EU Council information assessment early 2010

The Lisbon Treaty was supposed to bring about a European Union “in which decisions are taken as openly as possible and as closely as possible to the citizen”.

Almost two months into the new year 2010, several reasons have contributed to the modest results this far.



The second Barroso Commission was finally appointed from 10 February 2010. Before that the old Commission was in a caretaker role, with no politically responsible Commission taking “appropriate initiatives” to promote the general interest. Hence, the Council and the European Parliament have been running on empty.



The European Council and the Council have met, but mainly informally, with rudimentary agendas, practically no documentation and with meagre oral summaries by the president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy or by the rotating Spanish presidency after the meetings.



The Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union has hardly excelled at presenting agendas and documentation in a user-friendly and well-arranged manner, leading to a step backwards from the level attained during the Swedish presidency.



Spain has highlighted its desire to set in motion a stronger, more united and more efficient Europe to respond to citizens’ concerns.

The Spanish government could start by upgrading its communication effort for the remaining four months.




Ralf Grahn

European Digital Agenda 2010-2015

In August 2009 the European Commission published the Communication:



Europe’s Digital Competitiveness Report - Main achievements of the i2010 strategy 2005-2009; Brussels, 4.8.2009 COM(2009) 390 final (12 pages).

The Commission concluded (page 9):

Therefore Europe needs a new digital agenda to meet the emerging challenges, to create a world beating infrastructure and unlock the potential of the internet as a driver of growth and the basis for open innovation, creativity and participation.

Citizens first: 2015.eu agenda


In the European Parliament, Pilar del Castillo Vera (Rapporteur) has prepared an own-initiative draft report dated 15 January 2010 for the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE):



Draft report on defining a new Digital Agenda for Europe: from i2010 to digital.eu (14 pages)




The procedure 2009/2225(INI) can be followed on Oeil, the Legislative Observatory of the European Parliament.


The EP report wants to inspire the Commission and the EU member states to concrete actions and results which benefit the citizens of the European Union (page 7):

The policy areas and enabling factors identified in this report form an overall ICT policy framework for the EU over the next five years that the rapporteur proposes to call '2015.eu agenda'. This renewed agenda can be graphically depicted as a virtuous 2015.eu spiral (see Annex). The core of the spiral is the person (both as citizen and as consumer). Each person should be empowered with the appropriate competences and ubiquitous and high-speed access. Citizens also need a clear legal framework that protects their rights and that provides them with the necessary trust and security. This is essential for citizens to enjoy the freedom to access without impediments digital services and content throughout the entire internal market ('fifth freedom'). Finally, knowledge and technologies are indispensable for supporting the competitiveness of our economy and a more prosperous society.

The proposed resolution lists a number of concrete actions to be taken (presented in an easy to read format in the Explanatory statement, from page 7).




Ralf Grahn

European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy

The Commission aims to ensure that a truly efficient and proportionate system of enforcement of intellectual property rights exists, both within and outside the internal market, said the press release of 14 December 2009 (IP/09/1919).



IPRED




Already the European Union already has the directive known as IPRED in place, providing for the (civil) measures, procedures and remedies necessary to ensure the enforcement of intellectual property rights (including industrial property rights):


DIRECTIVE 2004/48/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights


(The corrected version of this text with EEA relevance was published in the Official Journal of the European Union 2.6.2004 L 195/16.)



European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy




However, the European Commission is far from content with progress this far.

Last Spring, the European Observatory on Counterfeiting and Piracy was created to spread the best enforcement techniques to combat infringements of intellectual property rights.

Little public information of substance exists about the Observatory, but it is administered by the Commission’s internal market services and designed to join national public officials as well as representatives of IP rights holders experienced in IPR enforcement (designated as stakeholders).

Despite token consumer representation, citizens, consumers and net users, especially youth, mainly seem to have been cast into the role of receivers of awareness and education campaigns.



This meeting report from the sub-group on the legal framework, by the European Communities Trade Mark Association (ECTA), sheds some light on representation and work within the Observatory. The consumer representative (BEUC) was not present, but the following were represented:

Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP; ICC), Union des Fabricants (Unifab, the French anti-counterfeiting and IPR protection association), Istituto di Centromarca per la lotta alla contrafazzione (Indicam; Italian anti-counterfeiting association), the Motion Picture Association, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the Business Software Alliance (promoting IPR protection for the software industry) and (national) representatives of the Global Anti-Counterfeiting Group (GACG) Network.


There is nothing wrong in business associations lobbying openly for their interests during the process of creating regulation, but it becomes problematic when one angle – increasing and enforcing monopoly rights - becomes the driving force behind the public EU Commission machinery, which is supposed to shape balanced rules taking all interests into account.

With an input mechanism totally dominated by IPR enforcement interests, there seems to be practically no real voice for citizens, net users or consumers with an interest in the free flow of information.

The same pattern is discernible in legislative initiatives in EU member states such as France, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Good public policy should build on the markets as much as on the marketeers.




