Insights Brussels July 2014

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
New Parliament and EU priorities
1
INSIGHTS BRUSSELS .
July 2014 .
ISSUE #22
New Parliament and EU Priorities

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
2
EU change is now .......................................................................................................4
The Union’s strategic agenda until 2020..................................................................6
Freedom, Security and Justice...................................................................................................................................... 6
Growth, competitiveness and jobs................................................................................................................................. 7
Social policy .................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Climate and Energy....................................................................................................................................................... 7
Foreign Policy................................................................................................................................................................ 8
Parliamentary Groups: deals done............................................................................9
Conservatives take the lead .......................................................................................................................................... 9
Socialists and Democrats in negotiation...................................................................................................................... 10
European Conservatives and Reformists arrive third .................................................................................................. 10
Liberals relegated to fourth place ................................................................................................................................ 10
European United Left on the rise................................................................................................................................. 11
Greens lagging behind ................................................................................................................................................ 11
Eurosceptics gathered around UKIP ........................................................................................................................... 11
A bulk of non-attached members................................................................................................................................. 11
European Parliament’s Leadership......................................................................... 12
PrioritiesoftheItalianPresidency:SectoralPolicies.................................................... 13
Agriculture and fisheries ................................................................................................................. 13
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).............................................................................................................................. 13
New rules on state aid in agriculture, forestry and rural areas..................................................................................... 14
Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) ................................................................................................................................. 14
Defence and Security policy............................................................................................................. 15
Common Security and Defence Policy ........................................................................................................................ 15
Industrial Policy in the Defence Sector........................................................................................................................ 15
Energy and Environment ................................................................................................................. 16
2030 Climate and Energy framework .......................................................................................................................... 16
Internal energy market................................................................................................................................................. 16
Financial Services ........................................................................................................................... 17
Long term financing of the European Economy........................................................................................................... 17
Food and Beverage ........................................................................................................................... 17
Organic Farming.......................................................................................................................................................... 17
Animal and Plant Health.............................................................................................................................................. 18
Healthcare and Pharmaceutical ...................................................................................................... 18
Prevention and antimicrobial resistance...................................................................................................................... 18

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
3
Information and Communication Technology................................................................................ 19
Connected Continent Package.................................................................................................................................... 19
Data Protection Package............................................................................................................................................. 19
Transport..........................................................................................................................................20
TEN-T Corridors.......................................................................................................................................................... 20
Port Services Regulation............................................................................................................................................. 20
Fourth Railway Package.............................................................................................................................................. 20
Truck Measures regulation.......................................................................................................................................... 21
Flight Passenger Rights Package ............................................................................................................................... 21
PrioritiesoftheItalianPresidency:Cross-SectoralPolicies..........................................22
Consumers ........................................................................................................................................22
Product Safety and Market Surveillance Package....................................................................................................... 22
Intellectual Property Rights ............................................................................................................22
Copyright and Protection of Industrial Property........................................................................................................... 22
Directive on the protection of trade secrets ................................................................................................................. 23
International Trade..........................................................................................................................23
Trade agreements currently under negotiation............................................................................................................ 23
Negotiations to start up................................................................................................................................................ 24
Trade Defence instruments ......................................................................................................................................... 24
Research and Development..............................................................................................................24
Research and Innovation............................................................................................................................................. 24
Taxation ...........................................................................................................................................25
Tax Fraud and Evasion ............................................................................................................................................... 25
Preventing double non-taxation................................................................................................................................... 25
Financial Transaction Tax ........................................................................................................................................... 26

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
4
EU change is now
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every
opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in
every difficulty.” This quote from Winston
Churchill could easily be adopted by the
energetic Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi
who has the aspiration to impress a fresh
impulse to EU policies and practices while taking
the rein of the rotating EU Council Presidency
until end of 2014. There is little optimism around
the EU table, but the combination of a renewed
vision for true change and of pragmatism
embodied by PM Renzi is gaining ground and
will breathe new life to the European Union
project. The offer of collaboration tweeted by PM
Cameron on the first day of the Italian
Presidency of the Council, or the re-affirmation
by the German leadership of the crucial role and
place for the UK in the EU, go beyond the
diplomatic politeness and give hope for a prompt
recovery of UK relations with other EU Member
States.
Some positive signals show that the voice of the
European citizens -notably the half that didn’t
participate in the parliamentary election- seems
now to be better heard in Brussels. The
agreement reached at the end of June at the EU
Summit in Brussels on the five overarching
priorities which will guide the work of the EU for
the next five years, and the new designation
process of the next Commission’s President, are
good preconditions but will not be enough to gain
citizens’ trust and improve the relevance and
pertinence of EU activities.
The reshuffling of the top EU-leadership
positions has just started with Jean-Claude
Juncker’s designation as head of the powerful
EU executive arm, following an historic and
controversial process that assigns such position
to the candidate of the winning party in the
European Parliament. It will continue during all
summer with the designation of the President of
the European Council, due to succeed Herman
Van Rompuy from 1 December, and of the High
Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security
Policy, due to succeed Lady Ashton from 1
November.
Meanwhile, the work of the 8th
parliamentary
legislature has just started with the renewal of
the mandate of Martin Schulz to the Presidency
of the European Parliament, backed by 409 out
of 612 valid votes cast during the first ballot, and
the appointment next 7 July of the chairmen of
each of the 22 standing Committees through
which the parliamentary activity will be shaped
until 2019.
Leadership and commitment to deliver against
citizens’ expectations are important, but risk to
be seen just as a beauty parade full of the usual
EU rhetoric. The two other critical factors of
success include: firstly, a shared vision able to
emotionally engage people; and, secondly, a
more focused strategic policy framework of
priorities.
The EU agenda to 2020, adopted by the
European Council in its first formal meeting after
the European elections, is a good start
identifying the most compelling policy areas for
future action in relation to employment, growth
and competitiveness, energy, migration, security
and justice, and foreign policy.

