EU News December 2018

What happened in the EU in December 2018?

Europe's nationalists/conservatives scored several points last month. Hungary and Poland blocked a statement for an equal treatment of non-heterosexuals on the internet (article). Plus, many EU countries didn't sign the UN's migration pact, fearing it would leave them out of control of immigration issues (article).


The Austrian Chancellor, left, first not to sign the migration pact © EU, 2018/Photo: Etienne Ansotte

That's just not to start with the biggest topic: Brexit. The deadline to come to an agreement, 30 March, is coming fast. In case of no-deal, the Commission proposed a plan for the sectors that would be damaged by a no-deal (article).

In the meantime, a top EU lawyer from the EU's Court of Justice said the UK could stay in if it wanted to. The country wouldn't even need to ask the other EU countries to stay in (article). Which led to diplomats in the EU to think the UK will stay in after a second referendum (article).

Because many big digital companies like Facebook are located in EU countries with the lowest tax rates, some want to tax them a little more. However, a plan from Germany and France to do so failed (article).

Do you know an 18-year old in the EU? They can travel by train for over 6 months in the EU for free by winning tickets in a competition. It's one way of the EU to connect with its people (article).

EU news in November 2018

What happened in the European Union in November 2018?

Brexit is coming... The deadline for finding a deal is in March. And it's approaching fast. In November, the British PM and the EU found a deal. Basically, the UK would still be part of the EU for about two years so they both have time to find a good trade deal.

The British PM and the Commission's President © EU 2018   /  Source: EC - Audiovisual Service   /   Photo: Lukasz Kobus

However, the UK's parliament will still need to agree on 11 December. And this will be difficult, because many people there think it isn't a good deal. The EU's Parliament will need to agree too as well as the EU countries, but these won't be as difficult as the UK's parliament. The BBC made a good overview here.

The French president said he wants a real European army (more). There is some form of working together, but nothing big. It isn't new, even in 1950 France proposed a European army. The problem is: not many other countries want it too, outside of the NATO. The German leader did support the plan though (more).

In the game liberals vs illiberals, France's far-right party won a poll. It's bigger than the ruling party (more). Also in the news: according to an analyst, Poland's illiberals are starting to lose (more).

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EU News in October 2018

What happened in the EU in October 2018?

In 2009, an economic crisis started. One of the reasons was that EU countries spent too much money they didn't have. That's why they decided to let the Commission check if their budgets are ok. If not, the EU countries can get fines.


This is the Commissioner who said 'no' to the Italian budget © European Union , 2018   /   Photo: Yorgos Karahalis

This month, the Commission said to Italy their budget wasn't ok. It's the first time the Commission goes so far. It will be interesting to see how it develops, because the new Italian leaders said they weren't going to change the budget (article). To be continued...

Remember the EU's division between liberals and anti-liberals? France's far-right will work with the American President's former help (article) while the French and the Dutch leaders are forming a liberal dream team (article).

Good news for the environment: by 2021, the EU won't have any plastics straws, forks and other plastic tools to be used just one. The European Parliament just gave its 'yes' (article).

Funny: a British politician compared the EU to the USSR, because the Soviet Union kept its people as prisoners. Just to be clear: any country can leave the EU. It only takes 2 years to get out.

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EU News in September 2018

What happened in the EU in September 2018?

On 11 September, the European Parliament invited Hungary's Prime Minister to talk about the situation of Hungary's democracy. Many accused the leader to centralise power too much (read also this). So a majority said the EU should give Hungary a penalty (article).

No one really believed Hungary would get any kind of penalty from the EU. Even if it was a hard debate, some of Hungary's friends will never agree to it. So it was a way for the politicians to show what they thought. Interested to see the debate? Here are the videos.​


© EU, 2018   /   Photo: Etienne Ansotte

Even if many of his colleagues criticised the Hungarian leader, they sat at the same table just one week later as in the picture above. Business as usual. But the debate was so hard, many forgot that the President of the Commission gave his yearly speech the day after. In that speech, the President said the UK can't pick and choose with Brexit (article).

