EPP group expected to elect Manfred Weber as its

JUSTICE COUNCIL
COMPANY LAW
EU/US
Small advance possible on
data protection Page 5
Fight against money-laundering:
Negotiations continue Page 7
Obama coming to Europe to boost
military alliances Page 12
THE EUROPEAN
AFFAIRS DAILY
europolitics.info
Analytical, Comprehensive, Independent
Tuesday 3 June 2014 N° 4878 42nd year
FOCUS
EPP group expected to elect
Manfred Weber as its chief
By Jorge Valero
By Ophélie Spanneut
The European Commission published,
on 2 June, its policy recommendations
for 26 economies of the EU (all except
Cyprus and Greece). Against the backdrop of “political discontent,” - to quote
Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli
Rehn - and the advance of anti-austerity parties in the European elections, the
Commission’s “priority is clear: growth
and jobs,” said President José Manuel
Barroso. But he added that “there is no
contradiction between austerity and
growth,” since fiscal consolidation is
essential to boost confidence and thus
attract investment to Europe. Barroso
underlined that “the most important”
task now is to boost private investment,
which is hampered by “unacceptable”
financial fragmentation. He believes
that this challenge goes beyond fiscal
policy and the Commission’s powers a veiled reference to the decisions the
ECB is expected to adopt later this week
to restore lending in the eurozone. The
country-specific
recommendations
(CSRs) focus mainly on labour market
and tax system reforms. The Commission recommends the closure of excessive deficit procedures against Austria,
Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, the Netherlands and Slovakia.
Regarding France Barroso said it is “on
track” to meet its fiscal goal, although
the CSR calls on Paris to specify further
fiscal measures for this year and 2015..
T he Germans in the EPP can count
on the group’s strategic chairmanship, but will secure fewer
influential positions
Weber stands to lead the EPP group
The European People’s Party (EPP)
group in the European Parliament will
elect its new chair on the morning of
4 June. French national Joseph Daul,
who has headed the group since January 2007, will be passing on the torch.
He did not stand for re-election to the
EP but will continue to be involved in
European politics in his role as president of the EPP party.
Barring an unexpected turn of events,
Manfred Weber (Germany) is expected
to be elected to head the EPP group. He
currently has no declared rivals although
challengers do officially have until
11:00 on 3 June to present their candidacy. A member of the CSU, the Bavar-
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© PE
Barroso: Austerity
supports growth
Table of Contents
ian sister party to the powerful Christian
Democrat CDU party, Weber has been
a member of the EP since 2004. He
would be the first CSU member to hold
an important position in the European
Parliament. Until now, the CDU has
always dominated (with the exception of
Hans-August Lücker, CSU, who headed
the EPP group from 1970 to 1975).
The EPP is still the largest group in
the European Parliament after the 25
May elections, but it has lost ground.
The centre-right group slipped from 273
to 214 members. This figure is subject to
change since negotiations are under way
to draw in new members. The six Romanians of the PNL – who have been part
of the ALDE group until now – may join
the EPP benches, along with the Poles
of the PiS (Law and Justice), who are
bargaining with the ECR, where they
have sat since its establishment in 2009.
The EPP’s first place is safe: its lead
is too great for the S&D to surpass it
(25 seats), especially because the Social
Democrats cannot hope to swell their
ranks significantly through negotiations
with newly elected members. But widening the gap is always useful due to
the existence of the d’Hondt rule. For
strategic or prestigious positions, such as
vice-presidents of Parliament, quaestors
and committee chairs, the d’Hondt rule
applies between groups. The more members a group has, the greater its chances
of obtaining the positions it seeks.
(continued on page 6)
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EUROPOLITICS N° 4878 Tuesday 3 June 2014
Contents N° 4878
Top stories
JUSTICE COUNCIL
COMPANY LAW
EU/US
Small advance possible on
data protection Page 5
Fight against money-laundering:
Negotiations continue Page 7
Obama coming to Europe to boost
military alliances Page 12
Institutions
EPP group expected to elect
Manfred Weber as its chief...................... 1
Economic & monetary affairs,
taxation
Youth unemployment: Exec
targets all member states.......................... 4
Sectoral policies
Circular economy, key theme
of Green Week 2014................................ 4
Small advance possible
on data protection.................................... 5
Member states split over
air passenger rights................................... 6
Financial services, banks,
insurance
Fight against money-laundering:
Negotiations continue............................. 7
States urged to improve
their tax governance................................. 7
Business & competitiveness
Facebook said to have notified
WhatsApp buy to Commission................ 8
Telecoms package and network
security on Council’s agenda................... 8
Open forum
Nascent solar energy sector totally
undermined in Ukraine?.......................16
Trade policy
US Congress more amenable
to having financial services in TTIP........ 9
Member states unite against
De Gucht over TDIs.............................10
EU businesses in China
‘feel the blues’........................................11
ENERGY PREMIUM
On europolitics.info
n Despite energy security focus, single 2030
target is enough: UK
n Greece interested in South Stream again
External relations
Obama coming to Europe
to boost military alliances......................12
Gas conflict: Ukraine pays
US$768 mn to avoid escalation.............12
EU agenda...........................................13
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www.europolitics.info
4
Tuesday 3 June 2014 N° 4878 EUROPOLITICS
Youth unemployment: Exec targets all member states
By Sophie Petitjean
For the first time, the EU executive
has based its country-specific recommendations on the results of its
scoreboard of social indicators
In its country-specific recommendations, published on 2 June, the European
Commission calls on all member states
to improve their employment markets
and social situations. It highlights the
deterioration of the social situation in 11
member states, and recommends that
some of these countries should improve
their social security safety nets. It also calls
on states with a surplus (Germany and the
Netherlands) to boost domestic demand.
