Insights Brussels July 2014

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS New Parliament and EU priorities

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INSIGHTS BRUSSELS . July 2014 .

ISSUE #22

New Parliament and EU Priorities


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EU change is now ....................................................................................................... 4

The Union’s strategic agenda until 2020 .................................................................. 6

Freedom, Security and Justice ...................................................................................................................................... 6 Growth, competitiveness and jobs ................................................................................................................................. 7 Social policy .................................................................................................................................................................. 7 Climate and Energy ....................................................................................................................................................... 7 Foreign Policy ................................................................................................................................................................ 8

Parliamentary Groups: deals done ............................................................................ 9

Conservatives take the lead .......................................................................................................................................... 9

Socialists and Democrats in negotiation ...................................................................................................................... 10

European Conservatives and Reformists arrive third .................................................................................................. 10

Liberals relegated to fourth place ................................................................................................................................ 10

European United Left on the rise ................................................................................................................................. 11

Greens lagging behind ................................................................................................................................................ 11

Eurosceptics gathered around UKIP ........................................................................................................................... 11

A bulk of non-attached members ................................................................................................................................. 11

European Parliament’s Leadership ......................................................................... 12

Priorities of the Italian Presidency: Sectoral Policies.................................................... 13

Agriculture and fisheries ................................................................................................................. 13

Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) .............................................................................................................................. 13

New rules on state aid in agriculture, forestry and rural areas..................................................................................... 14

Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) ................................................................................................................................. 14

Defence and Security policy ............................................................................................................. 15

Common Security and Defence Policy ........................................................................................................................ 15

Industrial Policy in the Defence Sector ........................................................................................................................ 15

Energy and Environment ................................................................................................................. 16

2030 Climate and Energy framework .......................................................................................................................... 16

Internal energy market................................................................................................................................................. 16

Financial Services ........................................................................................................................... 17

Long term financing of the European Economy ........................................................................................................... 17

Food and Beverage ........................................................................................................................... 17

Organic Farming .......................................................................................................................................................... 17

Animal and Plant Health .............................................................................................................................................. 18

Healthcare and Pharmaceutical ...................................................................................................... 18

Prevention and antimicrobial resistance ...................................................................................................................... 18


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Information and Communication Technology ................................................................................ 19

Connected Continent Package .................................................................................................................................... 19

Data Protection Package ............................................................................................................................................. 19

Transport ..........................................................................................................................................20

TEN-T Corridors .......................................................................................................................................................... 20 Port Services Regulation ............................................................................................................................................. 20 Fourth Railway Package.............................................................................................................................................. 20 Truck Measures regulation .......................................................................................................................................... 21 Flight Passenger Rights Package ............................................................................................................................... 21

Priorities of the Italian Presidency: Cross-Sectoral Policies .......................................... 22

Consumers ........................................................................................................................................ 22

Product Safety and Market Surveillance Package ....................................................................................................... 22

Intellectual Property Rights ............................................................................................................ 22

Copyright and Protection of Industrial Property ........................................................................................................... 22

Directive on the protection of trade secrets ................................................................................................................. 23

International Trade.......................................................................................................................... 23

Trade agreements currently under negotiation ............................................................................................................ 23

Negotiations to start up................................................................................................................................................ 24

Trade Defence instruments ......................................................................................................................................... 24

Research and Development .............................................................................................................. 24

Research and Innovation............................................................................................................................................. 24

Taxation ........................................................................................................................................... 25

Tax Fraud and Evasion ............................................................................................................................................... 25

Preventing double non-taxation ................................................................................................................................... 25

Financial Transaction Tax ........................................................................................................................................... 26


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EU change is now

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every

opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in

every difficulty.” This quote from Winston

Churchill could easily be adopted by the

energetic Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi

who has the aspiration to impress a fresh

impulse to EU policies and practices while taking

the rein of the rotating EU Council Presidency

until end of 2014. There is little optimism around

the EU table, but the combination of a renewed

vision for true change and of pragmatism

embodied by PM Renzi is gaining ground and

will breathe new life to the European Union

project. The offer of collaboration tweeted by PM

Cameron on the first day of the Italian

Presidency of the Council, or the re-affirmation

by the German leadership of the crucial role and

place for the UK in the EU, go beyond the

diplomatic politeness and give hope for a prompt

recovery of UK relations with other EU Member

States.

Some positive signals show that the voice of the

European citizens -notably the half that didn’t

participate in the parliamentary election- seems

now to be better heard in Brussels. The

agreement reached at the end of June at the EU

Summit in Brussels on the five overarching

priorities which will guide the work of the EU for

the next five years, and the new designation

process of the next Commission’s President, are

good preconditions but will not be enough to gain

citizens’ trust and improve the relevance and

pertinence of EU activities.

