EU budget – Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-27
On 14 February, the European Commission set out various policy options – together with their financial impact – for a modern, long-term EU budget to deliver efficiently on EU priorities after 2020. The illustrations are based on ideas frequently put forward in public debate and not Commission proposals. By quantifying the financial impact of various possible policy choices, the Commission is seeking to demonstrate to EU leaders what future choices will mean in terms of EU funding.
The document is the Commission's contribution to the informal meeting on 23 February where EU leaders will discuss how to ensure priorities they have set for the EU (on 16 September 2016 in Bratislava and on 25 March 2017 in the Rome Declaration) can be funded.
The European Commission will table its formal proposal for the next long-term EU budget by early May.
More information
Commission presents ideas for a more efficient European Union
On 14 February, the European Commission presented a number of practical steps that could make the EU's work more efficient and improve the connection between the leaders of the EU institutions and the citizens of Europe. The contributions from the Commission – which will be discussed by EU leaders on 23 February – set out different institutional options for improving the organisation of European elections – from lead candidates, to transnational lists. Other options include the size of the College of Commissioners as well as the concept of a double-hatted President for the European Commission and European Council.
The proposed ideas and options are a follow-up to the European Commission's report on the 2014 European Parliament elections which identified ways of further enhancing the democratic legitimacy of the EU decision-making process.
More information
Munich Security Conference
President Juncker will participate tomorrow (17 February) in the Munich Security Conference, together with First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, Commissioners Johannes Hahn, Elżbieta Bieńkowska and Julian King. The President will deliver a speech in which he will present further steps to promote Europe as a strong global actor on security and defence. He will use this opportunity to show progress on the delivery of the European Defence Fund, unveiling a further set of EU-funded defence research projects. These projects will be signed in the coming weeks and aim at supporting maritime surveillance and interdiction missions at sea, as well as at improving soldiers' equipment.
More information
Social media companies need to do more to fully comply with EU consumer rules
Social media companies need to do more to fully comply with EU consumer rules made last March by the European Commission and member states' consumer authorities, the Commission announced on 15 February. However, the enforcement action has brought about some changes by Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to align their terms of services with EU rules which will benefit more than a quarter of a billion of EU consumers who use social media. For example, consumers will not be forced to waive mandatory EU rights, such as their right to withdraw from an online purchase; they will be able to lodge their complaints in Europe, rather than in California; and the platforms will take up their fair share of responsibilities towards EU consumers, similarly to the off-line service providers.
While Google's latest proposals appear to be in line with the requests made by consumer authorities, Facebook and more significantly Twitter, have only partially addressed important issues about their liability and about how users are informed of possible content removal or contract termination.
More information
All this week's key European Commission announcements can be found here
|