The publication of country-specific recommendations is provided for under the
‘European semester’, which coordinates
economic policy across the Union. This
year, the Commission has evaluated the
situation in 26 member states (Greece and
Cyprus, which are still receiving financial
assistance from the EU, were not included
in the assessment). For the first time, it has
based its recommendations on the results
of its scoreboard of key employment and
social indicators. The non-binding scoreboard, published in November 2013 and
adopted by European ministers in March
2014, details imbalances in each country in relation to the European average
on unemployment, inactivity, poverty,
inequality and household income.
Based on the scoreboard, the Commission has targeted all countries regarding
youth unemployment. It has called on
18 member states to improve the transition between education and employment, suggesting specific measures, and
recommended that eight member states
should improve the implementation of
their ‘youth guarantee’, a system adopted
at European level to provide all young
people under 25 with a job, apprecenticeship, internship or ongoing training
within four months of leaving education
or losing their job. Regarding wages, the
Commission says more needs to be done
on wage indexation (in Belgium and Luxembourg), while minimum wage developments in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia,
Portugal, Germany and France are highlighted. Employee training systems are
also emphasised (Portugal, Spain, Italy
and Croatia), while the Netherlands is
invited to make its system of fixing salaries more flexible in order to allow for
increases.
The relevant Councils will now discuss
these recommendations, with a view to
their being adopted by finance ministers
in July. Belgium and Luxembourg could
once again take umbrage at recommendations targeting their system of wage indexation, and other sensitive matters may also
be discussed: for example, the fact that the
Commission has asked Germany to monitor the impact on employment of implementing a minimum wage (called for at
European level), as well as to ensure that
its pensions reform does not threaten the
sustainability of public finances. n
Circular economy, key theme of Green Week 2014
By Anne Eckstein
Participants will debate how Europe
can become more competitive by
boosting its resource efficiency
Europe’s largest annual environmental conference, Green Week 2014,
hosted by the European Commission (DG ENVI) in Brussels from 3
to 6 June, will focus on the ‘Circular
economy – Saving resources, creating jobs’. “Europe’s competitiveness
will be determined by its ability to use
resources efficiently and there will be
no place for waste. We need to move
away from our throwaway culture and
switch to a more circular model, cutting
waste and turning it into a resource,”
explained Environment Commissioner
Janez Potocnik.
The conference aims to show that in
a world with finite resources, the logical solution for Europe is to move to
a more circular economy where almost
www.europolitics.info
nothing is wasted, where the re-use
and remanufacturing of new products
becomes standard practice and where
sustainability is built into the fabric of
society. There will be special emphasis
on how better waste management can
become a way for the EU to use scarce
resources more efficiently.
NEW ENVIRONMENTALISM
This 14th Green Week will open
with a special summit on ‘New environmentalism’, the main objective of
which will be to understand why environmental campaigns are no longer
working, and why, despite popular
support in large segments of society,
investment in clean technologies and
political discourse in favour of a shift
to greener economic models have not
really become mainstream.
This special session will bring
together celebrities, intellectuals, activists, entrepreneurs, leaders and film
makers. Each speaker will draw on personal experience to describe what has
worked and what has failed over the last
40 years and to suggest where the environmental movement should go from
here. n
Background
The Commission will present, on 18 June, new proposals to help Europe adopt
a more circular model. In addition to a general communication on the circular
economy, its package will include legislative proposals to update three waste
directives: the waste framework directive, the packaging and packaging waste
directive and the directive on landfilling of municipal waste.
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5
EUROPOLITICS N° 4878 Tuesday 3 June 2014
Small advance possible on data protection
By Nathalie Vandystadt
Athens will try, at the 6 June Justice
Council, to secure a tentative agreement on international data transfers
A ‘partial general approach’ by the
28 justice ministers on a single chapter
- transfers of the personal data of European citizens to third countries like the
United States - may be in the offing.
The stakes are subtle, limited and above
all not binding on the member states,
which at this stage will not be giving the
Greek EU Council Presidency a mandate to negotiate with MEPs. On this
issue, which has divided the states for
two and a half years, “nothing is settled
until everything is settled”. But if Athens
manages to take this step at the 6 June
Justice Council in Luxembourg, at least
it will be able to say that it secured a
small advance on the draft regulation on
personal data protection.
The Greeks are not aiming too high
and are expected to rally a qualified
majority in the Council despite determined opposition, most notably by the
UK, which disputes the entire regulation – aimed at improving the protection of Europeans’ privacy, especially
online – and is pressing for a directive, a
less binding measure.
The 28 first have to confirm a key
point of this legislation: it will apply
to all companies operating in the EU,
which therefore includes firms headquartered outside the Union, like
US-based Google.
Under the Greek proposal, which does
not overhaul the initial proposal of January 2012, future rules on data transfers
will more strictly regulate transfers by
non-European commercial companies
operating on European territory.
CRITERIA
Criteria would have to be met and the
European Commission would play a
decisive role in this respect (in the framework of comitology, under the oversight
of states and the European Parliament).
If it should decide that a non-EU country, a territory, an economic sector or an
international organisation “guarantees
adequate protection,” then “transfers
will not require specific authorisation”.
While this general rule already exists
in the 1995 directive on data protection, the Czech Republic, Germany
and Slovenia are reluctant to give the
Commission such power.
The UK “very strongly” doubts whether
the new criteria for assessing the reliability of a third party - respect for human
rights and fundamental freedoms, data
protection rules, including on other
transfers, citizens’ rights, including
the right to judicial and administrative
remedy – can be met.
The Commission may also decide that
a third party no longer meets the criteria and then cancel, amend or suspend
its decision without retroactive effect. It
would have to contact the third party to
remedy the problem.
