EU conclusions regarding Switzerland

Through legislation and jurisprudence the body of European Union law is in constant movement, but with Switzerland each relevant change has to be negotiated separately and every one of the 179 bilateral treaties administered. This is more cumbersome than the European Union is willing to accept for the future: EU relations with Switzerland: End of the road for bilateral model (30 December 2010).

Publicly, the the European Union has described its aims in vague terms, and voters in Switzerland have earlier rejected EU membership and even joining the European Economic Area (EEA). Surrounded by EU member states, Switzerland needs smooth relations, but until now only the piecemeal approach embodied by the concept ”bilateral” has been able to satisfy sovereignist electors.

There are, perhaps, many ways to skin a cat, but it becomes more complicated if you have to get the agreement not only of the cat, but of all (Swiss) felines.

In states affected by referendumitis anything can happen, so do not count your blessings until the referendum results are in.


Specific conclusions


After the general remarks in yesterday's blog entry, the main purpose of this blog post is to present the specific conclusions of the EU General Affairs Council (GAC) with regard to EFTA country Switzerland:

Council conclusions on EU relations with EFTA countries; 3060th GENERAL AFFAIRS Council meeting Brussels, 14 December 2010

There are a number of issues the GAC wanted to comment on, and the EU seems set to drive a bargain (paragraphs 37 to 50):

SWISS CONFEDERATION

37. Relations between the EU and Switzerland are good, intensive and broad. Situated in the very heart of the European territory, Switzerland is one of the EU's major trading and investment partners and EU and Swiss economies are closely interlinked. In the past two years, relations have intensified even further.

38. In this context, the Council welcomes in particular the full participation of Switzerland in the Schengen area, as well as the extension of the Free Movement of Persons Agreement to Bulgaria and Romania. It congratulates Switzerland on the breakthrough of the Gotthard base tunnel, an important step in the realization of this impressive infrastructure project, which will contribute significantly to the development of efficient and environmentally sustainable transport in Europe.

39. The Council welcomes the existing cooperation with Switzerland in the area of Common Foreign and Security Policy, in particular in civilian crisis management operations, and stands ready to further strengthen cooperation in this area. It pays careful attention to the Swiss interest in holding a formal political dialogue and wishes to express its similar aim to augment our cooperation and explore together the appropriate format.

40. EU-Switzerland relations include a contribution to reduce economic and social disparities in the EU. The EU believes that such support contributes to enriching overall relations between the parties and reinforces mutual solidarity. The Council is therefore confident that Switzerland's contribution will continue in the future, on the basis of the review of the existing mechanisms.

41. Following Switzerland’s rejection of the EEA in 1992, the EU and Switzerland decided to deepen their relations through the conclusion of agreements in chosen sectors. The Council takes note of the European Policy Report of the Swiss Federal Council of September 2010, reaffirming this choice.

42. The Council notes that this sectorial approach has allowed closer cooperation in a few areas of mutual interest but has turned in the course of the years into a highly complex set of multiple agreements. Due to a lack of efficient arrangements for the take-over of new EU acquis including ECJ case-law, and for ensuring the supervision and enforcement of the existing agreements, this approach does not ensure the necessary homogeneity in the parts of the internal market and of the EU policies in which Switzerland participates. This has resulted in legal uncertainty for authorities, operators and individual citizens.

43. In this context, the Council is concerned by an incoherent application of certain agreements and the introduction by Switzerland of subsequent legislative measures and practices incompatible with those agreements, in particular the Agreement on the Free Movement of Persons. The Council calls upon Switzerland to abrogate such restrictions (for instance, the obligation in force in Switzerland to provide prior notification with an 8-day waiting period) and to refrain from adopting new measures incompatible with the Agreement.

44. The Council remains very concerned regarding certain cantonal company tax regimes of Switzerland creating an unacceptable distortion of competition, and reaffirms its position on this matter. It regrets that the lengthy dialogue on this issue has not yet led to an abolition of the state aid aspects of these regimes. The Council reiterates its call on Switzerland to abolish these tax incentives and to avoid taking internal measures, such as certain aspects of the New Swiss Regional Policy, which would be incompatible with the Agreement and may have the effect of distorting competition between EU border regions and Switzerland. Other difficulties in the implementation of Protocol II of the Free Trade Agreement and in the application of the Agreement on Trade in Agricultural Products remain a matter of concern.

45. With regard to harmful business tax practices, the Council encourages Switzerland to continue discussions with the EU on the application of the principles and criteria of the EU Code of Conduct on business taxation.

46. Concerning the taxation of savings, the Council welcomes the readiness of Switzerland to consider an extension of the scope of the savings taxation agreement, once the EU has finalised its work on the revision of the savings taxation directive.

47. Regarding cooperation and information exchange in tax matters and the fight against fraud and evasion in tax matters, the Council welcomes the commitment taken by Switzerland in spring 2009 to implement OECD standards on transparency and tax information exchange. It expects a quick and consistent implementation of these standards in the relationship between Switzerland and the EU and all its Member States.

48. In full respect of the Swiss sovereignty and choices, the Council has come to the conclusion that while the present system of bilateral agreements has worked well in the past, the key challenge for the coming years will be to go beyond that system, which has become complex and unwieldy to manage and has clearly reached its limits. As a consequence, horizontal issues related to the dynamic adaptation of agreements to the evolving acquis, the homogeneous interpretation of the agreements, an independent surveillance and judicial enforcement mechanisms and a dispute settlement mechanism need to be reflected in EU-Switzerland agreements.

49. In addition to making the existing agreements more efficient and solving the outstanding problems in their implementation, the Council recognises that cooperation should be developed in certain areas of mutual interest. However, as regards agreements providing for Switzerland’s participation in individual sectors of the internal market and policies of the EU (a status normally only granted to members of the European Economic Area (EEA)), the Council recalls its conclusions of 2008, that the requirement of a homogeneous and simultaneous application and interpretation of the evolving acquis - an indispensable prerequisite for a functioning internal market - has to be ensured as well as supervision, enforcement and conflict resolution mechanisms. In this context, the Council welcomes the setting-up of an informal Working Group of the Commission and Swiss authorities.

50. Furthermore, the Council reiterates its conclusion of 2008 that in assessing the balance of interests in concluding additional agreements, it will have in mind the need to ensure parallel progress in all areas of cooperation, including those areas, which cause difficulties to EU companies and citizens.

As we see, EU-Swiss relations are more complex than with the EEA EFTA states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, although in matters of taxation the ambitions of the European Union are expressed in practically identical terms with regard to Liechtenstein and Switzerland.

Salud, amor y dinero in 2011 to all my readers!



Ralf Grahn



P.S. If you are active in social media, you should know something about the legal issues involved. One place to look is the Social Media Recht Blog, written (in German) by the attorney Nina Diercks.

EU relations with Switzerland: End of the road for bilateral model

The blog post 'Liechtenstein under EU pressure on taxation' (28 December 2010) only scratched the surface, but let us go into more depth regarding taxation issues when readers and I feel like it.

Instead, we turn to Switzerland, the only European Free Trade Association (EFTA) country not to have joined the internal market through the European Economic Area (EEA).

The General Affairs Council (GAC) recently outlined the relations with the four EFTA countries:

Council conclusions on EU relations with EFTA countries; 3060th GENERAL AFFAIRS Council meeting Brussels, 14 December 2010


Financial contributions

There is a marked contrast between the EU's appreciaiton of the financial contributions by the the three EEA EFTA states Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway and the expectations regarding Switzerland (paragraph 2):

2. The Council appreciates the financial contributions of the EFTA countries to the economic and social cohesion in the European Economic Area (EEA). Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland (the "EEA EFTA States") recently committed themselves to a substantial increase of their continued contributions. The EU is looking forward to a constructive dialogue with Switzerland on the review of the current mechanism, expiring in June 2012. The Council hopes that a mutually acceptable solution will be found with the aim of reducing economic and social disparities in the EU.

