EU legislative process is not fit for electoral campaigns

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Editor’s Take: EU legislation is not fit for electoral campaigns

“The vote is never the last vote” – is what you can often hear in the so-called Brussels bubble when following the legislative path of an EU file.

The current EU legislative process is extremely tiring and long, with many stages of approval over a long period of time. In the best scenario, from the adoption by the European Commission to the publication in the EU journal, a law goes through a negotiation period of one year to a year and a half.

This best scenario period of EU negotiations is a lifetime for real-world electoral dynamics.

In addition, complicated files usually take more than a year and a half of negotiations, and can even exceed the five years of the EU legislative mandate.

Therefore, it can happen that after reaching an agreement among EU institutions, a group of member states can change their mind and try to block a file, for instance, for domestic electoral purposes, when EU ministers and the European Parliament have to formally approve the interinstitutional agreement.

This is what is happening in Germany with the liberals. According to Handelsblatt, the Free Democratic Party (FDP), in coalition with the Greens and the Socialists in the government, has the intention to block almost 14 legislative EU files before the end of the mandate.

Most of the files regard sensitive issues on sustainability and employment, such as the EU Corporate Due Diligence Directive, the rules for platform workers, and the laws on other Green Deal files.

According to the rules of the tripartite coalition, if one political party opposes a vote in Brussels, the whole government has to abstain or vote against it. In addition, Germany is a country whose move is often followed by many others, as was the case with the EU Corporate Due Diligence Directive last Friday (9 February).

FDP, which is currently not performing well in the polls, is deliberately blocking strategic EU legislation for electoral purposes, in a move that could in one second waste years of negotiations on challenging matters, delaying their approval for years.

The EU is often mentioned as a global example for legislation rather than for EU politics. Because, compared to other continents, it has progressive legislation, such as in the field of data protection or, from now, on Artificial Intelligence regulation – the first such continent-wide law in the world.

However, if this pattern is maintained, the EU risks losing this primacy and also failing to deliver laws after ‘long and stressful’ negotiations.

The EU legislative path needs to be reformed, at least to make it more sustainable for the staff involved in the negotiations. This is unlikely to happen in the next legislative mandate, given the expected surge of the far-right that is usually against any changes within EU institutions.

With that in mind, are German liberals really ready to set this precedent in the EU?

We will have a definite answer when Europeans head to the polls in June.

Who is Electioneering

TikTok launches ‘local-language election centres’ in the App. Tik Tok announced the opening of “a local language Election Centre in-app for each of the 27 individual EU member states to ensure people can easily separate fact from fiction,” the social media platform announced on Wednesday (14 February).

Last week, Euractiv reported on the decision by the European Parliament to use the application to fight disinformation, despite TikTok being banned last year from EU institutions’ corporate devices.

Also, US President Joe Biden announced the use of the app for elections despite cybersecurity concerns.

Capitals-in-brief

Poland struggles to reach agreement on recovery fund timeline. Poland is expected to face further delays in receiving the first tranche of €6 million allocated under the Recovery and Resilience Plan as the government and the European Commission struggle with unresolved issues, Polish media reported.

France’s Sarkozy guilty – again – of illegal campaign financing. France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy was found guilty of illegal campaign financing by the Paris Court of Appeal on Wednesday (14 February), and given a one-year prison sentence.

Irish hospital researchers discover new AMR bacteria. Researchers at Ireland’s University of Limerick have discovered a new species of bacteria resistant to antibiotics. The discovery was made at UL’s School of Medicine and identified a novel antibiotic-resistant bacterial species capable of colonising patients in a hospital setting.

Ukraine says it destroyed Russian landing warship in Black Sea. Ukraine destroyed a Russian landing warship off the coast of occupied Crimea in an operation with naval drones that breached the vessel’s port side on Wednesday (14 February) and caused it to start sinking, Kyiv’s military spy agency and armed forces said.

Cyprus could produce first natural gas as soon as 2026, minister says. Cyprus could start producing its first natural gas as soon as 2026, and plans to participate in a high-powered electricity cable project linking the eastern Mediterranean to continental Europe, its energy minister told Reuters.

Inside the institutions

Interview with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on EU elections. In case you missed it, you can watch here the interview with European Parliament President Roberta Metsola on EU elections and legislation.

EU Commission mulls cloud providers regulation, update of fair share tax. Looking into how technology will impact the EU’s telecom industry, the Commission has put into writing its thoughts regarding the regulation of cloud providers and an updated version of the fair share tax.

EU probe finds most influencers skirting Internal Market rules. Watching a favourite influencer chow down on the latest fast food fad or cocktail may feel like entertainment, but those posts are likely adverts in disguise, the EU said on Wednesday (14 February).

New EU migration rules loosen protections for minors in gathering biometrics. The EU’s new migration rules make it mandatory for EU border guards to gather biometrics from irregular migrants over the age of six, even allowing for “proportionate coercion” if a child is resisting, according to the consolidated legislative text.

EU should seek legal framework to end unpaid traineeships, MEP says. A legally binding instrument to ensure quality traineeships in the EU is needed to prevent precariousness and abuse of young people in work, Renew MEP Monica Semedo told Euractiv in an interview.

Europe ‘getting more dependent on China’ for clean tech, EU climate chief warns. The EU is getting more dependent on China in its quest to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and switch to green technologies, the EU’s climate chief Wopke Hoekstra has warned, saying this is becoming “problematic” going forward.

Belgian EU presidency wants concrete action in future health workforce strategy. The Belgian EU presidency is working to lay a foundation for a future EU health workforce strategy and aims to ramp up action, in contrast to the limited Council conclusions on the same topic in 2010.

What we are reading

European elections: Four years later, Brexit stands as a warning to Europe, writes Le Monde.

TikTok Fights Misinformation, Misleading AI-Generated Content With E.U. Election Centers, Armani Syed writes for the Time Magazine.

Tusk’s Poland still has a lot of work to do on rule of law, Elena Crespi and Eliza Rutynowska write for EU Observer.

The next week in politics

Busy week at the Council. Foreign affairs council on Monday (19 February), and informal meeting of tourism ministers on Monday and Tuesday (19-20 February). General affairs council and EU-Georgia association council on Tuesday (20 February). Informal meeting of economic and financial affairs ministers from Thursday to Saturday (22-24 February). Eventually, Trade affairs council from Sunday until Thursday (25-29 February)

Political groups and committee meetings at the European Parliament next week in Brussels

European Left General Assembly in Ljubljana next week on Saturday and Sunday (24-25 February)

Thanks for reading. If you’d like to contact us for leaks, tips or comments, drop us a line at [email protected] or contact me on Twitter: @EleonorasVasques

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]