EU Updates – January 2012 EU Institutions the New President of the European Parliament Is Elected

EU Updates – January 2012 EU Institutions The new president of the European Parliament is elected. Martin Schulz, the leader of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group (S&D) of MEPs, won a majority of 387 votes in the elections of the 17 January. Nirj Deva, a UK MEP from the European Conservatives and Reformists group, came second with 142 votes, with Diana Wallis, a UK Liberal standing as an independent, in third place with 141 votes. The total number of valid votes cast was 670. Schulz had an absolute majority thus avoiding the need for a second round of voting. The German MEP, who has led the S&D group since 2004, was predicted to win the election because of a deal between the Parliament's two largest groups – the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) and the S&D, who had agreed to share the presidency over the Parliament's 2009-14 term. Under the deal, the two groups decided to give the post to Jerzy Buzek, a Polish MEP, for the first half of the term, with Martin Schulz taking over for the second half. Schulz's term will run until June 2014 when fresh elections for the Parliament take place. Both Wallis and Deva campaigned on promises to reform the Parliament and make its work more transparent. Diana Wallis MEP resigned her seat 2 days after the new EP president was announced. Her husband and senior parliamentary assistant Stewart Arnold was first in-line to take over her seat (as he had been second on their party list in the 2009 election) however after complaints it now seems likely that Rebecca Taylor, who was third on their list, will take the seat. Denmark took over the rotating EU Council of Ministers presidency on 1 January, which it will hold until June 2012. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Denmark’s first female prime minister, has said that the Danish government’s four priorities are: leading the Eurozone out of the economic crisis, stimulating growth, the environment and security. Controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement signed up to by the European Commission and 22 EU member states, in a move marked by cyber-attacks and street protests. Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, the Netherlands and Slovakia were the only EU countries not to sign the agreement, which critics say will violate privacy.

Eurozone Crisis Greece - The Greek finance minister reacted angrily to calls for a European commissioner to be appointed to oversee the country's budget. A new Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union was finalised by all EU member states with the exception of the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic at the informal summit on 30 January. The treaty aims to strengthen fiscal discipline through the introduction of more automatic sanctions and stricter surveillance, and in particular through the "balanced budget rule". Eurozone bail-out fund loses triple-A rating. The Eurozone's bail-out fund was downgraded by one notch to AA+ by the US ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Monday - a move likely to put an extra financial burden on contributing nations, many of whom were themselves downgraded last week.

Economy European Central Bank (ECB) to issue more cheap loans. President of the ECB, Mario Draghi, has said he will keep up a temporary programme of cheap long-term loans for EU banks because it has "prevented a more serious credit crunch." The European Commission tells EU institutions to cut 2013 expenditure budgets amid austerity measures imposed upon most of Europe.

EU Schengen Zone EU starts visa talks with Kosovo. Cecilia Malmström, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, has launched talks that could lead to the lifting of EU visa requirements for citizens of Kosovo. Kosovo is the only country in the western Balkans whose citizens still need visas for short-term visits to the EU's Schengen area of borderless travel. The lifting of visa requirements will require major reforms in areas including border management, the security of travel documents and the fight against corruption and organised crime. Italy lifted its restrictions on Bulgarian and Romanian workers. With Belgium leading the way at the beginning month there are now just eight EU member states that retain their curbs on the employment of individuals from the two newest EU member states. Italy’s labour market was fully liberalised to Romanians and Bulgarians from 1 January, a move hailed by the governments of both countries to prove that the remaining restrictions elsewhere in the EU are based on political rather than economic motives. The countries with restrictions maintain that they are in place due to tough austerity measures and high levels of unemployment, yet Italy is certainly not exempt from these difficult circumstances.

Social EU EU becoming less tolerant, a new report finds. Racist mobs in Greece and Hungary, mistreatment of Roma, Arab migrants and Muslim terrorist suspects and a feeble reaction by EU institutions point to a worrying right-wing shift inside the EU, The NGO Human Rights Watch reports. HRW links extreme cases such as the shocking terrorist attack in Norway last year to weak leadership by EU member state governments and the xenophobic, extremist and anti- Muslim views increasingly occurring in mainstream debates. European Citizens’ Initiative website launches. The site will enable Europeans to register online initiatives from 1 April 2012. The initiative, as introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, allows citizens to request new EU legislation once a million signatures from a quarter of member states (seven) have been collected, inviting the European Commission initiate the legislative process.

Technology EU bill gives web users the “right to be forgotten”. The EU Commission has unveiled a single EU-wide law on internet privacy that could see overseas firms hit with multi-million-euro fines. The bill gives internet users the “right to be forgotten” by enabling them to force firms such as Facebook or Amazon to take their personal information off the internet or to delete it from their internal servers unless they can give a compelling reason to refuse.

Foreign Policy The EU adopts an oil embargo against Iran over its nuclear programme, banning all new oil contracts with the country, and also agrees a freeze on the assets of Iran’s central bank in the EU. Visa ban on top government officials from Myanmar lifted, in response to reforms by the country's leadership. EU foreign ministers said this was the first step in a gradual normalisation of relations between Myanmar and the EU. EU and Arab countries put forward new UN resolution on Syria. The resolution calls on Syrian President Bashar Assad to facilitate a political transition, leading to a plural political system and fair elections in a process to be overseen by the Arab League. It is likely that Russia will veto the resolution on the grounds that there is no clear clause ruling out the possibility that the resolution could be used to justify military intervention in Syrian affairs from outside.