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
5
It will now be up to the forthcoming Commission
to articulate the EU Council orientations into
actionable proposals and integrate them into its
modus operandi. The European Parliament and
its national peers, the Council, and also a
“controlling” institution such as the Court of
Auditors, are likely to be much bolder in terms of
political and institutional scrutiny of the
Commission’s activity. Meanwhile, the
overarching scrutiny, as in every democracy, will
continue to remain with citizens.
Leonardo Sforza
Managing Director MSLGROUP Brussels
1st
July 2014

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
6
The Union’s strategic agenda until 2020
On Friday 27 June, in its first formal meeting after
the European elections, the European Council
adopted its overarching strategic agenda that
should cover the main focus of activities until
2020. Below the five areas of priorities.
Freedom, Security and Justice
Migration will be a major EU policy priority.
According to the Council, the EU needs an
“efficient and well-managed migration, asylum
and borders policy, guided by the Treaty
principles of fair-sharing and solidarity”. At the
same time, Europe has to remain attractive for
immigrants with “specific skills” and coherent and
efficient rules need to be developed to “maximise
the opportunities” they offer. It is also noted that
the member states should fully implement the
Common European Asylum System (CEAS) and
that the role of the European Asylum Support
Office (EASO) has to be strengthened. Besides
this, “cooperation with third countries” is needed
to overcome the “root causes of illegal migration”
and to discourage the risky journeys immigrants
undertake to get to Europe. These actions must
be guided by the “more for more” principle, which
links more European political and financial help to
third countries that carry out more institutional
and economic reforms. Lastly, closer cooperation
between Member States is needed in the field of
border management and common visa policy.
In the fight against terrorism, the European Union
should help Member States by “mobilising all
instruments of judicial and police cooperation”.
Among these are:
The improvement of cross-border information
exchanges (also on criminal records)
The development of an approach on
cybersecurity and cybercrime.
Finally, the European Council wants to improve
the functioning of the European justice area.
Some of the noteworthy measures in this field
include:
Promoting e-justice
Enhancing the recognition of decisions and
judgements in civil and criminal matters among
courts in different Member States
Making progress in the establishment of the
European Public Prosecutor’s Office to fight the
fraudulent behaviour and damages to the EU
budget.
Human rights, data protection and security are
seen as important policy objectives, also in the
relations with third countries. Therefore, the
Member States call for the adoption of a “strong
EU General Data Protection framework by 2015”.

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
7
Growth, competitiveness and jobs
The EU Heads of State and Government identify
growth and increased competitiveness as an
important priority for the European Union for the
five years ahead. With regards to these
objectives, the European Council underlines that
fiscal consolidation intended by the Growth and
Stability Pact should be “differentiated and
growth-friendly” in order to create jobs and to deal
with the ageing of society. Also, the internal
market in products and services has to be further
completed, in particular by the establishment of a
digital single market by 2015. Besides, tax
wedges on labour should be allayed and the
efforts to simplify administrative procedures and
to enhance regulatory cooperation between
Member States and institutions in the framework
of the Commission’s Regulatory Fitness and
Performance programme (REFIT) should remain
a priority. At last, a special reference was made
to the need of concluding the Transatlantic Trade
and Investment Partnership (TTIP) by 2015.
Social policy
Another challenge for the European Union lies in
the growing inequality. To address social
exclusion, the European Council states that the
European Union should, within its competences,
try to achieve more equal opportunities by
improving educational outcomes, fighting school
drop-out, promoting a better labour mobility and
fixing the skills mismatch on the labour market.
Also, the European Council recognizes that social
protection systems of the Member States have to
be prepared to “accompany change and reverse
inequalities”. Meanwhile the fight against tax
evasion and fraud must be strengthened.
Climate and Energy
In the light of global warming and at the backdrop
of the Ukrainian crisis, guaranteeing an
“affordable, secure and green” future energy
supply has become an important policy objective
of European policy makers. In the run up to the
next Conference of the Parties in Paris (COP
2015) to the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the
European Council wants the European Union to
set a CO2 reduction target for 2030 that is in line
with its 2050 reduction target of an 80% emission
reduction in comparison to the 1990 situation. At
the same time, Europe has to “reduce its high
(foreign) energy dependence”. In this respect, the
Commission’s European Energy Security
Strategy (EESS) is welcomed. By the upcoming
winter, “existing emergency and solidarity
mechanisms and infrastructure and reverse flows
will be reinforced”, “investments in energy
infrastructure (also with third countries) should be
pursued” and collaboration with international
partners has to be set up to reduce the risk of a
supply disruption. In the medium to long term,
energy efficiency, domestic production and
interconnectivity have to be enhanced. By 2015,
the internal gas and electricity market (including
its infrastructure) has to be further
complemented, so that no country will be isolated