End of the road for bilateral model

The EU Treaties Office Database records 179 agreements between the European Union and Switzerland.

It would be an exaggeration to say that the model of bilateral treaties is ”kaputt”, but according to the EU the system has reached the end of the road (paragraph 6):

6. Since Switzerland is not a member of the European Economic Area, it has chosen to take a sector-based approach to its agreements in view of a possible long-term rapprochement with the EU. In full respect of the Swiss sovereignty and choices, the Council has come to the conclusion that while the present system of bilateral agreements has worked well in the past, the challenge of the coming years will be to go beyond this complex system, which is creating legal uncertainty and has become unwieldy to manage and has clearly reached its limits. In order to create a sound basis for future relations, mutually acceptable solutions to a number of horizontal issues, set out below, will need to be found.

EU acquis

The European Union wants to guarantee a more level playing-field between businesses through the scope and implementation of the EU acquis (paragraph 7):

7. Though EU relations with the EFTA countries were extended over the years to many areas not covered by the internal market, these relations are mainly based on the progressive integration of the EFTA countries' economies into the EU internal market. In view of the need for a level playing field for all economic operators of the parties concerned and the continued development of internal market relevant acquis, the EU and the EFTA States should ensure homogeneity in the implementation of the acquis and the good functioning of the institutions.

The observations concern all the EFTA countries, but the procedures with the EEA members are more streamlined than with regard to Switzerland.

We look at specific remarks about Switzerland in a later blog post.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Social Europe Journal (SEJ) is an important forum for political cross-border discussion, as presented by themselves: Debating politics in Europe and beyond. - Not to miss, if you are interested in EU level politics.

Liechtenstein under EU pressure on taxation

Yesterday I wished for public EU information to be more readily available and specific about the remaining issues regarding the common travel area: Liechtenstein heading for Schengen area (27 December 2010).

In the blog post 'What does the EU want from Liechtenstein?' (25 December 2010) we noticed how central EU aims in tax matters are with regard to the Principality:

Council conclusions on EU relations with EFTA countries; 3060th GENERAL AFFAIRS Council meeting Brussels, 14 December 2010

The General Affairs Council (GAC) dedicated three and a half out of eight paragraphs to issues regarding taxation and relevant to the financial services industry in the Principality of Liechtenstein:

21. With regard to cooperation and information exchange in tax matters and the fight against fraud and tax evasion and any other illegal activity to the detriment of the financial interests of the parties, the Council welcomes the commitments taken by the Principality to implement OECD standards on transparency and on tax information exchange and to fight against fraud, and calls on Liechtenstein to continue its efforts in this area. The Council expects a quick and consistent implementation of these commitments in the relationship between Liechtenstein and the EU and all its Member States.

22. Concerning the taxation of savings, the Council welcomes the openness of Liechtenstein to launch negotiations on a revision of the savings taxation agreement to reflect the evolution of the corresponding EU acquis, once the EU has agreed the final text for its review of the savings taxation directive.

23. Considering that the EFTA Surveillance Authority has taken in recent years several decisions relating to state aid granted by Liechtenstein, the Council reiterates its recommendation of 2008 that Liechtenstein assesses all measures applied to industry, services and trade with respect to the definition of state aid provided for in the EEA Agreement, particularly in finance. The Council welcomes the intention of Liechtenstein to reform its tax legislation and looks forward to a reform compatible with state aid legislation. The Council will closely follow the implementation of this reform.

24. With regard to harmful tax practices, the Council encourages the Principality to continue discussions with the EU on the application of the principles and criteria of the EU Code of Conduct on business taxation.

Taxation and banking

I would have hoped for complementing quality information from the Council about the EU's aims regarding more controversial issues, such as cooperation against fraud and tax evasion, the revision of the savings tax agreement, state aid reform and curtailing harmful tax practices.

The European Union needs to take a more open attitude towards specifying the problems (as it sees them), defining its objectives and publishing reports on progress (or lack of it) in negotiations.

We can also hope for the EU's counterparts, in this case the Principality of Liechtenstein, to present their positions and arguments transparently.


DG Taxation and Customs Union

I have to admit that I found the web pages of the Commission service Taxation and Customs Union disappointing, because they did not offered clear thematic pages, country pages or search options.

The DG seemed to leave visitors only crumbs to pick here and there.

The first option is to go back to the annual report, almost a year old, but offering a background view:

Activities of the European Union (EU) in the tax field in 2009

The very first sentence of the report highlighted the aspirations of the EU with regard to Liechtenstein, and concrete issues concerning the Principality are mentioned in many places in the 30 page report:

Widespread tax evasion through the use of Liechtenstein foundations which came to light at the beginning of 2008 once again demonstrated the importance of international cooperation in the area of savings taxation.

With regard to fresher information, the only option seemed to be to trundle through the press releases published in 2010, but at headline level I found nothing relevant.

For those with a wish for a forward view commissioner Algirdas Šemeta spoke about the Commission Work Programme 2011 (CWP 2011) to the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliament 30 November 2010.

Among other things, commissioner Šemeta said:

… I am working closely with the forthcoming Hungarian presidency to identify how to progress on the savings directive and on the anti-fraud agreements with third countries.

Third, as you know, I am convinced that we have to maintain our efforts in the fight against harmful tax competition both within the EU and with our international partners. We entered in constructive discussions with Switzerland and Liechtenstein on how to extend the principles of the Code of Conduct to those two "third" but "close" countries. I also plan to discuss the future of the Code of Conduct itself with the Member States during the next meeting of the Tax Policy Group.

Council: Tax policy

The Council offers a web page with links concerning Tax policy (Taxation of Savings Income), with links to Liechtenstein, but I have found no quality overview regarding tax discussions with the Principality.

All in all, the information from the Commission and the Council about taxation pressure on Liechtenstein comes in bits and pieces rather than in a comprehensive and user-friendly manner.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. On Se former à la communication européenne, or a bit easier Lacomeuropéenne, Michael Malherbe dissects the communication activities of the EU institutions as an expert engaged for citizens and consumers. His most recent blog post was a review of European communication in 2010.

Liechtenstein heading for Schengen area

We still do not know if the parliamentary question about EU trade agreements with Liechtenstein is nonsense, but we hope that reasons will be forthcoming if it makes sense: What does the Earl of Dartmouth know about the EU? (26 December 2010).

In this post we look at available information about the entry of Liechtenstein into the Schengen travel area with common external borders.


GAC conclusions

We return to the conclusions from the General Affairs Council (GAC) of the European Union:

Council conclusions on EU relations with EFTA countries; 3060th GENERAL AFFAIRS Council meeting Brussels, 14 December 2010

This is what the GAC had to say about the entry of Liechtenstein into the Schengen area:

20. Preparations for the association of Liechtenstein to the Schengen acquis are well advanced on both sides. The Council is looking forward to a rapid entry of Liechtenstein into the Schengen area.

Nice as such general remarks are, the public would be better served if the Council would be considerate enough to publish a memo on where matters stand and which issues remain open.


Liechtenstein protocol

The Treaties Office Database of the European Commission offers many useful features if you are looking for international agreements. 'By country' we find 67 treaties involving the European Union and Liechtenstein.

Among them we find the Liechtenstein protocol, officially:

Protocol between the European Union, the European Community, the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein on the accession of the Principality of Liechtenstein to the Agreement between the European Union, the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Swiss Confederation's association with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis (signed 28 February 2008, but not yet in force)

There is a summary of the contents of the Liechtenstein Schengen protocol, a link to the summary of the Schengen agreement of Switzerland and a link to the text of the Liechtenstein protocol.

Alternatively, you could have used word search 'Schengen' to locate two agreements with Iceland and Norway (1999), the agreement with Switzerland (2004) and the Liechtenstein protocol (2008).


Liechtenstein Schengen procedure

The Liechtenstein accession procedure to Switzerland's Schengen agreement can be followed under NLE/2006/0251 on the Legislative Observatory Oeil of the European Parliament.

