EU Insight, 29 November 2019, Brussels

PARLIAMENT GREENLIGHT VON DER LEYEN COMMISSION

The European Parliament approved the new College of the European Commission with 461 votes in favour, 157 against and 89 abstentions. Before the vote took place, the incoming Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addressed MEPs to set out once more her overarching aims. She highlighted the importance to address climate change – an existential question, she said – and talked about the prominence of digitalisation, whilst mitigating against a looming financial downturn. The new Commission, including the 27 new Commissioners (the UK having failed to propose a candidate), will take up office on 1 December.

COUNCIL AGREES POSITION ON CCP RECOVERY & RESOLUTION

The Council of the EU agreed its position on a framework for central counterparties’ (CCPs) recovery and resolution, defining measures to be taken in extreme but plausible events of financial distress. A CCP is a financial institution that takes on counterparty credit risk between parties to a transaction and provides clearing and settlement services. It took almost three years for Members States to agree on a General Approach, mostly due to disagreement on governance aspects and loss allocation. Given that the European Parliament adopted its position in March 2018, trilogues are expected to begin as soon as January 2020.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SETS PREFERENCE FOR EU’S DATA PROTECTION SUPERVISOR

The European Parliament selected Wojciech Wiewiórowski as its preferred choice to become the next head of the European Data Protection Supervisor, the EU’s independent data protection authority. After being quizzed by the Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee together with two other candidates, Mr Wiewiórowski secured a total of 36 votes, ahead of Yann Padova (25 votes) and Endre Szabó (3 votes). The European Data Protection Supervisor will be jointly appointed by common accord of the European Parliament and the Council for a term of five years.

CLIMATE EMERGENCY DECLARED BY EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

In view of the upcoming UN COP25 Climate Change Conference in Madrid that will start next week, the European Parliament approved a resolution declaring a climate and environmental emergency in Europe and globally. The Parliament asked the Commission to align all legislative and budgetary proposals with the objective of limiting global warming to under 1.5 °C and to include a 55% reduction target of greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in the European Green Deal. Furthermore, the MEPs also demand more action on curtailing emissions from aviation and shipping.

EUROPEAN HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS SHIFT TO PREVENTION AND PRIMARY CARE

In a report mapping the biggest trends in the transformation of the healthcare systems, the European Commission acknowledges a focus on disease prevention and primary healthcare promotion across the Member States. It also identifies further opportunities in relation to digital transformation of healthcare. The Commission recognises the report’s warning on vaccine hesitancy as a major European public health threat, along with gaps in healthcare accessibility both in terms of clinical needs and socioeconomic characteristics of patients. The report serves as an important source of information for health policymakers at the EU and Member State levels.

COMING UP NEXT WEEK:

• 2 December: UN climate change conference (COP 25). On the agenda: climate neutrality by 2050.
• 2-3 December: Justice and Home Affairs Council. On the agenda: European Border and Coast Guard, counter terrorism, environmental crime, alternative measures to detention.
• 2-4 December: Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council. On the agenda: trans-European transport network (TEN-T), 5G technology, ePrivacy, Smart sector integration, Energy policy priorities.
• 4 December: Eurogroup. On the agenda: surveillance reports in Greece, Cyprus and Spain.
• 5 December: Economic and Financial Affairs Council. On the agenda: money laundering, Climate action. Capital Markets Union, Financial architecture for development.

Karl Isaksson, Managing Partner Brussels, Kreab