Ralf Grahn

Trust is good, control is better? US & EU at a crossroads

In the Lisbon Treaty preamble the member states of the European Union confirmed their attachment to the principles of liberty, democracy and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and of the rule of law. The EU shall offer its citizens an area of freedom, security and justice, according to Article 3(2) TEU.

“Trust is good, control is better”, has been ascribed to V. I. Lenin, not our first choice among icons of liberty. However, these words seem to encapsulate the purported defence of our freedoms, by elected governments on both shores of the Atlantic.



From data retention of all electronic communications and nudie pics at airports to spying on bank data, nothing is to be left unseen by the US administration and the European Union, in the name of our security.

Security is important, but are our administrations driven by fear? Is any level of control ever sufficient to eliminate all threats?

What happened to liberty, human rights and fundamental freedoms?

“We have nothing to fear but fear itself” would be a better motto for our leaders than the vain pursuit of total control.




Ralf Grahn

EU tax policy: ECOFIN 19 January 2010

I start by mentioning two interesting documents for those who want to see the big picture of European Union activities in the area of taxation.



Developments 2004-2009



A suitable starting point is the Commission booklet Achievements in the areas of taxation and customs 2004-2009, published 8 February 2010 (75 pages including annexed speeches, from page 20).



Objectives



From recent developments it is natural to advance to the work programme of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union. The part concerning the ECOFIN Council has a section on the aims regarding tax matters: Taxation: The fight against fraud (pages 5 to 7).



ECOFIN





We should then be ready for the Council (Economic and Financial Affairs; ECOFIN) meeting 19 January 2010, which led to the following conclusions on tax issues (document 5400/10; page 7 to 8):

SAVINGS TAXATION AND OTHER TAX GOVERNANCE MEASURES

The Council examined a package of measures aimed at improving tax governance and clamping down on tax evasion in Europe.

It reached agreement on a general approach, pending the opinion of the European Parliament, on one of the measures, namely a draft directive aimed at strengthening mutual assistance between member states in the recovery of taxes.

The directive will be adopted at a forthcoming Council meeting, once the Parliament's opinion is available.

The other measures in the package comprise:

– a draft directive aimed at enlarging the scope of directive 2003/48/EC on the taxation of savings interest;

– a draft directive aimed at strengthening cooperation between the member states in the field of direct taxation;

– a draft agreement with Liechtenstein on measures to combat tax fraud;

– a draft decision authorising the Commission to negotiate anti-fraud agreements with Andorra, Monaco and San Marino, as well as a new anti-fraud agreement with Switzerland.



Mutual assistance in the recovery of taxes

The draft directive is aimed at better meeting the member states' needs with regard to the recovery of taxes, providing an overhaul of directive 76/308/EEC (codified by directive 2008/55/EC), on the basis of which the member states have engaged in mutual assistance since 1976 aimed at clamping down on tax evasion.

National provisions on tax recovery are limited in scope to national territories, and fraudsters have taken advantage of this to organise insolvencies in member states where they have debts. Member states therefore increasingly request the assistance of other member states to recover taxes, but existing provisions have only allowed a small proportion of debts to be recovered.

The draft directive is intended to provide for an improved assistance system, with rules that are easier to apply, including as regards information held by banks and other financial institutions; it is intended to provide for more flexible conditions for requesting assistance, requiring the spontaneous exchange of information.

Ralf Grahn

EU against tax fraud

The work programme of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union has described as unfocused and full of good intentions, but the part concerning taxes, under the ECOFIN Council, is quite concrete: Taxation: The fight against fraud (pages 5 to 7).

It is worth quoting as a background note on EU aims in tax policy, both internally and with regard to third countries:

The meeting of the G-20 held in London in April 2009 and the efforts made by the OECD in order to increase the transparency of tax systems, with particular attention being paid to tax havens, have given a renewed political momentum to the fight against tax fraud within a framework that the European Union has defined as “good governance in tax matters”. In this context, achieving international transparency raises two kinds of challenges for the European Union: internal cooperation in the relations between Member States, and increasing transparency in foreign relations.

The Spanish Presidency will thus pay special attention to the cooperation of Member States in the fight against tax fraud. These efforts will be made in the fields of both direct and indirect taxation.

In the field of direct taxation the priority will be to work on three Directive proposals linked to the fight against tax evasion and to the achievement of appropriate rules governing transparency. The Savings Taxation Directive will expand its scope, both objectively (incorporating a larger number of taxable incomes), and subjectively (incorporating certain entities and legal instruments whose effective beneficiaries are natural persons), thus contributing towards increased efficiency and fairness of taxation on savings. The Directive on Administrative Cooperation will imply the adoption by all Member States of the OECD standards for the exchange of information and, therefore, the end of bank secrecy in the European Union, and it will impose a new general framework on the exchange of information on taxation that will allow the adaptation of the current regulation to the kind of automatic information we need, so that a modern efficient tool will be available in the fight against fraud. Finally, the Directive on Mutual Assistance for Tax Recovery, will improve the tools for recovery of debts that require assistance of other Member States, if either the debtors or their assets are within these states.