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
8
from the European networks anymore. At last, the
Rome G7 energy initiative for a more
“competitive, diversified and resilient” energy
system, which contributes less to global warming,
is backed.
Foreign Policy
The European Council calls for a “stronger
engagement of the EU in world affairs”. To
promote its values on the international forum, the
European Union should better align internally, be
a “stronger partner” in its neighbourhood (Europe,
the Mediterranean, Africa, Middle East) and
invest more in collaboration with – especially its
transatlantic – strategic partners. In addition, the
Common Security and Defence Policy has to be
enhanced “in full complementarity with NATO”,
the European defence industry has to be
strengthened and Member States should pool
and share resources.

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
9
Parliamentary Groups: deals done
24th
June was the deadline for elected members of
the European Parliament to compose and join
political groups. 25 Members are needed to form a
political group, and at least 7 Member States must
be represented within the group. Each group takes
care of its own internal organisation by appointing a
chair or co-chairs, a bureau and a secretariat.
The composition of political groups is rather a
strategic issue. The broader political groups are, the
better will be their speaking time, their access to
public funding for their secretariat and negotiating
power to get Committee chairmanships. Logically,
then, party leaders engaged straight after the
European elections in a race to convince as many
national parties and single MEPs to join their
groups. At the end, 7 political groups are now
represented in the European Parliament with some
changes in the balance of power in comparison to
the previous legislature.
Conservatives take the lead
With 221 elected members, the European People’s
Party (EPP) will remain the Parliament’s largest
group of this new legislative period, even if it has
lost ground. The party clearly reaffirmed its support
to Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the
European Commission.
Within the group, Germany will be the most
represented delegation with 34 members, followed
by Poland (23 members). This balance of power is
likely to influence the nominations for parliamentary
committee chairmanships. While the German MEP
Ingeborg Grässle is likely to take the chairmanship
of the budgetary control committee (CONT),
Poland intends to claim chairmanship of another
parliamentary committee. French MEP Alain
Lamassoure is expected to take the chairmanship

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
10
of the constitutional affairs committee (AFCO).
Viviane Reding, who was until this week the
European commissioner for justice and human
rights and citizenship, is lined up to become
chairwoman of the legal affairs committee.
The European conservative group already elected
its new chief, Manfred Weber (Germany), member
of the CSU party (the Bavarian sister party of the
powerful Christian Democrat CDU party) and
member of the EP since 2004. He would be the first
CSU member to hold an important position in the
European Parliament.
Socialists and Democrats in negotiation
With 191 elected members, the Socialists and
Democrats group (S&D) intends to negotiate with
the EPP the mandate to be given to the European
Commission for the next five years. Following its
major victory in the elections, the Italian delegation
will be the most numerous in the socialist group,
followed by the German one. This will put the
Italians in a strong negotiating position to present
candidates for committee chairmanships. Gianni
Pittella, who temporarily replaced Martin Schulz
during the EU electoral campaign as Parliament
President, was elected S&D group president.
German MEP Martin Schulz, the group’s candidate
for the presidency of the European Commission,
has been re-elected as president of the European
Parliament.
European Conservatives and Reformists arrive third
The group of European Conservatives and
Reformists, founded by Britain’s conservatives after
they withdrew from EPP in 2005, is now the third
largest group in the Parliament following the rallying
of other Eurosceptic parties. But the decision to
associate with parties that are not considered
respectable (Danish People’s Party or True Finns)
has damaged the group’s image within the
Parliament. German EPP members in particular
regret the alliance made with Alternative für
Deutschland, a party German Chancellor Angela
Merkel refuses to cooperate with. This alliance may
compromise UK Prime Minister David Cameron’s
will to bank on Merkel’s support for his proposals for
EU reform.
Observers also note that the lack of cohesion of the
ECR group may impact its predictability and
reliability. It is unlikely that the group will hold a
leading position in the negotiations over Committee
nominations.
Liberals relegated to fourth place
During the EU electoral campaign, the Liberal
group’s chief Guy Verhofstadt set the objective to
overtake the nationalist, populist and Eurosceptic
groups. But he did not achieve his goal and arrived
fourth in the ranking of largest political groups in the
Parliament, as the liberals’ British, German, and
Italian delegations took a hammering in the May
elections. Although the liberals succeeded in
attracting a certain number of small parties in its
political formation such as Czech ANO, Portuguese