A tip to read for those that like to read long but interesting articles: here's how Poland (and Europe) got more conflicted over the last 20 years (article).

Some good news also: there's a plan to make public science available to everyone by 2020 (article).

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EU News in August 2018

What happened in the EU in August 2018?

August is a quiet month for politics. Politicians are on vacation. People working in the administration too. The EU is no exception to the rule.



Two interesting topics though. In the EU, clocks have to change one hour in March and one hour back in October. The EU asked citizens what they thought, and many (4 out of 5) said they wanted this to stop. The Commission proposes to let the EU countries decide themselves whether they keep this yearly change or not (article) (article).

The EU also has a role in international affairs. The USA's president wants to give penalties to companies who do business with or in Iran. The EU's chief of foreign affairs said it wanted EU companies to do exactly the opposite: do more business with and in Iran (article).

And of course, Brexit. The United Kingdom leaving the EU will stay in the EU news until the deadline, 19 March 2019. So what happened in August? The most important is that the British government looked at what would happen if the Brits don't find a deal with the EU. As you may expect, it will cost the Brits some things, like higher fees for the UK's credit card users (read more here).

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EU News in July 2018

What happened in the EU in July 2018? Brexit... It's bad for the economy: it takes years to make good business or trade deals with other countries. That is why politicians are showing their bad side. There's more to lose than to win. So they blame each other, saying it's the others that are making the mistakes. The Prime Minister blames her party members who don't agree with her. Some blamed the Prime Minister and left the British government. So some media blamed the leavers for not being responsible. The EU negotiators also blame the British Prime Minister for not making enough progress. Even the USA's president blamed the Prime Minister. Maybe they should focus on making a good deal instead of playing the blame-game? The EU gave a good example by signing a trade deal with Japan(article). Such a deal takes about 7 years to work... Almost lost in the Brexit news: Austria is the new president of the EU countries. They will lead many meetings. What's important for Austria in their presidency? Migration, digitalisation and the countries to the south-east of the EU (read more). The European Commission gave Google a fine of $5 100 000 000. Because they don't give enough chances to their competition with their software for mobile phones, called Android (article). It's also a way to get money for the EU's budget. The European Parliament missed an opportunity. The politicians who win the elections get over €4000 each month to pay for an office in their home country so they can keep in touch with their voters. However, they're not forced to say how they spent the money and the Parliament won't force them in the near future (more info). A proposal for more transparency is off the table (article). Question: what are asylum seekers and refugees? People who want to get protection and stay in another country can seek asylum. Some of those are refugees because they'll be tortured, killed or hurt in another horrible way in their home country. Countries who signed the 'Geneva Convention' - all EU countries did - should give protection to refugees. More info here. Send me your question about the EU here! Keep up with the EU news on my Facebook page. Want this news in your inbox? Subscribe here.

EU News in June 2018

What happened in the EU in June 2018?

At the end of the month, the EU's leaders met. The meeting is called the European Council. The most important topic they talked about was asylum. All the leaders had different plans: Italy wants other EU countries to take a part of their refugees, others don't.

© EU 2018, the EU leaders even work while eating because the meetings last 2 days. In front: the president of the European Council.

So what did they agree on? Not much. They will study the possibility of having 'platforms' outside the EU to check who is allowed to enter the EU. EU countries won't be forced to take the refugees to their countries (article). Leaders also agreed on other topics and got information on Brexit.

If you help asylum seekers in Hungary, you can now get in jail for one year. The Hungarian government also made it impossible to relocate refugees via the EU (article). Read also my new article on how Hungary used migrants to change democracy here.

The USA's President decided to let the EU countries pay 25% extra for selling aluminum and steel in the USA. The EU is in charge of trade. As an answer it lets the USA pay more on selling orange juice, motorcycles and other products in the EU (article).

In the United Kingdom, the conservative government has a small party from Northern Ireland. Its leader said she wanted business (trade) as usual with the UK after Brexit. This can be difficult if Northern Ireland wants to trade as usual with the EU too (article).

