State of the Union: openness and Democracy Package

After the latest State of the Union (SOTEU) 2017 blog posts looking at EU citizens, reform and future and Citizens’ Dialogues,  we recall that public opinion - despite the clunky Eurobarometer questions - seems to have been ahead of the EU27 heads of state or government, at least until the openings in the Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker’s SOTEU address SPEECH/17/3165 and the French president Emmanuel Macron’s Sorbonne speech (English summary) gave the leaders some impetus.

Openness (transparency)  

The European Commission has said very little about European level democracy, but at least in principle the Commission is open to input from citizens of the union. In addition to the Citizens’ Dialogues discussed earlier, we take note of the public consultations, even if most of the issues are of interest to specific business and consumer lobbies more than politically engaged EU citizens. On the State of the Union 2017 web page, we find the Commission’s button with an invitation to send our comments after the SOTEU address, although we do not know what, if anything, happens after the feedback  enters the black hole.

Through the State of the Union 2017 web page we can access a two-page factsheet on Better Regulation, with a focus on priorities offering European added value and improved enforcement. The leaflet is available in all the official EU languages. You can also consult my State of the Union blog post on better regulation and enforcement.

The SOTEU 2017 web page provides a link to a press release IP/17/3167 related to one aspect of transparency, namely a Code of Conduct for Members of the Commission. The press release - available in the official EU languages - leads us to the official document:

Draft Commission decision of 12.9.2017 on a Code of Conduct for the Members of the European Commission; Brussels, 12.9.2017 C(2017) 6200   

Democracy Package

The SOTEU 2017 web page offers us a link to the Commission’s so called Democracy Package IP/17/3187, with MEMO/17/3168, both available in 23 official EU languages. There is also a brief pastel coloured factsheet on the revision of the ECI Regulation.

One proposal wants to make the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) more user-friendly and the other revision wants to tighten the rules on funding for European political parties (Europarties) and their political foundations.

If you follow the link in the press release for the revision of the revision of the ECI Regulation, you find the materials - proposal, annex and Commission staff working document - plus an invitation to subscribe to get notifications and an invitation to provide feedback within eight weeks from publication. The same principles apply, if you follow the link to the amendment of the Regulation regarding European political parties and foundations.

The official documents comprise 161 pages in all, but let us post the details of the main proposals through Eur-Lex for future reference:

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European citizens’ initiative; Brussels, 13.9.2017 COM(2017) 482 final; procedure  2017/0220 (COD)

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU, Euratom) No. 1141/2014 of the European Parliament and the Council of 22 October 2014 on the statute and funding of European political parties and European political foundations; Brussels, 13.9.2017 COM(2017) 481 final; procedure 2017/0219 (COD)  

The Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) NGO - @LibertiesEU on Twitter - interviewed professor Alberto Alemanno - @alemannoEU -  about president Juncker’s SOTEU speech and these positive but modest Democracy Package steps towards strengthening democracy in the European Union.

Ralf Grahn

Sharpening the axes: EU Council long term budget discussion

What did the discussion about the EU's long term budget offer the public?

Yesterday the General Affairs Council (GAC) publicly debated the long term budget (officially, the multiannual financial framework MFF), which is going to determine the EU's annual budgets 2014-2020.

The MFF is how the EU member states control income and expenditure, despite the much touted new powers of the European Parliament regarding the annual budgets. The EP can only accept or reject the MFF.

Yesterday, the ministers did not discuss the long term budget, but a ”negotiating box” covering four categories of expenditure (known as "headings"): heading 1 “Smart and inclusive growth” (except for cohesion policy and the Connecting Europe Facility), heading 3 “Security and citizenship”, heading 4 “Global Europe” (EU's external action) and heading 5 (administration).

In other words, it was not like the discussion of a house, but of an important section of the blueprint of the building.


Openness

The Council press people have written an article about the GAC meeting and tried to make the MFF negotiating process comprehensible. There are helpful links to web pages concerning the Multiannual Financial Framwork 2014-2020 (and further news, proposals and videos) and the outline of the negotiating box.

The discussion was webcast directly, and those who are interested can watch the recording as an example of Council debate. The recording also serves, if you want to know the main negotiating aims of one or more countries. You can also see the emerging front lines.

When the interventions of the chairman and Commissioners are added to each of the 27 EU member states (plus Croatia) making its main points in three minutes, this ”tour de table” or series of monologues took about two hours and a quarter.

There is also the 30 min video recording of the press conference with the Danish minister Nicolai Wammen, who chaired the meeting, and the commissioners Maroš Šefčovič (inter-institutional relations and administration) and Janusz Lewandowski (financial programming and budget).

Even if this was an 'early stages' discussion, the press conference offers some distilled information and intelligent questions from journalists.

It is not easy to summarise the diverging opinions of the member states, but perhaps for the first time the GAC conclusions look as if someone had made an effort (without naming and shaming individual countries):

3158th Council meeting General Affairs; Brussels, 26 March 2012 (document 8129/12)

Read the conclusions, if you want to know the bones of contention at a general level.


Improvements

The General Affairs Council has been been a real disappointment with regard to openness, governance standards and effectiveness during the first two years of the Lisbon Treaty.

It is therefore worth noting that the quality of advance information (although very late) and the conclusions has improved during the Danish presidency.

As in the case of the eurozone (Eurogroup, Euro Summit), the Council press service has enhanced the quality of presentation lately, although the opaque nature of these coteries remains.


Media

About ten countries want to squeeze the Commission proposals by some EUR100 billion. Here are some media reports.

Eight countries want to scrap the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund (EGF), which spends about EUR500 million annually, according to the Swedish EU minister Birgitta Ohlsson (Europaportalen.se). No financial transaction tax (FTT) for the EU coffers to reduce the national contributions, according to Ohlsson.

Ten countries asked for macroeconomic conditionality to be extended to all forms of EU expenditure, Europolitics reported in a good summary of the contents of the GAC discussion.