Under another change, multinationals like Coca-Cola that transfer data
within the company in different countries would have to set up mandatory
rules. These will require approval by the
European data protection authorities
concerned. Certain transfer contracts
may thus be accepted by these national
regulators. n
Google and the right to be forgotten
Google’s steps to implement the right to be forgotten (after a major ruling by the EU Court
of Justice against the US search engine giant) will be examined on 3 and 4 June by European data protection authorities meeting in the so-called Article 29 Group (in reference to
the 1995 data protection directive). Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding has already welcomed the response, which takes the form of an online questionnaire available to Europeans
alone, enabling them to apply for the deletion of search results.
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6
Tuesday 3 June 2014 N° 4878 EUROPOLITICS
Member states split over air passenger rights
By Isabelle Smets
Financial compensation for flight
cancellations or delays and missed
connection flights is still a sore spot
How will air passengers who have fallen
victim to significant flight delays or cancellations be compensated in the future?
The question is worth its weight in gold
for airline companies but is still dividing
member states.
The Council’s Greek Presidency, which
would have liked to come to an agreement
at the Transport Council on 5 June, has
had to lower its expectations. There will
be no official agreement in Luxembourg
on the review of the regulation on air passenger rights, but simply a progress report.
One thing that remains clear is that the
new rules will explicitly plan for passengers who experience significant delays to
be financially compensated, even though
the current regulation only enforces this
in the event of cancellations. However,
the threshold is still up for debate. The last
compromise text submitted by the Greeks
kept the thresholds proposed by the European Commission – 5-9-12 hour delays
according to the flight distance. This falls
short of MEPs’ demands (whose threshold
is set at 3-5-7 hours) and should make airline companies very happy, especially as
the Presidency has proposed to dump all
flights longer than 3,500 km in the “12-
hour delay before right to compensation”
category, while the Commission believes
the “3,500 km-6,000 km” slot should be
compensated after nine-hour delays. In
other words, delayed flights between 3,500
km and 6,000 km, including a delayed
arrival of between 9 and 12 hours, would
not be compensated if it were up to the
Greek compromise.
The fact remains that the compromise
still has a long way to go before adoption.
Several member states
are against the regulation
containing provisions on
missed connecting flights
Between those who are against the 5-9-12
hour thresholds (Germany, Austria, Finland), those who propose a single five-hour
threshold without taking the distance into
account (Denmark and Slovakia), those
who propose new combinations (3-7-10
for Malta, 3-5-9 for Belgium and Spain)
and those who agree with the 5-9-12 but
not the proposed distances (Romania), it
is understandable that for now, the Greek
Presidency has given up on trying to get
everyone on the same page.
Several member states also do not agree
with the fact that the regulation includes
provisions on missed connecting flights.
This could really affect regional companies that often operate the initial flight
towards a hub because, according to the
Commission, it would be responsible for
paying compensation in the event of a
delay to the final destination. Under this
approach, a two-hour delay, which would
make someone miss a connecting flight
and ultimately result in becoming a ninehour delay, would give rise to compensation paid by the first carrier (even though
the two-hour delay would usually protect
them from having to compensate). Nevertheless, the Greek Presidency proposes
that nothing should be paid if the connecting flight’s delay was relatively short
(90 minutes in its current proposal) and
the passenger was fully aware that a slight
delay of the initial flight would mean a
missed connecting flight. However, many
member states would prefer to see simpler
calculations for compensations based on
every step of the flight. Almost all member
states unanimously agree that the rule on
airlines being expected to find accommodation for their passengers in case of flight
delays or cancellations due to extraordinary circumstances should be limited
to three nights. As it stands, there are no
limitations with the time – but there was
a certain Icelandic volcano. On the other
hand, the €100 per night limit proposed
by the Commission could be accepted,
which would not go down well with the
airline companies. n
EPP
(continued from page 1)
In all the countries where it is represented (all 28 member states except
the United Kingdom), the EPP suffered
losses (in 14) or remained stable at best
(in the small countries). Only in Malta,
the Czech Republic and Slovenia did
EPP member parties register gains.
Losses were greatest in the large
member states: the number of Spanish MEPs dropped from 25 to only 16.
There are also only 16 Italian members,
down from 34 in the outgoing Parliament, ie less than half. The number of
French members is also down sharply
– from 30 to 20 - due to the surge in
www.europolitics.info
the Front National vote. The Poles
limited the damage, dropping from 28
to 23 members, and thus become the
second largest delegation in the EPP
group.
The Germans still make up the largest delegation, but on a smaller scale:
34 members, compared with 42 previously. They are expected to hold fewer
strategic positions than in the outgoing
Parliament since the EPP group chair
will cost the CDU-CSU members in the
EPP a lot of points under the d’Hondt
rule.n For the full list of MEPs
europolitics.info (bit.ly/1pMbpz0)
see
Election of ten vice-presidents
After the election by secret ballot of the chair of the EPP group, the ten vicechairs will be elected on the afternoon of 4 June. Under its statutes, at least one
third must be women.
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7
EUROPOLITICS N° 4878 Tuesday 3 June 2014
Fight against money-laundering: Negotiations continue
By Manon Malhère
In absence of a compromise, the
dossier will once more be on
Coreper’s agenda before the Ecofin
Council
The Greek EU Presidency could soon
be on the home strait in the fight against
money-laundering: it hopes that the
permanent representatives (Coreper)
will reach an agreement (general
approach) on new rules on money-laundering before finance ministers meet on
20 June.
Member states have made progress on the matter, but still need to
agree on certain aspects, explained a
source at the end of Coreper’s meeting on 28 May - adding that any
changes to the Presidency’s latest
compromise should be relatively
minor.
Proposed by the Commission in 2013,
the negotiated text revises and repeals
Directive 2005/60/EC, the third anti
money-laundering directive. It imposes
a series of obligations on financial institutions, as well as on other sectors, such
as cash games and gambling. These
concern, for example, identification
and verification of clients’ identities.