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EU news in May 2018

What happened in the European Union in May?

Facebook's big chief who started the company, Mark Zuckerberg, came to the European Parliament. But many people working at the Parliament complained he didn't answer the questions well (article).

The EU has many conflicts. The Parliament against the EU countries. The north against the south. Left-wing against right-wing. However, a new one is getting in the news: 'liberals' against 'nationalists'. Liberals typically want EU countries to work more together, nationalists the opposite and are against immigration. At the liberal side: the Commission, France, Germany, and others. Two nationalists are Hungary and Poland (article).

Fun fact: they both say they're defending democracy. For example, Nationalists say they defend the will of the people. Liberals say they protect the independence of the judges. How did this conflict come in the news? With the proposed budget, the Commission wants to give part of the money only to countries that have a democracy with a liberal style (article) (another interesting article here).


© European Union , 2018   /   Etienne Ansotte

Is this conflict hard in the EU? Yes and no. The leaders of the Commission and Hungary are in the same European political party (see the picture, the two on the left). But in Hungary, some organisations that don't work for profit (NGOs) are being bullied so they have to leave (article). One of the consequences of this conflict is that the European migration laws aren't going to change soon - even if everyone thinks they need to change (article).

Some countries will get less money anyway from the European budget (for 2021-2027). Because some parts are only given to poorer countries. And Hungary and Poland became richer. Italy, on the other hand, will get more (article) (article). The European Parliament also looked at the proposal for the budget (article). Getting everyone's okay for the budget is a very long process - so no quick okays can be expected.

The Commission, the EU's government, proposed two new interesting plans: one is to have 15000 European 18-year olds to travel for free for one month in the EU this summer (article). Another is to ban some plastics that are only used once to have less pollution (article).

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EU news in April 2018

What happened in the European Union in April?

The United Kingdom is now paying more than it is receiving from the EU. Since the country is going to leave the EU, what should happen? Who will pay the 12 to 14 billion euro gap? Some think the EU's budget should be smaller - especially those that pay more than receive, like the UK now. Like the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and Austria. Others think everyone should pay more. For example Germany and France (read more).


The budget Commissioner © EU, 2018 / photo: Jure Makovec

But the negotiations start with a budget proposition for many years from the European Commission (the EU's government). In this case, a budget from 2021 to 2027. On Wednesday 2 May, the Commission will propose it. After this proposition is made, the European Parliament and the EU countries will negotiate for a very long time. The Commission hopes to have the EU budget 2021-2027 ready by the elections in May 2019 (read more).

The European Parliament can invite political leaders for a chat. This time, France's president came. He said he wanted to work more closely together (read more, see the full videos here). But not all the leaders of the EU countries agree. For example, the Polish Foreign Minister wants more power for the EU countries and less for the central organisations like the Commission (read more).

In the Brexit negotiations, the main negotiator for the EU said there should be a real solution for the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. But the negotiators aren't agreeing by when. If there is no solution, Ireland and Northern Ireland will have difficulties to do business together. Now, there is no real border. So it would be strange for everyone if from one day to another, you will have border controls to get just across the border (read more).

Sexual harassment has been in the news for a while. But it doesn't only happen in Hollywood. That is why the EU has a specialised agency to fight it. Some of their employees made complaints at the agency... about being sexually harassed at the agency. Shame on you (read more)!

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EU News in March 2018

What happened in the European Union in March?

The top politicians of the European Union organisations saw the Turkish president Erdogan in a meeting. Turkey and the EU have a long history. Turkey asked in 1987 (yes, that's right!) to be part of the EU. Today, they are still negotiating. One of the biggest problems is the situation in the north of Cyprus. Turkey invaded a part of Cyprus, and that part has no normal relationships with the rest of the EU. Recently, Turkey and the EU made a deal on migrants. The EU gives money, and the EU sends a part of the migrants that come via Turkey back (more info here).

EU leaders and Turkey's president (red tie, like the Turkish flag) © EU, 2018

And what happened at the meeting? Not much. The EU leaders and Turkey disagree on many things. However, the Turkish president said he still wants Turkey to be part of the EU in the future (article) (article).