The reshuffling of the top EU-leadership

positions has just started with Jean-Claude

Juncker’s designation as head of the powerful

EU executive arm, following an historic and

controversial process that assigns such position

to the candidate of the winning party in the

European Parliament. It will continue during all

summer with the designation of the President of

the European Council, due to succeed Herman

Van Rompuy from 1 December, and of the High

Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security

Policy, due to succeed Lady Ashton from 1

November.

Meanwhile, the work of the 8th parliamentary

legislature has just started with the renewal of

the mandate of Martin Schulz to the Presidency

of the European Parliament, backed by 409 out

of 612 valid votes cast during the first ballot, and

the appointment next 7 July of the chairmen of

each of the 22 standing Committees through

which the parliamentary activity will be shaped

until 2019.

Leadership and commitment to deliver against

citizens’ expectations are important, but risk to

be seen just as a beauty parade full of the usual

EU rhetoric. The two other critical factors of

success include: firstly, a shared vision able to

emotionally engage people; and, secondly, a

more focused strategic policy framework of

priorities.

The EU agenda to 2020, adopted by the

European Council in its first formal meeting after

the European elections, is a good start

identifying the most compelling policy areas for

future action in relation to employment, growth

and competitiveness, energy, migration, security

and justice, and foreign policy.


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It will now be up to the forthcoming Commission

to articulate the EU Council orientations into

actionable proposals and integrate them into its

modus operandi. The European Parliament and

its national peers, the Council, and also a

“controlling” institution such as the Court of

Auditors, are likely to be much bolder in terms of

political and institutional scrutiny of the

Commission’s activity. Meanwhile, the

overarching scrutiny, as in every democracy, will

continue to remain with citizens.

Leonardo Sforza

Managing Director MSLGROUP Brussels

1st July 2014


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The Union’s strategic agenda until 2020

On Friday 27 June, in its first formal meeting after

the European elections, the European Council

adopted its overarching strategic agenda that

should cover the main focus of activities until

2020. Below the five areas of priorities.

Freedom, Security and Justice

Migration will be a major EU policy priority.

According to the Council, the EU needs an

“efficient and well-managed migration, asylum

and borders policy, guided by the Treaty

principles of fair-sharing and solidarity”. At the

same time, Europe has to remain attractive for

immigrants with “specific skills” and coherent and

efficient rules need to be developed to “maximise

the opportunities” they offer. It is also noted that

the member states should fully implement the

Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and

that the role of the European Asylum Support

Office (EASO) has to be strengthened. Besides

this, “cooperation with third countries” is needed

to overcome the “root causes of illegal migration”

and to discourage the risky journeys immigrants

undertake to get to Europe. These actions must

be guided by the “more for more” principle, which

links more European political and financial help to

third countries that carry out more institutional

and economic reforms. Lastly, closer cooperation

between Member States is needed in the field of

border management and common visa policy.

In the fight against terrorism, the European Union

should help Member States by “mobilising all

instruments of judicial and police cooperation”.

Among these are:

The improvement of cross-border information

exchanges (also on criminal records)

The development of an approach on

cybersecurity and cybercrime.

Finally, the European Council wants to improve

the functioning of the European justice area.

Some of the noteworthy measures in this field

include:

Promoting e-justice

Enhancing the recognition of decisions and

judgements in civil and criminal matters among

courts in different Member States

Making progress in the establishment of the

European Public Prosecutor’s Office to fight the

fraudulent behaviour and damages to the EU

budget.

Human rights, data protection and security are

seen as important policy objectives, also in the

relations with third countries. Therefore, the

Member States call for the adoption of a “strong

EU General Data Protection framework by 2015”.


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Growth, competitiveness and jobs

The EU Heads of State and Government identify

growth and increased competitiveness as an

important priority for the European Union for the

five years ahead. With regards to these

objectives, the European Council underlines that

fiscal consolidation intended by the Growth and

Stability Pact should be “differentiated and

growth-friendly” in order to create jobs and to deal

with the ageing of society. Also, the internal

market in products and services has to be further

completed, in particular by the establishment of a

digital single market by 2015. Besides, tax

wedges on labour should be allayed and the

efforts to simplify administrative procedures and

to enhance regulatory cooperation between

Member States and institutions in the framework

of the Commission’s Regulatory Fitness and

Performance programme (REFIT) should remain

a priority. At last, a special reference was made

to the need of concluding the Transatlantic Trade

and Investment Partnership (TTIP) by 2015.

Social policy

Another challenge for the European Union lies in

the growing inequality. To address social

exclusion, the European Council states that the

European Union should, within its competences,

try to achieve more equal opportunities by

improving educational outcomes, fighting school

drop-out, promoting a better labour mobility and

fixing the skills mismatch on the labour market.

