Monthly Archives: May 2020

Austria and Germany plan to open their border on June 15th after being closed for two months in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, the government in Vienna said Wednesday.
“From June 15, the opening of the border between Germany and Austria will be possible,” Tourism Minister Elisabeth Köstinger told state radio station O1.

Restrictions on crossing the border will begin to be eased from May 15th, enabling business trips and family visits to take place, she added.

The German and Austrian chancellors, Angela Merkel and Sebastian Kurz spoke Tuesday and “agreed on a gradual opening” of the border”, the minister said.

Both nations consider they have the virus under control and were among the first in Europe to start lifting the measures taken to halt the spread of the pandemic.

The Austrian government was to examine Wednesday a progressive lifting of restrictions on freedom of movement to and from other border countries including Switzerland, Liechtenstein and eastern nations.

Germany has a warning in force until mid-June against taking foreign holidays.

With the tourism sector reeling, the European Commission was Wednesday set to urge EU countries to gradually reopen shuttered internal borders and to treat each member state according to the same criteria.

This would mean that if Austria opens its border with Germany, it must also open the border with the Czech Republic if that country is in a comparable health situation to Germany.

Germany closed the border with Austria on March 16th, and Austria in turn implemented the move a few days later.

There are exceptions for commuters and freight traffic. In addition, those who can present a negative corona test that is only a few days old are allowed across the border.

Without such a certificate, the Austrian police almost exclusively let their own citizens into the country, who then have to go into domestic quarantine for 14 days at their destination.

(13. 5. 2020 via thelocal.at)

Russian “neo-imperial policy” has been identified as the top threat to Poland’s security in a new national strategy.

President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday signed Poland’s new National Security Strategy to replace a document adopted in 2014.

The new strategy identifies the main threats to national security. It says that Poland’s security is adversely affected by “the progressive decomposition of the international order,” including a “lack of respect for international law and failure to meet international obligations.”

It adds that “the number of security threats and challenges of diverse nature is on the rise,” while “the most serious threat is the neo-imperial policy of the authorities of the Russian Federation, pursued also by means of military force.”

The new Polish National Security Strategy also says that Russia’s “aggression against Georgia, the illegal annexation of Crimea and activities in eastern Ukraine have violated the basic principles of international law and undermined the pillars of the European security system.”

The document adds that Russia “is intensively developing its offensive military capabilities” in areas including the Baltic Sea region, and “conducting large-scale military exercises, based on scenarios assuming a conflict with the NATO member states, a rapid deployment of large military formations, and even the use of nuclear weapons.”

According to the new Polish National Security Strategy, Russia also “carries out activities below the threshold of war (of hybrid nature)” that “pose the risk of the outbreak of a conflict.”

Furthermore, the country “undertakes multi-faceted and comprehensive actions using non-military means (including: cyber-attacks, disinformation) to destabilise the structures of Western states and societies and to create divisions among Allies,” the document states.

(13. 5. 2020 via thenews.pl)

MEPs approved on Friday a resolution calling for a €2 trillion recovery fund to rebuild Europe’s economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.

It asks the European Commission for “a global package of €2 trillion”, which should be made of “public and private investment” and “a recovery fund which would deliver assistance mostly in the form of grants”.

“The economic reboot must come on top of, and not at the cost of pre-existing programmes,” the European Parliament said.

‘Clean revenue sources’
The EU Parliament did not say where private investments would come from but insisted on “finding new sources of EU revenue”, primarily from what it described as “clean revenue sources” such as taxing digital giants and big polluters.

Such new, “clean” sources would allow for bigger revenue without increasing EU countries’ financial contributions.

“The recovery fund should address inequalities and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the crisis,” the European Parliament said. “This means supporting small and medium businesses, consumers, workers and families.”

Strong backing
The resolution was approved by 505 votes against 119, with 69 abstentions. It was backed by all five main parliamentary groups: the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the European People’s Party (EPP), Renew Europe, the Greens / EFA and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).

This strong support from all sides led European Parliament President David Sassoli to declare that the Parliament is sending a “powerful message to other EU institutions” and would embolden it in negotiations with the European Commission.

“We will not sit and wait or just rubber-stamp any deal,” Sassoli warned. “We need to show real ambition in the coming period of reconstruction.”

