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BERLIN
The construction of two kilometres of the hotly contested Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in German waters – which had been halted due to environmental concerns – was ordered by the German maritime authority (BSH) on Monday to allow safe continuation of works in Danish waters. The entire German side of the project was green-lit in April. Read more.
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EU PRESIDENCY
Portugal to proceed against Poland, Hungary for violation of European values. Portugal’s minister of foreign affairs reaffirmed on Monday the intention of the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the EU to move forward with the proceedings against Poland and Hungary for suspected violations of European values. More
The past two weeks in Germany have shown how quickly political winds can turn.
On 29 April, Germany’s top constitutional court in Karlsruhe ruled that the country’s climate protection law infringed upon the rights of the nation’s youth. The law, which aimed to cut emissions by 55% by 2030 and reach climate neutrality by 2050, was considered too vague by the judges, who gave legislators until the end of 2022 to fix it.
The case – previously only of interest to legal scholars and climate activists until the ruling was announced – created a political whirlwind.
On 5 May, the federal government followed up. Taking observers by surprise, senior cabinet members announced plans to aim for climate neutrality by 2045 instead of 2050 and cut emissions by 65% before the end of this decade.
The absence of sport, and particularly football, Europe’s favourite game, made last year’s lockdowns to stop the spread of Covid-19 even harder to bear. Since last summer, we have had the eerie spectacle of football without supporters. Lockdown football is better than nothing but, in the long run, organised sport has little value or purpose without fans.
That lesson does not appear to have been heeded by the owners of football’s wealthiest clubs.
Clubs across Europe have been badly hit by the pandemic. That has meant lower profits for the wealthy and bigger losses for the poor, particularly smaller and lower league clubs who are more dependent on the gate receipts they receive from filling their stadiums. Many are in danger of going out of business.
This week on EURACTIV’s Yellow Room, we are talking about the EverGiven cargo ship blocking Egypt’s Suez Canal for nearly one week, the impact this had on transport and the economy before it was freed on Monday.
To dive into the background story, we’re joined by EURACTIV’s transport editor Sean Goulding Carroll.
We are also talking about the very important parliamentary elections in Bulgaria on 4 April, where citizens will head to the polls amid a surge of COVID-19 virus cases and after months of anti-government protests.
To break down all the components of the Bulgarian elections we spoke with Krassen Nikolov the editor-in-chief of EURACTIV Bulgaria.
It would be something of an understatement to say that there have been a few teething problems in the first two months of the brave new EU-UK trading world. The stories of rotting fish, visa-less musicians and lorries turned away with their goods still on board can attest to that.
But just as important to cross-Channel relations is whether the two sides can resolve the plenty of unfinished business, not to mention blank pages, left by the Christmas Eve trade pact.
Financial services and digital were the two most lucrative UK industries to be left out. Last Friday, however, the European Commission published its draft ‘adequacy decision’ that will ensure that the free flow of data can continue between the EU and UK.