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
11
Partido da Terra and Spanish Unión Progreso y
Democracia and Ciudadonos, it failed in winning
over Flemish nationalists from the Nieuw-Vlaamse
Alliantie (N-VA) which eventually joined the ECR.
And with a disparate composition of local parties
with different political stances on the questions of
regional independence, it will maybe be difficult to
maintain cohesion during the next five years.
European United Left on the rise
The European United Left (GUE/NGL) grew from
35 to 52 members and its position within the
European Parliament is strengthened. The German
MEP Gabriele Zimmer was re-elected as president
of the group. Among the newly-elected, one person
in particular is attracting attention, Italy’s Barbara
Spinelli, the daughter of Altiero Spinelli, who is
considered one of the founding fathers of European
federalism.
Greens lagging behind
In the position of king-makers (together with
Liberals) during the previous legislative period, the
Greens group in the Parliament lost 7 members to
finally reach a delegation of 50 members. They lost
ground due to the rise of ECR and GUE groups.
They also lost their charismatic and media-savvy
leader Daniel Cohn-Bendit who didn’t run for
another mandate.
Eurosceptics gathered around UKIP
In the race between British MEP Nigel Farage from
the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and French
MEP Marine Le Pen from the Front National (FN),
the first one ended up with winning the battle over
the composition around his leadership of a
Eurosceptic group. He eventually reached the
threshold of at least 7 Member States with MEPs
from United-Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, Lithuania,
Czech Republic, Latvia and France. If Nigel Farage
always refused to ally with Front National, accusing
it of "prejudice and anti-Semitism", he paradoxically
managed to compose his group thanks to the
desertion of a French MEP who was elected on a
FN list. The group, named Europe of Freedom and
Democracy (EFD) thus grows in this legislature
from 34 to 48 elected members, but the coalition
remains fragile as the defection of one party would
jeopardise its existence.
A bulk of non-attached members
Marine Le Pen triumphed in the European elections
in France, but she is eventually the loser in a
scramble to form anti-EU groups in the European
Parliament. French Front National managed to get
the support from 5 other parties from Italy, Belgium,
Netherlands, Austria and Poland but didn’t succeed
in reaching the threshold of representatives from 7
Member States. Failure might not be a disaster for
the FN which is mainly driven by national
considerations and the objective of the 2017
presidential elections, but it would, in effect, hand
the Europhobic leadership in the Parliament to Nigel
Farage.
The 23 French extreme-right members elected in
May will then sit among the 43 non-attached
members, will not have additional speaking time
and not be allowed to claim extra Parliament
resources to finance their administration.
Romain Seignovert,
Senior Consultant MSLGROUP Brussels

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
12
European Parliament’s Leadership

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
13
PrioritiesoftheItalianPresidency:
SectoralPolicies
Agriculture and fisheries
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
Last December, after months of intense
negotiations, Agriculture ministers reached an
agreement on the Common Agricultural Policy
(CAP) reform package for the years 2014-2020.
According to the Commission, the EU became
last years the world’s largest food and agri-food
exporter with a 5.8% rise in 2013. The new set of
rules will enter into force on 1 January 2015.
Regarding this reform, the Italian Presidency
considers that environmental commitments are
sufficient while further efforts should be
undertaken on the management of crisis
situations affecting farmers’ income. For this
purpose, the EU Presidency proposes to monitor
tools supporting income stabilisation such as
insurance or mutual funds. If necessary, it will call
the Commission to put forward corrective actions.
The Presidency also intends to pursue the
discussion in the Council on the Commission’s
proposal to promote fruit and milk schemes in
schools. This initiative aims to encourage
children at school to consume healthy products
containing vitamins and minerals.
Finally, after the presentation of the Commission
report presented on 13 June, on the future of the
dairy market sector, the Presidency plans to open
the debate on the future of this market segment
after the end of quotas.
 NEXT STEPS
July 14: Agrifish Council ministers meeting
September 15: Agrifish Council ministers meeting
October 13: Agrifish Council ministers meeting
November 10: Agrifish Council ministers meeting
December 15: Agrifish Council ministers meeting