Also, the European Council recognizes that social

protection systems of the Member States have to

be prepared to “accompany change and reverse

inequalities”. Meanwhile the fight against tax

evasion and fraud must be strengthened.

Climate and Energy

In the light of global warming and at the backdrop

of the Ukrainian crisis, guaranteeing an

“affordable, secure and green” future energy

supply has become an important policy objective

of European policy makers. In the run up to the

next Conference of the Parties in Paris (COP

2015) to the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the

European Council wants the European Union to

set a CO2 reduction target for 2030 that is in line

with its 2050 reduction target of an 80% emission

reduction in comparison to the 1990 situation. At

the same time, Europe has to “reduce its high

(foreign) energy dependence”. In this respect, the

Commission’s European Energy Security

Strategy (EESS) is welcomed. By the upcoming

winter, “existing emergency and solidarity

mechanisms and infrastructure and reverse flows

will be reinforced”, “investments in energy

infrastructure (also with third countries) should be

pursued” and collaboration with international

partners has to be set up to reduce the risk of a

supply disruption. In the medium to long term,

energy efficiency, domestic production and

interconnectivity have to be enhanced. By 2015,

the internal gas and electricity market (including

its infrastructure) has to be further

complemented, so that no country will be isolated


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from the European networks anymore. At last, the

Rome G7 energy initiative for a more

“competitive, diversified and resilient” energy

system, which contributes less to global warming,

is backed.

Foreign Policy

The European Council calls for a “stronger

engagement of the EU in world affairs”. To

promote its values on the international forum, the

European Union should better align internally, be

a “stronger partner” in its neighbourhood (Europe,

the Mediterranean, Africa, Middle East) and

invest more in collaboration with – especially its

transatlantic – strategic partners. In addition, the

Common Security and Defence Policy has to be

enhanced “in full complementarity with NATO”,

the European defence industry has to be

strengthened and Member States should pool

and share resources.


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Parliamentary Groups: deals done

24th June was the deadline for elected members of

the European Parliament to compose and join

political groups. 25 Members are needed to form a

political group, and at least 7 Member States must

be represented within the group. Each group takes

care of its own internal organisation by appointing a

chair or co-chairs, a bureau and a secretariat.

The composition of political groups is rather a

strategic issue. The broader political groups are, the

better will be their speaking time, their access to

public funding for their secretariat and negotiating

power to get Committee chairmanships. Logically,

then, party leaders engaged straight after the

European elections in a race to convince as many

national parties and single MEPs to join their

groups. At the end, 7 political groups are now

represented in the European Parliament with some

changes in the balance of power in comparison to

the previous legislature.

Conservatives take the lead

With 221 elected members, the European People’s

Party (EPP) will remain the Parliament’s largest

group of this new legislative period, even if it has

lost ground. The party clearly reaffirmed its support

to Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the

European Commission.

Within the group, Germany will be the most

represented delegation with 34 members, followed

by Poland (23 members). This balance of power is

likely to influence the nominations for parliamentary

committee chairmanships. While the German MEP

Ingeborg Grässle is likely to take the chairmanship

of the budgetary control committee (CONT),

Poland intends to claim chairmanship of another

parliamentary committee. French MEP Alain

Lamassoure is expected to take the chairmanship


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of the constitutional affairs committee (AFCO).

Viviane Reding, who was until this week the

European commissioner for justice and human

rights and citizenship, is lined up to become

chairwoman of the legal affairs committee.

The European conservative group already elected

its new chief, Manfred Weber (Germany), member

of the CSU party (the Bavarian sister party of the

powerful Christian Democrat CDU party) and

member of the EP since 2004. He would be the first

CSU member to hold an important position in the

European Parliament.

Socialists and Democrats in negotiation

With 191 elected members, the Socialists and

Democrats group (S&D) intends to negotiate with

the EPP the mandate to be given to the European

Commission for the next five years. Following its

major victory in the elections, the Italian delegation

will be the most numerous in the socialist group,

followed by the German one. This will put the

Italians in a strong negotiating position to present

candidates for committee chairmanships. Gianni

Pittella, who temporarily replaced Martin Schulz

during the EU electoral campaign as Parliament

President, was elected S&D group president.

German MEP Martin Schulz, the group’s candidate

for the presidency of the European Commission,

has been re-elected as president of the European

Parliament.

European Conservatives and Reformists arrive third

The group of European Conservatives and

Reformists, founded by Britain’s conservatives after

they withdrew from EPP in 2005, is now the third

largest group in the Parliament following the rallying

of other Eurosceptic parties. But the decision to

associate with parties that are not considered

respectable (Danish People’s Party or True Finns)

has damaged the group’s image within the

Parliament. German EPP members in particular

regret the alliance made with Alternative für

Deutschland, a party German Chancellor Angela

Merkel refuses to cooperate with. This alliance may

compromise UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s

will to bank on Merkel’s support for his proposals for

EU reform.

