#EUNews - Let’s talk about what the EU actually does 🔊 Committee and group work:
📌 More time to say Goodbye: Decision of the Special European Council on Brexit
📌 Creating a sustainable future: Council concludes on the implementation of the SDGs
📌European Elections: Fair and Free and Secure
📌 Do you have Spirit?: Make visible what’s inside!
📌Terrorist content online: companies to be given just one hour to remove it
More time to say Goodbye: Decision of the Special European Council on Brexit
➡️Special European Council (Art.50)
The deadline for the Brexit has been moved to the 31st October 2019. During the Special European Council meeting the EU27 leaders agreed together with the UK to extend the period to act out Article 50. In that time, the UK has several options: The UK could ratify the existing withdrawal agreement and leave the EU the first day of the next month. Additionally, it could make changes in the current Brexit strategy or cancel the Brexit. With the decision from the council, the Brexit remains flexible.
🔜 It is now upon the UK to decide their path during the following six months. Donald Tusk asks them not to waste that time.
Creating a sustainable future: Council concludes on the implementation of the SDGs
➡️General Affairs Council
In public session, the Council adopted conclusions on the Commission's reflection paper "Towards a sustainable Europe by 2030". The reflection paper as well as the conclusions refer to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals written in the Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) of the UN which should be reached until 2030. The Council underlined the important role of the EU to take a lead in its implementation. The EU should support the fulfillment of the SDGs around the world as well and stakeholders should participate in the implementation process. The important role of Youth in the 2030 Agenda was emphasized by the Council.
Some of the policy fields identified for action are:
🔄circular economy
🐞 protecting biodiversity and ecosystem
🌎 tackling climate change
🍇sustainable agriculture
🏢Buildings
🚲Mobility
🙏European cohesion
🔜 The Council called upon the Commission to present a comprehensive and concrete strategy to reach these goals.
European Elections: Fair and Free and Secure
➡️European Parliament Elections preparations
Elections should be fair and free also in the digital age. That is why the European Parliament, the EU Member States, the Commission and the EU Cybersecurity Agency tested their readiness for possible cybersecurity threats during the elections in May. Together they checked their crisis plans and responses to these kind of threats. Each member state is responsible for its own crisis plan, but during the exercise cross-border cooperation was strengthened. The European Cooperation Network on elections, which was established 2018 to identify election threats, proposed this cybersecurity exercise and will also implement an “Action Plan against disinformation”.
🔜All past and future election results are accessible on the new website www.election-results.eu, including breakdowns of the results by party, country and year since 1979.
Do you have Spirit?: Make visible what’s inside!
➡️EU legal framework for spirit drink
The Council of the EU adopted a new regulation on the definition and presentation of spirit drinks. These include a clear label, the geographical origin, traditional production methods and their composition such as how much sugar it contains. With these regulations consumers can make informed choices more easily. The rules apply from 2021 onwards.
Terrorist content online: companies to be given just one hour to remove it
➡️Internet companies should remove terrorist content quickly, at the latest one hour after receiving an order from the authorities, Civil Liberties Committee (LIBE) agreed. Hosting service providers that systematically and persistently fail to abide by the law may be sanctioned with up to 4% of their global turnover. However, LIBE didn’t make an obligation to monitor or filter all content.
🔜 The full Chamber will vote on the draft law next week. The new Parliament, formed after the European elections, will be in charge of negotiating with the Council of Ministers on the final form of the legislation.
🔥 If you want to be updated, too, we suggest the European Parliament's press service www.europarl.europa.eu/
Katharina is a 25-year old European Studies student. She joined AEGEE in 2012 and has been an active member of the association on both the local and European level. As a member of the Y Vote team, she now gets to participate in the project that, with its 2014 edition, made her understand the importance of Youth participation.
Anna is studying Media and Communications in the city of Mannheim in Germany. She is 21 years old and an AEGEE member for almost two years now. Having been active mainly on the local level, she wants to experience working on a bigger project on the European level and therefore joined Y Vote as a Communications Manager. She wants to inform people about their right to vote and the possibilities to choose from beforehand, especially in the European Parliament elections, so that they can become active citizens.