After successfully completing the inter-institutional negotiations on 90 pieces of legislation before the end of the European Parliament's current term, the Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU is embarking on the second part of its presidential term, which will be more closely focused on preparing for the next institutional cycle and on reflecting on the future of the European Union.
Of the 90 completed pieces of legislation, ten are sectoral variations of the proposals on the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, including the InvestEU programme and the European Defence Fund (see other news). In addition, all of the legislation aimed at absorbing the negative economic impact of a potential no-deal Brexit for the EU has been adopted.
The Romanian Presidency has one regret, however: that it has not succeeded in unblocking the asylum package, particularly reform of the European rules governing the processing of asylum applications. Migration flows from the Mediterranean have decreased considerably compared with 2015, but the resumption of fighting in Libya is creating new uncertainties.
The Romanian authorities have also expressed their surprise at the attitude of the European Parliament, which did not want to enter into negotiations on certain iconic legislation such as the Erasmus+ programmes and the European Solidarity Corps after 2020. In the social sector, the failure of the negotiations on the reform of the coordination of social security systems (see EUROPE 12238/5) has been described as a great loss by Bucharest, given the great effort expended to try to reach an interinstitutional compromise.
What happens next? The Romanian Presidency of the Council of the EU expects a particularly intensive end to the presidential term, with a focus on the June European Summit, during which a candidate for the post of President of the European Commission may be proposed to the European Parliament, depending on the results of the May European elections.
The Romanian Presidency will continue to play the role of honest broker between Member States with regard to the legislative issues that have yet to be adopted. This is particularly the case with the legislation that aims to make the granting of European funds conditional on respect for the rule of law, an area where the Romanian Social Democratic Government’s behaviour has been strongly criticised. MEPs have communicated their negotiating position on this legislation to the next European Parliament (see EUROPE 12229/3).
An informal summit of the Twenty-Seven Member States will be held in Sibiu on Thursday 9 May to discuss the strategic priorities for the next institutional cycle.
The Romanian Presidency is not directly responsible for organising the work for the summit, but several debates have taken place in the configurations of the Council of the EU, particularly on economic and financial issues (see EUROPE 12230/6), in order to identify the work that needs to be carried out in the medium term. The Romanian ministers chairing the configurations in the different policy areas will send out letters summarising these discussions.
Other topics will also obviously be included in the strategic agenda that will be adopted by the European Council in June. That will be the case for EU action on climate issues, with the increasing participation of young people such as Greta Thunberg from Sweden contributing to raising awareness among political leaders (see EUROPE 12237/29).
Another major challenge in the medium term will be further development of the internal market to adapt it to the digital economy and protect it from unfair competitive practices by companies from non-Member States. The Spring European Council asked the European Commission to present an 'assertive' industrial strategy before the end of 2019 (see EUROPE 12220/3).
“Now discussions on internal market have changed. The internal market is discussed in all its dimensions: digital economy, competition and industrial policies, relations with third countries like China", observed the Romanian ambassador, Luminiţa Teodora Odobescu, on Thursday, 18 April. In her opinion, the external dimension of the single market and how it impacts on the internal market as such have even become "the starting point" for the discussions.
At the June European Council, European leaders will discuss future appointments to the highest European offices: the Presidents of the Commission, the European Council, and the ECB, and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs. They will need to take into account the results of the European elections and try to find a geographical balance across the political spectrum.
At this stage, it is uncertain whether the Spitzenkandidaten process, according to which the European political group that wins the European elections puts forward its candidate for the post of President of the Commission, will be respected.
At the end of June, the twenty-eight European leaders will debate the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework, if they are not still involved in dealing with the appointments. The Romanian Presidency is responsible for presenting a new version of the negotiating box (see EUROPE 12212/3) in the spring.
As for Brexit, some kind of signal is expected from London after the EU Twenty-Seven gave the United Kingdom an additional six months to manage an orderly exit from the EU. In Brussels, there is no hiding a feeling of fatigue with a process that has been going on for a long time while many other issues still have to be tackled. The constructive role of the British authorities in the EU institutions is also appreciated.
Just one Brexit milestone is scheduled for the June summit.
See: http://bit.ly/2KY1NXj (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)