If these legislatory proposals are to be effective, it is also necessary for the EU to reach anti-fraud agreements with third-countries (a political agreement with Liechtenstein will be used as a model for negotiations with Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Switzerland). During the Spanish Presidency, we will try to achieve the signing of agreements that comply with OECD standards on transparency and information exchange.

Finally, within the field of coordination in direct taxation, the Spanish Presidency will seek to achieve a commitment on anti-abuse clauses. This will be a joint effort by Member States on matters of direct taxation in which problems may appear as a consequence of the fundamental rights contemplated in the Treaty of the EU and of the satisfactory operation of the internal market, and which may also put an end to the infringement procedures opened by the Commission. Likewise, a report will be presented to the Council on follow-up work on the application of the Code of Conduct for Business Taxation corresponding to the period of the Spanish Presidency (Report of the Council). This code of conduct refers to the suppression of tax measures that have or may have a significant harmful influence on business activities within the Union because of the tax competition they create. During the Presidency, the subgroup working on the Code of Conduct will continue its task. This subgroup is in charge of debating anti-abuse issues, such as those related with outbound and inbound dividends.

Likewise, the Spanish Presidency will boost administrative cooperation in the fight against fraud in the field of indirect taxation. In order to do so it will strive to promote the work to make EUROFISC a decentralized network for the exchange of information on VAT fraud among Member States. The EUROFISC network is based on an early warning mechanism and a multilateral risk analysis platform. Moreover, the Presidency will work on the new proposal of a Directive on VAT electronic invoicing rules, an important element of administrative simplification and cost reduction for businesses.

Likewise, the Spanish Presidency will strengthen administrative cooperation in the field of Excises, promoting the implementation of the Excise Movement Control System (EMCS), a new computerised system for monitoring movements of excise goods by electronic means, through the interconnection of customs agencies of various Member States and operators.


Towards a more efficient taxation system

The Spanish Presidency will also ensure that fiscal coordination leads to a more efficient taxation system in various fields. A well designed taxation system can make a decisive contribution to the promotion of energy efficiency, which is indispensable if sustainable long-term growth is to be achieved. The Spanish Presidency will thus give precedence to the proposals of Directives pursuing energy efficiency objectives. It is therefore important to make progress in the modification of the Directive establishing a new framework for the taxation of energy products on the basis of environmental criteria. In this context, during the Spanish Presidency the proposal for the modification of the Directive on the taxation of energy products will be addressed.

As for the VAT, work will be encouraged with respect to the interpretation of new rules of location, together with the taxation of financial services and insurance, and the Special Scheme for Travel Agencies.

Finally, in order for public finances to have a revitalising effect on the economy, it is necessary to take into account the Community budget rules, an essential element of the Union’s daily activities. The entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty requires the modification of some budget rules.

Firstly, the Spanish Presidency will push forward the negotiation of the Financial Regulation Review proposal, which will be presented by the Commission during this semester. This regulation includes the rules on the drafting, approval, execution, and monitoring of the European Union budget, and Spain’s objective will be to take a closer look at simplification, transparency, and rigour in the execution of the budget.

Secondly, the Spanish Presidency will promote the necessary work in order to adapt to the Lisbon Treaty, as soon as possible, the rules applicable to the Union budget.

In short, the next six months will pose significant challenges to the EU in economic and financial issues. The ECOFIN therefore has a considerable task ahead of it in order to successfully exit from the unprecedented economic crisis and at the same time lay the foundations of sustainable and stable growth for the future and of a more social, more competitive, and more environmentally committed Europe.

However, for the EU to move from aims – even widely supported ones – to results in the area of taxation is still a daunting task due to unanimity rules, despite the Commission booklet Achievements in the areas of taxation and customs 2004-2009, published today (8 February 2010; 75 pages including annexed speeches, from page 20).





Ralf Grahn







P.S. The Pirate Party challenges the existing order concerning intellectual property, especially copyright, and attempts to limit the freedoms of Internet users.

In the Swedish political blogosphere the Pirate Party has become the most visible political party, and in the June 2009 European Parliament elections the PP secured two MEPs, although the second one has to wait for the question of the 18 “phantom MEPs” to be resolved before she can officially take up her duties.

Henrik Alexandersson is a prolific blogger about Pirate Party and libertarian causes, from his position as assistant to the Pirate MEP Christian Engström (who blogs in Swedish and English).

Henrik Alexandersson.se (in Swedish) is listed on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, which by now has grown to 532 great Euroblogs.

Bloggingportal.eu is your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on EU affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issuesin Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg. At this point in time, my main themes are the European knowledge society, including data protection and intellectual property, the internal market, and the relations between the EU and Switzerland, where banking secrecy and taxation are among the topical issues.

Hot tax row between Germany and Switzerland

Here are only a few samples of what has become front page news in Germany, generating hundreds of newspaper articles. Deutsche Welle reports that a number of offers have been made to German authorities on Swiss banking data, although buying stolen data is also politically controversial in Germany: Luft für Steuersünder wird dünner (6 February 2010). Sueddeutsche.de basically tells the same story, adding a few details: Steuerdaten – jetzt prüft auch Bayern (7 February 2010).