Ahead of the annual budget for 2013, the Commission tells the institutions to limit expenditure (EUobserver). While member states want to cut expenses for administration, the Commission counters with problems to recruit officials from the rich member states or from fields where the private sector offers more for top talent (EUobserver).



Ralf Grahn
speaker and lecturer on EU affairs

P.S. The multilingual Bloggingportal.eu already aggregates the posts from 948 Euroblogs. They represent an integral part of the emerging European online public sphere, discussion across national and linguistic borders. Regards-citoyens is a highly productive French blog, which mixes own articles and analysis with selected writings from other media and news from the EU institutions.

Among the Euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), the Nordic Grahnblawg (written in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). I write and speak about democracy and openness in the European Union, but increasingly about the crucial challenges of the global era for Europe: growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

The other social media where I am active: Twitter, Facebook ja Google+

EU trade ministers communicating ACTA

The trade ministers met in the EU Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) 16 March 2012 (agenda). According to the background note:

Under “any other business” the Council will be briefed on the situation regarding the signature and ratification of the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) between the EU and Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States.

ACTA is aimed at establishing an international framework for improving the enforcement of intellectual property right laws and creating improved international standards for actions against large-scale infringements of intellectual property. Negotiations were concluded in November 2010.

We know that few issues have engaged as many EU citizens as intensely as the anti-piracy treaty ACTA, so we want to share with the public what Mr Didier REYNDERS, Mr Ivo MARINOV, Mr Martin TLAPA, Ms Pia Olsen DYHR, Ms Anne Ruth HERKES, Mr Matti MAASIKAS, Mr Rory MONTGOMERY, Mr Ioannis DRIMOUSSIS, Mr Konstantinos PAPADOPOULOS, Mr Jaime GARCÍA-LEGAZ PONCE, Mr Pierre LELLOUCHE, Mr Ferdinando NELLI FEROCI, Ms Praxoula ANTONIADOU-KYRIACOU, Mr Daniels PAVĻUTS, Mr Egidijus MEILŪNAS, Mr Christian BRAUN, Mr Péter GYÖRKÖS, Mr Tonio FENECH, Mr Henk BLEKER, Mr Walter GRAHAMMER, Mr. Andrzej DYCHA, Mr Miguel MORAIS LEITÃO, Mr Mihnea MOTOC, Mr Rado GENORIO, Mr Peter JAVORČÍK, Mr Jan STORE, Ms Ewa BJÖRLING and Mr Norman LAMB were able to come up with together with the commissioner, Mr Karel DE GUCHT, in order to enlighten the people:

The Council took stock of the situation regarding the signature and ratification of the anti-counterfeiting trade agreement (ACTA) between the EU and Australia, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States.

ACTA establishes an international framework for improving the enforcement of intellectual property right laws and creating improved international standards for actions against large-scale infringements of intellectual property. Negotiations were concluded in November 2010 and the agreement was signed by the EU and 22 member states in Tokyo on 26 January 2012.

On 22 February, the Commission decided to refer ACTA to the Court of Justice to verify its compatibility with the EU treaties and in particular with the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

Quite enlightening!



Ralf Grahn
public speaker on EU affairs

P.S. The multilingual Bloggingportal.eu already aggregates the posts from 941 Euroblogs. They represent an important part of the emerging European online public space, discussion across national and linguistic borders. One of the most promising fresh entrants is the LSE European Politics and Policy EUROPP blog, where Ronny Patz recently wrote about the EU blogosphere and called for more specialists and academics to widen the debate closer to real life.

Among the Euroblogs on Bloggingportal.eu you find my current blog trio, Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), the Nordic Grahnblawg (written in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (meaning European Law, in Finnish). I write and speak about democracy and openness in the European Union, but increasingly about the challenges of growth (EU2020) and the (digital) single market in the making.

EUCO: Fiscal compact TSCG

The fiscal compact, officially the Treaty on stability, coordination and governance in the economic and monetary union (TSCG), was signed yesterday by 25 of the 27 governments of the EU member states. Only the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom chose to exclude themselves at this stage.

The TSCG text is available in the 22 authentic treaty languages (Bulgarian, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish).


A common concern

The recital reminds us of the obligation of all member states of the European Union to regard their economic policies as a matter of common concern. This obligation was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty, which was signed twenty years ago.

Recently, the failure of the states to adhere to and to enforce this obligation has turned it into a grave concern, common to all EU citizens (and beyond).

The TSCG still builds on the principle of national economic policies, which need to be coordinated intergovernmentally, although it purports to shrink the straitjacket.


Treaty law and enhanced cooperation

The aim of the signatories is to incorporate the substance of the TSCG into the legal framework
of the European Union within five years (Article 16). According to Article 10, enhanced cooperation is seen as an option.

This intergovernmental treaty, close to but outside the institutional framework of the European Union, went through six different drafts, which were not officially made public. However, the draft texts were leaked to selected media. Even if selective leaks violate the principle of equality between EU citizens, openness was served.


Ratification

According to Article 14(2) and (3), the TSCG needs to be ratified by at least twelve euro area member states to enter into force among them.

The meaning is twofold. The final number of ratifying states may be less than 25. For constitutional reasons Ireland is going to call yet another national referendum. Other countries may stumble when they try to transpose the changes into national law, although aid from the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will become conditional upon the ratification of the TSCG.

On the other hand, a few dropouts won't spoil the party for the masochists.


Euro Summit

The provisions on governance (Euro Summit) apply to all parties from the original entry into force. See Article 14(4). The TSCG legalises the recent practice of euro summits, which have eclipsed the Eurogroup, which meets informally but is mentioned in an EU Treaty protocol.


Political alignment

For the non-euro countries, the TSCG is mainly a symbol of political alignment, since they undertake no concrete obligations, if they do not expressly undertake obligations. See Article 14(5). However, according to Article 12(3) they are granted limited participation rights in the Euro Summit.

The TSCG as a whole applies to the eurozone countries, although only a part of the provisions are real additions to the euro area acquis.