After the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, a new consultation was launched.

The draft report by the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs is heading for the plenary on 14 February 2011. According to Oeil, the draft report is dated 1 December, but the document behind the link is actually dated 18 November 2010:

Draft recommendation on the draft Council Decisions on the conclusion on behalf of the European Union of the Protocol between the European Union, the European Community, the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein on the accession of the Principality of Liechtenstein to the Agreement between the European Union, the European Community and the Swiss Confederation on the Swiss Confederation's association with the implementation, application and development of the Schengen acquis (06077/2010– C7-0141/2010 – 2006/0251(NLE))


Media

Finding useful information on the Council website or the government of Liechtenstein was not very rewarding, but local media are sometimes more informative than official sources:

Liechtensteiner Vaterland: Liechtenstein wartet auf grünes Licht (7 November 2010)



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Sauvons l'Europe is a pro-European 'progressive' voice for citizens, well worth reading and following.

What does the Earl of Dartmouth know about the EU?

The latest blog entry in the series asked 'What does the EU want from Liechtenstein?' (25 December 2010).

Now we may ask what the Earl of Dartmouth knows about the EU.

On 14 December 2010 William (The Earl of) Dartmouth, member of the European Parliament (MEP), presented a question for a written answer to the Commission (E-010415/2010):

Does the EU have a trade agreement or agreements with Liechtenstein? If so, what is/are the principal terms?

Trade

In the context of the European Union and its common commercial policy, trade is usually understood as relations with third countries. (Cf. Articles 206-207 TFEU)


Liechtenstein

However, Liechtenstein has joined the internal market through the European Economic Area (EEA) together with Iceland and Norway.

In addition to my series of blog posts, the EU relations with Liechtenstein are outlined in the recent GAC conclusions:

Council conclusions on EU relations with EFTA countries; 3060th GENERAL AFFAIRS Council meeting Brussels, 14 December 2010


INTA

The Committee on International Trade (INTA) of the European Parliament is presented as responsible for:

matters relating to the establishment and implementation of the Union's common commercial policy and its external economic relations, in particular:

1.    financial, economic and trade relations with third countries and regional organisations;

2.    measures of technical harmonisation or standardisation in fields covered by instruments of international law;

3.    relations with the relevant international organisations and with organisations promoting regional economic and commercial integration outside the Union;

4.    relations with the WTO, including its parliamentary dimension.
 
The committee liaises with the relevant interparliamentary and ad hoc delegations for the economic and trade aspects of relations with third countries.

The Earl of Dartmouth

William (The Earl of) Dartmouth is a member of the EP Committee on International Trade, where he represents the Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD) group, an assortment of nine nationalist parties. He was elected an MEP as a candidate for the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP).


The question

I would expect MEPs in general and members of the expert Committee on International Trade in particular to know that Liechtenstein has joined the internal market through the EEA (in 1994).

I would not employ the term 'trade' regarding Liechtenstein in the way we do when speaking about economic relations with third countries (outside the single market).

The international agreements between the European Union and any country are just a few mouseclicks away at the Treaties Office database.

Therefore the parliamentary question about one or more EU trade agreements with Liechtenstein makes me wonder if it is is based on ignorance or laziness, or if there are profound reasons for such a query I have failed to understand.

I hope that William (The Earl of) Dartmouth would be kind enough to explain how his parliamentary question makes sense.



Ralf Grahn

P.S. What a sad Christmas AFP reports from Minsk: Belarussian police launched sweeping raids on opposition homes and offices as part of its crackdown on protests following Alexander Lukashenko's reelection, rights groups said.

What does the EU want from Liechtenstein?

Our latest blog entry on EU-Lichtenstein relations looked at what the web pages of the European External Action Service (EEAS) and the EU delegation to Switzerland and Liechtenstein offer interested citizens: 'EU communication on EEA and EFTA member Liechtenstein' (24 December 2010), with links to earlier blog posts.

We return to the conclusions from the General Affairs Council (GAC) of the European Union:

Council conclusions on EU relations with EFTA countries; 3060th GENERAL AFFAIRS Council meeting Brussels, 14 December 2010


Conclusions specific to Liechtenstein


In this blog entry we present the GAC conclusions specific to Liechtenstein (points 17 to 24):

PRINCIPALITY OF LIECHTENSTEIN

17. Given its limited human resources, the swiftness shown by Liechtenstein in most areas in adopting European Union legislation and regularly updating its legislation in accordance with the evolving EU acquis is to be commended. The Council welcomes the positive report of the government of Liechtenstein published on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of membership in the EEA.

18. In the period 2008 to 2010, relations between the EU and Liechtenstein have substantially intensified and were marked by positive developments in a number of areas.

19. The Council welcomes the solidarity with the EU shown by the people of Liechtenstein when committing to continue and increase their contribution to the reduction of social and economic disparities in the EEA for the period 2009-2014.

20. Preparations for the association of Liechtenstein to the Schengen acquis are well advanced on both sides. The Council is looking forward to a rapid entry of Liechtenstein into the Schengen area.

21. With regard to cooperation and information exchange in tax matters and the fight against fraud and tax evasion and any other illegal activity to the detriment of the financial interests of the parties, the Council welcomes the commitments taken by the Principality to implement OECD standards on transparency and on tax information exchange and to fight against fraud, and calls on Liechtenstein to continue its efforts in this area. The Council expects a quick and consistent implementation of these commitments in the relationship between Liechtenstein and the EU and all its Member States.

22. Concerning the taxation of savings, the Council welcomes the openness of Liechtenstein to launch negotiations on a revision of the savings taxation agreement to reflect the evolution of the corresponding EU acquis, once the EU has agreed the final text for its review of the savings taxation directive.

23. Considering that the EFTA Surveillance Authority has taken in recent years several decisions relating to state aid granted by Liechtenstein, the Council reiterates its recommendation of 2008 that Liechtenstein assesses all measures applied to industry, services and trade with respect to the definition of state aid provided for in the EEA Agreement, particularly in finance. The Council welcomes the intention of Liechtenstein to reform its tax legislation and looks forward to a reform compatible with state aid legislation. The Council will closely follow the implementation of this reform.

24. With regard to harmful tax practices, the Council encourages the Principality to continue discussions with the EU on the application of the principles and criteria of the EU Code of Conduct on business taxation.

Sticking points

I would have hoped for more information on the web pages of the EU delegation (and links on the EEAS country page) about the entry of Liechtenstein into the Schengen area, as well as quality information about the EU's aims regarding more controversial issues, such as cooperation against fraud and tax evasion, the revision of the savings tax agreement, state aid reform and curtailing harmful tax practices.

In questions such as these the European Union needs to take a more open attitude towards specifying the problems (as it sees them), defining its objectives and publishing reports on progress (or lack of it) in negotiations.

We can also hope for the EU's counterparts to present their positions and arguments transparently, in this case the Principality of Liechtenstein.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. The joint statement by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the post-Presidential elections situation in Belarus (23 December 2010) is an important first call for the respect of democratic principles and human rights in Belarus, after the bankruptcy of the policy of 'constructive engagement' with the last dictator of Europe.

EU communication on EEA and EFTA member Liechtenstein

Our first look at Liechtenstein was the blog post 'EU relations with Liechtenstein (general conclusions)' (22 December 2010), presenting the general remarks including Liechtenstein, but addressed at the EEA or EFTA states as a whole. Then we changed to a Liechtensteinian perspective in 'Principality of Liechtenstein views the European Union' (23 December 2010).

This blog entry tries to look at what a European citizen readily finds about the relations with Liechtenstein on the websites of the EU institutions.

In the background we have the conclusions from the General Affairs Council (GAC):

Council conclusions on EU relations with EFTA countries; 3060th GENERAL AFFAIRS Council meeting Brussels, 14 December 2010


EU materials (EEAS)

Naturally we have to test the newly launched European External Action Service (EEAS) and its recently designed web pages. What can we say about the communication efforts?

