School’s almost out for the summer. After next week’s Strasbourg plenary session, EU lawmakers won’t have to make their monthly schlep to the Alsace for almost two months. The July Strasbourg session is typically a relaxed affair, the agenda kept to a minimum as MEPs wind down. But not this year.
Instead, this time we will see the first pitched ideological battle that could set the scene for next year’s European election campaign.
Rumours abound that European People’s Party (EPP) leader Manfred Weber is tacking to the right on a series of key laws, a move that appears to be motivated by a desire to tout the centre-right party’s low regulation credentials to business and create new alliances with the nationalists in the European Conservative and Reformist (ECR) group that could shape the next mandate.
One of those laws is the Nature Restoration Law, which could end up being strangled at birth in a decisive vote next week.
The fate of the Nature Restoration Law could be decided in less than one minute – the vote on whether to reject the Commission proposal will take place first. Should it survive, officials say that voting on the amendments to the text could take several hours.
The NRL has already had a rough ride from MEPs and national governments and the Parliament’s Environment Committee voted to reject it by the narrowest of margins in June, setting up judgement day next Wednesday (12 July).
Policy experts point out that the proposal is something of a mess, with lawmakers questioning the law’s impact on other policies such as renewable energy production, sustainable food production, housing, and European supply chains for critical raw materials and other green industries.
Whether or not it survives will likely depend on the centrist Renew Europe lawmakers and EPP dissenters. A right-wing bloc comprising the EPP, the ECR and the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) have said they will vote to reject it.
An EPP spokesperson told EURACTIV yesterday that the centre-right group was “united” in its determination to kill the bill.
On the other side, Socialist group officials say they think the numbers are on their side, adding that defending the Green Deal, of which the NRL is a part, will be at the heart of their election campaign.
For the centre-left, the NRL is also personal: Frans Timmermans, the EU’s Green Deal Commissioner who tabled the proposal, was the Spitzenkandidat of the European Socialists at the last European elections though he has hinted he might not be a contender again this time.
Pascal Canfin, the French Renew MEP who chairs the Parliament’s Environment committee, has also vocally criticised the EPP’s tactics, and Manfred Weber personally, and appears determined to make the fate of the NRL a rallying point.
A bill that seeks to restore Europe’s habitats might seem an unlikely source of ideological division. But the Parliament’s war over nature is no joke.
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The Roundup
Austria and Switzerland officially joined the German-led European Sky Shield (ESSI) air defence programme as they signed a declaration of intent on Friday.
Luxembourg will be exempt from reaching NATO’s 2% GDP defence spending target to take into account national specificities in assessing its commitments, EURACTIV has learnt.
EU governments are poised to shoot down plans aimed at making it easier for non-EU nationals to live and work across the bloc, according to a draft position the Council is going to adopt, obtained by Statewatch and EURACTIV.
The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation into the proposed Amazon acquisition of smart vacuum cleaner manufacturer iRobot, over concerns that it could restrict the competition in the product’s market.
European institutions agreed on Thursday on the modalities to establish the fund to boost ammunition and missile production in the bloc, but postponed the negotiations on some regulatory waivers to a later stage.
The European Court of Auditors’ (ECA) review of the digitalisation of the EU funds, published on Thursday, described the current landscape of the systems used by the European Commission to manage funds and planned developments.
Most EU member states’ national strategic plans for the reformed Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) prioritise economically supporting farms at the expense of ambitious environmental measures, a study for the European Parliament found.
The European Commission’s impact assessment and update on the EU’s pesticide cuts plan sparked mixed reactions among stakeholders and lawmakers, sparking calls to stop stalling the reform and caveats about consequences for European agriculture.
European biofuel companies have reiterated calls for the European Commission to dampen the flood of Chinese biofuels entering the EU market, arguing that Chinese manufacturers are fraudulently exporting biodiesel made from restricted feedstocks.
Don’t miss the latest Tech Brief and the Agrifood Brief for a weekly round-up of policy news.
Look out for…
- Commission President Ursula von der Leyen meets New Zealand PM Chris Hipkins, witnesses signing of EU-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement on Sunday.
- Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni meets US Treasury Deputy Secretary Wally Adeyemo on Monday.
- General Affairs Council on Monday.
- Informal meeting of environment ministers on Monday-Tuesday.
Views are the author’s
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic/Nathalie Weatherald]
Source: euractiv.com