The signing of the TSCG took care of the ”austerity” part at the European Council 1-2 March 2012, so the main part of the EUCO meeting could – for a change – be devoted to economic growth, competitiveness and jobs.



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. Between the global issues and the national level, with a tenuous hold on democracy, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see a European online public sphere emerging. Grahnlaw (recently ranked fourth among political blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish) are among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Are you following the debates which matter for your future? Is your blog already listed on Bloggingportal?

European Council and Euro Summit: Van Rompuy promises more of the same

Habemus what? White smoke rose from the Justus Lipsius building. Without a black ball, both a cabal of 27 and a coterie of 17 political leaders in Europe made it clear that they want more of the same.

Late and almost imperceptibly the selection of Herman Van Rompuy to chair the Euro Summit coterie and the European Council for the next two and a half years had been introduced into the meagre advance information from EUCO to the public.

The selection of Van Rompuy to chair both clubs from 1 June 2012 to 30 November 2014 has now been confirmed.

In his acceptance speech Van Rompuy reminded his backers that ”our duty is to preserve the trust of the citizens in the Union”.

It would have been even better, if he had remembered that we are citizens of the European Union (even if we still lack full political rights).

Can we hope for better governance and more openness? Van Rompuy's thank-you address seems to dash any hope of improvement: ”In my second mandate, I intend to remain true to my style and working methods.”

Despite this, Van Rompuys audaciously speaks about winning over the hearts and minds of the Europeans.

How about democratic reform of the European Union and its institutions? For Van Rompuy democracy becomes a value worth effort right beyond the external border of the EU:

Without exaggerating the means at our disposal, we must act united whenever our interests and our values -- in particular democratic values -- are at stake, in the first place in our neighbourhood. This is where our credibility starts.

In addition, president Van Rompuy reported about the discussions at the first EUCO session. True to his style and working methods, he still did not share the paper he had circulated to the heads of state or government on how to revive growth and employment.

Update 7 March 2012: Through Twitter the Council press office yesterday made an Issues Paper (29 February 2012) available to the public.

Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. With a sometimes tenuous hold on democracy, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see a European online public sphere emerging. Grahnlaw (ranked fourth among politcal blogs in Finland), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish) are among the more than 900 euroblogs aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Is your blog already listed among them? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?

European Council versus sewing circle governance

Oblivious of its two years as the most important official institution of the EU, the European Council (EUCO) convenes 1-2 March 2012 at the same level of governance as a sewing circle (thematic page).

In order to prolong this sad state of affairs, the preparatory General Affairs Council (GAC) left us with these recycled generalities (page 8):

PREPARATION OF THE MARCH EUROPEAN COUNCIL

The Council examined draft conclusions for the European Council meeting to be held on 1 and 2 March.

The European Council is due to focus on:

• Economic policy:

– assessing progress made in implementing country-specific recommendations under the EU's European Semester and commitments under the Euro Plus Pact;

– giving guidance to member states, on the basis of the Commission's annual growth survey, for the preparation of their national reform programmes (structural reforms) and stability or convergence programmes (fiscal policies);

– highlighting labour market reforms and employment and competitiveness issues; and

– providing guidance to the Commission and the Council on the implementation of flagship initiatives for jobs and growth.

• International summits: preparations for a G-8 summit on 19-20 May, a G-20 summit on 18-19 June and a UN "Rio+20" conference on sustainable development on 20-22 June;

• Foreign policy, including the southern neighbourhood (one year after the start of the Arab
Spring) and Syria;

• Other issues, including EU enlargement (Serbia) and accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the Schengen area.

The Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance in the Economic and Monetary Union ("fiscal compact") will be signed in the margins of the meeting.

The draft conclusions will be reviewed in the light of the Council's discussion. An annotated draft agenda was discussed by the Council on 27 January (5354/12).

***

In short, there is no documentation of the input to the coordinating General Affairs Council and there is no meaningful public output from the GAC, which sits on the draft conclusions.

The European Council continues to act like a club of ladies meeting for tea, gossip and sewing, with the tiny difference that the EUCO happens to be the supremo among official instutions for 502 million EU citizens.

Here, at least, the Lisbon Treaty would allow the GAC and EUCO more than perennial underachievement with regard to the openness (transparency) mandated by Article 1 TEU.



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. For better or for worse, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see an emerging European online public sphere. Grahnlaw, Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish) and more than 900 other euroblogs are aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Is your blog already listed among them? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?

Eurozone governance: Fundamental flaws but better presentation

This blog post continues the discussion in the entries Transparency during the eurozone crises and Euro crises: European Council eviscerated?, based on my speech at the 22 February 2012 Attac seminar about the implications of the new fiscal discipline in the EU. This text contains some modifications, updates and documentary references, complementing the oral presentation.

I am appalled by the crucial role two coteries, the Eurogroup and the new Euro Summit - both meeting informally – play in European economic policy making. I am disappointed in the way the coordinating General Affairs Council (GAC) and the European Council (EUCO) have failed to grow up, despite the possibilities offered by the Lisbon Treaty.

However, every cloud has a silver lining, or there are pockets of excellence everywhere.


Council press office

Since our discussion with the Council press office last November, some things have improved from the citizen's point of view.

Let us follow the paper trail of the Eurogroup and the official institutions to make our case.

The Council press office has recently added a web page called Eurozone Governance, accessible from the Council's front page, as well as the home page of the European Council. This is an improvement, and the contents have been upgraded. We could even say that the presentation has improved a lot (web page Documents).

After the fact, we learn i.a. that the EU finance ministers have agreed to shore up IMF resources by €150 billion (19 December 2011), the text of the Treaty on stability, coordination and governance in the economic and monetary union (TSCG) – also known as the ”fiscal compact” or the ”stability union” - and the text of the Treaty establishing the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) between the euro countries.

Nowadays, there are also articles about the main issues, with helpful links, so the materials are available in one place, in a much more user friendly manner.

The frequency of press releases has also gone up, and the various conclusions, as well as explanatory and official statements have also been posted.


Democratic debate

If presentation has improved, what am I carping about?