Observers also note that the lack of cohesion of the

ECR group may impact its predictability and

reliability. It is unlikely that the group will hold a

leading position in the negotiations over Committee

nominations.

Liberals relegated to fourth place

During the EU electoral campaign, the Liberal

group’s chief Guy Verhofstadt set the objective to

overtake the nationalist, populist and Eurosceptic

groups. But he did not achieve his goal and arrived

fourth in the ranking of largest political groups in the

Parliament, as the liberals’ British, German, and

Italian delegations took a hammering in the May

elections. Although the liberals succeeded in

attracting a certain number of small parties in its

political formation such as Czech ANO, Portuguese


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Partido da Terra and Spanish Unión Progreso y

Democracia and Ciudadonos, it failed in winning

over Flemish nationalists from the Nieuw-Vlaamse

Alliantie (N-VA) which eventually joined the ECR.

And with a disparate composition of local parties

with different political stances on the questions of

regional independence, it will maybe be difficult to

maintain cohesion during the next five years.

European United Left on the rise

The European United Left (GUE/NGL) grew from

35 to 52 members and its position within the

European Parliament is strengthened. The German

MEP Gabriele Zimmer was re-elected as president

of the group. Among the newly-elected, one person

in particular is attracting attention, Italy’s Barbara

Spinelli, the daughter of Altiero Spinelli, who is

considered one of the founding fathers of European

federalism.

Greens lagging behind

In the position of king-makers (together with

Liberals) during the previous legislative period, the

Greens group in the Parliament lost 7 members to

finally reach a delegation of 50 members. They lost

ground due to the rise of ECR and GUE groups.

They also lost their charismatic and media-savvy

leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit who didn’t run for

another mandate.

Eurosceptics gathered around UKIP

In the race between British MEP Nigel Farage from the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and French MEP Marine Le Pen from the Front National (FN), the first one ended up with winning the battle over the composition around his leadership of a Eurosceptic group. He eventually reached the threshold of at least 7 Member States with MEPs from United-Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Latvia and France. If Nigel Farage

always refused to ally with Front National, accusing it of "prejudice and anti-Semitism", he paradoxically managed to compose his group thanks to the desertion of a French MEP who was elected on a FN list. The group, named Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) thus grows in this legislature from 34 to 48 elected members, but the coalition remains fragile as the defection of one party would jeopardise its existence.

A bulk of non-attached members

Marine Le Pen triumphed in the European elections in France, but she is eventually the loser in a scramble to form anti-EU groups in the European Parliament. French Front National managed to get the support from 5 other parties from Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria and Poland but didn’t succeed in reaching the threshold of representatives from 7 Member States. Failure might not be a disaster for the FN which is mainly driven by national considerations and the objective of the 2017 presidential elections, but it would, in effect, hand

the Europhobic leadership in the Parliament to Nigel Farage. The 23 French extreme-right members elected in May will then sit among the 43 non-attached members, will not have additional speaking time and not be allowed to claim extra Parliament resources to finance their administration. Romain Seignovert,

Senior Consultant MSLGROUP Brussels


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European Parliament’s Leadership


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Priorities of the Italian Presidency:

Sectoral Policies

Agriculture and fisheries

Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)

Last December, after months of intense

negotiations, Agriculture ministers reached an

agreement on the Common Agricultural Policy

(CAP) reform package for the years 2014-2020.

According to the Commission, the EU became

last years the world’s largest food and agri-food

exporter with a 5.8% rise in 2013. The new set of

rules will enter into force on 1 January 2015.

Regarding this reform, the Italian Presidency

considers that environmental commitments are

sufficient while further efforts should be

undertaken on the management of crisis

situations affecting farmers’ income. For this

purpose, the EU Presidency proposes to monitor

tools supporting income stabilisation such as

insurance or mutual funds. If necessary, it will call

the Commission to put forward corrective actions.

The Presidency also intends to pursue the

discussion in the Council on the Commission’s

proposal to promote fruit and milk schemes in

schools. This initiative aims to encourage

children at school to consume healthy products

containing vitamins and minerals.

Finally, after the presentation of the Commission

report presented on 13 June, on the future of the

dairy market sector, the Presidency plans to open

the debate on the future of this market segment

after the end of quotas.

