government must stimulate economic growth, which has recently come to a standstill. At more than 10 percent, inflation is among the highest in Europe, and the budget deficit and national debt are exploding. The management of state-owned enterprises, which PiS has filled with loyal command receivers, must be completely replaced, and the central bank and other state institutions must be depoliticized.

The new government must hold accountable those PiS politicians who have broken the law or enriched themselves illegally. Such charges are to be prepared by the new prosecutor’s office, which will be separate from the office of justice minister. Some PiS ministers could then even be brought before the state tribunal.

The most difficult task, however, will be to reunite the Poles. After eight years of Kaczyński, the supporters of the opposition and the PiS are at loggerheads. There is no room for compromise. Above all, PiS leader Kaczyński is convinced of his infallibility. Andrzej Rybak

Two dead after shooting in Brussels

Belgian authorities have raised the terror alert level for the capital Brussels to the highest level four after a shooting that left two dead. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo wrote on X on Monday evening that Swedish citizens had been killed. The fight against terror will be waged together, he added on the service formerly known as Twitter.

The dead are believed to be Swedish soccer fans, according to initial reports. A match between Belgium and Sweden in the city was stopped at half-time at the request of the players, Swedish broadcaster TV6 reported. According to a Reuters reporter at the stadium, visitors were asked not to leave it for the time being.

According to the Belga news agency, an armed man had gotten off a scooter in the north of the city center and fired shots in the street. When several people fled into a building entrance, he allegedly chased them and shot at them. Police did not initially confirm this information.

Some media reported that the crime could have an Islamist background. However, there was initially no confirmation of this. rtr/dpa

Fleet limits for trucks: Council positions itself

EU environment ministers have given their general direction on the proposal for CO2 fleet limits for commercial vehicles. The body of member states backs the Commission’s proposal to reduce manufacturers’ fleet limits by 45 percent from 2030 to 2035 and by 90 percent by 2040. A complete phase-out of internal combustion engines, as in the case of passenger cars and vans, was not agreed.

From 2025 to 2030, average emissions of the climate gas CO2 must be reduced by 15 percent. In 2027, the proposal is to be reviewed in light of the expansion of infrastructure for zero-emission vehicles (review).

The Council’s position contains a passage for the crediting of renewable fuels such as biomethane (carbon correction factor) only in the review clause. It does not contain an article in the legislative text on synthetic fuels.

Combustion engine phase-out for city buses as of 2035

As a criterion for zero-emission vehicles in the negotiations with the co-legislator Parliament, the member states want to enforce that they emit no more than three grams of CO2 per kilometer driven. The Commission had proposed five grams per kilometer as a threshold.

The question of when to phase out internal combustion engines for city buses remained controversial until the end. In its compromise, the Spanish Council Presidency had proposed that no new city buses with combustion engines should be allowed after 2030. Member states such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and France were opposed to this and called for a later phase-out of internal combustion technology for city buses.

Finally, the member states agreed that no new city buses with internal combustion engines may be registered until 2035. By 2030, manufacturers of city buses should have reduced the fleet limit by 85 percent. mgr

Wastewater: trilogue can begin

As expected, EU environment ministers have voted in favor of a general approach on the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive. After the European Parliament adopted its position earlier this month, the trilogue negotiations between the two institutions can now begin.

The core of the general approach is mandatory treatment to remove a wide range of micropollutants – “quaternary treatment” or fourth stage treatment – for wastewater treatment plants with a wastewater load of 200,000 inhabitants or more. In smaller localities, this will be based on a risk assessment. As envisaged in the Commission’s proposal, pharmaceutical and cosmetics manufacturers are to share in the costs of introducing the fourth treatment stage in the future. “From a German point of view, this is to be welcomed”, says the Federal Ministry for the Environment.

The exact form of this producer responsibility, especially the scope of the financing obligation and the circle of industries to be included, will be discussed in further negotiations with the European Parliament and the Commission, the statement continues.

Weakened polluter pays principle

Earlier this month, the EU Parliament voted by a large majority in favor of a weakened polluter-pays principle in the revision of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive compared to the Commission’s draft. According to the compromise, the industry – in particular manufacturers of pharmaceutical products and cosmetics – is to share 80 percent of the cost of cleaning up polluted water, rather than 100 percent as the Commission had proposed.

The German municipal water industry welcomed the decision for a polluter pays principle, but would like to see a full-cost approach without 20 percent co-financing from national funds.

The revision of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) is one of the results of the Zero Pollution Action Plan (ZPA) and part of the Green Deal. The policy has not been amended since its adoption in 1991. Currently, the directive focuses on pollution from domestic sources. Other sources that are now growing in importance, such as so-called perpetual chemicals (PFAS), microplastics, pathogens and antimicrobial resistance polluters, have received less attention. cst

Heads of state and government sort themselves out on the subject of Israel

The EU heads of state and government are struggling to find unity in dealing with the crisis in the Middle East. To that end, they convened late Tuesday afternoon for a virtual crisis summit. “We saw the need to bring some order to the discussion”, a senior EU official said of the meeting, scheduled at short notice by EU Council President Charles Michel.