I am happy to see that the country page for the Principality of Liechtenstein on the European External Action Service (EEAS) website offers a succinct text about relevant topics. It manges to cram a lot of information and even some forward-looking elements into ten short lines, with links to other pages.

The news links have been updated with the GAC conclusions. There are also 'related links' to websites specific to Liechtenstein (relations).

Among the links in the text, one leads to a page on the European Economic Area (EEA), with a basic description and links to the latest news.

Another text link leads to a fairly comprehensive summary about the Schengen area and cooperation, but not updated since 3 August 2009.

There is also a link to the 2004 agreement with Liechtenstein on taxation of savings.


Liechtenstein treaties

The EU Treaties Office database offers 67 treaties between the European Union and Liechtenstein. Regarding Schengen and the free movement of persons some agreements are not yet in force.


EU delegation to Switzerland and Liechtenstein

Although general news on the front page are posted in English, the web page of the EU delegation for Switzerland and Liechtenstein you land on is in German: Delegation für die Schweiz und Liechtenstein.

In addition to German there are pages in French and Italian, but mainly for Switzerland where these are official languages.

You can find a link to the GAC conclusions on relations with the EFTA members, but only if you look for older news (where the language changes to German). I would expect the EU representations to post these conclusions visibly and permanently on the front page in Iceland, Norway and Switzerland-Liechtenstein.

There is a thematic page (in German): Das Fürstentum Liechtenstein und die EU. The page includes a link to the Europe Day celebration speech by the head of government, Dr Klaus Tschütscher, in Vaduz (11 May 2010).

On the Liechtenstein page I would have hoped for more information about how Schengen implementation advances as well as current aims of the European Union and issues in other policy areas.

Ideally, the new text should offer quality information on the issues the GAC conclusions dealt with in general and sometimes vague terms.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. While the EU institutions still seem to be sleepwalking, Jean Quatremer on Coulisses de Bruxelles takes a stand against the actions by the Fidesz government in Hungary to quell free speech and fundamental freedoms.

Prime minister Viktor Orbán is one of the vice-presidents of the European People's party, so the EPP has a special responsibility to act quickly and decisively to safeguard the founding values of the European Union and protect its own image.

Principality of Liechtenstein views the European Union

Recently the General Affairs Council (GAC) of the European Union adopted conclusions about the relations between the EU and the four EFTA countries: the three members of the European Economic Area (EEA) Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, as well as fourth EFTA member Switzerland, which remains outside the EEA:

Council conclusions on EU relations with EFTA countries; 3060th GENERAL AFFAIRS Council meeting Brussels, 14 December 2010

We took a first look at Liechtenstein in the blog post 'EU relations with Liechtenstein (general conclusions)' (22 December 2010), presenting the general remarks including Liechtenstein, but addressed at the EEA or EFTA states.

Since Liechtenstein and its relations with the European Union are not widely known, we are going to look at some materials about and from this fascinating Principality.


Liechtenstein background

Here is a link to the Wikipedia article about the Principality of Liechtenstein (German: Fürstentum Liechtenstein), a country with more registered companies than citizens.

Digital Liechtenstein offers you added opportunities to look at interesting topics in English, German, French or Chinese.


EEA Fact Sheet

The EEA Coordination Unit offers readers a recently updated brochure in English: European Economic Area (EEA) Fact Sheet (November 2010; 12 pages).


EEA population

A brochure detail: On the authority of the CIA World Factbook the brochure starts by stating that the EEA is a single market of about 496 million consumers (as per July 2010).

Why not check the facts instead?

According to Eurostat we have the following population figures for 2010:

EU 27 501090520
Iceland 317630
Liechtenstein 35894
Norway 4858199

This adds up to an internal market of about 506 million people. If we equate inhabitant with consumer (as I suppose the intention has been), the population of the European Economic Area exceeds the number in the folder by ten million.


EEA Coordination Unit

There is an explanatory web page in English about the EEA Coordination Unit, with a link to the active pages in German of Stabsstelle EWR.


Embassy of Liechtenstein in Brussels

Another important player is the Embassy of Liechtenstein in Brussels. It serves as a mission to the European Union and handles EEA and EFTA affairs (besides functioning as the Embassy to Belgium).


Detailed EEA report

There is a fresh government position paper, with a detailed evaluation of Liechtenstein's 15 years in the European Economic Area (23 March 2010), in German:

Bericht und Antrag der Regierung an den Landtag des Fürstentums Liechtenstein betreffend 15 Jahre Mitgliedschaft des Fürstentums Liechtenstein im Europäischen Wirtschaftsraum (EWR) Nr. 17/2010 (306 pages)

In a nutshell, the report depicted the 15 year EEA membership as a Liechtensteinian success story.

On 21 April 2010 the Liechtenstein Parliament (Landtag) took notice of the annual report of the EEA/EFTA parliamentary delegation as well as the EEA report from the government (Jahresbericht 2009 der Delegation für die EWR/EFTA-Parlamentarierkomitees Information; 15 Jahre Mitgliedschaft des Fürstentums Liechtenstein im Europäischen Wirtschaftsraum (EWR), (Nr. 17/2010) Landtagsprotokolle 21 April 2010).

The discussion gave me the impression that the positive assessment of EEA membership is shared by the Landtag, even if coordination with neighbouring Switzerland outside the European Economic Area requires constant attention.

***

The next blog post in this series is going to change perspective, from the Liechtensteinian viewpoint to EU materials and resources.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Mathew Lowry wrote a timely blog post called 'Censoring Hungarian blogs during the Hungarian EU Presidency' spreading the word about the ignominious media law and the Twitter Hashatag #NoToHuEU.

The presidencies of the Council of the European Union were supposed to be about team spirit and presidency trios. It worked during the Belgian presidency @EuTrioBe on Twitter. Why did the government of Hungary discard this manifestation of European team spirit? I hope that the hashtag #EuTrioHu will keep the idea alive, despite the nationalistic Twitter address @HU_Presidency by a government badly discredited even before the presidency starts.

EU view of EFTA and EEA country Iceland (not excluding controversy)

Iceland has been getting a lot of attention in Brussels lately. The EU Commission presented its progress report and conclusions regarding the process of Iceland to become a member of the European Union:

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: EU enlargement: Iceland (20 December 2010)

The General Affairs Council (GAC) adopted conclusions on enlargement, including Iceland, on 14 December 2010:

Grahnlaw: EU Council on enlargement: Iceland (20 December 2010)

But the same day, the General Affairs Council also adopted conclusions about the relations between the European Union and the members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), as described on Grahnblawg (in Swedish): EU-relationerna med Norge (19 December 2010).

Naturally Iceland, an EFTA member and a participant in the European Economic Area (EEA) was dealt with in these GAC conclusions as well:

Council conclusions on EU relations with EFTA countries; 3060th GENERAL AFFAIRS Council meeting Brussels, 14 December 2010


EEA remarks

The Council was satisfied with the contributions from Iceland, Liechtenstein and especially Norway to poorer EU member states (point 2):

The Council appreciates the financial contributions of the EFTA countries to the economic and social cohesion in the European Economic Area (EEA). Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland (the "EEA EFTA States") recently committed themselves to a substantial increase of their continued contributions.

In practice the EEA states pay for access to the internal market, although it differs somewhat from the membership contributions from EU countries.

The Council was happy to note the excellent transposition record of the EEA EFTA states (point 3):

Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are integrated in the internal market through the EEA Agreement of 1994. This Agreement functions properly so long as all Contracting Parties incorporate the full body of the relevant EU acquis relating to the internal market into their national law. The Council welcomes that the EEA countries have demonstrated an excellent record of proper and regular incorporation of the acquis into their own legislation and encourages them to maintain this good record to ensure the continued homogeneity of the internal market.