NEXT STEPS

July 14: Agrifish Council ministers meeting

September 15: Agrifish Council ministers meeting

October 13: Agrifish Council ministers meeting

November 10: Agrifish Council ministers meeting

December 15: Agrifish Council ministers meeting


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New rules on state aid in agriculture, forestry and rural areas During the Italian Presidency new rules on state

aid will enter into force. Indeed, on 25 June, the

European Commission adopted revised and

updated criteria under which Member States can

support agriculture, forestry and rural areas, in

line with EU state aid rules. In particular, it has

adopted a new Agriculture Block Exemption

Regulation (ABER) and new guidelines for State

aid in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in

rural areas 2014 to 2020 (GL). Key features are:

Allowing many more block exemptions by

widening the scope of ABER. For example, it

will be possible in future for Member States to

grant aid to the forestry sector and to smaller

enterprises in rural areas without having to go

through lengthy notification and authorisation

procedures.

Widening the scope of GL.

One window approach. Member States will

only have to go through one administrative

procedure vis-à-vis the Commission.

Reducing administrative burdens.

NEXT STEPS

July 1: Entry into force of the new rule

Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) The Presidency will closely monitor the start-up

phase of the new Common Fisheries Policy

(CFP) and the entry into force of the European

Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). With

regard to these initiatives, the Presidency

stresses that the implementation of a new

regulatory framework should be timely and

effective.

Furthermore, the Presidency will focus on

aquaculture, a sector which is expected to

increase in size during the coming years. It will

support initiatives improving information to

consumers. Critical success factors for this

sector will be: respect of the environment and

food safety and quality.

The Presidency also aims to reach agreements

on fisheries partnerships with third countries and

on fishing opportunities in 2015 in inland and

international waters.

Finally, new data on the stock of Bluefin tuna will

be published during the Italian Presidency.

NEXT STEPS







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Defence and Security policy

Common Security and Defence Policy

In December 2013, defence ministers identified

a certain number of lines of actions to enhance

Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

In this framework, the Italian Presidency

supports the adoption of cooperation measures

that can upgrade the European military

capability. Several joint research and technology

projects are already in the pipeline. Among

those: the development of drones and new-

generation satellites and the cooperation on

cyber defence and on air-to-air refuelling

technologies.

During its presidency, the Italian Government

also plans to strengthen the role of the European

Defence Agency (EDA). The Italian Presidency

will also put forward the need to adopt a specific

action plan to apply the EU maritime security

strategy.

NEXT STEPS

November 18: Council on Defence ministers meeting

June 2015: European Council on Defence

Industrial Policy in the Defence Sector

In December 2013, the Conclusions of the

Defence Council stressed the need to strengthen

defence industry in order to develop a more

integrated, sustainable, innovative and

competitive European Defence Technological and

Industrial Base (EDTIB). In line with these

conclusions, the Italian Presidency plans to

implement a well-functioning defence market

where a fundamental role should be given to Small

and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Furthermore, during its semester, Italy will

encourage Member States and the European

Defence Agency to submit proposals on how to

promote regional clusters as well as proposal for

new financial instruments to support SMEs.

Finally, the Presidency will work to establish an EU

framework to improve the mutual use of civilian

and military research for dual use applications.

NEXT STEPS

November 18: Council on Defence ministers meeting


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Energy and Environment

2030 Climate and Energy framework Energy policy is a top priority for the Italian

Presidency with the focus on the 2030 climate

and energy framework. The European Council

already had political debates during meetings

held in March and in June when it called the

European Commission to analyze the impacts of

the framework on single Member States, to

elaborate a mechanism for burden sharing, to put

forward measures related to carbon leakage, to

ensure legal certainty for energy-intensive

industries, as well as to revise the energy

efficiency directive.

As already agreed upon by EU Heads of State

and Government, the Italian Presidency will push

for reaching a final agreement in October,

informally on October 6 when energy ministers

will meet in Brussels, and then formally at Heads

of State and Governments’ level two weeks later,

on October 27.

The Italian Presidency will also take the

opportunity of this debate to feed a discussion on

a European common vision for the energy mix.

NEXT STEPS

October 6: Council of energy ministers meeting

October 27: European Council meeting

December 9: Council of energy ministers meeting

Internal energy market The deadline for completing the internal energy

market fixed by EU Heads of State and

Government in 2011 will be reached during the

Italian Presidency. The latter will then have to

provide a conclusive picture of the state of play of

the internal energy market and put forward new

conclusions on the way to boost its completion at

the Council of energy ministers set on December

9. The Italian Presidency already intends to put

the emphasis on the complete transposition of the

third energy package by all Member States; on

the rapid adoption of electricity and gas network

codes; on the promotion of new interconnections

and on an effective implementation of the

regulation on trans-European energy

infrastructures.

The European Commission is also expected to

adopt in July a report on the level of completion of

the internal energy market, as well as a

Communication on retail markets.