According to Welt Online the meagre public information about stolen bank data was sufficient to start a wave of self-incriminatory reports to German tax authorities. About 50 tax evaders had already given themselves in: Verwirrspiel mit System (7 February 2010).


If the story is big in Germany, in Switzerland the breach of the sacred banking secrecy and the potential loss of banking business for wealthy clients has reached almost existential proportions. On 6 and 7 February NZZ Online was practically dominated by different aspects of the issue:

Wiederstand gegen Handel mit gestohlenen Daten regt sich

Auch bayerische Behörden auf der Spur von Steuersündern

Neue CD mit Bankdaten aufgetaucht

„Wir müssen den Mut haben, solchen Fragen jetzt zu stellen“(interesting interview with Hans-Rudolf Merz, Minister of Finance, weighing Switzerland’s responses to the mounting pressure: OECD double taxation agreements; cost of market access versus defiance of EU norms)

„Bern hat den Kopf verloren“ (Konrad Hummler, President of Swiss Private Bankers‘ Association accuses the government of losing ist head)

Wolfgang Schäuble: „Das Bankgeheimnis ist am Ende“ (German Finance Minister ringing the death knell of banking secrecy)

„ Drakonische Strafen – Gewalttäter sind besser dran als Steuersünder (draconic justice for tax fraudsters in Germany – worse than for violent robbers)

Nun droht ein Banksterben (the less than rosy future of a banking sector dependent on market access and business globally)




Ralf Grahn







P.S. If the EU member states continue to pursue their narrow interests in foreign, security and defence policies, the face marginalisation in global affairs.

Global Europe blog and the accompanying website offer a daily summary of interesting articles and additional materials in English on European foreign affairs.

The Global Europe blog is listed on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, which has now grown to 532 great Euroblogs.

Bloggingportal.eu is your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on EU affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss in EU law and European Union politics Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg. The main themes at this point in time include the European Digital Agenda with data protection and intellectual property, the internal market and the free movement of persons, as well as the important relations between the EU and Switzerland.

After SWIFT – sudden EU-US data protection agreement consultation

Lately the Commission, the Council and the US administration have been as busy lobbying the SWIFT / TFTP agreement on rendering financial data from the European Union to the United States as they previously were anxious to keep the European Parliament in the dark. Not that the quality of information seems to have improved despite turning on the volume.



The European Parliament has informed us about the 29 to 23 vote of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) to propose rejection: SWIFT: MEPs to vote on backing or sacking EU/US data sharing deal (5 February 2010).

I wonder why the 23 who voted for breaching EU data protection standards have been so silent about their reasons.


The Euroblogosphere has actively debated the SWIFT agreement and the muscular diplomacy employed, for instance: Henrik Alexandersson, Henrik Alexandersson, Netzpolitik, Henrik Alexandersson, Julien Frisch, Henrik Alexandersson, Thomas Mayer, Jon Worth, Europaeum, Julien Frisch, Open Europe Blog, Sköne Oke.



Suddenly



Suddenly, after keeping the European Parliament and the EU citizens in the dark for so long about the SWIFT agreement, the European Commission’s DG Freedom, Security and Justice has launched an online consultation on the future European Union (EU) - United States of America (US) international agreement on personal data protection and information sharing for law enforcement purposes. The consultation runs until 12 March 2010.

I wonder.





Ralf Grahn







P.S. The BBC’s Europe editor Gavin Hewitt writes a blog, which presents European politics to readers in Britain and worldwide.

Gavin Hewitt’s Europe is listed on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, which has now grown to 532 great Euroblogs.

Bloggingportal.eu is your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on EU affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues, including the relations between the EU and Switzerland, in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

Tax matters for Switzerland and the European Union

The basic positions on tax could hardly be more different: virtuous tax competition or criminal tax fraud?




The official Swiss view is that tax competition is healthy. Not only do federalism and [direct] democracy promote sound public finances, but they also enhance trust between citizens and the state, said then President of the Confederation (Bundespräsident) Hans-Rudolf Merz in a lyrical speech 2 November 2009: Die Schweiz im internationalen Steuerwettbewerb.



European Union



The Communication by the European Commission Promoting Good Governance in Tax Matters; Brussels, 28.4.2009 COM(2009) 201 final takes almost the contrary position, calling for urgent action to stem tax fraud and evasion through coordinated action:

The European Union and its Member States face serious challenges in addressing the current economic and financial crisis. The crisis has exacerbated concerns about the sustainability of tax systems in the face of globalisation. The promotion of good governance in the tax area on as broad a geographical basis as possible is now recognised to be the appropriate way of addressing these concerns. It balances the tax sovereignty of individual countries with the legitimate protection of tax revenues.

Accordingly, the EU and its partners have a strong common interest at this time in promoting tax cooperation and common standards on as wide a geographical basis as possible. The time is now right for Member States and third countries to work together and to encourage and support the move that has now started towards a broader acceptance of international standards of tax co-operation

This Communication presents for consideration a series of steps to promote good governance in the tax area, entailing action both within and outside the EU and both at EU and at individual Member State levels. ---

A few days ago, in the European Parliament, the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs overwhelmingly voted on a report (A7-0007/2010) on promoting good governance in tax matters, echoing calls for resolute action. (Procedure (2009/2174(INI)); rapporteur: Leonardo Domenici).