The GAC remarks about homogenous implementation of EU law and the smooth functioning of the special institutions are directed at all EFTA countries (point 7):

Though EU relations with the EFTA countries were extended over the years to many areas not covered by the internal market, these relations are mainly based on the progressive integration of the EFTA countries' economies into the EU internal market. In view of the need for a level playing field for all economic operators of the parties concerned and the continued development of internal market relevant acquis, the EU and the EFTA States should ensure homogeneity in the implementation of the acquis and the good functioning of the institutions.

Icelandic accession negotiations

Officially, Iceland conducts negotiations to become a member of the European Union, which puts it in a different category from the other EEA states, Liechtenstein and Norway, with the remaining EFTA member, non-EEA Switzerland even farther apart. The GAC stated the position of Iceland (point 5):

The Council welcomes the opening, in July 2010, of accession negotiations with Iceland, which conserves its status as EEA EFTA State while negotiations are ongoing.

Specifically Iceland

The GAC conclusions contained a number of points specifically related to the EU's relationship with Iceland (10-16):

ICELAND

10. The Council welcomes the launching of accession negotiations with Iceland in July 2010, takes note of the findings presented by the Commission on 9 November 2010 to the Council and the European Parliament in its Progress Report on Iceland and refers to the Council conclusions on enlargement - Iceland - to be adopted by the General Affairs Council on 14 December 2010.

11. The opening of an EU delegation in Reykjavik in 2010 will contribute to the rapprochement of Iceland and the EU in this dynamic phase of relations.

12. The Council appreciates the solidarity shown by the Icelandic people when committing to renew their contribution to the reduction of social and economic disparities in the EEA for the period 2009-2014.

13. While accession negotiations are ongoing, the EEA Agreement remains the key contractual basis for EU-Iceland relations. In the past two years, Iceland continued to be an active and constructive partner in that framework as well as in the Schengen area, with a good record of implementation of the evolving EU acquis. The Council encourages Iceland to maintain the same good record also in the future.

14. The Council welcomes the good cooperation with Iceland in many areas of common interest, in particular on environmental and energy issues, as well as in the field of Common Foreign and Security Policy, with Iceland frequently supporting EU declarations and voting together with the EU in the UN. The Council is looking forward to further strengthening cooperation with Iceland on issues such as Arctic policy, the Northern Dimension, fisheries, renewable energy and climate change.

15. Regarding fisheries, the Council continues to call for a constructive approach of all Coastal States (EU, Norway, Faeroe Islands and Iceland) on the joint management of mackerel fisheries, and encourages Iceland to resume negotiations on this issue, in particular as regards a reasonable long term sustainable quota sharing arrangement, taking into account the track records of all relevant actors.

16. The Council welcomes Iceland's continued commitment to move toward economic stabilization and to address all issues deriving from the 2008 banking collapse. In this context, the Council recalls the need for Iceland to address existing obligations, such as those identified by the EFTA Surveillance Authority under the EEA Agreement, as well as weaknesses in the area of financial services, identified in the Opinion of the Commission on Iceland's application for EU-membership.

”Mackerel War”

As we saw, the last two points referred to controversial issues. In point 15 the GAC called for the resumption of negotiations in the ”Mackerel War”. Se for instance:

FISHupdate.com: Iceland and Faroes set to announce new mackerel quotas (20 December 2010)

FISHupdate.com: Lochhead comments on Iceland's 'irresponsible' mackerel quota action (20 December 2010)

BBC Scotland: Scottish fishermen condemn Iceland mackerel quota move (18 December 2010)

Fishnewseu.com: Iceland warns that Norway and EU will overfish mackerel next year (20 December 2010)

Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, press release: Decision on Iceland's Share in Mackerel Fisheries in 2011 (20 December 2010)


Icesave / Landsbanki

The catastrophic fallout from the Icelandic banking collapse has haunted the people of Iceland and its government, but also relations with the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (point 16). See for instance:

Reuters: Iceland finance minister presents new Icesave bill to parliament (16 December 2010)

Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir in Iceland Review Online: Icesave: Not my headache (ESA) (17 December 2010)

Bloomberg: Grimsson Says He'll Decide by February on Icesave Referendum (20 December 2010)



Ralf Grahn



P.S. In the blog post Not losing sight of the basics, Mathew Lowry calls on the EU institutions to do some serious work on Europa and other websites to serve a huge array of audiences. Read the discussion as well.

EU Council on enlargement: Iceland

My previous blog post looked at the conclusions of the EU Commission regarding the accession negotiations of Iceland: EU enlargement: Iceland (20 December 2010).

The member states of the European Union hold the keys to membership, so there is cause to present how the Council responded. The General Affairs Council referred to the communication from the Commission of 9 November 2010 on the Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2010-2011 [COM(2010) 660], as well as the progress report “Iceland”, in:

Conclusions on enlargement and stabilisation and association process as adopted by the Council (General Affairs) on 14 December 2010 (document 17917/10)

The specific remarks with regard to Iceland are found on page 8:

Iceland

The Council recalls that, following the Commission’s recommendations in its Opinion of February 2010, accession negotiations with Iceland were opened on 27 July 2010.

Iceland is a long-standing functioning democracy with strong institutions and close ties with the EU. The overall level of preparedness to meet EU acquis requirements remains good, in particular due to Iceland’s membership of the European Economic Area (EEA) and the Schengen agreement. Iceland can be considered a functioning market economy, and could regain the capacity to deal with competitive pressure and market forces within the single market over the medium term.

Negotiations will be aimed at Iceland integrally adopting the EU acquis and ensuring its full implementation and enforcement. In line with the Negotiating Framework, the fulfilment of Iceland’s obligations under the EEA Agreement, taking full account, inter alia, of the European Council conclusions of 17 June 2010, as well as Iceland’s progress in addressing other areas of weakness identified in the Commission’s Opinion, will guide the advancement of negotiations.

In this context, the Council looks forward to the results of the screening process.

Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs

The Icelandic Ministry for Foreign Affairs offers detailed pages in English on Iceland's application for membership of the EU, and the pages Latest news show that the screening process on different areas of legislation advance rapidly, with meetings on financial services, free movement of goods, competition policy, information society and media, company law and public procurement in little more than a month.

But the Council conclusions had not yet been included among the Key documents, and the government has had little to say of late.


Media

Official conclusions usually need to be supplemented by media reports and opinions to give the lay of the land. Here are a few samples.

IceNews, Michael Huguenin: Icelanders Frosty Towards EU Membership (14 November 2010)

IceNews: Icesave contracts leaked online (14 December 2010)

Iceland Review Online: Iceland walks out of mackerel meeting (15 December 2010)

Iceland Review Online: Iceland: EU and Norway Responsible for Overfishing (16 December 2010)

The Economist: Coming in from the cold (16 December 2010)



Ralf Grahn



P.S. This is for people with an interest in EU law and politics. On Polscieu, his blog on the Ideas on Europe platform, Ronny Patz wrote an interesting entry about the legal web portal of the European Union: A new EUR-Lex: Finding documents 2.0? What if people actually found what they are looking for...

European eGovernment Action Plan in 22 languages

Into this blog post I have corralled materials from the EU Commission on the eGovernment Action Plan, much of it available in 22 official languages of the European Union.

The European eGovernment Action Plan has now been posted in 22 language versions on the EU's legal portal Eur-Lex.

Here is a link to the English version of the communication from the Commission:

The European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015: Harnessing ICT to promote smart, sustainable & innovative Government; Brussels 15.12.2010, COM(2010) 743 final (15 pages)


Detailed study SEC(2010) 1539

Those who are interested in the background and more details can access:

The Commission Staff Working Document accompanying the communication The European eGovernment Action Plan 2011-2015: Harnessing ICT to promote smart, sustainable & innovative Governmen; Brussels 15.12.2010, SEC(2010) 1539 final (55 pages)


Neelie Kroes speech

At the 'Lift off towards open government' conference in Brussels 15 December 2010, Commission vice-president Neelie Kroes, responsible for the Digital Agenda, presented her view in a speech titled 'My vision for eGovernment, and how to make it real' (SPEECH/10/752; only in English).