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
14
New rules on state aid in agriculture, forestry and rural areas
During the Italian Presidency new rules on state
aid will enter into force. Indeed, on 25 June, the
European Commission adopted revised and
updated criteria under which Member States can
support agriculture, forestry and rural areas, in
line with EU state aid rules. In particular, it has
adopted a new Agriculture Block Exemption
Regulation (ABER) and new guidelines for State
aid in the agricultural and forestry sectors and in
rural areas 2014 to 2020 (GL). Key features are:
Allowing many more block exemptions by
widening the scope of ABER. For example, it
will be possible in future for Member States to
grant aid to the forestry sector and to smaller
enterprises in rural areas without having to go
through lengthy notification and authorisation
procedures.
Widening the scope of GL.
One window approach. Member States will
only have to go through one administrative
procedure vis-à-vis the Commission.
Reducing administrative burdens.
 NEXT STEPS
July 1: Entry into force of the new rule
Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)
The Presidency will closely monitor the start-up
phase of the new Common Fisheries Policy
(CFP) and the entry into force of the European
Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). With
regard to these initiatives, the Presidency
stresses that the implementation of a new
regulatory framework should be timely and
effective.
Furthermore, the Presidency will focus on
aquaculture, a sector which is expected to
increase in size during the coming years. It will
support initiatives improving information to
consumers. Critical success factors for this
sector will be: respect of the environment and
food safety and quality.
The Presidency also aims to reach agreements
on fisheries partnerships with third countries and
on fishing opportunities in 2015 in inland and
international waters.
Finally, new data on the stock of Bluefin tuna will
be published during the Italian Presidency.
 NEXT STEPS

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
15
Defence and Security policy
Common Security and Defence Policy
In December 2013, defence ministers identified
a certain number of lines of actions to enhance
Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).
In this framework, the Italian Presidency
supports the adoption of cooperation measures
that can upgrade the European military
capability. Several joint research and technology
projects are already in the pipeline. Among
those: the development of drones and new-
generation satellites and the cooperation on
cyber defence and on air-to-air refuelling
technologies.
During its presidency, the Italian Government
also plans to strengthen the role of the European
Defence Agency (EDA). The Italian Presidency
will also put forward the need to adopt a specific
action plan to apply the EU maritime security
strategy.
 NEXT STEPS
November 18: Council on Defence ministers meeting
June 2015: European Council on Defence
Industrial Policy in the Defence Sector
In December 2013, the Conclusions of the
Defence Council stressed the need to strengthen
defence industry in order to develop a more
integrated, sustainable, innovative and
competitive European Defence Technological and
Industrial Base (EDTIB). In line with these
conclusions, the Italian Presidency plans to
implement a well-functioning defence market
where a fundamental role should be given to Small
and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Furthermore, during its semester, Italy will
encourage Member States and the European
Defence Agency to submit proposals on how to
promote regional clusters as well as proposal for
new financial instruments to support SMEs.
Finally, the Presidency will work to establish an EU
framework to improve the mutual use of civilian
and military research for dual use applications.
 NEXT STEPS
November 18: Council on Defence ministers meeting

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
16
Energy and Environment
2030 Climate and Energy framework
Energy policy is a top priority for the Italian
Presidency with the focus on the 2030 climate
and energy framework. The European Council
already had political debates during meetings
held in March and in June when it called the
European Commission to analyze the impacts of
the framework on single Member States, to
elaborate a mechanism for burden sharing, to put
forward measures related to carbon leakage, to
ensure legal certainty for energy-intensive
industries, as well as to revise the energy
efficiency directive.
As already agreed upon by EU Heads of State
and Government, the Italian Presidency will push
for reaching a final agreement in October,
informally on October 6 when energy ministers
will meet in Brussels, and then formally at Heads
of State and Governments’ level two weeks later,
on October 27.
The Italian Presidency will also take the
opportunity of this debate to feed a discussion on
a European common vision for the energy mix.
 NEXT STEPS
October 6: Council of energy ministers meeting
October 27: European Council meeting
December 9: Council of energy ministers meeting
Internal energy market
The deadline for completing the internal energy
market fixed by EU Heads of State and
Government in 2011 will be reached during the
Italian Presidency. The latter will then have to
provide a conclusive picture of the state of play of
the internal energy market and put forward new
conclusions on the way to boost its completion at
the Council of energy ministers set on December
9. The Italian Presidency already intends to put
the emphasis on the complete transposition of the
third energy package by all Member States; on
the rapid adoption of electricity and gas network
codes; on the promotion of new interconnections
and on an effective implementation of the
regulation on trans-European energy
infrastructures.
The European Commission is also expected to
adopt in July a report on the level of completion of
the internal energy market, as well as a
Communication on retail markets.
 NEXT STEPS
July: Commission report on internal energy market
October 6: Council of energy ministers meeting
December 9: Council of energy ministers meeting