The third major political EU institution is the Council. In the pipeline is a draft Council decision (document 16308/09; only partially declassified 6 January 2010) to authorise the Commission to open negotiations between the EU and its member states with the Swiss Confederation to combat direct tax fraud and direct tax evasion and to ensure administrative cooperation through exchange of information on tax matters. (Negotiations are also foreseen with Andorra, Monaco and San Marino.)



Switzerland and Germany


There are also bilateral issues between individual EU member states and Switzerland. The most visible right now is the potential circumvention of the legendary Swiss banking secrecy contemplated by Germany through buying stolen bank data.



In the press release Federal Council takes decision on further course of action concerning Germany (3 February 2010), the Swiss executive stated that it is not willing to provide administrative assistance to Germany based on stolen bank data, but it is willing to continue negotiations on a new double taxation agreement (DTA), in accordance with the OECD Model Tax Convention.




The Swiss decision comes as a reaction to German reports. According to Deutsche Welle the German government is likely to buy stolen bank data on possible tax evaders: Germany willing to pay for secret Swiss bank data (1 February 2010).



As we see, there are contentious issues between the European Union and its member states, on the one hand, and Switzerland, on the other hand.







Ralf Grahn







P.S. The BBC’s Europe editor Gavin Hewitt writes a blog, which presents European politics to readers in Britain and worldwide.

Gavin Hewitt's Europe is listed on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, which has now grown to 532 great Euroblogs.

Bloggingportal.eu is your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on EU affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues, including the relations between the EU and Switzerland, in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

EU and Switzerland: Bilateral treaties and challenges

Since Switzerland is outside the European Union (EU) as well as the European Economic Area (EEA), the relations have been developed mainly on the basis of bilateral agreements. The Treaties Office of the European Commission’s DG External Relations offers access to the existing EU-Switzerland treaties, bilateral and multilateral, 175 in all.




DG Trade presents an overview of trade with Switzerland, noting that:

Switzerland's main trading partner is the EU. On the other hand, Switzerland is currently the fourth largest trading partner of the EU. Trade figures in 2008 show €80 billion in imports and €97.6 billion in exports. In terms of imports, Switzerland was the EU's 5th most important trading partner in 2008, after the US, China, Russia and Norway. Regarding exports, Switzerland was the 3rd after the US and Russia in the same period.

The presentation contains on overview of how the agreements have developed, including the Bilateral I package (in force from June 2002) and the Bilateral II package (signed in October 2004).




Among the 130 Commission Delegations and Offices, the European Union has a Delegation in Berne, Switzerland (for Liechtenstein as well). The New Year’s greeting (available in German, French and Italian) by the Head of Delegation Michael Reiterer is refreshingly free from empty phrases. Instead Reiterer outlines the macro level challenges ahead and digs into new areas of cooperation as well as unresolved issues on the table, such as tax fraud and evasion.




More information about the history of cooperation and ongoing issues is offered on the web page (here the German version) Die EU und die Schweiz and further topical links:


Agrarfreihandel


On trade in agricultural goods:

Ein allfälliges Abkommen im Agrar- und Lebensmittelbereich (FHAL) liegt im beiderseitigen Interesse der EU und der Schweiz.


Beihilfendiskussion


State aid:

Die Europäische Kommission hat im Februar 2007 eine Beihilfenentscheidung getroffen. Die EU hat eine Beihilfenentscheidung getroffen, was nicht ausreichend zur Kenntnis genommen wird, weshalb auch von "Steuerstreit" gesprochen wird.


Elektrizität


Electricity:

Ein Elektrizitätsabkommen zur Sicherung der Energieversorgung, zur Regelung des Transits und zur Teilnahme der Schweiz am europäischen Elekrtizitätsbinnenmarkt liegt im beidseitigen Interesse der EU und der Schweiz.


Erweiterungsbeitrag


Participation in cohesion policy costs:

Die Kohäsionspolitik der Europäischen Union hat zum Ziel, die Unterschiede im wirtschaftlichen Entwicklungsstand der europäischen Regionen zu verringern. Damit soll der wirtschaftliche und soziale Zusammenhalt innerhalb der EU verstärkt werden. Die Schweiz profitiert dank ihrer bilateralen Abkommen, welche sie mit der EU abgeschlossen hat, direkt von jeder Erweiterung der Union, weshalb die EU die Schweizer Behörden einlud, einen Beitrag an die europäische Kohäsion zu leisten.


Personenfreizügigkeit


Free movement of persons:

Personenfreizügigkeit zwischen der Schweiz und der EU.


Schengen


Cooperation in the Schengen area:

Im Rahmen der Schengen Zusammenarbeit wird der Reiseverkehr erleichtert, indem die systematischen Personenkontrollen an den gemeinsamen Grenzen zwischen den Schengen-Staaten aufgehoben werden.