Press release overviews

The Commission has published both traditional press releases for those who want an overview as well as an outlines of the background (FAQs):

Digital Agenda: eGovernment Action Plan to smooth access to public services across the EU;
Brussels 15 December 2010, IP/10/1718 (in 22 languages)

Digital Agenda: pilot projects show the way in easy access to online public services across the EU; Brussels 15th December 2010, MEMO/10/680 (only in English)

Digital Agenda: eGovernment Action Plan - what would it do for me? Brussels 15 December 2010, MEMO/10/681 (only in English)

Towards interoperability for European public services; Brussels 16 December 2010, IP/10/1734 (available in 22 languages)

Commission adopts Interoperability Strategy and Framework for public services - frequently asked questions; Brussels 16 December 2010, MEMO/10/689 (the FAQs available only in English)


EIS and EIF

Two key concepts are the European Interoperability Strategy (EIS) and the European Interoperability Framework (EIF).



Ralf Grahn



P.S. The exotically named Mökkikunta blog covers environmental, transportation, urban and regional planning, economic and social issues with a focus on Finland and Portugal. Who succeeds in telling us what ”Mökkikunta” means?

EU Council: Why keep EU2020 implementation report secret? (Updated)

Yesterday I tried to follow single market developments and the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020) by publishing two blog posts on Grahnlaw Suomi Finland:

EU Competitiveness Council on Single Market Act

Latest on Europe 2020 strategy

In the later post I mentioned the follow-up from the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union:

The document in question is probably 'Europe 2020 Strategy - Implementation report' (dated 7 December 2010, Council document 17574/10), sadly not public at this moment, but hopefully it will be published with the GAC conclusions today.

General Affairs Council

Today, 15 December 2010, we go to the press release from the GAC:

3060th Council meeting General Affairs; Brussels, 14 December 2010 (Council document 17871/10)

On page 26 we find the Europe 2020 strategy (interesting in itself and relevant to the Single Market Act). I regret to say that my hope for publication was dashed:

EUROPE 2020 STRATEGY FOR JOBS AND GROWTH

The Council took note of a report from the presidency on implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy for jobs and growth. --- The report will be submitted to the European Council with a view to its meeting on 16 and 17 December. It provides an overview of work undertaken since Europe 2020 was launched in June.

Meaning of openness?

I understand if the European Council wants to prevent its conclusions from being published ahead of time (although a greater problem would seem to be how to get even a few people to read them voluntarily at any time, i.e. without duty and salary).

But why on earth does the Council keep this report on implementation under wraps? Is not this implementation report o typical example of a document which could promote informed discussion about the grand strategy of the European Union for the decade until 2020?

Is it not important for openness (transparency) that the public is informed about facts and proposals before they are discussed officially and possible decisions (even if dull conclusions) are taken, especially by the most influential institution of the EU?


Update early hours 17 December 2010: Europe 2020 Strategy - Implementation report, addressed to the General Affairs Council (7 December 2010, document 17574/10) is still not accessible on the Council website.


Update two, 17 December 2010: Somehow, I feel that the lack of openness and response ties in with what Jon Worth wrote about the precipitated taking down of the #EUCO Twitter wall yesterday evening.


Update three, 30 December 2010: Sadly, in the dying days of the Belgian presidency of the Council of the European Union, the EU2020 implementation report 17574/10 of 7 December and 17574/1/10 REV 1 of 13 December 2010 are still not accessible to the public.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Michael Geist's Blog tries to keep the interests of netizens and users at the forefront in a world where the critical distance between copyright lobbies on the one hand, and national governments and EU institutions on the other hand, still seems to be negligible.

EU Single Market Act varia

Since the Grahnlaw blog post EU Commission: Internal market reform (9 December 2010), I have actually been busy writing about the internal market or single market, although on my other blogs and partly in other languages.

Here is a summary of the latest entries:

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland: EU Single Market Act: Disappointing start? (10 December 2010). Should we be impressed by the substance of the proposals or by the launch of a wide discussion with possible action in the future?

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland (in Finnish): Saako kelkasta pudonnut Eurooppa sisämarkkinat heräämään? (12 December 2010). Asian nations are forging ahead and surpassing Europe in several fields, but are we experiencing any urgency with regard to the Europe 2020 strategy (EU2020) for growth and jobs, or concerning internal market reform?

Grahnlaw Suomi Finland (in Finnish): EU:n sisämarkkinoiden toimenpidepaketti (Single Market Act) (12 December 2010). Since the Commission has launched (only) a wide discussion, we don't really know where the Single Market Act is going to lead – that is if the discussion is real and not an exercise in manipulation. Reference to the proposal COM(2010) 608.

Eurooppaoikeus (in Finnish): EU:n 'Single Market Act' on käännösongelma (13 December 2010). The entry describes how the terminology has developed from the common market to the internal market, without forgetting the aspirational single market. However, elements of the Single Market Act are lost in translation into Swedish and especially Finnish. On the other hand, the Finnish description is probably the most realistic of four language versions compared. How should linguistic choices be made?


Single Market Act corrigendum or corrigenda

Beware, if you search for the communication from the Commission COM(2010) 608 or read the bibliographic notice on Eur-Lex (with 22 existing language versions), you are not warned that at least the English language version has been revised, and the text you choose has not been corrected.

If you know to look for one or more corrigenda, you could try Council search, but I cannot vouch for it, because the pages were down due to maintenance when I tried to test it.


Update 13 December 2010: ”Delegations will find attached a new version of Commission document COM (2010) 608 final”, says Council document 13977/1/10 REV 1 (en), but I still don't know about other language versions.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. On the multilingual aggregator Bloggingportal.eu you can now find the post from 716 Euroblogs. The European online public space keeps growing, but enough to keep Europe from shrinking in the world?

EU Commission: Internal market reform

According to Article 26(2) TFEU, the internal market shall comprise an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured in accordance with the provisions of the Treaties.



Six weeks ago Viviane Reding, the commissioner for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship, joined forces with Michel Barnier, the internal market commissioner, to launch their respective reform packages: European Commission sets out plans to strengthen the Single Market with measures to boost growth and enhance citizens’ rights; Brussels 27 October 2010, IP/10/1390.

In the blog post Improving cross-border rights for EU citizens (29 November 2010) we picked up the citizenship proposals, which have resulted in a long and continuing series of entries on my blogs.

However, now is the time to pick up the internal market thread and to present the various planned actions and proposals.


Support for internal market reform?

The joint press release made an effort to garner wider support for internal market reform:

With 20 million enterprises providing 175 million jobs, businesses play an essential role in finding our way back to growth. The Single Market Act will simplify life for SMEs, which make up more than 99% of Europe's businesses. But Europe's wealth and growth does not only rest on the shoulders of Europe's businesses. A good social system, quality education, competitive jobs and salaries are equally important. The Single Market Act will further strengthen Europe's highly competitive social market economy and will put people at the heart of the Single Market: as consumers, taxpayers, workers, investors, entrepreneurs, patients or pensioners.

The need for broader and more dedicated support was at the core of the report by Mario Monti: A new strategy for the single market: At the service of Europe's economy and society (9 May 2010).


Media viewpoints

In order to get some alternative viewpoints, here are three relatively short media introductions and reactions to the reform plans.

Before Barnier launched his package of proposals, the Europe columnist of The Economist wondered what to expect from a French Gaullist in the way of market reform: Charlemagne's notebook: Barnier's bust-up (25 October 2010)

Just after the presentation of the internal market package, EurActiv offered its readers the salient points: EurActiv: Commission lists 50 ideas to reignite Single Market (28 October 2010)

Nouvelles d'Europe presented a neat summary of background and proposals: Nouvelles d'Europe: Relancer le marché intérieur européen (15 November 2010)



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Infopolitics.eu is an aggregator of blog entries and news about information politics in Europe, mainly of the libertarian kind in line with the Greens-EFA and the Pirate Party.