A resolution is not legally binding: it is a proposition made by MEPs for the consideration of the European Commission.

‘Increase the EU’s budget’
The goal of the resolution is to include the recovery fund into the EU’s next budget, also called MFF for “Multiannual Financial Framework”.

The next seven-year budget is planned to start in 2021. The EU Parliament has repeatedly called to set the Green Deal and the European digital agenda as priorities in the bloc’s next budget.

“We want a recovery and transformation funds fighting COVID-19 and the climate crisis with public investments in climate-proofed infrastructure and health care,” the Green MEP Rasmus Andresen said.

“We are fighting for a permanent increase of the budget. Digital companies and polluters should pay their fair share and finance needed public spending.”

What’s next?
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will attend the European Parliament’s extraordinary plenary on 27 May, where she will present the Commission’s reconstruction plan.

In the meantime, EU institutions are expected to start discussing the resolution behind closed doors: Sassoli has called on the EU Commission to “immediately” start the inter-institution negotiation on the reconstruction fund.

MEPs must vote on any deal put forward by the EU Commission.

“If its demands are not met, parliament will make use of its veto powers,” the institution warned.

(15. 5. 2020 via euronews.com)

The EU-UK trade talks were never going to be plain sailing, but then came COVID-19, with both chief negotiator Michel Barnier and the UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson being personally affected.

In the meantime, a June deadline for significant progress is looming, and key arguments remain unresolved. Questions remain over fishing rights, how closely the UK will stick to EU regulations and allowing a role for the EU’s top court, the European Court of Justice.

More bumps in the road came this week, as the EU Commission opened infringement proceedings against the UK for failing to comply with free movement rules. While the UK said the EU was at risk of breaching the terms of the Brexit agreement over British expats registering to stay in the EU.

After the third round of talks this week, the UK’s Chief negotiator David Frost said there had been ‘very little progress towards agreement on the most significant outstanding issues’.

The major sticking point – the level playing field – a set of common rules to prevent one country undercutting their rivals in another.

The UK’s chief negotiator said it would bind the UK to EU law in ‘a way unprecedented in other trade deals’.

“As soon as the EU recognises that we will not conclude an agreement on that basis, we will be able to make progress,” Frost stated.

The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier voiced his disappointment in what he said was the UK’s lack of ambition in negotiations. He added that the UK had not got into ‘real discussion’ on the level-playing field.

He reiterated the EU’s aim was for a free trade agreement, without customs duties, for all goods.

With the two sides far apart, talks of an extension period reverberate in Brussels.

“We are prepared for all options. I’m still determined but not optimistic,” Barnier said.

The next two rounds of talks will determine whether a deal will be on the table by October, or whether a No Deal scenario will once again be on the cards.

(15. 5. 2020 via euronews.com)

Poland’s justice minister has said that the EU executive’s move this week to open a new legal case against Poland over disciplinary rules for judges was “unfounded” and “unlawful.”

The European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, on Wednesday said it was opening an infringement procedure against Poland over disputed new rules to discipline judges.

The move marked the latest step in a long-standing feud between Warsaw and Brussels over alleged rule-of-law breaches.

Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro told a news conference on Thursday that the EU executive’s decision to “launch the rule-of-law procedure was completely unfounded.”

He added that the European Commission “has no power to interfere in the internal affairs of individual member states in terms of how they shape their own judicial systems.”

‘Primacy over EU law’

Ziobro also told reporters that “the Polish constitution has always had, and always will have, primacy over the laws of the European Union.”

“We will never agree for European treaties to stand above the Polish constitution,” he stressed.

He argued that the EU’s infringement procedure was “unlawful” and reflected “the incompetence and political agenda” of the European Commission.

“Our task is to defend and guard Poland’s legal order and sovereignty,” Ziobro, who also serves as the country’s prosecutor-general, told the news conference. “We will not allow anyone to exceed their powers at the expense of Poland, at the expense of the interests of Polish citizens and in violation of our constitution.”

Legal wrangle

Poland’s parliament in January voted through new rules to discipline judges, dismissing claims by critics that the legislation could undermine judicial independence.