Zinsbesteuerung


Taxation of savings income:

Die Richtlinie regelt die Besteuerung von Zinserträgen, welche an natürliche Personen in einem EU-Mitgliedstaat ausserhalb ihres eigenen Wohnsitzstaates gezahlt werden.


Zollsicherheit


Customs security cooperation:

Aus Sicherheitsgründen sind Wirtschaftsteilnehmer verpflichtet, die Zollbehörden im voraus über Waren zu informieren, die in das Zollgebiet der EU ein- oder aus diesem ausgeführt werden. Das betrifft zu einem grossen Teil auch die Schweiz.






Ralf Grahn








P.S. A federal system is democratic and aims at resolving issues at the right level. The Federal Union Blog argues for federalist solutions in Britain, Europe and the world.

The Federal Union Blog is listed among 522 great Euroblogs (at the latest count) on growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues, including the relations between the EU and Switzerland, in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

Freedom to travel for Schengen migrants on long-stay visas

The current situation has led to thousands of complaints, says the European Parliament rapporteur Carlos Coelho.




The Grahnlaw blog post Schengen residents with long-stay visa: Proposals on freedom to travel (3 February 2010) mentioned the travel restrictions on legally residing migrants with a national long-stay visa. We also mentioned the Regulations proposed by the European Commission in COM(2009) 90 final and COM(2009) 91 final to enable these expats with “D visas” to travel inside the Schengen area.


The proposals have now advanced in the European Parliament to the stage where the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) is set to adopt its report today, based on the draft prepared by Carlos Coelho (rapporteur):



Draft report PE430.461 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement and Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 as regards movement of persons with a long-stay visa (COM(2009)0091 – C6 0076/2009 – 2009/0028(COD))



The other draft report is PE430.459 on the proposal for a Council regulation amending the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement as regards long stay visa and alerts in the Schengen Information System (COM(2009)0090 – C6 0107/2009 – 2009/0025(CNS)).

Here the procedure will probably change from consultation to the ordinary legislative procedure, due to the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty.


Concerning both proposals the rapporteur noted the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, as well as the “omnibus Communication” being prepared with regard to the new legal bases. He also expressed uncertainty whether the national Parliaments have yet to be consulted and granted an 8 weeks period to react on the files which are pending at the moment when the Treaty of Lisbon comes into force.


We may be somewhat wiser with regard to the possible amendments and the procedures after the LIBE meeting today.

Anyway, improvements seem to be on their way for legal migrants on long-stay visas.




Ralf Grahn






P.S. Cross-border communication about European issues is important for our future, and Euroblogs offer an enjoyable way to improve our language skills.

Eva Peña in Barcelona writes expertly and critically about the challenges of the European Union and the EU politics of Spain on Eva en Europa (in Spanish).

Perhaps inspired by the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union, bloggers in Spain can now be found on a new aggregator Europeando.eu, with posts in Spanish, Catalan and Galician.

Eva en Europa is listed among 522 great Euroblogs (at the latest count) on growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs: politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

EFTA member Switzerland outside EEA and EU

The relationship between Switzerland and the European Union is of interest to governments, businesses and residents, including expats.


Yesterday, in the Grahnlaw blog post Internal market: Switzerland at the heart of Europe? we highlighted the briefing paper commissioned by the European Parliament on the complex relationship between the European Union and Switzerland with regard to the internal market:



Christa Tobler, Jeroen Hardenbol & Balázs Mellár: Internal Market beyond the EU: EEA and Switzerland (PE 429.993; January 2010; 65 pages).

In this blog post we present references to some basic materials on Switzerland’s relations with the rest of Europe.



Switzerland is a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), together with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. However, unlike the three others, Switzerland is not a part of the European Economic Area (EEA).



For a fairly updated general presentation of EFTA, see This is EFTA 2009 (January 2009; 36 pages).



The latest annual update is the 48th Annual Report of the European Free Trade Association 2008 (March 2009; 52 pages).



In English and with further links, the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO offers general information about EFTA, the European Policy of Switzerland and Bilateral Agreements Switzerland – European Union.



Through the web page Bilateral agreements Switzerland-EU you can access a brochure from August 2009 with further information: Bilateral agreements Switzerland-EU (44 pages)



There is also a page with links to Other files Switzerland-EU.




For a more political Swiss view on why Switzerland remains outside both the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA), you can read the article by Werner Wüthrich: The Future Belongs to Lean Organizations like EFTA (Current Concerns No 1, January 2010).




Ralf Grahn







P.S. Sooner or later, I believe, the European Union has to become more openly and directly party political in order to be understood and approved by EU citizens.

Heralding this future of active citizens are the bilingual mirror blogs by a French PES activist: Eurosocialist in English and Eurosocialiste in French. Her motto is: A socialist view on Europe, a European view on socialism.

Eurosocialist/Eurosocialiste are listed among 522 great Euroblogs (at the latest count) on growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

Schengen residents with long-stay visa: Proposals on freedom to travel

There is a problem concerning circulation within the Schengen area without internal borders for third-country nationals legally residing in one of the Schengen states on the basis of a long-stay "D" visa issued by that member state:

Lacking a residence permit, D visa holders are not allowed to travel to the other member states during their stay; nor are they allowed to transit through the other states when returning to their country of origin, as this is not provided for by the Schengen Convention.