Each member state has its own concerns, and member states must finalise
their positions on the storage of data on
who really controls companies (actual
beneficiaries), when a transaction is
carried out or an activity developed on
their behalf. The possibility of exempting cash game services – except casinos
and online gambling, for now at least
– is also being discussed. According to
a source, some member states - including Germany and Malta - also hope to
apply these derogations to online cash
games.
Another sensitive subject is the sanctions to be applied to entities subject
to diverse obligations in case of a violation of the directive. Overall, the
compromise on the table imposes fines
on non-financial entities equivalent to
a maximum of two times the profits
obtained through the infraction, or one
million euro.
This amount can be up to five million euro for financial institutions.
A minority of states considers these
amounts too high, while another
minority wants to increase them.
Also under discussion is cooperation
between financial intelligence units
(FIUs) and the possibility for entities
subject to diverse obligations to not
apply certain measures on electronic
money instruments which cannot
be recharged. The UK only intends
to oppose this if risk is low, says a
well-informed source. n
States urged to improve their tax governance
By Tanguy Verhoosel
The Commission’s recommendations stress the need to strengthen
the drive against aggressive tax
planning by multinationals
Easing taxation on labour, limiting the use of reduced VAT rates and
improving tax governance: these are
the three priorities for taxation policy
set by the European Commission, on
2 June, in its country-specific recommendations to the 28. All the member
states are concerned expect Denmark,
Estonia, Finland and Slovenia.
In what has become a well-known
refrain, Taxation Commissioner Algirdas Semeta once again urged the 28 to
lessen the tax burden on labour as a way
of boosting the EU’s competitiveness.
The Commission notes that there
has been progress. However, «much
remains to be done,» continued
Semeta, who singled out for criticism
12 countries: Germany, France, Italy,
Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium,
Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania and Romania.
For the executive, it is essential that
these states shift taxation away from
labour and compensate for the resulting loss of revenues by raising taxes
on environmental protection, property
and consumption.
Semeta repeated his criticism of the
many VAT exemption schemes and
reduced rates applied by states, which
put a strain on public finances and
«create administrative nightmares for
companies». This is especially the case
in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Poland, Belgium,
Ireland and Luxembourg, he added.
These states – as well as Hungary and
Croatia – are asked to broaden their tax
base. According to the Commission,
this measure would enable some of
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them to reduce their normal VAT rate.
The idea is to simplify things for companies but also to ensure that they pay
their fair share, notes the Commission.
In its recommendations, it also – for
the first time – calls on 16 countries
(Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, France, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania and
Slovakia) to improve their tax governance in order to tackle tax evasion and
avoidance more effectively.
Many multinationals exploit differences between national tax systems to
reduce their taxable base, states the
Commission. But some states contribute to the use of aggressive tax planning
strategies by developing short-term
schemes designed to attract companies
to their territory, accused Semeta. The
commissioner mentioned Ireland, the
Netherlands, Malta, Luxembourg and
Cyprus. n
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8
Tuesday 3 June 2014 N° 4878 EUROPOLITICS
Facebook said to have notified WhatsApp buy to Commission
By Sophie Mosca
The EU executive denies notification of the deal approved by US
competition authorities in April
The world’s largest social network,
US-based Facebook, bid €14 billion in
February for WhatsApp, a free instant
messaging service for mobile devices
that boasts 500 million users. This is
the largest amount in its history for a
corporate takeover, the equivalent of
NASA’s annual budget. Facebook is
thus about to bring a sizeable competitor into its ecosystem, a move similar to
its 2012 takeover of Instagram, a photo
and video application and sharing
service for mobile phones and tablets.
The deal was approved by the US
competition authority, the Federal
Trade Commission (FTC), in April,
but it warned Facebook about its use
of customers’ personal data, which will
remain under control. The FTC reiter-
ated at the time the obligations imposed
on Facebook since 2012 (notably to
carry out audits over a 20-year period).
On the European side, according to
Facebook, the deal could raise concerns about dominant position in several states, allegedly Cyprus, Spain and
Germany. The Wall Street Journal and
AFP have both quoted sources stating
that the social network giant has notified the transaction to the Commission.
Contacted by Europolitics, the spokesman’s office for the competition commissioner denied such notification, on
2 June.
The deal could well be notified considering the amounts and competition
concerns in the single market. If so,
the Commission would no doubt alert
national anti-trust authorities and then
announce whether or not it planned
to analyse the case or to refer it to the
states concerned. The EU executive
approved Microsoft’s takeover of Skype
in 2011 and the EU General Court, to
which Cisco and Messagenet brought
the case, upheld its decision in December 2013. If the transaction appeared to
pose a problem, it could impose remedies, as it has done with Google and
others.
The takeover is not exactly to the
liking of European mobile telecoms
operators. They see it as unfair competition since they invoice SMS and
MMS, provided for free by WhatsApp.
European operators have criticised the
takeover on a number of occasions and
chances are that they would intervene
as stakeholders to defend their market.
The threat is relative, however: for now,
they are still leaders on the EU market
worth €113.2 billion in 2013 for the five
leading markets, compared with €3.7
billion for internet service providers,
the over-the top (OTT) players, namely
Facebook, Skype or Google. Despite
their strong growth, these OTTs are
expected to hold only 5% of the global
market in 2017. n
Telecoms package and network security on Council’s agenda
By Nathalie Steiwer
On 6 June, the Greek Presidency
will present reports on negotiations underway on the single digital
market and cyber security
The Greek EU Presidency will pass
the baton to Italy – which will take over
at the helm of the EU in July - at the
Telecoms Council, on 6 June in Luxembourg. Greece will present two reports
on progress made in negotiations currently underway, while Italy will lay out
its main priorities on telecoms under
its upcoming Presidency. The first two
debates will be public.
Network security: The current Presidency will present a progress report on
negotiations underway on the adoption
of the directive on network and information security in the EU, proposed by the
Commission in February 2013. In prin-
www.europolitics.info
ciple, the member states support this
text, which would oblige operators of
networks essential to the economy and
security to report cyber attacks. In practice, the member states are calling for
much greater flexibility, and have not
yet taken a position on the list of sectors
covered. The European Parliament took
a position in March.