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
17
Financial Services
Long term financing of the European Economy
As regards financial markets, the main political
objective of the Presidency is to facilitate credit
flows to the real economy. To achieve this, the
Presidency aims to make progress on the
discussions on the Commission’s communication
on Long Term Financing of the European
Economy. Indeed, last March, the European
Commission presented a set of measures to
channel private source of financing to long-term
investments. Italy plans to give a relevant
contribution, in particular with a view to modernize
the framework for long term investors such as
pension funds or insurance companies.
On insurance, the Presidency aims to finalize and
implement the so-called Omnibus ll and Solvency
ll directives which will introduce new prudential
schemes applicable to the insurance sector
starting from 2016.
On pension funds, the Italian Presidency will try
to build consent on the revision of the Institutions
for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP)
reform.
Finally, Italy will try to push the creation of a new
category of pooled funds, the so called “European
Long Term Investment Funds”.
 NEXT STEPS
July 17: Eocfin Council ministers meeting
October 14: Eocfin Council ministers meeting
November 7: Eocfin Council ministers meeting
December 9: Eocfin Council ministers meeting
Food and Beverage
Organic Farming
The Italian Presidency wishes to reach an
agreement on the Commission initiative on
organic farming by the end of its semester. The
aim of the proposal is to update the legal
framework in a sector that has quadrupled in size
in the past ten years.
The new package contains rules on farming and
labelling of organic products. This issue is
considered extremely important by the
Presidency to safeguard the quality of organic
production.
 NEXT STEPS

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
18
Animal and Plant Health
In May 2013, the European Commission unveiled
proposals for 5 new regulations on animal and
plant health. The aim of these is to update and
simplify the current regulatory framework and to
strengthen EU animal and plant health, seeds
and safety rules for a safer food chain. The
Presidency will put emphasis on the
reinforcement of the epidemiological surveillance
system for some diseases such as avian
Influenza.
A global conference on this topic will be held in
Italy in cooperation with the European
Commission and the World Organization for
Animal Health (OIE).
Italy considers it important to review regulations
on veterinary medicines in order to reduce
antibiotic use in products of animal origin.
In addition, the Presidency aims to make some
progress on the proposed regulation on plant
health and phytosanitary production during the
semester.
Finally, the last strategic priority for Italy is to
enhance cooperation at European level on the
fight against food fraud. A conference on this
topic will be organized in cooperation with the
European Commission in order to identify new
strategies and challenges.
 NEXT STEPS
Healthcare and Pharmaceutical
Prevention and antimicrobial resistance
The plans of the Italian Presidency in the field of
health care are as follows:
The promotion of healthy lifestyle and
prevention
The inclusion of vaccination as a priority to
improve public health with regards to
communicable diseases
The adoption of measures on the issues of the
safety of treatments and care-related
infections
The organisation of a “specific event to tackle
antimicrobial resistance”

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
19
Information and Communication Technology
Connected Continent Package
Italy already expressed its support to the
Commission’s Connected Continent Package
and regards it as a timely and concrete step in the
completion of a Single Telecom Market. The
package proposes to simplify EU rules for
telecom operators, abolish roaming charges
across Europe, end premiums for international
phone calls within European mobile networks,
and enhance legal protection for open internet
(net neutrality). In April 2014, the European
Parliament has voted in favour of the
“Connected Continent” package and even
reinforced the role of national regulators to
supervise the compliance of operators as well as
the powers of customers to switch between
internet providers. As regards Net neutrality,
Members of the European Parliament also
shortened the European Commission’s list of
“exceptional” cases in which traffic management
methods will be permitted to service providers
implementing a court order, preserving network
security or precluding temporary network
congestion.
Contrary to key corporate players in the telecoms
sector and many other Member States, Italy said
it is ready to endorse the version backed by the
Parliament. It will now have to build a consensus
at Council level to find a final agreement on the
package by the end of its presidency.
 NEXT STEPS
November 4: Council of telecom ministers meeting
Data Protection Package
One of the current major digital dossiers at EU
level is the Data Protection package, which aims
to strengthen online privacy rights and boost
Europe's digital economy. Viviane Reding, then
EU justice commissioner, agreed to set the
deadline for its adoption before the end of the
year. However, Italian diplomats already
expressed doubts that a deal could be reached
during their presidency. The delays are caused,
in part, by a handful of Member States (UK, along
with Denmark, Hungary, and Slovenia) that want
to weaken the regulation, which aims at
harmonising data protection rules across the bloc.
Inter-institutional negotiations between the
European Parliament and the Council of the EU
are set to start in July. EU Heads of State and
Government agreed at their 2013 October
European Summit that the data protection
Regulation should be in place in all Member
States by latest 2015.
 NEXT STEPS
October 9: Justice Council ministers meeting
December 4: Justice Council ministers meeting
End 2014: expected adoption of the package