The European Commission on Wednesday said it was starting a formal infringement procedure and giving Poland two months to address its concerns about the new disciplinary regime, which it said could be used to punish judges critical of government changes to the judiciary.

“There are clear risks that the provisions regarding the disciplinary regime against judges can be used for political control of the content of judicial decisions,” said Věra Jourová, the deputy head of the European Commission in charge of upholding the EU’s democratic values.

A Polish government spokesman in December criticised an “off the mark” appeal by the European Commission for politicians in Warsaw to hold off from adopting the controversial law.

Two US Congressmen in January urged the Polish president to uphold his country’s “commitment to democratic values” and reject “dangerous judicial reforms.”

At the end of last year protests were held in dozens of cities across Poland by demonstrators critical of the planned legal changes, which critics say could enable politicians to remove dissenting judges.

Under the law, put forward by deputies from the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), judges could face penalties for challenging the appointment of those of their peers who took up their posts after the conservatives came to power.

Some of the proposals were later modified during parliamentary work.

In late January, senior Polish officials slammed a Supreme Court ruling that judges recently appointed by the country’s governing conservatives were illegitimate and should not be allowed to hear cases.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki warned that if judges were allowed to question the appointment or verdicts of other judges, the Polish justice system could be engulfed by chaos.

A judicial system ‘deeply flawed’: PM

Poland’s governing Law and Justice (PiS) party, which came to power in late 2015 and won a second term in power in October last year, has argued that broad changes are needed to reform an inefficient and sometimes corrupt judicial system marred by communist holdovers.

The changes have triggered a series of clashes between Warsaw and Brussels.

The EU’s top court this month ordered Poland to immediately suspend a disciplinary chamber within its Supreme Court that critics have said could punish judges for their decisions.

The Polish prime minister said last year that some of the legal changes made by his conservative government have met with criticism abroad because they are not understood in Western Europe.

Morawiecki said in 2017 that his country’s judicial system was “deeply flawed” and that his ruling conservatives were elected with a mandate to overhaul it.

‘Dysfunction’ and ‘pathological’ behaviour

Poland’s Ziobro told reporters last spring that a range of new measures to discipline judges were designed to fight “dysfunction” and “pathological” behaviour in the Polish judiciary and that they were less political than those in neighbouring Germany.

Ziobro also said at the time that a new disciplinary chamber within Poland’s Supreme Court was designed to deal with lapses among judges, including cases of theft.

He added that previous procedures were inadequate to discipline such judges.

(1. 5. 2020 via thenews.pl)

All three official candidates were slow off the mark to recognize the gravity of the corona crisis.

The race to succeed Angela Merkel was supposed to be on hold because of the coronavirus.

Inevitably it has continued, and even gathered pace.

While the usual political rituals, from the speeches to the bratwurst and debates, have been put off for now, the candidates (four-and-a-half or five men are in the running, depending on how you count) have wasted no opportunity in trying to brandish their bona fides.

Luckily for the candidates, Merkel, whose standing among Germans has hit new highs amid the crisis, hasn’t thrown her hat in the ring. Yet.

Her universal popularity notwithstanding, Merkel seems unlikely to back away from her pledge not to seek another term if for no other reason than she rarely reverses course. That said, the crisis has also doused any lingering hopes that she might exit before the end of the current legislative term, which expires in the fall of 2021.

If Merkel’s center-right bloc can hold on to its recent gains — the Christian Democrats (CDU) are now polling at near 40 percent, a jump of more than 10 percentage points since the crisis hit — there’s little doubt that the next chancellor will come from the party’s ranks.

The delayed leadership contest is for the chairmanship of the CDU itself, a post Merkel gave up in late 2018. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, Merkel’s hand-picked successor, stepped down from the position earlier this year following a rocky tenure, triggering a new race. Her successor was originally supposed to be chosen at a party congress this month, but the process was delayed indefinitely due to the pandemic.

Pre-crisis, the presumption was that one of the three men officially in the running — Armin Laschet, the premier of North Rhine-Westphalia; Norbert Röttgen, a senior MP who leads the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee; or Friedrich Merz, a former senior party official and MP — would take over the party and then run for chancellor.

So far, it’s hard to imagine any of them has the right stuff to run Europe’s largest and most important country.