NEXT STEPS

July: Commission report on internal energy market

October 6: Council of energy ministers meeting

December 9: Council of energy ministers meeting


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Financial Services

Long term financing of the European Economy As regards financial markets, the main political

objective of the Presidency is to facilitate credit

flows to the real economy. To achieve this, the

Presidency aims to make progress on the

discussions on the Commission’s communication

on Long Term Financing of the European

Economy. Indeed, last March, the European

Commission presented a set of measures to

channel private source of financing to long-term

investments. Italy plans to give a relevant

contribution, in particular with a view to modernize

the framework for long term investors such as

pension funds or insurance companies.

On insurance, the Presidency aims to finalize and

implement the so-called Omnibus ll and Solvency

ll directives which will introduce new prudential

schemes applicable to the insurance sector

starting from 2016.

On pension funds, the Italian Presidency will try

to build consent on the revision of the Institutions

for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP)

reform.

Finally, Italy will try to push the creation of a new

category of pooled funds, the so called “European

Long Term Investment Funds”.

NEXT STEPS

July 17: Eocfin Council ministers meeting

October 14: Eocfin Council ministers meeting

November 7: Eocfin Council ministers meeting

December 9: Eocfin Council ministers meeting

Food and Beverage

Organic Farming The Italian Presidency wishes to reach an

agreement on the Commission initiative on

organic farming by the end of its semester. The

aim of the proposal is to update the legal

framework in a sector that has quadrupled in size

in the past ten years.

The new package contains rules on farming and

labelling of organic products. This issue is

considered extremely important by the

Presidency to safeguard the quality of organic

production.

NEXT STEPS







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Animal and Plant Health

In May 2013, the European Commission unveiled

proposals for 5 new regulations on animal and

plant health. The aim of these is to update and

simplify the current regulatory framework and to

strengthen EU animal and plant health, seeds

and safety rules for a safer food chain. The

Presidency will put emphasis on the

reinforcement of the epidemiological surveillance

system for some diseases such as avian

Influenza.

A global conference on this topic will be held in

Italy in cooperation with the European

Commission and the World Organization for

Animal Health (OIE).

Italy considers it important to review regulations

on veterinary medicines in order to reduce

antibiotic use in products of animal origin.

In addition, the Presidency aims to make some

progress on the proposed regulation on plant

health and phytosanitary production during the

semester.

Finally, the last strategic priority for Italy is to

enhance cooperation at European level on the

fight against food fraud. A conference on this

topic will be organized in cooperation with the

European Commission in order to identify new

strategies and challenges.

NEXT STEPS






Healthcare and Pharmaceutical

Prevention and antimicrobial resistance The plans of the Italian Presidency in the field of

health care are as follows:

The promotion of healthy lifestyle and

prevention

The inclusion of vaccination as a priority to

improve public health with regards to

communicable diseases

The adoption of measures on the issues of the

safety of treatments and care-related

infections

The organisation of a “specific event to tackle

antimicrobial resistance”


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Information and Communication Technology

Connected Continent Package

Italy already expressed its support to the

Commission’s Connected Continent Package

and regards it as a timely and concrete step in the

completion of a Single Telecom Market. The

package proposes to simplify EU rules for

telecom operators, abolish roaming charges

across Europe, end premiums for international

phone calls within European mobile networks,

and enhance legal protection for open internet

(net neutrality). In April 2014, the European

Parliament has voted in favour of the

“Connected Continent” package and even

reinforced the role of national regulators to

supervise the compliance of operators as well as

the powers of customers to switch between

internet providers. As regards Net neutrality,

Members of the European Parliament also

shortened the European Commission’s list of

“exceptional” cases in which traffic management

methods will be permitted to service providers

implementing a court order, preserving network

security or precluding temporary network

congestion.

Contrary to key corporate players in the telecoms

sector and many other Member States, Italy said

it is ready to endorse the version backed by the

Parliament. It will now have to build a consensus

at Council level to find a final agreement on the

package by the end of its presidency.

NEXT STEPS

November 4: Council of telecom ministers meeting

Data Protection Package One of the current major digital dossiers at EU

level is the Data Protection package, which aims

to strengthen online privacy rights and boost

Europe's digital economy. Viviane Reding, then

EU justice commissioner, agreed to set the

deadline for its adoption before the end of the

year. However, Italian diplomats already

expressed doubts that a deal could be reached

during their presidency. The delays are caused,

in part, by a handful of Member States (UK, along

with Denmark, Hungary, and Slovenia) that want

to weaken the regulation, which aims at

harmonising data protection rules across the bloc.

Inter-institutional negotiations between the

European Parliament and the Council of the EU

are set to start in July. EU Heads of State and

Government agreed at their 2013 October

European Summit that the data protection

Regulation should be in place in all Member

States by latest 2015.