Despite better presentation, the fundamental flaws of structure and procedures remain.

The essence of democratic debate is seeing citizens and media as potential sources of input, not just a nuisance or subjects to be informed about the outcomes.

This is where the Eurogroup and the European Council fail miserably, and the Council configurations largely.

Thus, the Euro Summit which combines traits of the Eurogroup and the European Council is hardly a dream prospect with regard to openness.

Ahead of the Eurogroup Monday evening, we had a short statement (14 February 2012) from the president Jean-Claude Juncker announcing the chief reasons for the postponement of the ordinary meeting. The Eurogroup statement (21 February 2012) on the second bailout package for Greece offers the public highlights about the sacrifices of the euro area taxpayers, the private bondholders and the Greek people, but it does not contain any links to the underlaying documents and assessments. We are supposed to take the decisions on trust.

But this is the crux: They don't really have a mandate from me.



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. 1: For better or for worse, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see an emerging European online public sphere. More than 900 euroblogs are aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Is your blog already listed among them? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?

P.S. 2: Referring the anti-piracy treaty #ACTA to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) marks a lull in the proceedings, but not an end to the political battle. A few moments ago, the online petition launched by @Avaaz for the European Parliament (and the national parliaments) to reject ACTA had already been signed by 2,427,532 netizens, but more are welcome until the official burial.

Today, Saturday 25 February 2012, European citizens join forces through more than 150 demonstrations for open and democratic legislation and Internet freedoms. In Finland Stop ACTA Helsinki convenes in front of the Central Railway Station at 14:00 hours.

Euro crises: European Council eviscerated?

The European Council was inaugurated as the supremo among the official EU institutions just two years ago, by the Lisbon Treaty. A cascade of meetings, both official ones and inofficial summits, has followed during the financial, sovereign debt and economic crises.

It may sound paradoxical, but my feeling is that the European Council has been gutted by the euro area crises and by design.

This blog post continues the discussion in the entry Transparency during the eurozone crises, based on my presentation at the 22 February 2012 Attac seminar, but with some modifications, updates and documentary references.


Eviscerated European Council?

Already, the latest statements from the informal summits for the EU as a whole, such as 26 October 2011, and the formal European Council conclusions, 23 october 2011 (EUCO 52/1/11) and 9 December 2011 (EUCO 139/1/11), look pretty anaemic.

It is as if the European Council had been eviscerated, emptied of content of late.

The spring meeting has traditionally been dedicated to all aspects of economic issues, but we have to wait to see what EUCO produces in terms of substance 1-2 March 2012 in the light of the EUCO annotated draft agenda (Council document 5354/12).


Summit or EU institution?

The first two years of the European Council as an official EU institution could be marked down as a lost opportunity with regard to openness and closeness to the citizen of the European Union.

In the beginning, EUCO president Herman Van Rompuy underlined that the European Council was an official institution, but in practice it continued to act as an international summit between leaders, without adopting practices of openness and good governance.

By this I mean in particular the preparatory phase from the Council configurations through the coordinating General Affairs Council (GAC), which has proved a real disappointment.

In order to illustrate the point, I ask you to look at the draft agenda of the GAC and the background note ahead of the 28 February 2012 meeting. Do we see clear proposals going in and can we expect the GAC to make public propositions to EUCO for public debate ahead of conclusions?

For comparison, we also have the customary annotated agenda from the government of Sweden: Allänna rådets möte den 28 februari 2012 – Kommenterad dagordning. Thin, is how I see it, instead of a clear paper trail from proposal to discussion, with public debate in between.

***

Perhaps some of us find it comforting to see that we citizens are in such noble company – at least in part with the heads of state or government of the non-euro states – watching more of real policy making disappear into the even bigger black hole of beefed-up Eurogroup support and the permanent Euro Summit.

Perhaps some of us are comfortable with the GAC and EUCO continuing to labour in the mode of diplomatic conferences, instead of as accountable and transparent institutions of European government and governance.

Perhaps we should not be. Yesterday, the Swedish economist Anders Bäckstrand wrote on Europaportalen that the euro crisis has started a process towards a more distinctly political Europe, but political legitimacy is necessary for this to succeed.



Ralf Grahn
speaker on EU affairs, especially digital policy and law

P.S. 1: For better or for worse, between the global issues and the national level, the European Union institutions and the eurozone coteries shape our future. At the same time we see a European public sphere emerging. More than 900 euroblogs are aggregated by multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. Is your blog already listed among them? Are you following the debates which matter for your future?

P.S. 2: Referring the anti-piracy treaty #ACTA to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) marks a lull in the proceedings, but not an end to the political battle. A few moments ago, the online petition launched by @Avaaz for the European Parliament (and the national parliaments) to reject ACTA had already been signed by 2,427,119 netizens, but more are welcome until the official burial.

Today, Saturday 25 February 2012, European netizens join forces through more than 150 demonstrations for open and democratic legislation and Internet freedoms. In Finland Stop ACTA Helsinki convenes in front of the Central Railway Station at 14:00 hours.

Citizens first: EU Council ignores the Treaty

In his blog post The schizophrenic Council, Ronny Patz saw the real face of the Council of the European Union as that of an EU institution

…that may have started to understand how 21st century PR works but that has not yet understood how 21st century democracy should look like.

Kudos to Reijo Kemppinen for presenting the Council view about restricted and privileged access to information.

However, Kemppinen's arguments miss the fundamental principles of equality of and equal attention to the citizens of the EU (Article 9 TEU), as well as the guiding values of a union 'in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen' (Article 1 TEU).

This is more than a bureaucratic slip.

The guiding principles are relevant to both the apples of access to documents and the oranges of running communication work of the EU Council (as well as the other EU institutions).

The fruits belong to the citizens of the European Union.



Ralf Grahn

European Council: Economic policy reform priorities IV

We continue looking at the governance and practices of the most important official institution of the EU, the European Council, with regard to fiscal consolidation and structural reform.

