It’s been a busy week in Brussels this week, full of council meetings, big announcements and plenty of summits. EU Heads of State met yesterday and today to discuss taxation, trade and steel levies, the European Semester as well as Russia and other external relations.
Article 50 negotiations
This week Michel Barnier and David Davis presented a joint legal text which outlines that a backstop solution must form part of the Withdrawal Agreement. This would essentially mean Northern Ireland staying in the customs union and the single market for goods and therefore it will maintain an open border on the island of Ireland. The latest draft withdrawal agreement came out last Friday and the Financial Times called the revised version with a 21 month implementation phase more like ‘a standstill deal’. Today’s Council meeting will be another D-day for Brexit when EU27 leaders will aim to adopt the draft agreement and review the guidelines around the future relationship the EU will have with the UK following Brexit.
Eyeball tax causing tears around Europe
The Commission proposed the controversial new digital tax rules that aim to make EU tax rules fit for a modern and digital economy. Digital businesses, collaborative platforms and online content providers are being asked to contribute with a 3% levy. Member States like Ireland and Luxembourg argue that such moves shouldn’t take place on a European level but rather on a global level. The two legislative proposals, firstly aim to reform corporate tax rules so that profits are registered and taxed where businesses have significant interaction with users through digital channels. Secondly it proposes an interim tax which covers the digital activities which are currently not effectively taxed so to generate revenues for Member States. The EU has calculated this could bring in some 5 billion euro annually. It looks like it could be an expensive week for Facebook who have also been under immense pressure following the Cambridge Analytica revelations on how it handles users’ data.
Future of EU Work
MEPs and the Council reached a deal on the pay and working conditions of posted workers, all of the host country’s rules on remuneration will apply to posted workers. When the Council will vote to approve the text, it will prove a big win for French President Emmanuel Macron.
On Social Affairs, the Tripartite Social Summit was held on the theme "Delivering on the European Pillar of Social Rights" which called the post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) to be in place before 2019 elections.
Future EU spending will be effecting many more sectors. This week the Policy Forum for Development took place in Brussels looking at European Financial Instruments. Highlights include that the EU and its Member States has remained the world's largest provider of development funding, contributing more than half of official development assistance (ODA) globally. The European Commission alone disbursed over EUR 10.3 billion in ODA on behalf of the EU.
Beam me up, Moedas!
The Commission also this week organised a conference on how science and innovation using Horizon 2020 can benefit Europe's cultural heritage. In the context of the European Year of Cultural Heritage 2018, the Commission organised the high-Level Conference where Innovation Commissioner Moedas expressed the EU’s “ambition is to make Europe the world leader in heritage-based innovation” and shared his vision that Europe will “be the ones that create the future by using the past”.
Finally, who doesn’t love free Wi-Fi?! As part of the WiFi4EU initiative, Commission opened the registration phase for EU funding for free Wi-Fi hotspots in public areas.