COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,update

Europe pioneers removal of satellite debris to improve space traffic 08/11/2023 | Article Europe pioneers removal of satellite debris to improve space traffic Improving traffic management in space is one of the issues being discussed during Space Week to be held in Seville from 7 to 9 November under the framework of the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union. 07/11/2023 | Article EU ministers strengthen space cooperation to improve services and infrastructure and boost the digital and green transition Space cooperation between EU countries to improve the lives of citizens and boost the digital and green transition was the focus of the informal ministerial meeting on competitiveness in space, held in Seville.

Press material Wednesday 8 November 2023

● Council of the EU   08/11/2023 18:17 | Press release | European digital identity: Council and Parliament reach a provisional agreement on eID   With a view to ensuring a trusted and secure digital identity for all Europeans, the Council presidency and European Parliament representatives reached today a provisional agreement on a new framework for a European digital identity (eID). "With the approval of the European digital identity regulation, we are taking a fundamental step so that citizens can have a unique and secure European digital identity. This is a key advance for the European Union to be a global reference in the digital field, protecting our democratic rights and values." Nadia Calviño, acting Spanish first vice-president and minister for economy and digitalisation

Press material Wednesday 8 November 2023

● Council of the EU   08/11/2023 13:55 | Press release | EU Court of Justice: two judges and an advocate-general reappointed   The representatives of the governments of the member states today reappointed Mr Constantinos Lycourgos and Mr Jan Passer as judges to the Court of Justice. Mr Giovanni Pitruzzella was reappointed as advocate-general to the Court of Justice. The three appointments are for a term of office starting on 7 October 2024 and ending on 6 October 2030. They were made as part of the partial renewal of the composition of the Court of Justice in 2024. Background The Court of Justice of the European Union consists of two courts: the Court of Justice and the General Court. The judges and advocates-general are appointed by common accord of the governments of the member states after consultation of a panel responsible for giving an opinion on prospective candidates' suitability to perform the duties concerned. They are chosen from among individuals whose independence is beyond doubt. For appointment to the Court of Justice, candidates must possess the qualifications required for appointment, in their respective countries, to the highest judicial offices, or be jurisconsults of recognised competence.

Press material Wednesday 8 November 2023

● European Council   08/11/2023 11:06 | Press release | President Michel's Strategic Agenda consultations   Dear colleagues, I am pleased to invite you to a dinner on the Strategic Agenda to continue our discussions on the priorities for the next institutional cycle, building upon our fruitful first exchange in Granada. With thanks to our hosts, these discussions will take place in small consecutive groups in Paris, Berlin, Copenhagen and Zagreb during the course of this month. We are witnessing tumultuous times – from climate-related disasters around the globe to the technological upheaval brought about by cutting edge digital developments and the fragmentation of the rules-based multilateral order. In this context, we need to reflect on the EU’s capacity to act and to achieve its objectives. In Granada, we set out a broad framework and covered a number of priorities: security and defence, resilience and competitiveness, energy, migration, global engagement and enlargement of the Union. Our dinner discussion will be an occasion to delve deeper into these matters and in particular consider how we need to adapt for the sake of a stronger Union, both internally and globally. Key questions that we could address, include: Policies: which policies and programmes need to be improved to strengthen the EU’s global standing and how? Which sectoral policies need reform in the context of future enlargement and how? Financing: where should we focus our shared budget? How do we best ensure that it supports our shared priorities? How do we finance this budget in practice? Decision-making: how can we improve our decision-making in order to remain agile? Should we review voting rules and how? Our dinner discussions will feed into the ongoing preparations of the Strategic Agenda, which will continue in the framework of the European Council, between now and summer 2024. We need to be open, pragmatic and realistic about the changes and challenges ahead. I am confident that we will face them successfully together and find ways to further strengthen our unity. I look forward to seeing you. Invitation letter by President Charles Michel