Having studied the Annual Growth Survey (AGS) from the Commission in Part One, and EU 2020 macroeconomic and fiscal guidance offered by the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) in Part Two, we turned to the contributions by the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) in Part Three, which dealt with employment, poverty and social exclusion.

It was possible to arrive this far in deciphering which priorities for fiscal consolidation and structural reform the European Council broadly endorsed (”In line with”), because someone was graceful enough to insert footnote 1 to paragraph 2, clumsily acknowledging the submerged parts of the iceberg:

In line with the Council's conclusions of 15 February and 7 March 2011 and further to the Commission's Annual Growth Survey. See also the Presidency's synthesis report of 16 March 2011.

Source:

European Council 24/25 March 2011 Conclusions; Brussels, 25 March 2011 (EUCO 10/11; 34 pages)


Hungarian synthesis report

The European Council did not exactly adopt (”See also”) the synthesis report from the Hungarian presidency of the EU Council, but it is well worth a closer look. Here the Hungarian presidency made a helpful contribution, by offering an overview and by including contributions from other Council configurations besides Ecofin and EPSCO.

There is, however, some ambiguity regarding the right version of the synthesis report and the differences between the various versions. The European Council footnote refers to a document dated 16 March, but if we search more diligently we find both a first revision, dated 16 March, and a second revised version, dated 18 March 2011.

The most obvious difference is that the two later papers are six pages shorter, but no explicit explanation is given in the introductory paragraph on the cover page:

Implementation of the European Semester - Synthesis report; Brussels, 16 March 2011 (document 7745/11; 21 pages)

Implementation of the European Semester - Synthesis report; Brussels, 16 March 2011 (document 7745/1/11 REV 1; 15 pages)

Implementation of the European Semester - Synthesis report; Brussels, 18 March 2011 (document 7745/2/11 REV 2; 15 pages)

The shorter versions speak about an annexed Commission report about meetings with member states concerning their national reform programmes (NPR), but they fail to include the annex. The interesting Commission summary of discussions is found only in the original version.


Contents

As a rough indication of the contents of the synthesis report, I quote the introductory paragraph on the cover sheet (here from the original version, 7745/11):

Delegations will find attached the synthesis report prepared by the Presidency, summarising the discussions and the main political messages of the different Council formations in relation to the Annual Growth Survey, in the framework of the European Semester. The report together with the ECOFIN and EPSCO Council conclusions, will be submitted to the Spring European Council on 24/25 March 2011, which is expected to give guidance to the Member States for the finalisation of their Stability and Convergence Programmes and National Reform Programmes in April. This report is accompanied by a Commission report (see Annex) on the bilateral discussions with Member States carried out during February and March. The Hungarian Presidency’s aim is to close the first European Semester by the time of the European Council in June 2011.

The synthesis report is a clear exposition of the framework: the Integrated guidelines the EU and the member states are committed to, as well as the stages within the new planning cycle called the European Semester.

In addition to the Ecofin and EPSCO Council contributions (acknowledged by the European Council), the synthesis report summarised the contributions by the Competitiveness Council, the Education Council, the TTE Council (Energy) and the Environment Council, constantly reminding the readers of the commonly agreed Europe 2020 (EU2020) and other goals.

The report noted the difficulties in reaching the ambitious goals, mentioned the next steps and expected the spring European Council to give strategic guidance on policies. Each member state would take this guidance into account in its final Stability or Convergence Programme and National Reform Programme (NRP).

Although quite general in tone, the annexed Commission report highlighted questions of interest to the central administrations in the EU member states, including consistency between different processes and programmes, as well as to all ”stakeholders” (regions, local administrations, social partners) engaged in planning and implementing reform programmes.

Good work by the Hungarian presidency!


Submitted documents

Do we find the Hungarian synthesis report among the documents submitted to the European Council?

Nope. Only the annotated draft agenda and the provisional agenda are acknowledged, despite the multitude of submissions we have observed along our route.


Improving the European Council

Which priorities for fiscal consolidation and structural reform did the European Council endorse?

Without the fortunate use of a footnote, we would have been totally lost. We now know that the European Council is more or less in agreement with the conclusions of two Council meetings (”In line with”). It acknowledged the synthesis report from the Hungarian Council presidency as useful information, because it was worth mentioning.

Based on paragraph 2 and footnote 1 of the European Council conclusions, we have been able to unearth the relevant documents on our excavation tour extending to four blog posts.

***

What if the European Council became interested in good governance, better communication, openess and closeness to the citizen?

In my humble opinion, this would require a transparent chain of proposals and decisions.

Instead of continuing to hide non-public (Coreper, Van Rompuy) draft conclusions behind meaningless phrases, the General Affairs Council (GAC) could become an important coordinator and a promoter of improved public discussion ahead of European Council meetings, by tabling concrete proposals, based on Council conclusions.

To these, the European Council would reply seriously, at this stage without becoming a legislative body.

The GAC could also follow up the implementation of European Council decisions in an open manner, through public reports and transparent decisions.

Now the GAC potential is wasted by its self-effacing role, and the public is deprived of the opportunity for a better informed discussion about real issues, before and after European Council meetings.

Positive practices are possible: We saw that the EPSCO Council conclusions linked and gave references to documents in their final form, and they also acknowledged the authors. The Hungarian synthesis report is also worth notice. Kudos!

***

This still leaves us with a few problems relating to the current form of government through European Council conclusions.

Many documents of varying kinds are submitted to the European Council. It cannot pronounce on every paragraph or suggestion in the present format.

On the other hand, if the European Council wants to be known as a Delphic Oracle hovering above mere mortals, by replying to large and complex questions by a few paragraphs, the conclusions easily turn into meaningless commonplaces, serving few needs of guidance or enlightenment.

***

Having studied the submitted texts, how much wiser do we become, if we turn to what the economic spring summit of the European Council itself said about economic policy reform in its conclusions?



Ralf Grahn



P.S. On the bilingual (French and English) EU Weekly blog, the nuclear physicist and citizen blogger Greg Henning follows the euro currency and political events in France and the European Union. Recommended reading.