Digital single market: The Presidency’s progress report on the Council’s
negotiations on the adoption of the
regulation on the digital single market,
known as the telecoms package, is much
more pessimistic. Member states oppose
the proposed measures on the attribution of radio spectrum, single authorisation for telecoms operators and access
to wholesale markets (virtual access) for
operators without their own network.
Only the chapter on users’ rights has survived the negotiations, and here again
the member states hope for minimal har-
monisation, so that they may adopt more
binding standards at national level. The
sensitive subject of net neutrality has not
yet been discussed in depth by member
states, and neither has roaming. Parliament adopted its position in first reading
in March.
Digital scoreboard: The Commission
will present its inventory of Europe’s digital landscape, adopted last week, which
shows that while access to broadband is
improving, the digital ‘gap’ in Europe is
still wide: one in five Europeans never
connects to the internet, while one in
two lacks the necessary professional
qualifications.
Work programme: The Greek Presidency will take stock of texts adopted
(reduction of engineering costs for
broadband, electronic signing, accessibility of public websites), while Italy will
present its planned work programme on
telecoms. n
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9
EUROPOLITICS N° 4878 Tuesday 3 June 2014
US Congress more amenable to having financial services in TTIP
By Brian Beary
MEP believes that US lawmakers take a different view than the
US Treasury, which does not want
the trade pact to cover banking
regulation
A “competing voice” is how British
MEP Peter Skinner (S&D) described
the US Congress, asked if it agreed with
the US administration that banking regulation should be excluded from the
EU-US free trade pact. Speaking exclusively to Europolitics, on 29 May on
Capitol Hill, he noted that the chair of
the House Financial Services Committee had already urged the US administration to allow financial services to
be included. From his talks with US
lawmakers, he felt that this pro-inclusion argument was “getting traction”
in Congress. Skinner himself backs
inclusion, believing that divergent standards on accounting, for instance, are
hampering transatlantic investment.
The MEP was in Washington for two
days of seminars that were organised by
the Transatlantic Policy Network, in
which a dozen MEPs and congressmen
participated. Their agenda covered the
impact of the European Parliament’s
elections, regulatory parts of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), financial services, digital
data flows and energy.
Commenting on how the anti-TTIP
camp has been bolstered by the elections, he said “the sins of all old trade
deals are being visited on TTIP» by
its opponents, but that in reality the
“I may be alone in some
part of my political family
by saying this, but I believe
it is more appropriate for
us to talk about how we
can make ISDS better
than to get it out”
TTIP trade negotiations were much
more transparent than past trade deals.
On whether his political group, the
centre-left S&D, supported having
an investor-state dispute settlement
(ISDS) mechanism in the TTIP, he
said: “I may be alone in some part of
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my political family by saying this, but
I believe it is more appropriate for us
to talk about how we can make ISDS
better than to get it out”.
The TTIP may be a hot topic for
MEPs, but Congress is much less preoccupied with it. Skinner explained
this difference, saying “Europe, given
its economic doldrums right now, is
looking for international answers to
economic growth,” while the US “has
got wider economic interests and its
economy is slightly better balanced
than many of the European ones”.
Again on the TTIP, he said there was a
«clear connection» between this trade
deal and the EU’s demand that the
US improve its data privacy regime.
The data protection talks may run in
parallel but they “they will impact the
TTIP itself,” he said. As for the energy
chapter, he underscored how there
were “two different things”. Having
more liberalised rules on importing
US liquefied natural gas to Europe was
“not a problem”. But the EU would be
tightening, not easing, environmental
rules on extracting natural gas within
Europe, referring to the controversy
over fracking, he said. n
www.europolitics.info
10
Tuesday 3 June 2014 N° 4878 EUROPOLITICS
Member states unite against De Gucht over TDIs
By Joanna Sopinska
The main bone of contention is the content of draft guidelines which, according
to member states, leaves too much room
for misinterpretation
Faced with the continuing stalemate in the
battle among member states over the reform
of the EU’s trade defence instruments (TDIs),
Karel De Gucht, the commissioner for trade,
decided to take things in his hands. Despite
strong opposition from the majority of the
member states in the Council, he decided to
dismantle the TDI reform package presented
back in April 2013 and push for the separate
adoption, before the summer break, of draft
guidelines clarifying the European Commission’s practice in four areas related to the
reform.
Addressing the Competitiveness Council
on 26 May, De Gucht defended the move
as an attempt to enhance the transparency
of the EU’s trade defence proceedings “for
the benefit of all stakeholders”. But his argumentation did not go down well with the
ministers. Virtually all the member states,
except for Sweden, criticised the idea of the
separate approval of the guidelines before
the legislative proposal amending the EU’s
basic anti-dumping (AD) and anti-subsidy
(AS) rules receives the green light from the
Council and the European Commission
(co-decision). Meanwhile, despite one year
of discussions, the Commission’s blueprint
on TDIs remains blocked in Council.
In a statement issued after the meeting, the
www.europolitics.info
French Minister of Economy, Arnaud Montebourg, expressed his “strong opposition” to
De Gucht’s plans, arguing that the adoption
of TDI guidelines would weaken the protection of EU industry in the fight against unfair
practices from third states and companies.
“The minister received almost unanimous
support from his colleagues in the Council,
especially the British, German, Spanish, Italian and Polish ministers,” the statement said,
pointing to Sweden as the only supporter of
the Commission. On more general terms,
Montebourg called on the Commission to
terminate its activities in the field of trade until
the new European Parliament is installed following the elections of 25 May. French EPP
group member Tokia Saifi issued a similar
call, suggesting that all decisions concerning
the TDI package should be suspended until
after the new Parliament formally takes up its
duties in July.
