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Eu Update June 2021 | a Path for Europe

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Eu Update June 2021 | a Path for Europe EU UPDATE JUNE 2021 | A PATH FOR EUROPE IN THIS EDITION June marks the end of Portugal’s Presidency of the Council of the EU. As Slovenia prepares to take the role, it is clear that momentum is building behind many key geopolitical topics: the upcoming German federal election, the re- newed coordination between the EU & the US, multilateral talks following the G7 ahead of the COP26 in November and increasing discussion around topics concerning China and Russia. The EU Update covers specific elements of these topics and provides insight into the implications for the EU. The Migration section covers a new initiative to match skilled workers from third countries with areas of EU skills shortages. The Foreign Affairs & Security section covers the discussions and joint statement on EU—US relations and topics covered at the 24—25 June European Council meeting. The Environment section covers the monumen- The Democracy & Governance section covers tal approval of the European Climate Law. the adoption of Hungary’s legislation pertaining The Finance and Trade section covers, amongst to the portrayal of sex changes & homosexuali- others, the NextGenerationEU and the Digital ty to minors. Euro. KEY FIGURE In 2020, energy demand fell as COVID-19 lockdown measures spread across Europe. Electricity generation by fossil fuel and nu- clear power stations fell sharply, but genera- tion from renewable sources continued to rise, and for the first time in 2020 overtook fossil fuels as the #1 source of energy pro- duction across the EU. MIGRATION Michela Pellegata—Research Associate On June 11th, the Commission launched Talent gards the internal security fund, through which Partnerships, an initiative under the New Pact on measures to improve the exchange of infor- Migration and Asylum aimed at addressing skills mation, intensify cross-border cooperation, and shortages in the EU and, at the same time, strengthen capabilities to prevent and combat strengthening mutually beneficial partnerships of crime will be implemented. The texts should now migration with third countries. In other words, the be adopted by the European Parliament. This in- objective of the plan is to match the skills of work- crease in the scope of the EU’s funding in the ers from countries outside the EU with the labour fields of asylum and migration, integrated border market needs inside the EU. This initiative repre- management and internal security represent an sents a fundamental advancement in the fight important positive policy development. It demon- against irregular migration and smuggling, as it strates the rising attention that these issues are will provide safe, legal opportunities for migration receiving at the European level, and it should help to Europe. Further, it represents a win-win situa- address the growing challenges in these areas. tion for European countries while also reducing However, these positive advancements are not the pressure on the EU labour market caused by a reflected in the actions of European Member shrinking work population and skills shortages. States, which are showing more and more an anti- On June 14th, the European Council adopted three migrant attitudes. Denmark passed a law that en- sectoral proposals for the funding of home affairs ables the transfer of asylum seekers to detention policies under the 2021-2027 multiannual finan- centres in partnering countries, potentially outside cial framework, for a total €18 billion. The first Europe, to have their cases considered. This anti- proposal regards the asylum, migration and inte- migrant measure, strongly criticized by IOs, NGOs gration fund, which will equip the EU with the nec- and European institutions, was proposed by the essary tools to respond to evolving migration chal- Social Democrat-led government and passed by lenges, both within the EU and in cooperation with the Danish parliament on June 3rd. According to third countries. The fund has four objectives: asy- the Danish Government, it could constitute an an- lum policy, legal migration and integration, irregu- swer to Europe’s migration crisis, as it will discour- lar migration and returns, and solidarity and re- age migrants from attempting to reach Europe. At sponsibility-sharing between member states. the same time, with a new Joint Ministerial Deci- Then, the second proposal regards the instrument sion, issued on June 7th, the Greek State desig- for financial support for border management and nates Turkey as a “safe third country” for asylum visa, which should allow expansion of the Europe- seekers coming from Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, an Border and Coast Guard, modernise the com- Bangladesh and Somalia. According to Greek gov- mon visa policy and develop interoperable large- ernment sources, 62% of asylum applications in scale IT systems. Finally, the third proposal re- 2020 in Greece came from those countries. 