Overview of the main topics and events at the Council of EU and European Council.

Foreign Affairs Council (Development), 25 November 2019

The Council will discuss the future financial architecture for sustainable development and neighbourhood and how the EU and member states can work better together to support the development of countries in transition, focusing on the cases of Ethiopia and Sudan. Development ministers will have an exchange of view on gender and education with the Minister of Education of Ethiopia, Dr. Tilaye Gete.

Competitiveness Council, 28-29 November

The two-days Council will be asked to agree on representative actions for consumers, country-by-country reporting, regulation on the European Institute of Technology (EIT), recitals and annex IV of the Horizon Europe regulation and (possibly) Euratom research programme. It will debate external dimension of the European competitiveness and ways of fostering a sustainable space economy. Finally, it will adopt conclusions on space solutions for a sustainable Arctic, on circular economy in the construction sector and on the updated EU bioeconomy strategy.

Justice and Home Affairs Council, 2 and 3 December 2019

On Monday home affairs ministers will hold two thematic debates on the implementation of the strategic agenda 2019-2024, one in the field of EU migration and asylum policy and a second on EU internal security. On Tuesday, justice ministers will aim to reach general approaches on the regulation on the service of documents and the regulation on the taking of evidence, and exchange views on the issue of environmental crime. They will also aim to adopt conclusions on victims’ rights and alternative measures to detention, as part of discussions on the implementation of the strategic agenda.

Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Transport issues), 2 December 2019

The Council will aim to agree its position three proposals: updating rail passengers’ rights, streamlining permit-granting measures for the trans-European transport network (TEN-T), and revising EU road charging rules (Eurovignette). Ministers will discuss ‘digital transport services for people: the next steps for sustainable European solutions’ and the future of the Single European Sky.

Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Telecomms issues), 3 December 2019

The Council agenda will include a proposal to update privacy rules for electronic communications (ePrivacy). Ministers will discuss the European Union as a hub for ethical data use. The Council will adopt conclusions on the significance of 5G to the European Economy and the need to mitigate security risks linked to 5G.

Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council (Energy issues), 4 December 2019

The Council will discuss smart sector integration, the new Commission’s energy policy priorities, and follow-up to the draft national energy and climate plans. 

Economic and Financial Affairs Council, 5 December 2019

The ECOFIN Council will take stock of progress on banking union. It will also adopt a work plan on climate action and conclusions on energy taxation, money laundering, capital markets union, non performing loans and the financial architecture for development.

• EUR 90m loan to support investment in biomass-based heat generators, upgrade of district heating systems and thermal renovation of multi-apartment buildings
• EUR 85m to Belarusbank and EUR 20m to Belagroprombank to co-finance projects of SMEs in Belarus that are expected to sustain 3 700 full-time jobs and support some 200 SMEs

Today, the European Investment Bank (EIB) signed three loans supporting projects in Belarus.

A EUR 90m loan will finance the replacement of obsolete gas-fired boilers with biomass boilers capable of producing around 1 000 GWh/year of renewable energy instead of using fossil fuel. The project also involves the upgrade of district heating systems through the installation of new peak boilers and the modernisation of grids in all six Belarus regions (oblasts). 

Furthermore, the EIB loan – provided under the European Union’s EU4Energy Programme – will support thermal renovation of multi-apartment buildings with a total floor area of 500 000 m². This will help to significantly cut the housing sector’s energy consumption, resulting in energy savings of around 60 GWh/year, and reduce dependence on imported fuel. Overall, the project will generate substantial environmental benefits with CO₂ savings and improve the well-being of Belarus’s citizens. 

The two other loans – EUR 85m to Belarusbank and EUR 20m to Belagroprombank – aim at improving access to long-term financing for Belarus’s SMEs. The two banks will have more financial capacity to lend to local companies. This will contribute to increasing the competitiveness of the private sector and help economic diversification in Belarus, where a significant part of the economy is still dominated by large state-owned enterprises. Combined, these two loans are expected to support around 200 SMEs (100 each) and sustain 3 700 full-time jobs.

The EIB loans are being provided in the framework of the European Union’s EU4Business Initiative targeted at smaller businesses in the Eastern Partnership countries.

The EIB enjoys a well-developed and fruitful cooperation with the two banks: the EU bank provided a loan of EUR 25m to Belarusbank and EUR 50m to Belagroprombank in November 2018. Both these loans have been successfully disbursed for the benefit of Belarus’s SMEs.