According to diplomats, it had to be done quickly to end the divergent messages of recent days. In a joint statement, the EU states condemned in the strongest terms the “brutal terrorist attack by Hamas in Israel”. There is no justification for terror, they said. “We strongly emphasize Israel’s right to self-defense”, the statement said. But this must be done in accordance with humanitarian and international law, it said.

By convening the virtual summit, Michel is trying to win back the initiative. The rivalry between the Council president and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is also likely to be at stake. Some statements made in recent days had not reflected the position of the Council or the member states, according to a senior EU official. What is primarily meant is Ursula von der Leyen’s clear positioning on Israel’s side, demonstrated with the quick solidarity visit to Tel Aviv.

Potential for conflict with Berlin

No one disputes the right of the Commission President to travel wherever she wants, according to sources close to Michel. However, “certain statements in a certain environment” are problematic. Michel, EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Josep Borrell and some member states such as Spain, France and Ireland do not dispute Israel’s right to defend itself. But they call for a stronger focus on ensuring that Israel complies with international law in its military response.

At the meeting, the heads of state and government want to talk about peace efforts and contacts in states of the Arab world. But the call for a ceasefire could also become an issue.

There is potential for conflict in this, especially with Berlin. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who will travel to Israel and then to Egypt on Tuesday, is doing so with one goal in mind: to assure Israel of Germany’s unconditional solidarity and support. At least at the present time, an appeal for a quick ceasefire would not be appropriate. sti

€6 billion for the Western Balkans

The EU Commission is providing €6 billion to the six Western Balkan states to boost the reform process and accelerate their accession to the Union. With two billion euros in grants and four billion in loans, the gross domestic product of the six states should double before the end of the decade, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Monday in Tirana after the conclusion of the summit in the so-called “Berlin Process”.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama urged a rapid accession process. “The countries should have joined the EU long ago”, Scholz said. EU Council President Charles Michel said the EU and the Western Balkan countries must be ready to receive and join in 2030. The Commission president, on the other hand, stressed that accession would depend on actual reforms.

Scholz: no progress in Bosnia

Scholz and von der Leyen were cautious about demands that Bosnia be given the green light by the EU in December to begin accession negotiations. There had been no progress on reforms, the chancellor criticized. Von der Leyen announced that the EU Commission would present an assessment of all EU accession candidates on Nov. 8. After that, the EU heads of state and government will have to decide in December. Above all, the leader of the Serbian republic is held responsible for the blockade in Bosnia.

Scholz and von der Leyen urged Serbia and Kosovo to settle their tensions. “Both sides must de-escalate”, Scholz said ahead of the conference, referring to an attack by a Serbian group on a police station in northern Kosovo. “It is important for Serbia and Kosovo to cooperate with each other”, von der Leyen also stressed. The place for that, she said, was within the framework of the EU-led normalization dialogue. The dispute between the two states overshadowed the meeting.

The six countries in the region agreed Monday to continue mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Von der Leyen said the EU would gradually ease access to the EU’s single market and increase financial aid in return for completed reform steps. Albania’s Prime Minister Rama praised the €6 billion package as a completely new step. The Western Balkan countries would now be rewarded for reforms already on their way into the EU and not only after accession. rtr

Stationary border controls start in eastern Germany

Immediately after the concession of Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD), the Federal Police began stationary border controls at the German borders in the east. In Brandenburg and Saxony, it started on Monday evening with fixed controls. After a long period of hesitation, Faeser had previously notified the EU Commission of stationary controls at the borders with Poland, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.

As her ministry announced on Monday, the temporary checks by the federal police directly at the border with Austria, which have already been in place since the fall of 2015, are also to be extended for another six months. Faeser justified the step with the limitation of irregular migration. She is also concerned with “combating smuggling of migrants even more strongly”, the statement said.

In Brandenburg, checks began at several locations, a spokeswoman for the Federal Police Headquarters in Berlin told the German Press Agency. On the city bridge in Frankfurt (Oder), federal police officers checked directly at the border. dpa

Visiting Mickey Mouse

Almost like a fairy tale: European parliamentarians and their staff took an involuntary trip to Mickey Mouse and Sleeping Beauty yesterday. The European Parliament’s charter train, which was supposed to take its guests from Brussels to Strasbourg, took a wrong turn.

Due to a wrong switch, the train did not stop in Strasbourg, but in front of Disneyland Paris – and that on the day of the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney Company, of all things. On Oct. 16, 1923, Walt Disney founded the Disney Brother Cartoon Studio with his brother Roy.

Of course, that doesn’t sound bad at first: Star Wars Hyperspace Mountain instead of a caucus meeting, Indiana Jones roller coaster instead of a parliamentary debate, and perhaps a ride in one of the Mad Hatter’s teacups from “Alice in Wonderland” as a finale.

However, the magic did not last long. As passengers reported, the train driver then got the train on the right track reasonably quickly, and the passengers arrived in Strasbourg about 45 minutes late. That’s far too short for a trip to the realm of Disney characters. Anyone who has ever been to Disneyland knows that you spend most of your time standing in line anyway. Sarah Schaefer