European Council blogging (24032011)

Ahead of the European Council on economic governance, growth and jobs, on 24 and 25 March 2011, I have written a number of posts on my blogs, Grahnlaw (EN), Grahnblawg (SV), Eurooppaoikeus (FI) and Grahnlaw Suomi Finland (EN, FI, SV).

Here are the four previous collections of blog entries.

Energy and employment dominated the batch on Grahnlaw: Baker's dozen of Grahnlaw & Co. on EU affairs (8 March 2011)

Growth reforms in line with the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020) were at the centre of the following roundup on Grahnblawg: EU-ekonomi: Tillväxt och sysselsättning på Grahnlaw & Co (12 March 2011)

With the surrounding text in Finnish, but the blog post headlines in the original languages, the next collection of posts was presented Eurooppaoikeus, under the headline: EU2020 (16032011).

The EU2020 strategy, the European Semester, the pact for the euro and the positions of Sweden and Finland were among the themes of the blog entries collected on Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Blogging ahead of European Council (22032011).


Latest posts

Since the collections, some individual blog posts have been published.

Eurooppaoikeus: Talousuudistukset Eurooppa-neuvostoon (23 March 2011)

Eurooppaoikeus: Uudistajat kannustavat Eurooppa-neuvostoa (23 March 2011)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Ruotsi ei osallistu euroa koskevaan sopimukseen (23 March 2011)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Tanska osallistuu euroa koskevaan sopimukseen (23 March 2011)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Unkari ei osallistu euroa koskevaan sopimukseen (23 March 2011)


Openness and closeness

This blog post took a look at the advance materials available from the European Council (in Finnish, but select the language you prefer or use Google translation):

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Eurooppa-neuvosto 24. ja 25. maaliskuuta 2011: Avoimuus ja läheisyys? (24 March 2011)


The previous post

Grahnlaw: EU Tripartite Social Summit (24 March 2011)


***

Far from all issues of economic policy at the European Council spring meeting have been covered by the blog posts, but compare them with the advance information we have from the EU institutions: the preparatory General Affairs Council (GAC) and the European Council itself.



Ralf Grahn

EU General Affairs Council: Feeding the cuckoos?

Have you ever followed the hectic life of small birds, unwittingly having become foster parents for a gluttonous young cuckoo?

Hectic and unrewarding, the life of these unsung heroes.

How about having two of these rapacious strangers, instead of only one, as in nature?

Why do I think about the thankless task of these desperate and overworked foster parents, when I turn to the visible output from the General Affairs Council of the European Union?


More than foreign affairs

Although the European Union is much, much more than foreign affairs, the coordinating General Affairs Council (GAC) is still dominated by foreign ministers, for whom it is a sideshow.

At the same time, the foreign ministers face the enormous challenge to shape the European Union into an effictive and influential actor in world affairs, in all fields of external action. Enough of a challenge to keep the foreign ministers busy for a decade or more, I would think, even if they concentrated on this main job.


GAC role

Currently the GAC does not fulfil the expectations created by the Lisbon Treaty, which gave it a permanent and important treaty based position.

The GAC was entrusted with the vital role to coordinate Council work (other configurations). It is also the task of the General Affairs Council to prepare and to ensure the follow-up of the European Council.

The bulk of real EU powers and resources concerns about two dozen policy areas of internal action, so the challenge looks daunting enough, but consistency has been left to the foreign policy divas, as a diversion.

In addition, the spring European Council is supposed to be the crowning moment for economic governance and economic reforms for growth and employment, guiding the work towards Europe 2020 (EU2020) goals.


Treaty aims vs delivery

The principles of as much openess as possible and as much closeness to the citizen as possible are laid down in Article 1 of the Treaty on European Union.

The enhanced role and tasks of the GAC were established by Article 16(6) TEU.

Article 16(6) TEU finally separated the GAC from its then dominant Siamese twin, the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC).

In the name of openness and closeness, the GAC could and should become an important stage in public discourse just ahead of the European Council (as well as after), but what has happened?

Make your own assessment of how the aims and potential have come to fruition. Reflect on the gap between expectations, potential and delivery:

3079th Council meeting General Affairs; Brussels, 21 March 2011 (Council document 7932/11)


Concrete conclusions

Instead of reasoned proposals and supporting materials, we get these inane ”conclusions”, with regard to the issues on the agenda of the European Council:

The Council took stock of the humanitarian situation in Libya and neighbouring countries.

The Council took stock of the EU's response to the humanitarian crisis in Japan.

The Council examined draft conclusions for the European Council meeting to be held on 24 and 25 March.

This is parody, pure and simple.

The rest of the text concerning economic policy is in essence an agenda, since it presents only the issues to be dealt with at the European Council (page 8-9).

The only redeeming feature would have been the report from the presidency on progress in implementation of the European Semester submitted to the European Council (doc. 7745/11), if the link in the original had actually worked.

If the GAC actually said something worthwhile, its tasks would be a bit more rewarding than feeding the cuckoos.


European Semester: implementation

Going back, the document reference is useful, though. If we substitute the broken link by Council search, we find the presidency report in 22 official EU languages, including English:

Implementation of the European Semester - Synthesis report; Brussels, 16 March 2011 (document 7745/11; 21 pages)



Ralf Grahn



P.S. The web pages of the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union are one of the important sources of day to day information about EU events, including ones less visible than formal Council meetings.

EU Council (TTE) more open and transparent (Will it last?)

The advance information was lousy, but I was happy to notice that the Council of the European Union desisted from treating every bit of information about progress on the Europe 2020 growth strategy as a state secret when it communicated after the meeting.

Look at page 7 of the conclusions of the TTE Council, with regard to the draft regulation regarding energy market integrity and transparency:

3072nd Council meeting Transport, Telecommunications and Energy: ENERGY; Brussels, 28 February 2011 (Council document 6950/11; 18 pages)

We have not only references, but links to the relevant documents including a progress report, and an identified as well as retrievable latest version of the regulation text.

