Although #EUCO conclusions on RoL Regulation are a political document, they’re legally relevant as they might potentially (yet illegally) amend the new #ruleoflaw mechanism.
Hungary/Poland lift their veto on EU budget, after being reassured that new #RuleOfLaw mechanism won't be applied to them until a judgment of ECJ will define 'methodology' to be applied.
This is not only unprecedented, but also LEGALLY questionable THREAD #EUCO 1/
The draft #EUCO Conclusions, a non-legally binding political declaration, de facto suspend application of #RuleOfLaw mechanism.
As such, notably point 2 c), could be challenged by an EU institution, such as the European Parliament, before @EUCourtPress as ULTRA VIRES 2/
Regardless of whether #EUCO conclusions will be challenged, the inaction of the Commission while omitting to apply #RuleOfLaw mechanism pending the Court's judgement might also be challenged before the ECJ.
Art. 5 of the rule of law mechanism says that the Commission "shall" 3/
🆘 As ~150 million Europeans are homeconfined, Germans & Belgians walk freely across their cities. British kids still go to school. Shops are open in Sweden.
How to make sense of these conflicting realities when we — EU citizens — are all equally affected by #COVID2019 ? THREAD
How do we assimilate that each European country and people contributing differently to the attainment of a shared aim: the containment of the disease in a border-free Europe? #COVID2019#CoronavirusOutbreak
But who’s really to blame for the current EU uncoordinated situation on #COVID2019 ? The EU cannot close schools, or lock down European cities. It cannot even close borders to curb the spreading of the virus. Only its member countries can do that (and some just did) #COVID2019
🆘 What scares me the most about #COVIDー19 ? Disregard for Risk vs Risk trade-offs: 1. if you close schools kids stay with grandparents (sensitive group) 2. if you recommend masks people wash less their hands 3. If you announce red zones, people flee with the virus #Coronavirus
A case study of total disregard for risk vs risk tradeoffs is: Italy, where no #COVID2019 measure has been considered against its unintended consequences. An illustration? Think of the increased risk exposure of senior population to virus generated by school closures #Italy
Conference on the Future of Europe: after the European Parliament & the Commission, now it’s the Council set to prepare its blueprint. Here’s an initial analysis based on council first discussion document THREAD #CoFoE#EUCO
If the European Parliament proposed a top-down blueprint, leaving aside NGOs’ participation in exchange for citizens’ agoras, the Commission watered down that model by invoking the “successful citizens dialogues” as THE approach to follow
The Council discussion document on #CofoE departs even further from the EP blueprint:
- no explicit reference to Agoras or other form of citizens’ assemblies (but citizens’ dialogues mentioned at template)
What to expect for Europe in 2020? As the EU enters a new policy cycle, here’s to a few predictions that I’ve shared with @euronews#THREAD 1/9
The new EU political leadership overpromised by generating outsized expectations that might reveal too difficult to manage:
1. Defend EU interests vs US & China 2. Take the lead on climate change 3. Tackle rebellious EU illiberal democracies 4. Tame big tech 5. Overcome Brexit
1. The #Suleimani assassination is already putting to test the self-proclaimed first EU ‘geopolitical’ Commission, which has lost in few hours the major EU foreign policy legacy of @JunckerEU@FedericaMog : the nuclear deal #JCPOA | the EU will be bystander of #iran situation