Due to the different legal bases and procedures, the European Commission made two parallel proposals in order to remedy the problem:





Proposal for a COUNCIL REGULATION amending the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement as regards long stay visa and alerts in the Schengen Information System; Brussels, 27.2.2009 COM(2009) 90 final (11 pages)




Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of […] amending the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement and Regulation (EC) No 562/2006 as regards movement of persons with a long-stay visa; Brussels, 27.2.2009 COM(2009) 91 final (11 pages)


The aim of the proposals is to extend the principle of equivalence between a residence permit and short-stay visas to long-stay D visas; hence a long-stay visa would have the same effects as a residence permit as regards circulation in the Schengen area.



Visa Code


Meanwhile, the Visa Code, Regulation 810/2009 has been approved:




REGULATION (EC) No 810/2009 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 13 July 2009 establishing a Community Code on Visas (Visa Code); published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) 15.9.2009 L 243/1

Article 1
Objective and scope

1. This Regulation establishes the procedures and conditions for issuing visas for transit through or intended stays in the territory of the Member States not exceeding three months in any six-month period.

2. The provisions of this Regulation shall apply to any third-country national who must be in possession of a visa when crossing the external borders of the Member States pursuant to Council Regulation (EC) No 539/2001 of 15 March 2001 listing the third countries whose nationals must be in possession of visas when crossing the external borders and those whose nationals are exempt from that requirement, without prejudice to:

(a) the rights of free movement enjoyed by third-country nationals who are family members of citizens of the Union;

(b) the equivalent rights enjoyed by third-country nationals and their family members, who, under agreements between the Community and its Member States, on the one hand, and these third countries, on the other, enjoy rights of free movement equivalent to those of Union citizens and members of their families.

3. This Regulation also lists the third countries whose nationals are required to hold an airport transit visa by way of exception from the principle of free transit laid down in Annex 9 to the Chicago Convention on International Civil Aviation, and establishes the procedures and conditions for issuing visas for the purpose of transit through the international transit areas of Member States’ airports.

Regulation 810/2009, the Visa Code will apply from 5 April 2010.



Lisbon Treaty


The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009, so both proposals will probably be adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure.


***


We will return to look at the progress of the proposals to ease the travel restrictions on residents with long-stay visas.




Ralf Grahn







P.S. Sooner or later, I believe, the European Union has to become more openly and directly party political in order to become understood and approved by EU citizens.

Heralding this future of active citizens are the bilingual mirror blogs by a French PES activist: Eurosocialist in English and Eurosocialiste in French. Her motto is: A socialist view on Europe, a European view on socialism.

Eurosocialist/Eurosocialiste are listed among 522 great Euroblogs (at the latest count) on growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

Internal market: Switzerland at the heart of Europe?

German government frets over morality of paying tax informer, reports Deutsche Welle (2 February 2010). Should Germany pay 2.5 million euros to buy stolen bank data of 1,500 people suspected of tax evasion?



Geographically Switzerland is at the heart of Europe, with four EU neighbours even the European Union, but the Swiss Confederation of 7.7 million inhabitants is an exception in its relations with the European Union. It is an EFTA member, but (formally) not even a part of the European Economic Area (EEA). The news item above reminded us of long-standing unresolved issues between the Swiss and the EU member states.



The European Parliament has commissioned a study on the complex bilateral relationship between the European Union and Switzerland with regard to the internal market:

Christa Tobler, Jeroen Hardenbol & Balázs Mellár: Internal Market beyond the EU: EEA and Switzerland (PE 429.993; January 2010; 65 pages).



In this post we are content to indicate the contents, but I expect to return to the issues in blog posts on my euroblogs in English, Finnish and Swedish:


CONTENTS
Contents 3

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 6

1. INTRODUCTION 8

2. EU RELATIONS WITH SWITZERLAND AND THE EEA STATES 10
2.1. Relevant agreements and the existing legal framework between Switzerland and the EU 10
2.2. EU-EEA relations 12

3. THE FUNCTIONING OF AN EXTENDED INTERNAL MARKET WITH SWITZERLAND 15
3.1. The material scope of bilateral law 15
3.1.1. Free movement of goods 15
3.1.2. Free movement of persons 16
3.1.3. Free movement of services 17
3.1.4. Free movement of capital 17
3.2. The temporal scope of bilateral law 18
3.2.1. The status of primary and secondary law 18
3.2.2. Temporal limits in relation to the interpretation of bilateral law 19
3.2.3. Entry into force of the Agreement on the free movement of persons in relation to the EU Member States that joined the Union in 2004 and 2007 21
3.3. The substantive meaning of free movement 22
3.3.1. General remarks 22
3.3.2. Free movement of goods under the FTA 22
3.3.3. Free movement of persons and services under the FMPA 24
3.4. Enforcement 29