Handy links were used more generously than usually in other agenda items as well.

If this marks a new beginning, the European Union has taken a step closer to the openness (transparency) it has promised its citizens.

Hopefully it was more than a flash in the pan.



Ralf Grahn


 

P.S. In 'Le Dérèglement du monde' the writer Amin Maalouf speaks wisely about the challenges facing mankind, including us Europeans. One of the books every one of us should read.

(FI: already published: 'Maailma järkkyy'; EN: 'Disordered World'; USA publication promised 27 September 2011, UK publishing date 19 September 2011.)


P.S. 2: At a glance the ten latest entries on my three unilingual and one trilingual blog (EN, FI, SV):

Grahnlaw: EU General Affairs Council (GAC) communication: Wrong, stupid and a missed opportunity

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: EU cohesion policy conclusions reveal lack of transparency

Eurooppaoikeus: Mitä EU:n alue- ja rakennepolitiikasta puuttuu Suomessa?

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Yhteisvastuu Euroopan unionissa: Kysyntää riittää

Grahnlaw: From Libya to Brazil, interior goes international (EU Justice and Home Affairs Council)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: EU: Jurisdiction in civil and commercial matters (Brussels I revision)

Grahnblawg: EU: Information och energi inför TTE-rådet

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Energin inför EU:s vårtoppmöte om ekonomi och näringsliv

Eurooppaoikeus: EU:n energian tukkumarkkinoiden säätely: Paremmin ja avoimemmin

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: EU2020-strategia: Energia 2020


Are you interested in European values or the economy, entrepreneuship, politics or law in the EU?In that case we could get acquainted through Twitter @RalfGrahn or Facebook.

EU General Affairs Council (GAC) communication: Wrong, stupid and a missed opportunity

Yesterday I published two blog posts in Swedish regarding the upcoming meeting of the General Affairs Council (GAC) the same day, 21 February 2011. The first entry looked at how the advance material published centrally by the Council managed to enlighten and engage the public. My conclusion was that despite coordinating heavyweight issues, the governments seem to exclude the citizens of the European Union on purpose: EU-rådet för allmänna frågor 21 februari 2011: Bedrövlig förhandsinformation.

I wondered how long the Nordic ministers participating in the GAC meetings would tolerate such lousy information before revolting, so in the second post I took a closer look at how the governments in Sweden, Finland and Denmark informed domestically about the issues on the agenda of the General Affairs Council. Sadly, even the Nordic governments seemed to have missed the GAC as an opportunity to communicate in any meaningful way or to invite valuable contributions from the wider society: EU-rådet för allmänna frågor: Vad gör Norden?

In my view, the GAC could be an important stock-taking and engaging milestone on the road towards improved guidelines from the European Council summits.


GAC conclusions

If the advance information was lousy, how much did the GAC meeting improve matters with regard to economic coordination and progress?

We now have the press release from the Council, with the GAC conclusions:

3068th Council meeting General Affairs; Brussels, 21 February 2011 (Council document 6762/11; 8 pages)

With regard to the follow-up of the February European Council, we are informed that:

The Council took stock of the follow-up to be given to the European Council's meeting on 4 February, which [only officially; my addition] focused on energy and innovation.

Not a word, not a document about substance, how guidelines are put into practice or preparations advancing.

***

With the eurozone crisis, economic governance, the ”competitiveness pact” and the Europe 2020 growth reforms, the future of European Union citizens hangs in the balance at the the March European Council.

How does the General Affairs Council improve our knowledge and reassure us about progress being made towards needed reforms?

Here are the GAC conclusions:

The Council examined a draft annotated agenda for the European Council meeting to be held on 24 and 25 March, drawn up by the President of the European Council in cooperation with the presidency and the Commission (doc. 6231/11).

The March European Council is due to focus on:

Economic policy: Conclusion of the first phase of the European Semester (annual monitoring of budgetary policies and structural reforms), adoption of a decision amending the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union with regard to the future European Stability Mechanism (ESM), finalisation of work on the ESM and on the strengthening of the European Financial Stability Facility, finalisation of work by the Council on legislative proposals on economic governance, and a decision on economic policy coordination in the euro area.

– Developments in the EU's southern neighbourhood and follow-up to the 4 February European Council declaration on Egypt.

Not a word, not a document indicating anything of substance, any indication of progress.

Does anyone find even a shred of new and valuable information compared with the already poor background note published before the GAC meeting or the old draft agenda?


GAC – missed opportunity

Despite the treaty based obligation to ensure a maximum of openness, the General Affairs Council and the European Council have, in tandem, adopted working habits and communication patterns designed to keep the public without any meaningful information about how crucial political issues are advancing.

Not only is this 'modus operandi' legally and morally wrong, it is stupid, counterproductive and a great opportunity missed to boot.



Ralf Grahn




P.S. What do Neelie Kroes, Andris Piebalgs, Maria Damanaki, Kristalina Georgieva and Cecilia Malmström have in common? They belong to the blogging minority among members of the European Commission. Kudos to them and to the Commission representation and services blogs you find behind the link.

P.S. 2: Political and macroeconomic guidelines emanating (or not) from the European Council and Council configurations at the top are important for our future, as are the questions of accountability and transparency from the viewpoint of EU citizens.

Details of internal market reform (Single Market Act) and the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020 flagship initiatives) are going to be among my recurring themes as well.

On my Euroblogs I want to discuss legal and political issues relevant to European enterprises, jobs, employers and employees, consumers and citizens, especially in cross-border situations.

Hopefully my blogs succeed in educating and guiding readers towards relevant sources. For me the blogs offer continuous updating and disciplined study as basic training for my teaching and legal counseling activities.

My blogs are: Grahnlaw (in English), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish), as well as downstream the trilingual Grahnlaw Suomi Finland (usually later, with more sediment). On topic comments are most welcome.

If we share an interest in the European economy, business, politics or law, we could get acquainted through Twitter @RalfGrahn or Facebook.

