11 March 2022
On Thursday 10th and Friday 11th March, EU heads of state and of government met in Versailles for an informal meeting of the European Council. The main topics on the agenda were to discuss Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and its consequences, as well as the need to strengthen European sovereignty, reduce dependencies and design a new growth and investment model.
Ahead of the Summit, SGI Europe circulated its contribution to the Versailles Summit, calling for a new pact guiding Europe into a new era. The contribution is available here.
Contact: Maxime Staelens
On Tuesday, the European Commission adopted its communication “REPowerEU: Joint European action for more affordable, secure and sustainable energy”, which was presented after the meeting of the college of the European Commission by EC Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans and Commissioner Simson. You can find the communication here.
With this proposal, and considering Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the European Commission is putting forward proposals to make the EU independent from Russian fossil fuels, starting with gas. The communication outlines a series of measures to respond immediately to rising energy prices in Europe and to replenish gas stocks for next winter. The “REPowerEU” initiative also starts the reflection on ways to diversify gas supplies (via higher LNG and pipeline imports from non-Russian suppliers, and larger volumes of biomethane and renewable hydrogen production and imports), speed up the roll-out of renewable gases, replace gas in heating and power generation and boost energy efficiency.
Together with its members, SGI Europe will monitor the developments and ensuing initiatives in the coming weeks.
Contact: Ariel Carpanini
On 8 March, the European Commission announced the proposal on Cohesion's Action for Refugees in Europe (CARE), intended to provide additional flexibility in cohesion policy funding to support Member States hosting people fleeing from the war in Ukraine.
The CARE proposal introduces changes to cohesion policy rules to maximize the speed and ease with which Member States can help people flee Ukraine, including extending the 100% EU co-financing for 2014-2020 cohesion policy.
The resources can support emergency measures such as building reception centres or shelters for refugees and actions in areas like mobile hospitals, sanitation and water supply, as well as support in the areas of employment, education, and social inclusion. This includes training, language courses, counselling, coaching, psychological assistance, legal support, and access to services such as childcare, healthcare, and social services.
SGI Europe fully supports the CARE proposal, and further calls upon the European Union to ensure protection and grant asylum to all refugees arriving in Europe, irrespective of their nationality or ethnic background, and urgently establish a common migration and asylum policy, starting from the reform of the Dublin Regulation.
Contact: Stefan Enica
The European Commission adopted on 8 March, on the International Women’s Day 2022, a proposal for a directive on combating violence against women and domestic violence. The need to prevent and combat violence against women, protect victims and punish offenders was announced in President von der Leyen's Political Guidelines as a key priority for the Commission, and is part of the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025.
The proposal requires that Member States take a minimum level of measures to effectively combat violence against women and domestic violence. It introduces a set of harmonised EU-level criminalisations to supplement the criminal offences Member States have in place. It particularly requires that Member States ensure the criminalisation of rape based on lack of consent. It also criminalises the most common forms of gender-based cyber violence at EU-level and sets out measures on protection and access to justice.
To some extent, the proposal for a directive also intends to provide new tools for addressing situations of harassment arising in the workplaces. Article 37 calls for Member States to deploy new measures for training and information: persons with supervisory functions in the workplace, in both public and private sectors, shall receive training on how to recognise, prevent and address sexual harassment at work, provide support to victims affected and respond in an adequate manner. Those persons and employers shall receive information about the effects of violence against women and domestic violence on work and the risk of third-party violence.
Contact: Guillaume Afellat
In the context of the Commission’s aims to tackle the current spike of energy prices and as announced in the RePowerEU: Joint European action for more affordable, secure and sustainable energy, the Commission yesterday revealed that it started the consultations with the Member States on the adoption of a proposal for a Temporary Crisis Framework to support the economy in context of Russia's invasion of Ukraine (“the Framework”).
As it follows from the press release, the draft proposal is based on Article 107(3)(b) TFEU, which allows aid to be granted to remedy a serious disturbance across the EU economy. The Commission further announced that the draft proposal of the Framework could allow temporary liquidity support (in the form of guarantees and subsidised loans) to all companies affected by the current crisis and Aid for additional costs due to exceptionally high gas and electricity prices (in any form, including limited grants, to partially compensate companies, in particular intensive energy users, for energy price increases).
SGI Europe will closely monitor the developments in this regard. The possible next steps regarding the state aid could be a targeted revision of the EU Emissions Trading System State Aid Guidelines (last adopted in September 2020), in particular to expand the list of eligible sectors, whilst ensuring that they are subject to reinforced incentives to improve energy efficiency and/or decarbonise their production and limiting competition among Member States.
Contact: Manca Pocivavsek
On Monday 7 March, MEPs from the Economic and Monetary and Budget committees held a joint session discussing with Commissioners Dombrovskis and Gentiloni how to use the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) to cushion the implications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
With several MEPs stressing that investments in energy independence are essential to prevent financing the Russian Federation and its aggression, the Commissioners pointed out that 41% of the RRF is already dedicated to the sector aiming also to decrease the EU’s energy dependency in the long-term. Moreover, some Member States can still apply for the RRF loans and amend their plans in view of the energy crisis.
MEPs are split between those asking to adjust the plans according to the new reality, and those favouring new instruments including an energy independence facility or immediate support for Ukraine and its reconstruction.
Responding to questions from MEPs on the possible next steps, the Commissioners maintained that policy responses will be adjusted but, in a context of high uncertainty, no specific details could be announced about new tools.
Contact: Antonio Astolfi
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