EU Commission promoting your electoral rights?

After looking at the EU for the disabled and ageing (7 December 2010) we move to the web page with factsheets for EU citizens. The second one is:

Promoting your EU electoral rights

On two A4 pages the Commission describes potential problems, offers a light touch description of basic electoral rights and publicizes its proposals to improve the situation.

As in the previous leaflet, the Commission does not offer any references to the facts and views expressed.

In this case the main source seems to be the EP election report COM(2010) 605, a document lacking vision and ambition, in my view.

The first two factsheets have been light on facts. They have highlighted Commission actions, without offering leads to more detailed materials.

Although I am all for placing the citizens at the centre of the European Union – even impatient - at this stage I am wondering if these brochures have a well defined target group and a useful purpose – but there are eight more to go.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. The Italian journalist Marco Zatterin runs an active and expert blog called Straneuropa at LaStampa.it. Recommended reading.

EU for the disabled and ageing

Am I the only one who finds it odd that the ten new factsheets for citizens of the European Union are posted on the web pages of vice-president Viviane Reding, not DG Justice? Mercifully there was no reference to the political guidelines of Commission president José Manuel Barroso on this page.

Translations have been promised, but at this moment the factsheets are available in English, French and German. The first is one A4 page dedicated to people with physical or mental disabilities, including restrictions brought on by ageing:

Removing obstacles for the disabled

The main thrust of the leaflet seems to be, first of all to acknowledge that there are many people with disabilities and that ageing will increase their numbers substantially, and secondly to plug the new disability strategy, contained in a fresh communication from the Commission:

European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe; Brussels 15.11.2010, COM(2010) 636 final

The relatively brief strategy was accompanied by a detailed analytical staff working document SEC(2010) 1323 (88 pages) and an initial implementation plan SEC(2010) 1324 (20 pages).


Update 8 December 2010: For the convenience of readers, links to the Commission staff working documents accompanying the communication from the Commission (available only in English):

European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe; Brussels 15.11.2010, SEC(2010) 1323 final

European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe - Initial plan to implement the European Disability Strategy 2010-2020 - List of Actions 2010-2015; Brussels 15.11.2010, SEC(2010) 1324 final



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Macarena Rodríguez blogs actively and expertly from Brussels to Spain (and the Spanish speaking world) on La Oreja de Europa (Europe's Ear), underlining the quality and engagement of Spanish Euroblogs.

EU's ”bonus citizenship”: Factsheets for EU citizens

Viviane Reding is the member of the European Commission responsible for citizenship, as well as justice and fundamental rights. Although I was far from impressed by the Commission report about the EP elections, Reding has done a lot to keep the issues of EU citizenship alive.

While the Justice and Home Affairs Council only briefly took note of the Commission's 2010 EU citizenship report, vice-president Reding was actively building bridges towards citizens of the European Union, as shown by the brand new press release, information page and factsheets mentioned in the blog post (in Finnish, but most links to materials in English): Esitteitä ja virallistietoa Euroopan unionin kansalaisen oikeuksista (4 December 2010).

In a comment on Grahnlaw, Mark Gris wanted us to check out the factsheets on EU citizenship.

I had decided to do it at a leisurely pace, highlighting one factsheet at a time, but let us start with the press release containing the needed links for the ones who are more impatient:

European Commission puts citizenship at the heart of justice and social affairs policies; Brussels 3 December 2010, IP/10/1642.REV

Even if the political rights of EU citizens are underdeveloped, the additional union citizenship status is a ”bonus citizenship”, patriarchally offering keys to some practical benefits.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Spain is one of the top countries in the Euroblogosphere, offering both quality and quantity. On the Spanish Euroblog – Blog colectivo europeo – hosted by El País, many of the top eurobloggers in Spain publish their posts, so there is a healthy variety of writers and themes.

Viviane Reding and EU Justice

Justice and Home Affairs affect citizens and businesses more directly than most EU policies, and there is a whole lot going on.

The Lisbon Treaty entered into force a year ago, and the area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) now resembles 'normal' policies and internal actions of the European Union more than before.

The previous blog post looked briefly at Cecilia Malmström and EU Home Affairs, so now we take a peek at Viviane Reding and EU Justice.


EU Justice

Viviane Reding is vice-president of the European Commission and responsible for justice, fundamental rights and citizenship. Her Commission website is actively updated.

It took about six months, but then the Commission got separate Directorates-General for Home Affairs and Justice, both from 1 July 2010. However, they still seem to share the same culture. When I checked the Documentation centre and the Newsroom of DG Justice, they looked as lethargic as the corresponding web pages of their erstwhile fellow workers.

I wonder why.


JHA Council

Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) share the same Council configuration. The conclusions from the last meeting of this Council configuration during the Belgian presidency run to 37 pages, which gives us an indication of highly active policy areas:

Press release: 3051st Council meeting (Justice and Home Affairs), 2-3 December 2010 (provisional version; document 16918/10)

As with home affairs, there is a need for critical but constructive reporting and discussion about EU justice, fundamental rights and citizenship issues.


Citizenship report

I have been following EU citizenship issues on my blogs, so we might as well quote the Council conclusions with regard to the report from the Commission COM(2010) 603:

2010 EU citizenship report

The Council took note of the Commission's 2010 EU citizenship report: Dismantling the obstacles to EU citizens' rights (15936/10). The report analysis the areas where citizens are facing obstacles in the exercise of their rights and proposes 25 initiatives for tackling these obstacles.

You can find the initiatives in the blog post 'EU citizenship: 25 proposals' as well.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. 'The Blog with the European perspective' is how the team blog Kosmopolito describes itself; now closely following Wikileaks / Cablegate.

Cecilia Malmström and EU Home Affairs

The Lisbon Treaty entered into force a year ago, and the area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) now resembles 'normal' policies and internal actions of the European Union more than before. Justice and Home Affairs affect citizens and businesses more directly than most EU policies, and there is a whole lot going on.


Home Affairs

Home Affairs commissioner Cecilia Malmström runs a fairly active blog in Swedish, Mitt Europa (My Europe), which adds a human touch to security and migration issues.

If you want information in English, you can turn to Malmström's home page at the European Commission, as well as the web pages of the new Directorate-General for Home Affairs (in action since 1 July 2010).

The commissioner keeps updating her web pages, but the Documentation centre and Newsroom of DG Home Affairs still seem lethargic.

Even the tip of the JHA iceberg is big, as you can see if you turn to the 37 pages of conclusions from the last meeting of this Council configuration during the Belgian presidency:

Press release: 3051st Council meeting (Justice and Home Affairs), 2-3 December 2010 (provisional version; document 16918/10)

One year since the Lisbon Treaty entered into force and half a year from the establishment of the DG Home Affairs, we can ask: How long will it take before media, politicians, officials, researchers, businesses and citizens outside specialist circles take notice?



Ralf Grahn



P.S. One of the best legal Euroblogs available is Kartellblog.de, where the attorney Johannes Zöttl writes in German about antitrust and merger control, but also about social media in a professional setting. Highly recommended.

EU labour migration: Three directives

Ahead of the EPSCO Council meeting (Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs) 6 December 2010, the Belgian presidency has prepared an information note on legal immigration (labour migration).

The note presents the state of play with regard to three proposed directives:

1. Proposal for a Directive on a single application procedure for a single permit for third-country nationals to reside and work in the territory of a Member State and on a common set of rights for third-country workers legally residing in a Member State (single permit)

2. Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of seasonal employment (seasonal workers, see doc. 12208/10)

3.Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals in the framework of an intra-corporate transfer (ICT, see doc. 12211/10)


Information notes such as this one are useful. Even better if the Oeil procedure numbers could be added to future ones.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. In catastrophic as well as happier times, Jason O'Mahony guides his readers to politics in Ireland, with reflections on books and TV series thrown in for good measure.