Environment New rules for the collection and treatment of electronic waste will gradually go into effect over the next seven years following a vote by MEPs in Strasbourg. Some member states will be required to collect 45 tonnes of e-waste for every 100 tonnes of electronic goods put on sale during the previous three years. This will rise to 65 tonnes in 2019. Alternatively, member states can opt to collect 85% of e-waste generated. The European Maritime Safety Agency sent a vessel to help with the clean-up operation at the site of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise ship. The special oil-spill removal ship is on stand-by, as a precautionary measure, to assist with the removal of more than 2,300 tonnes of fuel oil and pollution response operations. Green campaign groups urged the European Commission to respond to the results of an EU consultation by proposing an EU-wide ban on plastic bags. Over 70% of respondents voted in favour of a ban on the distribution of plastic bags. Green groups Seas at Risk and European Environmental Bureau say the Commission should now act on this overwhelming support and implement a ban across Europe. A green paper on plastic waste is expected within months.

EU states France - Lost its AAA credit rating. Since France is one of the major underwriters of the European bailout fund—the €440 billion European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF)—the creditworthiness of that entity is now in doubt. In the up-coming French elections, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel may help Nicolas Sarkozy with his campaign in a bid to highlight the importance of the Franco-German relationship to Europe. Finland - The first round of the presidential elections was won by a pro-EU candidate, Sauli Niinistö. Niinistö now faces a run-off election on 5 February with the second placed candidate, Pekka Haavisto, who is also pro-EU. The result, in which two anti-EU candidates failed to secure a significant proportion of the vote and have consequently dropped out of the race, indicates that the Finnish public are keen to continue cooperation with the EU despite their oft reported frustrations over the EU’s bailouts of debt-ridden countries such as Greece and Portugal. UK - Scottish first minister Alex Salmond announced his intention to hold a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014. This raises questions about Scotland’s relations with the EU; it is not clear whether Scotland would automatically remain a member of the European Union, or whether it would have to go through the accession process for new member states. Hungary - EU Commission to start legal action against Hungary over its new constitution, amid fears that its right- wing leader has too much control over judges and the central bank. The Commission launched the first stage of the official infringements procedure by sending three ‘letters of formal notice’ to Hungary, in relation to three laws introduced at the beginning of the year relating primarily to judicial independence. Hungarian President Viktor Orbán attended the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg where he addressed MEPs in an attempt to refute their criticisms of his government. Towards the end of the month pro- and anti-government protests took place in Hungary. 100,000 people took to the streets to express their support for the government struggling under intense international criticism, followed by thousands protesting against the government’s decision not to renew the licence of a Budapest radio station that is critical of its policies, which the protestors claim is an attempt by the government to silence its critics. The European Court of Human Rights also announced that it had been overwhelmed with applications from Hungarian individuals who claim that their rights have been abused with regard to pension reforms that came into effect in January 2011 and whichresulted in an influx of money to the Hungarian government. Romania - Widespread protests and demonstrations took place against a new Health Care Bill which proposed the privatisation of half of Romania’s emergency health care system. Violence erupted between protestors and police following the resignation of Romanian Deputy Health Minister Raed Arafat caused by his concerns related to the bill. The Romanian government later withdrew the proposals and reinstated Arafat to his former position. The protests were initially contained to the issue of health care but developed into significant demonstrations in an expression of discontent with the government and the state of the economy. Cyprus - The ethnically-split leaders of Cyprus engaged in peace-talks led by the UN, in an attempt to reach a deal to break the deadlock between the two communities, a significant barrier to Turkish accession to the EU. A deal is sought by the summer, preferably before Cyprus takes over the rotating EU Council Presidency from Denmark. Slovenia -The parliament confirmed its new prime minister, almost two months after the elections on 4 December. Centre-right politician Janez Janša has promised to cut taxes, red tape and the budget deficit, and to raise the retirement age in Slovenia.

EU candidate states Croatia - Voted in favour of joining the EU, in a referendum that will see the Croatia become the 28th EU member state. At 42 percent the turnout was a record low compared to previous EU accession referendums. Turkey - A diplomatic dispute erupted between Turkey and France as the latter approved a bill which makes it illegal to deny that the 1915 mass murdering of Armenians by Ottoman Turks was an act of genocide, a claim that the Turkish Government vehemently opposes. The French proposed penalising any denial of the ‘genocide’ with a one year prison sentence and a €45,000 fine, a punishment equivalent to that for holocaust denial. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan cancelled all meetings organised with Paris, denouncing the French government’s role in the 1945 deaths of 45,000 Algerians and the Rwandan genocide, during which 800,000 people died. Following the criticisms, France did make the bill more general, removing explicit references to Turkey, in an attempt to appease the Turkish Government. The bill still requires the ratification of President Sarkozy before it becomes law, but Turkey has assured France that permanent steps will be taken against the country, a move that threatens the future success of Turkey’s EU accession attempts. France does not support Turkey’s candidature for EU membership.

Other States Russia - Cuts EU gas because of cold weather. Gazprom has begun cutting gas supplies to the EU in order to meet higher demand in Russia caused by severe cold weather. The weather has killed dozens of mostly homeless or old people in Ukraine, Poland and in Balkan countries. The cutback is a reminder of EU vulnerability to Russian gas decisions. Bosnia – New prime minister elected. Vjekoslav Bevanda's election by parliament on 12 January ended 15 months of failure to agree on a candidate to occupy the post. General elections in October 2010 produced a fragmented parliament with no party coming close to having a majority. Bevanda’s election came thanks to an agreement reached in December 2011 between representatives of Bosnia's three main ethnic communities on the allocation of key posts in the parliament. The Prime Minister told parliament his priorities would be to revive Bosnia's flagging economy and resume efforts to obtain EU membership.

Compiled by Anna Sonny and Lucy Hatton