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
20
Transport
TEN-T Corridors
The Italian Presidency would like to see a further
strengthening of the Trans-European Transport
Networks Corridors (TEN-T), the project that
since 1996 aims to establishing better cross-
border connections between the already existing
transport systems (road, rail, waterways, ports,
aviation) of the Member States. More specifically,
the new Presidency wants to broaden the scope
of the project to “road networks and port, inter-
port and airport nodes” and to encourage the
enlargement of the network to the “southern
boundaries of the Mediterranean Area”.
 NEXT STEPS
September 16: Informal Transport Council ministers meeting
October 8: Transport Council ministers meeting
December 3: Transport Council ministers meeting
Port Services Regulation
For the further development of TEN-T Italy will
also try to reach a common position in the Council
on the Port Services Regulation. This policy
initiative, so far, has been very controversial as it
tries to liberalise a market that in many Member
States is still shielded from competition. For this
reason, the European Parliament already decided
to postpone the vote it had scheduled in March
and to pass it on to the new Parliament. Also the
Council did not make any progress in reaching a
common position.
 NEXT STEPS
Fourth Railway Package
The Presidency plans to make substantial
progress in the field of railway liberalisation and
harmonisation as it hopes to reach a “general
approach in the Council” on “all elements of” the
Fourth Railway Package. This policy initiative
aims to make domestic passenger transport
subject to public tendering and to enhance the
technical integration among national railway
networks. In a first reading, the Parliament has
already adopted a position on the text in which
MEPs weakened the “Chinese-Wall” requirement
between operator and infrastructure manager and
added social provisions.
 NEXT STEPS

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
21
Truck Measures regulation
The Italian Presidency promises it will try to reach
an agreement on truck standards that will be
“negotiable with the European Parliament”,
overcoming the lack of consensus in previous
meetings that did not approve the Parliament’s
rejection of the so-called “mega-trucks”.
 NEXT STEPS
Flight Passenger Rights Package
The Italian Presidency plans to improve the rights
of flight passengers. At its previous meeting, the
Council failed to agree on a common stance on
the hours of flight delay thresholds after which
passengers are entitled to receive a
compensation. Whereas under the current rules
airlines are obliged to refund their passengers in
the case of a flight cancellation, the Parliament
wants to see compensation payments after 3, 5
or 7 hours of delay (depending on the flight
distance), thereby tightening the Commission’s
initial proposal of 5-7-9 hours of delay.
 NEXT STEPS

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
22
PrioritiesoftheItalianPresidency:
Cross-Sectoral Policies
Consumers
Product Safety and Market Surveillance Package
The proposal on product safety and market
surveillance initiated by the Commission in
February 2014 aims “to improve consumer
product safety and to strengthen market
surveillance of products in the EU”. An important
provision is the introduction of mandatory
labelling for non-food consumer products. The
Parliament has already adopted a common
position supporting the “made in” clause. Now,
the European Council needs to reach an
agreement on this initiative. According to the
Italian Presidency, the new “rules of origin”
would be “a major step forward in strengthening
consumer protection and creating a level playing
field”.
 NEXT STEPS
October 16: Consumers Council ministers meeting
Intellectual
Property Rights
Copyright and Protection of Industrial Property
The Italian Presidency considers that the current
legal framework in the field of copyright is
harmonized. However, some details may need to
be refreshed to reflect the potential evolution of
digital technologies in the coming years. The
European Commission is expected to publish a
White Paper on this theme shortly. The Italian
Presidency will promote the discussion on the
White Paper that will be the starting point for a
future legislative proposal.
The Italian Presidency will continue the talks on
the reform package of the trade mark system.
This package was unveiled by the Commission in
March 2013 with the aim to upgrade, and
modernise the current legislation in order to make
the trade mark registration systems all over the
Union more accessible and efficient for
businesses.
 NEXT STEPS
July 21-22: InformalCompetitionCouncilministersmeeting
September 25: Competition Council ministers meetings
December 4: Competition Council ministers meetings

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
23
Directive on the protection of trade secrets
The Italian Presidency also considers as a
priority the proposed directive unveiled by the
Commission last November on the protection of
undisclosed know-how and business information
(trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition,
use and disclosure. The Presidency will
concentrate its efforts on the definition of a
harmonised legislative framework on trade
secrets which could boost technological
cooperation and know-how exchange across the
Union.
 NEXT STEPS
July 21-22: InformalCompetitionCouncilministersmeeting
September 25: Competition Council ministers
meetings
December 4: Competition Council ministers meetings
International Trade
Trade agreements currently under negotiation
When it comes to trade, Italy wants to actively
contribute to the conclusion of a number of
international agreements that are currently under
negotiation. These include:
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment
Partnership (TTIP): In June 2013 the United
States and the European Union have started
negotiations for a new trade agreement. As tariff
barriers are already relatively low, TTIP mainly
focusses on the removal of non-tariff barriers in
areas such as product standards, industry
regulations and public procurement
procedures.
The Comprehensive Economic and Trade
Agreement with Canada (CETA): On 18
October 2013 the European Commission and
Canada reached an agreement on the contents
of a treaty – that just like TTIP – would go
beyond tariffs to eliminate barriers to trade
between the two economies. However, almost
ten months later, due to “technical issues”, a
final agreement has not yet been reached.
The Doha Development Agenda (DDA). This
is the name of the round that is under
negotiation at the World Trade Organisation
(WTO) level since 2001. It aims at “further
liberalizing trade, whilst facilitating the
integration of developing countries into the
WTO multilateral system”.
The Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA): A
multilateral initiative outside of the WTO that
tries to promote a further trade liberalisation in
the services sector and that might become a
model for a more generalised future trade
agreement within the WTO institutional
framework.

