EU Insight, 24 January 2020, Brussels

EU FINANCE MINISTERS CONSIDER FURTHER ECONOMIC INTEGRATION

After failing to reach an agreement on multiple fronts in December, EU Finance Ministers met this week to reassess a way forward for deepening the Economic and Monetary Union. Whilst no major decisions were taken, in February they will address the Budgetary Instrument for Convergence and Competitiveness, a tool to incentivise growth enhancing reforms in Member States. Furthermore, in March, Ministers hope to conclude the reform of the European Stability Mechanism, the fund that was used to bail out eurozone countries in the last crisis, to help countries before they need to be bailed out and to extend its usage into bank resolutions.

UK FINALISES RATIFICATION OF BREXIT DEAL AHEAD OF CRUCIAL VOTE IN THE EP NEXT WEEK

After several attempts, the UK Parliament finalised the ratification of the Withdrawal Agreement on Wednesday, which will allow the UK to leave the European Union on 31 January, provided that the EU formally endorses the deal. Following the UK’s greenlight, Presidents Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen signed the Agreement before the European Parliament’s plenary holds the crucial vote on 29 January. MEPs are expected to give their consent, after which the Council will adopt, by written procedure, the decision on the conclusion of the agreement on behalf of the EU. If so, the transition period will begin on 1 February.

PARLIAMENT COMMITTEE GIVES GREEN LIGHT TO FREE TRADE BETWEEN EU AND VIETNAM

The European Parliament’s committee on international trade (INTA) gave its consent to the free trade and investment protection agreement between the EU and Vietnam. The agreement will remove nearly all tariffs between the two parties in ten years. Moreover, it will protect emblematic European products, and allow Europe to access the Vietnamese public procurement market. MEPs are set to vote on the deal during the EP Plenary in February. While the trade agreement will enter into force once the Council concludes its work, the investment protection agreement must be ratified by the EU Member States first.

PARLIAMENT CALL FOR HUMAN OVERSIGHT FOR ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Amid advances in the artificial intelligence, the European Parliament’s internal market committee passed a draft resolution underling the need of human control over the technology. The MEPs are aware of the expansion of the automated decision-making systems (ADMs) in a variety of tasks from recruiting to predictive policing in the United States but maintain that humans must always be ultimately responsible for the decisions. In case of banking sector, the MEPs call for a regulation that enables independent oversight of ADMs by qualified professionals when public interest is at stake. The committee text will be voted on the next EP Plenary.

COMMISSION PUBLISHES INPUT ON CONFERENCE ON THE FUTURE OF EUROPE

This week the Commission published its Communication on the Conference on the Future of Europe, which will kick-off on Europe Day (9 May) and last for two years. The Commission proposes the Conference should be organised along two strands: one focused on policy priorities and another on institutional matters. Specific topics will be decided with European citizens, but discussions should be framed in the context of the Commission’s Political Priorities and Council’s Strategic Agenda. Whatever the end result, the Commission calls on the European Parliament and the Council to sign a Joint Declaration, committing the institutions to following up on the outcome of the Conference.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK

• 27 January: Agriculture and Fisheries Council. On the agenda: work programme of the Presidency, European Green Deal, regulation on CAP transitional rules.
• 28 January: EU-Ukraine Association Council. On the agenda: implementation of the Association Agreement, Eastern Ukraine, Minsk agreements.
• 28 January: General Affairs Council. On the agenda: priorities of the Croatian Presidency, Conference on the Future of Europe.
• 29-30 January: European Parliament plenary session. On the agenda: Vote on Withdrawal Agreement, Commission Work Programme 2020.

Karl Isaksson, Managing Partner Brussels, Kreab