Commission conclusions regarding EU citizenship

In previous posts on my blogs, I have commented on aspects of the progress report from the European Commission:

On progress towards effective EU Citizenship 2007-2010; Brussels 27.10.2010, COM(2010) 602 final

In this blog entry we first present the conclusions of the progress report (page 13):

This Report takes stock of the main developments on EU Citizenship rights and constitutes an important element on the basis of which further action is identified in the EU Citizenship Report 2010, notably as regards the right to free movement and residence, consular protection of unrepresented EU citizens abroad and rights of citizens to vote and stand as candidates in municipal and European elections in their Member State of residence.

Starting next year, the Commission will make an annual assessment of the Treaty provisions on the rights attached to EU Citizenship in the context of the Annual Report on the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, which will be issued for the first time in 2011.

This should allow the Commission to present every three years a more substantiated diagnosis of the situation, the remaining obstacles that citizens face, and announce remedies to strengthen EU Citizenship rights.

In the first paragraph, the Commission announced the main issues to look for in the Citizenship Report COM(2010) 603, when we soldier on.

We look forward to the promised Annual Report on the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, including its assessment of citizenship rights, beginning next year.


Population and citizenship

The annex presents interesting facts about the number and proportion of nationals and non-nationals (EU citizens and third country citizens)(page 15).

There are huge variations in the relative sizes. In Luxembourg 43.5 per cent of the total population are non-nationals (overwhelmingly from other EU countries), whereas the proportion of non-nationals in Poland and Romania hardly registered: 0.1 per cent.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. The Institute of International and European Affairs (IIEA) in Dublin, Ireland, offers what we could call IIEA blogs, with quality entries.

EU citizenship: What is progress?

Yesterday I thought about the meaning of progress, when I read the progress report from the Commission:

On progress towards effective EU Citizenship 2007-2010; Brussels 27.10.2010, COM(2010) 602 final

Is it progress when the member states have left it to each other and international law to create citizens of the European Union, and the Commission does not even discuss questionable decisions on mass naturalisation and potential problems? In: National and EU citizenship: What if? (30 November 2010).

Is it progress when the Commission had turned less transparent by taking away the Visa Handbook from its website, making the claimed improvements hard to verify? In: EU citizenship: Visas for family members (30 November 2010).

Perhaps you should download this version while you can: Commission decision of 19.3.2010 establishing the Handbook for the processing of visa applications and the modification of issued visas; Brussels, 19.3.2010 C(2010) 1620 final


Free movement and residence


Despite the Citizenship Directive 2004/38, the Visa Code Regulation 810/2009 and the improvements claimed by the Commission in its Visa Handbook C(2010) 1620, issues concerning the free movement and residence of EU citizens and their family members have continued to vex the people concerned during 2010. Progress report, page 7:

Additional enquiries related to free movement and residence of EU citizens and their family members were received and handled by SOLVIT. Statistics regarding the reporting period show a steady substantial increase of the percentage of free movement and residence related problems submitted to SOLVIT, rising from 15% of the SOLVIT case volume in 2007, to 20% in 2008 and 38% in 2009, when residence-related issues became the area with the biggest share of complaints (549 cases handled and closed with 92% of cases solved). In the first six months of 2010, SOLVIT received (out of a total of almost 7 000 enquiries) 1 314 enquiries on free movement and residence related issues.

There are currently 63 infringement proceedings launched against Member States in the area of free movement and residence of EU citizens.

In the area of free movement, the Commission promised to give enforcement priority (including infringement procedures), but also to address issues of abuse and fraud together with the member states and to promote the smooth administration of free movement issues (page 8 of the progress report), as presented in more detail in the EU Citizenship Report COM(2010) 603.



Ralf Grahn



P.S.For academics, blogging is almost like getting visibility in real life. Ideas on Europe is a multi-user blog site which provides an impartial and unbiased platform for informed analysis, comment and debate. The site is administered by UACES, whose membership consists of over 1000 academics, practitioners and research students. Among the active bloggers who have ventured outside the ebony towers we find promising (young) academics such as Giorgio Tabagari, Jaanika Erne, Europe on the Strand (collective), Ronny Patz, Pietro De Matteis, Nick Wright, European Geostrategy (collective) and Politika (Sandra Maria Rodrigues Balão).

Concrete benefits to EU citizens on the move

After the general press release available in 22 EU languages and mentioned in the previous blog post, we turn to how the European Commission presented its reform package for citizens' rights in more detail (only in English):

European Commission adopts plan to bring concrete benefits to EU citizens on the move; Brussels, 27 October 2010, MEMO/10/525

The Commission referred to the citizenship report by Alain Lamassoure MEP (which I have presented earlier on my blogs) before offering a few figures about the issues:

In 2009, about 11.9 million EU citizens were living outside their home Member State. The number of complaints and enquiries that the Commission receives from citizens every year is rising: in 2009 the Europe Direct Contact Centre received 25,721 enquires on cross-border issues, including travelling, buying and selling, studying, working and living in other Member States. Today's plan responds to many of these concerns.

As we see, almost 12 million EU citizens live in a permanent cross-border situation, whereas huge numbers make more or less brief 'visits', through business or leisure travel, by being posted abroad for a limited time, or through online buying.

The Commission presented examples of five reform initiatives, concerning car registration, cross-border healthcare and Ehealth technologies, consular protection, package travel, and improving information for EU citizens.

The Commission then offered brief outlines of 25 planned actions to improve the daily life of EU citizens.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. Part of the BBC's coverage of EU affairs, Gavin Hewitt's Europe is one of the “must read” Euroblogs in English.

Improving cross-border rights for EU citizens

A month ago, Michel Barnier and Viviane Reding chose to join forces to launch reforms in order to improve the internal market and citizens' rights. The joint press release from the European Commission offers an overview (and it is available in 22 EU languages):

European Commission sets out plans to strengthen the Single Market with measures to boost growth and enhance citizens’ rights; Brussels, 27 October 2010, IP/10/1390

The two members of the Commission found a common theme when they stated that businesses and citizens know that hurdles still exist when they exercise their rights.


Cross-border rights

The Commission promised 25 measures to improve the rights of EU citizens. Before we go into details, here are the main points:

The first-ever EU Citizenship Report looks at everyday problems faced by citizens when they exercise their EU rights and extend aspects of their lives beyond national borders: when they travel, study, work, get married, buy a house or car in another EU country. The report includes 25 measures the Commission plans to take in the next three years to make life easier for European citizens:

Tourists/ Expatriates: The Commission will update the rules protecting holiday makers from, for example, bankruptcy of their travel provider during their holiday (IP/09/1824). The Commission will also propose additional ways to strengthen the rights of passengers in all modes of transport and enforce the rights of air passengers (e.g. in case of long delays and cancellations).The Commission will further reinforce the right to consular protection for EU citizens whose home Member State is not represented in third countries, by strengthening the legal framework and increasing awareness among citizens and consular officials.

Consumers: the Commission will help consumers get redress if they have problems with a trader, by facilitating the fast and inexpensive out-of-court resolution of disputes across borders, through the promotion of alternative dispute resolution and mediation.

Couples: the Commission will propose legislation to make it easier for international couples to know which courts have jurisdiction and which country's law applies to their jointly owned house or bank accounts.

Workers: the Commission is developing a new system of electronic exchange of information between national administrations so as to make it simpler and quicker for people working in another EU country to transfer their social security rights.

Car owners: the Commission will propose legislation to simplify the paperwork and formalities for the registration of cars bought in another EU country and will address cases in which citizens are required to pay registration tax twice.

In the near future posts on my blogs will look at individual documents and proposals regarding EU citizens. Only later will we (re)turn to internal market reform.



Ralf Grahn



P.S. 'Democracy and accountability at all levels of government' is the motto of the Federal Union. Federalism at the European level is consequently one of the themes for the Federal Union Blog, which strives to be a voice of learning and reason.