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
24
Negotiations to start up
The new Presidency will also try to (re)launch
negotiations of trade agreements with other
trading partners, such as with the Countries on
the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, the
Southern African development Community and
Mercosur. With regards to the latter, attempts to
conclude an agreement with the South-American
free trade zone have already been going on since
1999. However, due to division among Mercosur
the processes had almost come to a standstill.
Trade Defence instruments
Besides concluding new trade agreements, the
Presidency indicates that it is in favour of
concluding regulations on Trade Defence
Instruments modernisation. This initiative was
proposed by the Commission in April 2013 in
order to further formalise the use of antidumping
measures and consists of amendments to the
EU’s basic anti-dumping and anti-subsidy rules.
However, as the text – thanks to the so called
“Community Interest Clause” – allowed for new,
broadly defined exceptions from trade rules, it
was met with resistance from a large majority of
member states and led to a stalemate between
the Commission and the Council.
Research and
Development
Research and Innovation
In the framework of the 2020 Horizon program,
the Italian Presidency wants to spur progress in
the field of research and more specifically it wants
to “empower young researchers”. With this
objective in mind, it promises to propose a
“political discussion on infrastructures” in the
framework of the European Strategy Forum on
Research Infrastructures (ESFRI). Likewise, Italy
considers proposing council conclusions on
Research and Innovation as “new sources of
growth”.
 NEXT STEPS
October 7-9: EurOcean 2014 Conference, Rome
September 29: Leading Enabling Technologies for
Societal Challenges Conference, Bologna

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
25
Taxation
Tax Fraud and Evasion
The first political priority of the Italian Presidency
in the field of taxation is transparency and fight
against tax fraud and evasion. To this purpose,
the Presidency aims to finalize the discussion on
the amended directive on administrative
cooperation in the field of taxation. This directive
presented by the Commission in December 2012
was put forward with the purpose to modernize
the legal instruments for mutual assistance and
make cooperation between tax administrations
more efficient. Italy will stress the need to extend
automatic exchange of information in line with
new international standards. Furthermore, the
Italian Presidency hopes to make some progress
in the negotiation with third countries
(Switzerland, Monaco, Andorra etc.) on the
revision of the agreements on savings taxation.
 NEXT STEPS
July 17: Ecofin Council ministers meeting
October 14: Ecofin Council ministers meeting
November 7: Ecofin Council ministers meeting
December 9: Ecofin Council ministers meeting
Preventing double non-taxation
Another priority issue for the upcoming
Presidency is the prevention of double non-
taxation and in this context Italy will resume
discussion on the Parent/Subsidiary Directive that
was amended by the Parliament last April. The
Commission proposed new rules in order to stop
companies from exploiting differences in the way
intra-group payments are taxed across the EU.
The Italian Presidency wants to move a step
forward on the discussion on the Common
Consolidated Tax Base (CCTB). The Common
Consolidated Corporate Tax Base is a single set
of rules, proposed by the Commission, that
companies operating within the EU could use to
calculate their taxable profits. Italy will in
particular focus on the elements of tax base and
cross boarder aspects.
 NEXT STEPS

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
26
Financial Transaction Tax
The Italian Presidency would also like to reach an
agreement on the highly controversial proposal of
a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT). In the
framework of an enhanced cooperation, 11
Member States (Germany, France, Italy, Spain,
Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Greece, Estonia,
Slovakia and Slovenia) expressed their
determination to introduce a FTT but did not find
an agreement on the financial instruments to be
covered by the FTT. In February 2013, the
Commission proposed to tax transactions on
shares and bonds at the rate of 0.1% and
derivatives transactions at the rate of 0.01%.
 NEXT STEPS

INSIGHTS BRUSSELS
27
For further information please contact:
Leonardo Sforza
Leonardo.Sforza@mslgroup.com
Romain Seignovert
Romain.Seignovert@mslgroup.com
Ruben Brugnera
Ruben.Brugnera@mslgroup.com
Square de Meeûs 23 – B 1000 Bruxelles
Our website: www.mslgroup.com
Follow us on twitter for breaking news updates: @MSL_Brussels

Insights Brussels July 2014

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

Similar to Insights Brussels July 2014

Similar to Insights Brussels July 2014 (20)

More from MSL

More from MSL (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Insights Brussels July 2014