TTDSG + FuelEU Maritime + Nord Stream 2

“You’ll never walk alone” should become the guiding principle of Germany’s upcoming G7 presidency, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said yesterday at the end of the G7 foreign ministers’ consultations in Liverpool. The Liverpool FC fan song expresses “a strong sense of unity”, which Baerbock obviously also wishes for the group of seven leading industrialized nations. The G7 were united once again on the issue of the Ukraine crisis, urging Russia to de-escalate and threatening massive consequences in the event of an attack. “Any use of force to change borders is strictly prohibited under international law,” the draft final declaration reads.

Russia was also the topic of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s official visit to Warsaw yesterday, but with a different focus: Nord Stream 2. The second controversial topic at the meeting with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki: the EU’s rule of law dispute with Poland. Scholz avoided harsh criticism and instead said that he very much hoped that the EU Commission and the Polish government would come to an agreement.

At the beginning of the month, the new Federal Act on the Regulation of Data Protection and Privacy in Telecommunications and Telemedia (TTDSG) came into force, transposing the E-Privacy Directive into German law. Torsten Kleinz analyses why the law is once again fuelling the dispute about the conditions under which providers may use cookies or process other end device data.

The FuelEU Maritime Regulation aims to increase demand for renewable and low-carbon fuels in the maritime sector without creating competitive disadvantages for European players. Lukas Scheid reports on why the reduction targets of the law do not go far enough for the German government.

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Jasmin Kohl