All were slow off the mark to recognize the gravity of the corona crisis as late as mid-March.

Just as the country was preparing to go into lockdown, for example, Merz announced he had appointed a new campaign manager, posting a photograph of himself and his strategist grinning in front of a deserted Brandenburg Gate.

After the party convention was delayed, Röttgen called for a mail-in ballot, arguing that it was imperative the party settle on a new leader.

The jockeying prompted a stern response from Kramp-Karrenbauer, who is managing the contest.

“Country first, then the party, then the individual,” she said in Merz and Röttgen’s direction.

Shortly after, Merz, 64, came down with COVID-19 and was out for weeks. He has since returned but has struggled to find footing from his home office.

Laschet, the third man in the field, has fared little better. His state, Germany’s largest by population, has been the country’s corona ground zero with the highest number of infections. It has also accounted for about one-fifth of COVID-19 deaths in Germany. Nonetheless, Laschet has been at the forefront of those pushing for an accelerated lifting of restrictions.

In a widely-viewed talk show on Sunday evening, he went as far as to question the wisdom of following the advice of virologists. His appearance was widely panned, especially in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Laschet “didn’t have his facts straight” and his presentation was “unworthy of a potential chancellor candidate,” the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, one of the state’s largest newspapers, concluded.

Despite their best efforts, the crisis has made the three men vying for the CDU leadership look like white dwarfs in Merkel’s supernova orbit.

That’s why speculation has shifted elsewhere, toward Bavaria and Merkel’s Cabinet.

Markus Söder, the leader of Bavaria, has received particularly high marks for his handling of the crisis in his state. He has pushed in the opposite direction to Laschet, calling for stricter measures instead of rapid relaxation. Still, Bavarians are thankful. His approval rating in the state hit 94 percent this month, the highest ever for a politician in Germany. In a recent national poll, Söder had the highest approval rating of any German politician, besting even Merkel.

Bavarian politicians typically struggle beyond the state’s borders. The state views itself as semi-autonomous, at least in spirit, and has a distinct culture from the rest of the country. Even so, Söder’s folksy charm and crisis management have clearly resonated with voters nationwide, feeding speculation that he could be the one.

His biggest challenge would be to convince the CDU. Söder leads the Christian Social Union, the CDU’s Bavarian sister party, and together they form Germany’s center-right bloc with a joint parliamentary group. They have also always fielded a common candidate for chancellor.

But the only time the much-larger CDU has ever accepted a CSU standard-bearer was when the conservatives’ chances of winning were slim. And both times that happened, they turned out to be right.

For now, Söder insists he has no greater aspirations and is content to lead Bavaria.

The other unofficial candidate is Health Minister Jens Spahn.

Like Söder, Spahn’s star has risen during the crisis as the face of Germany’s frontline response.

Long before most Germans understood the magnitude of what was coming, Spahn was out warning them. He now ranks alongside Merkel and Söder as one of Germany’s most popular politicians.

In recent weeks, he’s also become the country’s international COVID-19 spokesman, appearing on American TV networks CNN and CNBC to explain the success of Germany’s virus-fighting strategy.

Spahn, who ran for the CDU’s top post in 2018 and lost to Kramp-Karrenbauer, decided not to enter the latest contest directly. Instead, he’s supporting Laschet, forming what some see as an American-style ticket. If Laschet wins the leadership race, Spahn, who turns 40 next month, would be his clear No. 2 and positioned to one day succeed him.

(30. 4. 2020 via politico.eu)

The EU Commission’s Executive Vice-President has expressed caution over plans by a majority of member states to wave mandatory refunds for cancelled flights to help European airlines hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Euronews broke the news on Wednesday that transport ministers from a majority of the bloc’s member states were lobbying the Commission to suspend rules forcing airlines to offer full refunds instead of a voucher for future travel.

The push, spearheaded by France and the Netherlands, aims to offer a financial lifeline to struggling airlines.

“Air carriers are no longer generating passenger business, yet they continue to incur high running costs,” a joint statement read.

It added that the rule to offer a full refund for a cancelled flight “places airlines in a difficult situation where they are facing a serious cash flow challenge.”

(30. 4. 2020 via euronews.com)