The EU organised another 'summit' (see previous newsletter). The leaders of France and Germany want to reform the Euro. Both countries want to work more closely together (article), but many other EU countries didn't want that (article). On the summit, they did agree to some reforms. For example, there could be an EU guarantee for people having money in the bank (article). In the history of the EU, France and Germany have changed a lot together.

The most powerful person in the European administration has been replaced, but not in a very transparent way (see previous newsletter). Many politicians of the European Parliament criticised this way of doing business (article). They asked the European Commission to explain this (article). In April, the whole European Parliament will vote on a resolution. Which means it's probably not going to be an issue anymore.

One of the (good) arguments to have the EU, is that it keeps the peace on the European continent. Yes, since the invention of the modern state at the end of the medieval ages, there hasn't been such a long period of peace. However, critics say, the EU produces a lot of weapons and sells them abroad. Which is not so peaceful. The number of weapons sold abroad is increasing (article).

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EU News in February 2018

What happened in the European Union in February?

3-4 times a year, the leaders of the EU countries gather to decide what to do next. So this is one of the most powerful organisations in the EU, because Presidents and Prime Ministers go to the meeting or 'summit'. This time, it was on 23 February and all the official information is here.

Of course, journalists write about the meetings. One important topic was how to select the president of the European Commission (the 'EU government'). Now, each political group proposes a candidate to become the next president. That candidate is called 'Spitzenkandidat' in the EU's special language.

The president of the Council (left) and Parliament (right) © EU

The EU parliament said before the summit it only wanted to have as the Commission's president one of those proposed Spitzenkandidaten. But, the leaders disagreed at the meeting: they want to keep the power to propose any candidate to become the president. Even if it was not one of those candidates. And in no way this procedure should be automatic. Read more articles here and here.

On the summit, the leaders also agreed that the budget should focus on security and migration (article).

Who's on top of the European administration? It's an important job: there's over 30 000 people working at the European Commission. The job is called Secretary General and there's a new one: Martin Selmayr. He used to be working for the Commission's President. And the way he got the job, was very fast and not so transparent. 

French President Macron wants to create a new party in the European Parliament, just like he did in France. However, he will have to find a lot of friends to be significant (article).

How corrupt is each EU country? Transparency International made an interesting report, check it out here. Denmark is seen as the least corrupt EU country, and Bulgaria as the most (article).

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EU News in January 2018

What happened in the European Union in January?

Bulgaria is the new president of the European Union since 1 January. It changes every 6 months, and means that all the meetings of the EU countries (the Council) are organised by the Bulgarians. For the Bulgarian diplomats, it's an opportunity to show they can get a lot of decisions done in the EU. There's always a website for each presidency, the new one is here.

The Bulgarian Prime Minister with the EU president © EU 2018

A new presidency is also a moment for journalists to take a look at the country. Bulgaria, the EU's poorest country, has been criticised because they might not do enough against corruption (article). 

What happens with the 73 seats in the European Parliament when the United Kingdom leaves the EU? No final decision yet, but a committee (a selected number of people in Parliament) have decided the Parliament should shrink. Plus, some of the remaining seats could be voted for in so-called trans-national lists.

These lists would allow all EU citizens to vote for those seats. Now they can only vote for the ones reserved for their country. If it becomes reality, some politicians will start campaigns in the whole of Europe. But not yet, because the whole Parliament still has to vote for the proposal in the beginning of February. Plus, the EU countries also have to agree (article).

Sometimes, several EU countries hold meetings with each other. One of these groups is called the 'Club Med', short for Mediterranean (article). All the southern countries had a meeting with their political leaders to mainly talk about migration. In the press conference after the meeting, they said they wanted to have better EU migration decisions (article).

In Brexit news, the EU agreed there could be a transition period after 31 March 2019. That is the date on which the UK has to legally leave the EU. In that transition period, the UK will have to continue to follow EU rules, but won't be able to make those rules (article).

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