The Commission hit back, accusing the
French minister of ignorance. “Over the
past four years, the European Commission
has adopted a very firm stance against unfair
competition,” De Gucht’s spokesperson said
in a statement issued shortly after the Council
meeting. “To state that codifying Commission
practice would weaken EU industry is simply
ignoring the Commission’s strong record
under the tenure of Trade Commissioner
De Gucht,» he added. The Commission
also rejected the claim that the guidelines
were supposed to be adopted together with
the legislative proposal. “The commissioner
explained that he had presented the draft legislative proposal together with the draft guide-
lines back in April 2013, but always stressed
that joint presentation does not mean joint
adoption,” the statement said.
SUBSTANCE, MAIN STICKING POINT
The spat between the Commission and the
Council, supported by the European Parliament, is not so much about the timing of the
approval of the guidelines but rather about the
substance of the draft. According to sources,
most member states have had “serious reservations” about the text, which includes, as one
of the diplomats put it, “more exceptions than
rules”. The main bone of contention is the
so-called ‘Community interest clause’ and its
broader interpretation proposed by the Commission, which is taking into account “other
policies (eg development policy)” rather
than focusing on pure economic assessment.
“Nobody in the Council likes this idea as it
paves the way for misinterpretation and a
less objective decision making process,” a
diplomatic source told Europolitics. n
Background
Following the failure of the last attempt
to reform the EU’s trade defence instruments (TDIs) made in 2006 by Peter
Mandelson, the European Commission proposed, on 10 April 2013, a
series of amendments to the EU’s basic
anti-dumping (AD) and anti-subsidy (AS)
rules. The package included a legislative
proposal for a regulation on TDIs and
draft guidelines.
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11
EUROPOLITICS N° 4878 Tuesday 3 June 2014
EU businesses in China ‘feel the blues’
By Sébastien Falletti
European companies operating in China
are becoming pessimistic, according to
a fresh survey by the EU chamber
The ‘golden age’ appears to be over.
The world’s second largest economy is
not the land of spectacular expansion and
hefty profits for EU companies any more,
according to a fresh survey conducted by
the EU Chamber of Commerce in China
(EUCCC). Amid slowing growth, European businesses operating in China are
seeing their profitability erode and are scaling back their investments, says the annual
‘Business confidence survey’ for 2014,
released on 29 May in Beijing. For the
first time in the history of the survey, more
companies noted that their Chinese profit
margins were lower than their companies’
global averages than the other way round.
The decline in profitability is apparent,
with only 63% of the EUCCC’s members
making profits last year, while the respec-
tive figure was 74% in 2010. Some 63% of
the companies have failed to increase their
profitability last year.
These declining figures cause pessimism among major European firms, even
leading some to rethink their strategy. “A
Chinese economic slowdown is a gamechanger that will fundamentally and necessarily alter corporate business strategies.
With costs rising and regulatory issues
continuing, European companies are starting to put expansion plans on hold,” said
Jörg Wuttke, the president of the EUCCC.
Growth expectations are at their lowest
level since the financial crisis and prospects
are gloomy. Only 31% of the companies
are optimistic about profitability in their
own sectors over the next two years. Recent
data showed that China’s economic growth
this year could miss the government target
of 7.5%. The new leadership, which took
over in 2013, welcomes this slower growth.
Its aim is to upgrade the country’s economy
through productivity gains and domestic
consumption. Yet, many analysts remain
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concerned that Beijing will not be able to
meet its ambitious goals.
Persistent discrimination against foreign
companies in the regulatory field is a key
factor behind this ‘China blues’, according to the EUCCC. In 2013, its members
missed out on €21.3 billion in revenues due
to regulatory barriers and a lack of market
access. “Most European companies feel that
domestic Chinese companies continue to
receive favourable treatment. The unpredictable legislative environment and the
discretionary enforcement of regulations are
identified as the two most significant regulatory challenges,” stressed the survey, conducted with Roland Berger Strategy Consultants. The Chinese leadership promised
ambitious reforms during its last plenum
in October 2013, including opening up
key sectors to foreign competition. Yet, the
EUCCC is losing patience and calling for
tangible improvements. “European firms
are yet to be convinced that real changes
will take place in the coming one to two
years,” said Wuttke. n
www.europolitics.info
12
Tuesday 3 June 2014 N° 4878 EUROPOLITICS
Obama coming to Europe to boost military alliances
By Brian Beary
Russia’s actions in Ukraine have
injected new impetus into EU-US
defence cooperation
The crisis in Ukraine “has given new
energy and impetus to the transatlantic alliance,” Ben Rhodes, US deputy
national security advisor said, briefing
journalists on President Barack Obama’s
trip to Poland, Belgium and France on 3-6
June. A key goal of his trip will be bolstering US military aid to Central and Eastern European countries, which remain
on edge following Russia’s annexation of
Crimea in March. The other top agenda
items are increasing US gas exports to
Europe to make it less reliant on Russian gas, and injecting momentum into
the ongoing EU-US talks for a free trade
agreement, the Transatlantic Trade and
Investment Partnership (TTIP).
The leaders of Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia,
the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary,
Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia and Slovakia
will meet with Obama in Warsaw, on 3
June. The timing and location are no accident: they will mark the 25th anniversary of
Poland’s multi-party elections that helped
usher in the end of Soviet, Communist
domination in Eastern Europe. Obama
has bilateral meetings scheduled with the
president of Poland and the newly-elected
President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.
On 4 June, the presidents of the European Commission and Council will join
the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, the
United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and the
US for a G7 summit in Brussels. Russia
has been excluded from this summit,
which was originally scheduled to take
place in Sochi, because of its annexation
of Crimea. France’s President Francois
Hollande and UK Prime Minister David
Cameron will have bilateral meetings with
Obama. A final gathering of transatlantic
leaders will occur in Normandy, on 6 June,
to commemorate the 70th anniversary of
D-Day. Russian President Vladimir Putin
will attend these ceremonies too. However,
the White House’s Rhodes insisted that
Obama would not meet with Putin individually. US Secretary of State John Kerry will
accompany Obama for the trip.