Busy week in Brussels: EU politics and governance

With the General Affairs Council (GAC), the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) and the European Council, it was a busy week in Brussels politics. Here is a roundup of my main blog posts (often the second on the same theme, downstream) about the meetings and reflections on governance, including openness and transparency.

There are, in addition to fairly extensive references to documents, critical assessments of how the EU institutions work, as well as positive comments about praiseworthy efforts to get EU citizens on board.

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: EU General Affairs Council 31 January 2011 (30 January 2011)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland, in Swedish: Egypten anslöjar EU:s utrikespolitik (Utrikesrådet 31 januari 2011) (31 January 2011)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland, in Finnish: EU:n yleisten asioiden neuvosto valmisteli Eurooppa-nevoston kokousta 4. helmikuuta 2011 (1 February 2011)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: Miracle of European Council conclusions (4 February 2011) (2 February 2011)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland, in Swedish: EU-rådet mörkar samordningen av ekonomisk politik och budgetpolitik (3 February 2011)

Grahnlaw: European Semester and Annual Growth Survey: Governance by mushroom principle (3 February 2011)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: European Council 4 February 2011: Main issues (4 February 2011)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: European Council 4 February 2011: Energy (4 February 2011)

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: European Council 4 February 2011: Eurozone solutions? (4 February 2011)

Eurooppaoikeus, in Finnish: Eurooppa 2030 -hanke: Haasteet ja mahdollisuudet (5 February 2011)


In future blog posts we return to the results of the meeting of the European Council 4 February 2011.



Ralf Grahn


P.S. The multilingual aggregator Bloggingportal.eu brings you the posts from 737 Euroblogs, part of an emerging European public online space. Keep up to date and improve your language skills!

P.S. 2: I am happy if you want to read my Euroblogs, which aim to discuss legal and political issues relevant to European enterprises, jobs, employers and employees, consumers and citizens, especially in cross-border situations. Internal market reform (Single Market Act) and the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020 flagship initiatives) are going to be among the main themes, upstream on Grahnlaw (in English), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish), as well as usually downstream on the trilingual Grahnlaw Suomi Finland. If you are interested in European business, politics or law, we can get acquainted on Facebook and on Twitter @RalfGrahn.

European Semester and Annual Growth Survey: Governance by mushroom principle

The impact of these heartening messages from president Herman Van Rompuy would be even more positive if the (European) Council did less to keep EU citizens in the dark.


Annual Growth Survey

When the Commission presented the ”clear direction on where Europe should be heading in the next year, with ten pressing actions focussed on macro-economic stability and fiscal consolidation, structural reforms and growth-enhancing measures” (IP/11/22), it told us that the Annual Growth Survey consists of different parts:

1. Communication of the Commission: "Annual Growth Survey: towards a comprehensive response to the crisis".
The first part focuses on urgent key messages, which cover the fiscal, macro-economic and "thematic" areas. They represent a selection of issues, which should be addressed as a matter of priority by the Heads of State or Governments when they meet at the March European Council.

2. Progress Report on Europe 2020
It reviews the situation as regards the EU headline targets, the draft NRPs and the reform path envisaged by the Member States.

3. Macro-economic Report
It provides the macro-economic outlook and pinpoints measures that have the highest potential of delivering positive growth-enhancing effects.

4. Joint Employment Report
It reviews the employment situation and labour market related policies. It is also the basis for the "Joint Employment Report", to be adopted jointly by the Commission and the Council in accordance with article 148.5 (TFUE).

The Annual Growth Survey is accompanied by a:

5. Proposal for a Council Decision on employment guidelines.
This is a technical extension of the Employment guidelines adopted only a few months ago, to comply with a legal obligation of adopting such guidelines annually.

Finding the information

The first part, the communication from the Commission, is easy enough to find. On the legal portal Eur-Lex, 22 language versions are available, and among them in English:

Annual Growth Survey: advancing the EU's comprehensive response to the crisis; Brussels, 12.1.2010 COM(2011) 11 final (10 pages)


GAC: Findings and proposals

Monday, the General Affairs Council (GAC) took stock of implementation of the ”European Semester”, as a part of reformed EU economic governance. The Commission presented main findings of its first annual growth survey (Council document 18066/10) and the Hungarian presidency made proposals for implementation during the first part of the European Semester, while there is still need for added detail concerning the second phase, from 25 March 2011 (page 9):

3064th Council meeting General Affairs; Brussels, 31 January 2011 (document 5640/11)

It did not seem to trouble the ministers that the proposals and draft proposals were not presented to the public.

If we search the Council website, only the first part of the package is public, i.e. the communication COM(2011) 11 (Council document 18066/11), although even here the Council caused a raised eyebrow. At some point, for some reason, the communication had been reclassified from ”Limite” to ”Public”, meaning it too had been under wraps.

The other parts of the annual growth survey, the annexes dated 14 January 2011, and which are of real public interest, are not accessible:

Annex 1 Progress report on Europe 2020
Annex 2 Macro-economic report
Annex 3 Draft joint employment report



So much for openness and transparency. Instead of stimulating discussion about real issues and mobilising engagement for EU2020 and other economic reforms Europe sorely needs, the Council inexplicably continues to apply the mushroom principle, keeping EU citizens in shit and in the dark: Belgian EU Council presidency legacy (6 January 2011).

Sancta simplicitas!



Ralf Grahn



P.S. The Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union runs a fairly active blog, written in English by two officials, Urkuti György and Ódor Bálint. The two latest posts are relevant to the upcoming European Council meeting tomorrow, Friday.

P.S. 2: I am happy if you want to read my Euroblogs, which aim to discuss legal and political issues relevant to European enterprises, jobs, employers and employees, consumers and citizens, especially in cross-border situations. Internal market reform (Single Market Act) and the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020 flagship initiatives) are going to be among the main themes, upstream on Grahnlaw (in English), Grahnblawg (in Swedish) and Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish), as well as downstream on the trilingual Grahnlaw Suomi Finland. If you are interested in European business, we can get acquainted on Facebook and on Twitter @RalfGrahn.