NEXT STEPS

October 9: Justice Council ministers meeting

December 4: Justice Council ministers meeting

End 2014: expected adoption of the package


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Transport

TEN-T Corridors

The Italian Presidency would like to see a further

strengthening of the Trans-European Transport

Networks Corridors (TEN-T), the project that

since 1996 aims to establishing better cross-

border connections between the already existing

transport systems (road, rail, waterways, ports,

aviation) of the Member States. More specifically,

the new Presidency wants to broaden the scope

of the project to “road networks and port, inter-

port and airport nodes” and to encourage the

enlargement of the network to the “southern

boundaries of the Mediterranean Area”.

NEXT STEPS

September 16: Informal Transport Council ministers meeting

October 8: Transport Council ministers meeting

December 3: Transport Council ministers meeting

Port Services Regulation

For the further development of TEN-T Italy will

also try to reach a common position in the Council

on the Port Services Regulation. This policy

initiative, so far, has been very controversial as it

tries to liberalise a market that in many Member

States is still shielded from competition. For this

reason, the European Parliament already decided

to postpone the vote it had scheduled in March

and to pass it on to the new Parliament. Also the

Council did not make any progress in reaching a

common position.

NEXT STEPS




Fourth Railway Package

The Presidency plans to make substantial

progress in the field of railway liberalisation and

harmonisation as it hopes to reach a “general

approach in the Council” on “all elements of” the

Fourth Railway Package. This policy initiative

aims to make domestic passenger transport

subject to public tendering and to enhance the

technical integration among national railway

networks. In a first reading, the Parliament has

already adopted a position on the text in which

MEPs weakened the “Chinese-Wall” requirement

between operator and infrastructure manager and

added social provisions.

NEXT STEPS





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Truck Measures regulation

The Italian Presidency promises it will try to reach

an agreement on truck standards that will be

“negotiable with the European Parliament”,

overcoming the lack of consensus in previous

meetings that did not approve the Parliament’s

rejection of the so-called “mega-trucks”.

NEXT STEPS




Flight Passenger Rights Package

The Italian Presidency plans to improve the rights

of flight passengers. At its previous meeting, the

Council failed to agree on a common stance on

the hours of flight delay thresholds after which

passengers are entitled to receive a

compensation. Whereas under the current rules

airlines are obliged to refund their passengers in

the case of a flight cancellation, the Parliament

wants to see compensation payments after 3, 5

or 7 hours of delay (depending on the flight

distance), thereby tightening the Commission’s

initial proposal of 5-7-9 hours of delay.

NEXT STEPS





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Priorities of the Italian Presidency:

Cross-Sectoral Policies

Consumers

Product Safety and Market Surveillance Package The proposal on product safety and market

surveillance initiated by the Commission in

February 2014 aims “to improve consumer

product safety and to strengthen market

surveillance of products in the EU”. An important

provision is the introduction of mandatory

labelling for non-food consumer products. The

Parliament has already adopted a common

position supporting the “made in” clause. Now,

the European Council needs to reach an

agreement on this initiative. According to the

Italian Presidency, the new “rules of origin”

would be “a major step forward in strengthening

consumer protection and creating a level playing

field”.

NEXT STEPS

October 16: Consumers Council ministers meeting

Intellectual Property Rights

Copyright and Protection of Industrial Property The Italian Presidency considers that the current

legal framework in the field of copyright is

harmonized. However, some details may need to

be refreshed to reflect the potential evolution of

digital technologies in the coming years. The

European Commission is expected to publish a

White Paper on this theme shortly. The Italian

Presidency will promote the discussion on the

White Paper that will be the starting point for a

future legislative proposal.

The Italian Presidency will continue the talks on

the reform package of the trade mark system.

This package was unveiled by the Commission in

March 2013 with the aim to upgrade, and

modernise the current legislation in order to make

the trade mark registration systems all over the

Union more accessible and efficient for

businesses.

NEXT STEPS

July 21-22: Informal Competition Council ministers meeting

September 25: Competition Council ministers meetings

December 4: Competition Council ministers meetings


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Directive on the protection of trade secrets The Italian Presidency also considers as a

priority the proposed directive unveiled by the

Commission last November on the protection of

undisclosed know-how and business information

(trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition,

use and disclosure. The Presidency will

concentrate its efforts on the definition of a

harmonised legislative framework on trade

secrets which could boost technological

cooperation and know-how exchange across the

Union.

NEXT STEPS

July 21-22: Informal Competition Council ministers meeting

September 25: Competition Council ministers

meetings

December 4: Competition Council ministers meetings

International Trade

Trade agreements currently under negotiation When it comes to trade, Italy wants to actively

contribute to the conclusion of a number of

international agreements that are currently under

negotiation. These include:

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment

Partnership (TTIP): In June 2013 the United

States and the European Union have started

negotiations for a new trade agreement. As tariff

barriers are already relatively low, TTIP mainly

focusses on the removal of non-tariff barriers in

areas such as product standards, industry

regulations and public procurement

procedures.

