EU News in December 2017

What happened in the European Union in December?

In Austria, a new government was formed with a far-right political party. When the same party came into the government in 2000, it was a scandal in the EU. Now, very few reacted. One reason is that the Austrian government is pro-European Union (article).

An EU plan from 2015 forces EU countries to take some asylum seekers. Not all EU countries agreed with this plan. But all EU countries agreed earlier that those kind of decisions should be taken with a 'big' majority. So while some say the decision was not democratic, others say it is. Because Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland didn't want to take any of those asylum seekers, the Commission sues the countries (article).

The 2015 plan was only for 2 years, so now the EU has to decide what's going to happen next. But because it's very sensitive, there are many options. Some want a similar plan. Others think a bigger reform is needed (article).

The EU diplomatic chief 

© European Union , 2017   /  Source: EC - Audiovisual Service   /   Photo: Mauro Bottaro

The USA said Jerusalem is Israel's capital. The EU's diplomatic chief said as a reaction that Jerusalem is the capital of both Israel and Palestine (article).

In 2013, the EU organisations promised to have 5% less planned employees by 2017. Indeed, the EU fulfilled its promise. But planned employees are not the same as real employees. For many reasons, a lot of EU organisations employed non-planned employees. For example, Croatia joined the EU. Or an overload of work due to the migration crisis. So the result is that the EU has a few more 'real' employees than in 2013 (article).

In Brexit news, the UK and the EU agreed on a few items, like how much the UK will pay the EU. The agreement was important so they could start to prepare talks about trade (article). Those talks are important for those in the EU who do business with the UK, and those Brits that do business with the EU. Without trade agreement, they have to stop their business. Negotiations will not start before March (article).

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EU news in October & November 2017

What happened in the European Union in October and November?

The European Parliament said Poland should watch out. The Polish government wants to change the way Polish judges work with a few laws. The European Parliament and the European Commission think the judges will be much less independent if the laws are in place. However, it's still a long way before Poland could get a punishment. The next step is that a part of the European Parliament (a Committee) will write a report (article).

Since the United Kingdom is leaving the EU, they have to settle their accounts. When the UK was still in the EU, they agreed to pay for the pensions of the persons working at the EU's government and for a lot of projects that aren't finished yet. So, should the UK still pay for those? And how do you calculate how much it is? That's the so-called 'Brexit divorce bill', and it's what is being negotiated now.

The EU first want a deal on this. And only when this deal is done, the EU wants to talk about how to trade with the UK after it leaves (article).

In other Brexit news, two EU agencies know where they will move. Because the UK will no longer be in the EU, the two agencies will go to Paris and Amsterdam. EU agencies are there to take care of specific tasks. For example, the agency that goes to Amsterdam is the European Medicines Agency. It checks the medicines in the EU (article). 

EU countries promised to spend more money in defence in order to work more together. This is part of a response to Brexit. The army is one of the areas in which the EU doesn't do much together, compared to the other areas like trade or farming (article).

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EU news in September 2017

What happened in September in the European Union?

• The president of the European Commission made a speech. This speech happens each year and is called the State of the Union. The president said he wants the EU to work more closely together (Full speech here​). The EU countries' reacted​ differently: some like the idea, others don't. 
• The UK's political leader Theresa May also gave a speech​ about an important EU topic: Brexit. The UK will leave the EU at the latest in March 2019. However, May doesn't want to change too much the two years after (article​). 

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These two negotiate Brexit... © European Union , 2017   /  Source: EC - Audiovisual Service   /   Photo: Lukasz Kobus​​

• Germany had elections​, leaving their political leader Angela Merkel fewer options to continue to rule her country. In other news, she said​ the EU should work closer together when dealing with countries like China and Russia, possibly because of the unpredictable president of the USA.
• Some in the European Parliament want to allow for European election lists, meaning a French person could for example vote for a Romanian candidate (article​). Because of Brexit, some seats reserved in the European Parliament could be used like this.

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