Is it carnival time yet?
Carnival season starts in eleven days. Really? You might have thought it had already started. Italy is thumbing its nose up at the EU with its draft budget and, since Monday, Germany has been signalling to its partners that a few uncertainties are going to be unavoidable in the coming weeks. Chancellor Merkel declared that “The image the government is giving is unacceptable”, leaving everyone to make their own sense of it. And then there are the Brexiteers who can be relied upon for surprises on an almost weekly basis but continue to propagate the belief that there could be an orderly exit of the United Kingdom from the EU. At least carnival season is just for a limited period. Unlike the crisis in the EU and the chaos in Berlin which show no sign of coming to an end. |
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| Access to Social Protection |
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The protection of workers and the self-employed by social protection schemes is to be improved and harmonised EU-wide. The EU Commission has called for this in a proposal for a Recommendation to the Member States.
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The Commission is pressing for a more sustainable financial sector and has therefore submitted an Action Plan on the financing of sustainable growth. This provides inter alia for a classification system for sustainability (“EU taxonomy”) that will provide a basis for “sustainable” action by financial institutions, rating agencies, market analysts and investors.
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The EU Commission wants to introduce transparency obligations for online platforms and search engines EU-wide, as well as possibilities for redress for online traders using such online platforms. The EU Commission wants to regulate this by way of a Regulation.
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| Cross-border distribution of collective investment funds |
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The EU Commission wants to contribute to the promotion of the cross-border sale of investment funds. The corresponding proposals for a regulation and a directive provide, among other things, that so-called undertakings for collective investments in transferable securities (UCITS) and alternative investment funds (AIF) may not be obliged to be "physically present" in the host Member States.
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“The public is not interested in proposals but in practicable legislation that gives them rights.”
Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission |
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“The EU must show the public that it can deliver and will not tolerate rule violations; whether that be in regard to Italy’s budget or the rule of law in Poland and Hungary.”
Prof. Lüder Gerken, cep President |
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“The government is not being led by a bunch of hotheads. There is no chance of Italexit and no chance that we will leave the eurozone.”
Giuseppe Conte, Italian Prime Minister |
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“The crisis in Italy shows people in the EU how important it is to have common fiscal rules. If the EU Commission and the other Member States stay tough, this could even end up strengthening EU rules.”
Dr. Matthias Kullas, cep Department Head |
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Facts
The Council and EP have a lot to do in the coming months. The EU Commission’s work programme for 2019 published last week contained 15 new initiatives, but another 187 legislative proposals, that have already been submitted, have to be approved before the European elections at the end of May. |
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