4. THE FUNCTIONING OF AN EXTENDED INTERNAL MARKET WITH THE EEA STATES 30

5. AN EXTENDED INTERNAL MARKET – CHALLENGES AND FUTURE PROSPECTS 32
5.1. The EEA and Switzerland: Two different models of integration 32
5.2. The future EU relations with Switzerland 32
5.2.1. Challenges 32
5.2.2. An outlook on Swiss-EU policy 36
5.3. The future EU relations with the EEA States 39
5.3.1. Challenges 39

6. CONCLUSIONS 41
6.1. The EU and Switzerland: A legal framework of bilateral agreements 41
6.2. The EU and the EEA EFTA Countries: A dynamic system of EU law incorporation 42
6.3. The impact of the Lisbon Treaty 43

7. RECOMMENDATIONS 44

BIBLIOGRAPHY 46

Annexes 49
Annex I. List of Interviewees 49
Annex II: Selected publications by Prof. Dr. Christa Tobler 50
Annex III. Overview of EU - Swiss bilateral agreements 52
Annex IV. Comparison between EU law, EEA law and bilateral law 53
Annex V: The Internal Market charts 54





Ralf Grahn







P.S. Cross-border communication is a necessity in the European Union and beyond, with scrutiny by active citizens. At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

European Union Law in English and its sister blog in Bulgarian are written by the lawyer Vihar Georgiev, who serves his readers with quick updates on new legal acts, decisions and other developments in EU law.

European Union Law is listed among 522 (at the latest count) great Euroblogs on growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

Expanding Natura 2000 network

Natura 2000 is an ecological network on protected areas, based on the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive of the European Union.



Among the summaries of EU legislation, the European Commission offers some background about conservation on the page Natural habitats (Natura 2000) (latest update 1 August 2008).

The latest development is a package of extensions of conservation areas.


The Official Journal of the European Union L 30 published 2 February 2010 is a hefty issue of 566 pages, dedicated to the 22 December 2009 decisions by the European Commission on updated and expanded lists of Natura 2000 sites, in the following biogeographical regions (OJEU 2.2.2010 L 30/1):

• Alpine
• Atlantic
• Continental
• Mediterranean
• Boreal


The consolidated version of the Habitats Directive 92/43 is of 1 January 2007, officially:

COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora




Biodiversity is on the agenda of the Commission, which has published a Communication: What next for biodiversity protection in the EU? (19 January 2010; IP/10/32).




Ralf Grahn







P.S. Cross-border communication is a necessity in the European Union and beyond, with scrutiny by active citizens. At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

European Union Law in English and its sister blog in Bulgarian are written by the lawyer Vihar Georgiev, who serves his readers with quick updates on new legal acts, decisions and other developments in EU law.

European Union Law is listed among 522 great Euroblogs (at the latest count) on growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.

EU Lisbon Treaty and public procurement

The Lisbon Treaty entered into force on 1 December 2009, and the internal market remains a core aim of the European Union, meant to 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 (Article 26(2) TFEU).

Usually public procurement is dealt with from the angle of the procurement directives 2004/18 and 2004/17, or with regard to the national level. However, the European Parliament has published a briefing paper, which looks at the possible effects of primary law, the Lisbon Treaty, on future legislation, guidance and interpretation of EU public procurement law:



Annette Rösenkotter & Thorsten Wuersig: The impact of the Lisbon Treaty in the field of Public Procurement (PE 429.988; January 2010; 20 pages).

The authors analyse the potential effects of the social market economy, environmental protection (including the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights), social aspects, as well as the strengthened role of local and regional self-governance, with a view to the Protocol on Services of General Interest.

After these substantive modifications, the authors go on to discuss procedural aspects, namely the principle of subsidiarity, where they contend (page 11):

Since the principle of subsidiarity does not apply in fields of exclusive competence of the Union, the strengthened role of the principle of subsidiarity can – in principle – not alter the Union’s general competence in the field of public procurement as an instrument to ensure the functioning of the internal market.

However, with regard to the strengthened role of local self- governance, it could be argued that a legislation, which imposes the application of procurement rules on pure acts of self- organisation on the local level, is not covered by this exclusive competence and therefore constitutes a breach of the principle of subsidiarity.

Inter-communal (local or regional) cooperation and a wider scope of award criteria (environmental or social) lead the authors to discuss the possibilities of clarifications through ECJ case law, interpretative communications from the Commission and amendments to directives.




Ralf Grahn







P.S. Cross-border communication is a necessity in the European Union and beyond, with scrutiny by active citizens. At the same time Euroblogs are an agreeable way to brush up one’s skills in foreign languages.

European Tribune is a lively community of citizens discussing news items and long term trends related to the European Union, the economy and finance, as well as global issues.

European Tribune is listed among 522 great Euroblogs (at the latest count) on growing multilingual Bloggingportal.eu, your useful one-stop-shop for fact, opinion and gossip on European affairs, i.a. politics, more than thirty policy areas, communication, economics, finance, business, civil society and law.

If you are interested in the EU or the euroblogosphere, you can also subscribe to the RSS feed for new blog posts appearing on Bloggingportal.eu.

By the way, I also discuss European issues in Finnish on Eurooppaoikeus and in Swedish on Grahnblawg.