Asked by Europolitics if the renewed
focus on transatlantic defence signalled
a US ‘pivot back to Europe’, Rhodes
stressed that the so-called pivot policy that
Obama announced in early 2012 was never
intended as a pivot away from Europe, but
rather out of Iraq and Afghanistan after a
decade of fighting wars there. Earlier in
the week, Obama announced that he was
cutting US troop levels in Afghanistan from
32,000 to less than 1,000 by the time he
leaves office in January 2017 - just enough
to secure the US Embassy there.
While in Europe, Obama will discuss
with Poland and the Baltic nations how
to boost US military presence there. “We
seek to reaffirm our commitments with
our European allies,” said Rhodes. Asked
for specifics, he said “we don’t want to get
ahead of discussions”. In recent months,
the defence ministers of Poland, Estonia
and Norway have each, while in Washington, urged the US to augment its
military presence in Europe in response
to Russia’s increasingly robust military
manoeuvres in their neighbourhood.
Some on Capitol Hill, such as Republican Senators John McCain (Arizona) and
Bob Corker (Tennessee) support such
calls, while others, weary of a decade of
the costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
are less keen. n
US military in Europe
- 30,000 army, 30,000 air force, 7,000
navy = 67,000 total. At the end of the
Cold War in 1989, the US had 213,000
soldiers in Europe
- The troops are based mainly in Germany (40,800), Italy (10,700), and the
UK (8,700)
- The US also has 747 troops serving
with the NATO mission in Kosovo
- Missile defence assets in Europe
include radars in the Netherlands,
two ships in Spain, and interceptors
planned for Poland and Romania
Gas conflict: Ukraine pays US$768 mn to avoid escalation
By Jakob Schlandt
Talks continue in Brussels, Energy
Commissioner Oettinger is optimistic
An immediate escalation of the conflict
about the settling of the gas conflict between
Ukraine and Russia has been avoided by a
partial payment made by Ukraine. According
to Moscow, US$768 million was transferred
early on 2 June from Ukrainian Naftogaz
to Gazprom of Russia. According to Russian media reports, Gazprom’s CEO Alexei
Miller said the introduction of a prepayment
scheme for deliveries from Russia to Ukraine
www.europolitics.info
would be postponed until 9 June, leaving
more time to find an accord in the three-way
talks that include the European Commission. The negotiations continued at 14:00
om 2 June in Brussels, according to Energy
Commissioner Günther Oettinger. On 30
May, Oettinger stressed, after the last round
of talks in Berlin, that all the parties involved
showed “discernible goodwill” to enable
them to find a solution, but a “breakthrough”
had not been reached. Ukrainian Energy
Minister Yuriy Prodan said that “we feel there
might be a compromise” to be reached. Alexander Nowak, the Russian energy minister,
said that Russia and Gazprom were prepared
to “make a goodwill step” towards Ukraine.
On 1 June, Naftogaz announced that it had
sent Gazprom a proposal for a supplementary
agreement to the gas delivery contract that
was signed in 2009. The press release did not
provide details. The US$768 million paid by
Naftogaz is substantially lower than the US$2
billion proposed by the Commission last
week. But so far, Ukraine has been unwilling
to clear its gas payment arrears that have accumulated since November in absence of an
agreement on the price of the deliveries. The
sum now transferred settles Ukraine’s arrears
for February and March at a price of US$268
per thousand cubic metres. n
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13
EUROPOLITICS N° 4878 Tuesday 3 June 2014
EU agenda
Tuesday 3 June
COUNCIL
OF MINISTERS
POLITICAL AND SECURITY COMMITTEE
(PSC)
Brussels
EXERCISE EU PROMETHEUS 2014
31 May – 4 June, Athens
CEPOL CONFERENCE ON COMBATING
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
2 – 4 June, Athens
EUROPEAN SPATIAL PLANNING
OBSERVATION NETWORK (ESPON)
2 – 5 June, Nafplion, Greece
EUROPEAN
COMMISSION
TRAVEL AND VISITS
nJosé Manuel Barroso receives a delegation
of the European Youth Parliament
nJanez Potocnik delivers a speech at New
Environmentalism Summit (EGG, Bxl)
nJanez Potocnik delivers speech at Opening
Session of Green Week (EGG, Bxl)
nAndris Piebalgs receives Achim Steiner
Executive Director of the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP)
nNeelie Kroes gives speech at Automatica
2014 (International Trade Fair for Automation
and Mechatronics), Munich, Germany
nKristalina Georgieva is in Rome for the
World Food Programme Executive Board
Session
nJohannes Hahn in Turku: gives an opening
speech at the 5th Annual Forum of the EU
Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region; meets with
Jan Vapaavuori, Minister of Economic Affairs
of Finland; gives a Press Conference with Jan
Vapaavuori, Minister of Economic Affairs of
Finland, and Aleksi Randell, Mayor of Turku;
visits Turku Science Park Concept; goes on
a cruise through the archipelago to Turku
centre; visits ERDF project: Bio Refine Tech,
Molecular Plant Biology; attends the Logomo
Networking party in Forum Marinum where
Jyrki Katainen, Prime Minister of Finland,
will unveil, on a new landmark sculpture
devoted to Saving the Sea
nMichel Barnier receives Jeremy Darroch,
CEO of British Sky Broadcasting plc
nConnie Hedegaard receives Achim Steiner,
UNEP Executive Director
nLászló Andor in Paris: participates in
the conference “L’Europe s’engage en
France: Initiative pour l’Emploi des JeunesProgrammes 2014-2020” ; meets with
François Rebsamen, Minister of Labour,
Employment and Social Dialogue of France
nDacian Ciolos receives representatives of
Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa
nNeven Mimica receives Kurt Eliasson,
President of Cecodhas Housing Europe and
Sven Bergenstrahle, President of International
Union of Tenants
nAndroulla Vassiliou meets Jeremy Darroch,
CEO of British Sky Broadcasting plc.