EIB Vice-President Lilyana Pavlova commented: “Today marks another milestone in the EIB’s cooperation with Belarus. The three loans that we are signing cover a wide area of the country’s priorities, from SME support to energy efficiency. Our portfolio of Belarusian projects is growing dynamically, in line with EU objectives, and I am looking forward to further collaboration.”

Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus Sergei Roumas stated: “The Republic of Belarus highly appreciates relationships built with the European Investment Bank. With no other financial institution we had such a jumpstart and significant investment projects within  so short time“.

Background information:

As the largest multilateral borrower and lender by volume, the EIB provides finance and expertise for sound and sustainable investment projects which contribute to furthering EU policy objectives. More than 90% of EIB activity is focused on Europe but it also supports the EU’s external and developmentpolicies.

The EIB finances projects in Belarus on the basis of the EU External Lending Mandate. This provides the EIB with a guarantee covered by the EU budget for projects of significant interest to the EU and its Eastern Neighbours in the areas of social and economic infrastructure, local private sector development and climate action.

The EU4Energy Programme covers all EU support to improve energy supply, security and connectivity, as well as to promote energy efficiency and the use of renewables in the Eastern Partnership countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. It does this by financing projects and programmes that help to reform energy markets and reduce national energy dependence and consumption. Over the longer term, this makes the energy supply more reliable, transparent and affordable, thus reducing energy poverty and energy bills for both citizens and the private sector.

The EU4Business Initiative helps SMEs in the six countries of the Eastern Partnership (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) to finance their development and boost economic growth. EU4Business support is delivered by the EIB together with other organisations outside the EU such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. All EU activities that support SMEs in the Eastern Partnership countries are part of EU4Business.

EU Ambassadors today positively analysed a provisional agreement between the Presidency of the Council and the European Parliament on new rules on how tyres must be labelled with respect to parameters such as fuel efficiency, wet grip and noise. The aim of the regulation is to give consumers more information and enable them to choose tyres which are safer, more fuel efficient and quieter. The agreement was struck in the late evening of 13 November. The new rules still have to be formally adopted by the Council and the European Parliament.

Consumers will now be better informed when buying new tyres, so that they can choose those which are safest and most fuel efficient. This will help save lives and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the road sector.

Katri Kulmuni, Minister of Economic Affairs of Finland and chair of the Council

The new rules replace a previous regulation and introduce a number of important changes:

• the label design is updated and includes icons for snow and ice grip, in accordance with international standards
• labels will become more visible to consumers due to new rules on how to display them, including for distance-selling and in online advertisements
• the lowest fuel efficiency classes, which are no longer in use, are deleted to make the scale clearer and easier to understand
• tyres for trucks and buses (C3 tyres) will in future also have to carry the label
• enforcement is improved thanks to an obligation to register tyres in a product database.

In addition, the regulation includes re-treaded tyres within its scope. The new rules will apply to them once a suitable testing method has been developed. It also includes provisions for adding parameters on mileage and abrasion once suitable testing methods are available. This is expected to have an impact on reducing the amount of microplastics getting into the environment due to tyre abrasion.

Background

The objective of the tyre labelling system is to increase road safety and public health and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and noise pollution in the transport sector. The regulation aims to achieve this by better informing consumers about the fuel efficiency, safety and noise parameters of the tyres they buy. Road transport is responsible for about 22% of the EU’s total greenhouse gas emissions, and tyres, mainly because of their rolling resistance, account for 20-30% of a vehicle’s fuel consumption. A reduction of the rolling resistance of tyres therefore contributes to lowering emissions while also providing cost savings to consumers thanks to lower fuel consumption.

Repealing the current legislative framework had become necessary after its review showed that the tyre labelling scheme was not fully reaching its objective of improving safety and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the transport sector due to low visibility of the labels and a lack of proper tools to ensure enforcement.

Next steps

The new rules will be formally adopted by the Council and the Parliament at a later stage.

In his address Mr Maijoor’s focused on fund liquidity and how asset management can play a role in the Capital Markets Union, while supporting investor protection and financial stability.

The speech covered:

·         The concept of liquidity;

·         Liquidity as a long-running concern in asset management;

·         Challenges pose by the low-yield environment;

·         How fund liquidity is a core activity for ESMA;

·         Stress testing; and

·         Supervisory action and liquidity requirements under UCITS.