2 FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND SECURITY Polen Türkmen —Research Associate June was an eventful month for multilateral for- operation in this framework, beginning as soon as eign affairs. Two key events were of particular im- possible”. However, the paragraph ended with the portance for the EU’s foreign and security affairs: parties’ “unwavering support” for NATO-EU coop- the EU - US summit on 15 June, 2021 and the Eu- eration. Giving the last word to NATO was an im- ropean Council meeting on 24-25 June, 2021. portant signal that furthering the European De- fence Agency and PESCO is not intended to be a On 15 June, the President of the European Coun- trade-off to the NATO framework. cil, Charles Michel, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and the US Furthermore, the 24-25 June Council meeting in- President Joe Biden met in Brussels to discuss EU - voked similar topics such as relations with: Turkey, US relations. The discussions focused on four Libya, Russia, Belarus, Sahel, Ethiopia, as well as a main pillars: ending the COVID-19 pandemic, pro- non-regional topic of cybersecurity. In regards to tecting the planet and fostering growth, strength- Russia, the European Council reiterated the EU’s ening transatlantic trade, investment and techno- openness “to a selective engagement with Russia logical cooperation and building a more demo- in areas of EU interest” such as climate and the cratic, peaceful and secure world. The discussions environment, health and certain foreign and secu- culminated with the adoption of a joint statement. rity policy issues such as the JCPoA, Syria and Lib- Some of the key themes included combatting dis- ya. In this way, the EU ensured that the possibility information, cooperating on a range topics re- of dialogue with Russia is not closed, despite the garding China (with emphasis on the situation in failure of the Franco-German proposal to hold a East and South China Sea) and Russia (with an in- summit with Russia. The most vocal opponents of tention to establish “a high-level EU-US dialogue“ the proposal were reportedly Russia’s EU neigh- on Russia). However, a wide range of other global bours such as Poland and the Baltic states, who foreign and security issues were addressed, on worried that Russia would perceive a summit as a which the statement strongly emphasised and sig- reward despite its annexation of Crimea. While in nalled the joint vision and position of the EU and favour of the summit, the French President Mac- US. Most interestingly, the last paragraph men- ron reported that European unity was more im- tioned the EU’s invitation to the US to join the portant. The failure of the proposal demonstrates PESCO project titled ‘Military Mobility’. The US some of the differences in policies and threat per- committed to work towards an Administrative Ar- ceptions of European countries regarding Russia, rangement with the European Defence Agency a potential challenge in developing the EU’s strate- “with discussions, including on modalities and gic compass. conditions for a closer and mutually beneficial co- 3 DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE Katrin Herrmann—Permanent Author The month of June has been marked by the once ‘protecting children’, Commission President Von again increasing tensions between Hungary and der Leyen has vowed legal action if the bill does the EU, due to President Orbán’s new and ex- enter into force, most likely in the form of an in- tremely inflammatory anti-LBTQ+ law. Further- fringement procedure against Hungary. more, the European Commission has officially re- This conflict is only one more in the continued dis- ferred Czechia and Poland to the Court of Justice agreements between the EU and the more con- regarding the issue of electoral rights of EU citi- servative governments of Central and Eastern Eu- zens. The upcoming departure of German chan- rope; this is also marked by the referral of Poland cellor Angela Merkel has left open the question of and the Czech Republic to the Court of Justice in how not only the European Council, but politics an ongoing infringement procedure over electoral within the EU will be impacted. On a more positive rights. MEPs in Brussels are also keen to initiate note, the Commission has launched a European legal proceedings against Czech Prime Minister platform to combat homelessness as part of their Andrej Babiš over alleged conflicts of interest with commitment to building a more social Europe. regard to his agriculture conglomerate Agrofert, Mid-June the Hungarian Parliament adopted a as EU rules are extremely clear that this is not ac- new law banning “promotion and portrayal of ho- ceptable. With the departure of long-standing EU mosexuality or sex change to minors”. Though the leader Merkel coming in the fall, shifts in tone in bill initially began as a way to increase the conse- this new post-Merkel era were already becoming quences of pedophilia, Fidesz MPs decided to sub- apparent at the recent EU summit, with continued mit several changes to the draft, adding bans on debates occurring regarding EU values.
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