nAndroulla Vassiliou delivers opening
speech at the International Sport and Culture
Association (ISCA) conference on “Crosssector Action for Sport & Physical Activity
Participation” (Microsoft Centre)
COURT OF JUSTICE
09:30
Grand Chamber
nHearing C-196/13 Law governing the
institutions
Commission v Italy
09:30
Fourth Chamber
nOpinion C-328/13 Social policy
Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund
10:30
Grand Chamber
nHearing C-378/13 Law governing the
institutions
Commission v Greece
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ECONOMIC AND
SOCIAL COMMITTEE
09:00-16:00
Madi Sharma, Ivan Kokalov & Ákos
Topolánszky, 1st meeting for the pilot
project on ‘Better inclusion of Roma’,
Ministry of Social Affairs and Health,
Kirkkokatu 14, Helsinki and visit to Vantaa
Finland, Vantaa (FI)
09:45-13:00
Quaestors meeting, JDE 4041
14:30-17:30
Online communication and social media,
BvS 221
COMMITTEE
OF THE REGIONS
09:00-17:00
Joint Consutative Committee EU - former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, MK
Skopje
CONFERENCES
AND SEMINARS
MASTERCLASS IN EUROPEAN
TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATION
17 - 19 June, Brussels
This 3-day masterclass provides a
comprehensive overview of regulatory
issues and developments in the
telecommunications sector, using reallife examples and case studies from the
European Union. Topics covered include
next generation access, roaming, market
reviews, radio spectrum policy and net
neutrality.
Organiser: Cullen International
www.cullen-international.com > Regulatory
Training > Masterclass in European
telecommunications regulation
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DISCOVER OUR NEW
WEBSITE
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Follow us
Rue d’Arlon, 53 | B-1040 Brussels – Belgium | T: +32(0)2 737 77 09
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16
Tuesday 3 June 2014 N° 4878 EUROPOLITICS
Nascent solar energy sector totally undermined in Ukraine?
Inaction simply isn’t an option
Few countries need an alternative to
fossil-based fuel more than Ukraine. So
four years ago, when the first commercial solar energy plant was built,
it wasn’t just environmentalists
who cheered.
Since then, Ukraine has
been plunged into political turmoil, and energy has
become a highly politicised
issue. The country needs to
wean itself off gas from Russia
more than ever.
Yet a law is being debated in
the Ukrainian capital Kyiv that
could totally undermine the
nascent solar energy sector,
and if adopted would cost
investors and the European
Union tax payer billions of euro.
The law was drafted before this
May’s presidential elections. It will
be high on the agenda of the new
parliament in Kyiv. Growing tensions
between pro and anti- Russian factions during the past week may in fact
hasten the adoption of this law.
The problem is partly to do with
personal enmity, but ultimately it’s
a question of money. Feed-in tariffs
set in 2009 under the Tymoshenko
regime priced solar energy at 46 eurocents per kilowatt hour – but the last
government put in a gradual reduction
whereby in 2013 it was tapered to the
now 33 eurocent rate for new installations, but this is still higher than
the price paid for energy produced by
burning Russian gas (18 eurocents).
The goal of feed-in tariffs is to offer
cost-based compensation to renewable
energy producers, providing price certainty and long-term contracts that
help finance renewable energy and
encourage investors.
The Ukrainian draft law aims to cut
the solar tariff sharply for large-scale
solar energy parks, and to apply the
reduced rate retroactively. The main
motivation appears to be revenge, and
Lanphere: “The EU will foot the bill in the end”
the belief that officials in the previous
government set artificially favorable
conditions for solar.
Recently the Ukrainian press has
accused Andriy Klyuev, a politician
and businessman closely linked to
former President Yanukovich, of
exploiting the feed-in tariff scheme.
Clamping down on the tariffs has
been portrayed as a clamp down on
corruption.
Of course, Ukraine must crack
down on corruption, but this is a
matter for the country’s courts, not its
lawmakers.
Slashing the feed-in tariff for solar
completely ignores Ukraine’s longterm interests and punishes all investors before there has been any due
process of law. It is very short-sighted,
and it will have a chilling effect on
future investment in Ukraine’s vital
renewable energy sector.
The bill under consideration in
Kyiv aims to halve the current feed-in
tariff, and in the process erase all the
assurances the government gave to
investors that their investment would
be fairly treated.
If the law goes through then companies like CEE, which generates nearly
38% of the solar energy produced in Ukraine from large
solar parks, would be put out
of business.
CEE is based in Austria.
It would incur losses of over
€2 billion. Banks and private investors from Europe,
China, the Middle East and
from within Ukraine itself
would lose a similar amount.
But it will be the European
Union that foots the bill in
the end.
EU loans intended to prop
up Ukraine’s perilous economy will be diverted to bail out the
local banks that would face massive losses. What is more, the loss in
energy from solar will effectively need
to be picked up by more gas imports
from, among others, Russia. Again, a
further diversion of EU loans.
So far, the EU doesn’t appear to be
too bothered by what is happening to
Ukraine’s solar sector. It is ploughing
billions of euro of aid into Ukraine
to stop the country from reaching a
financial meltdown. Yet the enactment of this new law would only
hasten that outcome.
Europe must engage with the
companies investing in Ukraine’s
energy future, and sit down with the
Ukrainian government to help shape
its energy policy. Inaction simply isn’t
an option. n
© Clean Economic Energy AG
By Scott Lanphere (*)
(*) Scott Lanphere is managing
director of Clean Economic Energy AG
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