The week ahead: Fit for 55!

Who hasn’t gained a few kilos and lost fitness over the years? We all know that we need to cut down on consumption, walk - not take the car, decide on a reward scheme to encourage good behaviour. Easy to say, but as we know, difficult to do. 

Despite the name of the package ,- actually the mother and father of all packages - ‘Fit for 55’ is not about tackling Europe’s growing obesity problem, it’s about reducing the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030. This is an important marker on our way to reaching our perfect weight, sorry, carbon neutrality by 2050; hopefully a svelte and carbon neutral Europe will be able to stroll down a mediterranean beach that is no more than 1.5°C hotter than today, in a bikini/mankini. Europe hopes that by including a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) others will look on admiringly and make a similar effort, we won’t be letting any flabby people on the beach. 

In the meantime, the EU has already enacted its climate law, a legally binding target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This is the equivalent of buying yourself a wedding dress that is two sizes smaller than your current size, for a wedding that is around three months away. A stretch, but when failure is not an option, you *can* say no to that extra slice of cake. 

So take a seat, next week there will be no fewer than a dozen proposals. 

To be fair, the EU is saying it’s not just about deprivations, there will be more jobs, more innovation, more growth. 

There are many bones of contention that will be picked over during the coming months, for those who have to acquaint themselves with the detail it will be a veritable feast of abbreviations. Many iterations of some of these proposals have been leaked, though deluged might be a more appropriate term.

Bulgaria and Moldova

Two important elections are taking place this weekend. EU member Bulgaria, which has been plagued with accusations of corruption from all sides, will go to the polls in a snap election on 12 July. A number of anti-corruption candidates are standing. It will be interesting to see what happens. Bulgaria has been a barrier to North Macedonia’s membership of the EU, this may be pre-election posturing, so maybe we could see real progress on enlargement once a new government is in place. 

Pro-European Moldovan President Maia Sandu called a snap election for 11 July. There is currently a stand off between pro-European and pro-Russian forces in the former Soviet bloc country. The parliament is dominated by lawmakers aligned with pro-Russian former president Igor Dodon. 

Council

The Eurogroup will meet on Monday and take stock of banking, fiscal positions, the euro as a digital currency and will also be having an exchange with Janet Yellen, the United States Secretary of the Treasury. The Economic and Finance ministers (ECOFIN) meeting on the following day will discuss the Recovery and Resilience Facility and adopt the first batch of Council implementing decisions giving the council imprimatur to the first batch of national recovery and resilience plans.

Foreign ministers will meet on Monday to mull over the EU’s response to the latest developments concerning Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Israel, South Caucasus and Lebanon, as well as discussing the EU’s strategic compass and digital technologies. 

European Parliament back in committee

Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans will present the Fit for 55 package to the Environment and Public Health Committee.

The Environment and Public Health Committee will vote on new legislation to better manage serious cross-border health threats, strengthening EU agencies ability to respond. 

EU-Russia relations will be in focus, again. The Foreign Affairs Committee will review the EU-Russia strategy agreed at the last European Council. Let’s just say that as long as Putin is in power, relations with the EU will be tense. Similarly, the EU-China strategy will also be on the menu.

The Industry and Research Committee will vote on the Data Governance Act. The proposal sets the conditions for the reuse of data of public bodies, private companies and citizens. 

Coming cases

European courts will be issuing some important decisions: on Nike and state aid via a tax ruling; Ryanair’s objection to COVID-19 state aid being used to prop up airlines; laws preventing visible signs of religious belief, notably headscarves as a form of indirect discrimination and an infringement of religious freedom; the compatability with Poland’s disciplinary regime for judges and the rule of law; for the Brexit watchers, there will be a ruling on the right to social assistance of EU citizens in the UK after Brexit.

There will also be a decision concerning the shape of a lipstick container. I regret to say that I never even noticed Guerlain’s distinctive lipstick casing - but they will find out about whether an oblong, tapered and cylindrical container is worthy of an EU trademark.

Share this article: