Red Lines and Horizons
In the German game of coalition poker which has followed the federal elections, there is a lot of talk about “red lines”. Those are the ones which some people are using to indicate the limits of their willingness to compromise. This obviously has not escaped the notice of France’s President which is why he announced in his Europe speech that he did not have red lines but only horizons. His courageous call for more Europe tied in with the words of EU Commission President Juncker. He too issued a reminder about reforms in his “State of the Union” address. Both, however, need the acceptance of the other EU heads of Government. Regardless of whether it’s Juncker advocating a stronger internal market or Macron urging more European involvement in policies on foreign affairs, refugees and defence; as long as the Member States hold on to their veto rights, not much is going to change. So it was a bold move by Macron to announce that in a scaled-down EU Commission with just 15 Members, France would do without “its” Commissioner. He thus turned up the pressure on the other governments which has rather put them on the spot. |
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| The EU Commission wants to increase women’s participation in employment. With this aim, work life balance is to be improved and incentives created for men to claim parental leave. In cep’s view, the proposed Directive can at best make a small contribution to achieving the EU Commission’s objective.
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| Data Transfers to Third Countries |
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| The EU Commission wants to make the transmission of personal data to non-EU countries easier in order to promote mutual trade and effectively combat international crime.
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The Commission wants to improve the rules in the EMIR Regulation, particularly those relating to over-the-counter derivatives. In the cepPolicyBrief on the proposal from the EU Commission for a corresponding Regulation, the easing of the clearing obligation for counterparties that only undertake limited derivative transactions is seen as appropriate because these do not represent a serious threat to the stability of the financial markets.
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“Let’s catch the trade winds in our sails.”
Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission |
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“Brussels is us, always, at every moment.”
Emmanuel Macron, President of France |
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“Macron knows that he urgently needs to improve France’s competitiveness – and that he has no option but to get on with it straight away.”
Prof. Lüder Gerken, President of cep, in an interview with ZDF-Morgenmagazin |
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“The EU Commission has found a good way of dealing with the 'Nutella Crisis'.”
Till Brombach, Policy Analyst at cep, in a guest article for Focus |
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Facts
The EU Heads of State and Government met last week in Tallinn to talk about Europe’s digital future. There is urgent need for action in Germany, as shown by an OECD investigation which puts the strongest European economy in 26th place – behind Chile – in an international comparison of the roll-out of optical fibre networks. |
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