EU news in February 2019

What happened in the EU in February 2019?

So Brexit will definitely be in the headlines next month: the deadline to find a deal is by the end of March. So what happened this month? The British Prime Minister still believes her deal is the best deal, and wants to negotiate further with the EU. But the EU probably won't be giving in a lot... (article)


© Choices...

One of the possibilities is to extend the deadline, which the EU would be willing to do. But every EU country needs to agree with this... (article and article). The no-deal scenario is also possible, but this will have many consequences (article).

Some good news: the European Parliament will publish its meetings with lobbyists, previously secret. It is something the Commission already does (article). And a climate activist tells the EU it should do way more for the climate (article). It's always good to be politically active.

In the battle between liberals and 'illiberals', read up on developments in Poland (article) and an interesting opinion. An 'illiberal'-minded news agency, Breitbart, pointed out the politicians of the European Commission will be allowed to campaign in the elections for the European Parliament in May (article).

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EU news in January 2019

What happened in the EU in January 2019?

Ah, Brexit. It will remain in the newspapers' headlines until the UK is out of the EU. So in January, the British Prime Minister presented her deal to leave the EU to the UK's Parliament... and the Parliament said a big fat no (article).

So what's going to happen next? No one really knows, and time is ticking...


Celebration of Romania's presidency © EU 2019   /  Source: EC - Audiovisual Service   /   Photo: Etienne Ansotte​

Romania took over the presidency of the Council for six months, despite the ongoing corruption according to this article. The Parliament wants them to focus on the budget and on the future of the European Union (article). Because it's not going well nowadays? Yes, according to this long article.

One of the secret words to scare all the political leaders of the EU countries, is the t-word: taxes. It's a very sensitive topic because it's one of the few things the EU countries have almost complete power, and the EU doesn't. If one EU country says no, no action is taken on taxes. The Commission wants to end this (article).

By the way, it was the 20th anniversary of the Euro. Happy birthday, said the European Commission!

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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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