The Comprehensive Economic and Trade

Agreement with Canada (CETA): On 18

October 2013 the European Commission and

Canada reached an agreement on the contents

of a treaty – that just like TTIP – would go

beyond tariffs to eliminate barriers to trade

between the two economies. However, almost

ten months later, due to “technical issues”, a

final agreement has not yet been reached.

The Doha Development Agenda (DDA). This

is the name of the round that is under

negotiation at the World Trade Organisation

(WTO) level since 2001. It aims at “further

liberalizing trade, whilst facilitating the

integration of developing countries into the

WTO multilateral system”.

The Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA): A

multilateral initiative outside of the WTO that

tries to promote a further trade liberalisation in

the services sector and that might become a

model for a more generalised future trade

agreement within the WTO institutional

framework.


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Negotiations to start up The new Presidency will also try to (re)launch

negotiations of trade agreements with other

trading partners, such as with the Countries on

the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, the

Southern African development Community and

Mercosur. With regards to the latter, attempts to

conclude an agreement with the South-American

free trade zone have already been going on since

1999. However, due to division among Mercosur

the processes had almost come to a standstill.

Trade Defence instruments Besides concluding new trade agreements, the

Presidency indicates that it is in favour of

concluding regulations on Trade Defence

Instruments modernisation. This initiative was

proposed by the Commission in April 2013 in

order to further formalise the use of antidumping

measures and consists of amendments to the

EU’s basic anti-dumping and anti-subsidy rules.

However, as the text – thanks to the so called

“Community Interest Clause” – allowed for new,

broadly defined exceptions from trade rules, it

was met with resistance from a large majority of

member states and led to a stalemate between

the Commission and the Council.

Research and Development

Research and Innovation

In the framework of the 2020 Horizon program,

the Italian Presidency wants to spur progress in

the field of research and more specifically it wants

to “empower young researchers”. With this

objective in mind, it promises to propose a

“political discussion on infrastructures” in the

framework of the European Strategy Forum on

Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). Likewise, Italy

considers proposing council conclusions on

Research and Innovation as “new sources of

growth”.

NEXT STEPS

October 7-9: EurOcean 2014 Conference, Rome

September 29: Leading Enabling Technologies for

Societal Challenges Conference, Bologna


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Taxation

Tax Fraud and Evasion

The first political priority of the Italian Presidency

in the field of taxation is transparency and fight

against tax fraud and evasion. To this purpose,

the Presidency aims to finalize the discussion on

the amended directive on administrative

cooperation in the field of taxation. This directive

presented by the Commission in December 2012

was put forward with the purpose to modernize

the legal instruments for mutual assistance and

make cooperation between tax administrations

more efficient. Italy will stress the need to extend

automatic exchange of information in line with

new international standards. Furthermore, the

Italian Presidency hopes to make some progress

in the negotiation with third countries

(Switzerland, Monaco, Andorra etc.) on the

revision of the agreements on savings taxation.

NEXT STEPS

July 17: Ecofin Council ministers meeting

October 14: Ecofin Council ministers meeting

November 7: Ecofin Council ministers meeting

December 9: Ecofin Council ministers meeting

Preventing double non-taxation

Another priority issue for the upcoming

Presidency is the prevention of double non-

taxation and in this context Italy will resume

discussion on the Parent/Subsidiary Directive that

was amended by the Parliament last April. The

Commission proposed new rules in order to stop

companies from exploiting differences in the way

intra-group payments are taxed across the EU.

The Italian Presidency wants to move a step

forward on the discussion on the Common

Consolidated Tax Base (CCTB). The Common

Consolidated Corporate Tax Base is a single set

of rules, proposed by the Commission, that

companies operating within the EU could use to

calculate their taxable profits. Italy will in

particular focus on the elements of tax base and

cross boarder aspects.

NEXT STEPS






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Financial Transaction Tax

The Italian Presidency would also like to reach an

agreement on the highly controversial proposal of

a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). In the

framework of an enhanced cooperation, 11

Member States (Germany, France, Italy, Spain,

Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Greece, Estonia,

Slovakia and Slovenia) expressed their

determination to introduce a FTT but did not find

an agreement on the financial instruments to be

covered by the FTT. In February 2013, the

Commission proposed to tax transactions on

shares and bonds at the rate of 0.1% and

derivatives transactions at the rate of 0.01%.

NEXT STEPS






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For further information please contact: Leonardo Sforza [email protected] Romain Seignovert [email protected] Ruben Brugnera [email protected] Square de Meeûs 23 – B 1000 Bruxelles Our website: www.mslgroup.com Follow us on twitter for breaking news updates: @MSL_Brussels

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Insights Brussels July 2014

Business

Transcript of Insights Brussels July 2014