Press material Wednesday 8 November 2023

● Council of the EU   08/11/2023 10:43 | Press release | Road safety: Council adopts position on common rules for the circulation of non-road mobile machinery on public roads   The Council adopted its position ('negotiating mandate') today on the proposed regulation for the approval and market surveillance of non-road mobile machinery circulating on public roads. This proposal creates harmonised road safety requirements for the circulation of self-propelled machinery (e.g. lawn mowers, harvesters or bulldozers) that needs to circulate on public roads and which up to now was regulated by the member states. The regulation will replace the existing national regulatory regimes, reducing costs, administrative burdens and delays for businesses. The Council's negotiating mandate clarifies the rules for adopting technical requirements, allows member states to start granting EU approvals before the formal application of the regulation, removes machines with a maximum speed of less than 6 km/h from the scope of the legislation, and reinforces the market surveillance obligations for manufacturers. Saving money with common rules While many technical aspects of non-road mobile machinery are harmonised at EU level, safety requirements for the circulation of mobile machinery on public roads are only regulated by national rules. This causes market fragmentation, additional costs and administrative burdens for the sector. The proposed regulation simplifies the procedures for all the actors of the sector. Manufacturers and distributors of non-road mobile machinery will only have to request road approval once, in one EU country, for the machinery to be accepted for road use in all EU countries. Users (e.g. rental companies) will benefit from a reduction in the compliance cost, and it will be easier for them to use and re-sell machinery across intra-EU borders. Drivers, in turn, will benefit from harmonised rules that ensure a high level of road safety across the EU. The regulation proposes a simplified one-step procedure that takes into account the specific characteristics of non-road mobile machinery (i.e. that they are not normally on the road). It also establishes more effective market surveillance: it provides for market surveillance procedures, including safeguard measures against non-compliant machinery, aligned with those used in the wider EU legislative framework on products. Council mandate While the Council position supports the main objectives of the regulation, it introduces some improvements to clarify the scope, facilitate approvals of new vehicles and reinforce market surveillance. In particular, the Council position proposes facilitating the adoption of new technical requirements for non-road mobile machinery by adopting them via implementing acts instead of delegated acts. It also introduces EU individual approvals that can be granted by any member state. The approval certificate will have a unique harmonised number which will identify the member state that granted the EU individual approval. Member states will be allowed to voluntarily start granting EU-type approvals as soon as the regulation comes into force and the Commission has adopted the necessary delegated and implementing acts. The negotiating mandate also proposes a resolution procedure for when the approval authority of a given member state finds that a type-approval granted by another country does not comply, in their view, with the regulation. In such an event, the authority should not recognise the approval, but must inform the authority of the other member state and the Commission, which can decide to refuse recognition via an implementing act. The Council also proposes creating a new category of vehicles (category 'U') for non-road machinery, which will be added to the existing categories (i.e. category M: vehicles carrying passengers; category N: vehicles carrying goods; category L: 2- and 3-wheel vehicles and quadricycles). The position adopted today excludes machinery with a maximum speed of less than 6 km/h from the scope of the regulation. The Council's mandate also specifies the requirements applicable to the electronic and paper version of the certificate, both for the authorising authority and for the final purchaser. Finally, the Council position strengthens the duties of manufacturers' market surveillance representatives. These representatives will have to inform the manufacturer about complaints and reports relating to risks, suspected incidents or non-compliance issues that relate to non-road mobile machinery, so that the manufacturer can take measures to bring the non-road mobile machinery into compliance, withdraw it or recall it. If the manufacturer acts contrary to the regulation, the representatives can terminate the mandate of the manufacturer and will have to inform the approval authority and the Commission about the date and the reasons for such a decision.

Meetings Wednesday 8 November 2023

● Council of the EU   08/11/2023 08:56 | MEETING | Economic and Financial Affairs Council, 9 November 2023   Background brief - Economic and Financial Affairs Council of 9 November 2023

Press material Tuesday 7 November 2023

● Council of the EU   07/11/2023 22:25 | Press release | Instant payments: Council and Parliament reach provisional agreement   The Council and the European Parliament have reached a political agreement on the instant payments proposal, which will improve the availability of instant payment options in euro to consumers and businesses in the EU and in EEA countries. The new rules will improve the strategic autonomy of the European economic and financial sector as they will help reduce any excessive reliance on third-country financial institutions and infrastructures. Improving the possibilities to mobilize cash-flows will bring benefits for citizens and companies and allow for innovative added value services. Instant payments allow people to transfer money within ten seconds at any time of the day, including outside business hours, not only within the same country but also to another EU member state. The provisional agreement takes into consideration particularities of non-euro area entities. Under the provisionally agreed rules, payment service providers such as banks, which provide standard credit transfers in euro, will also be required to offer the service of sending and receiving instant payments in euro. The charges that apply (if any) must not be higher than the charges that apply for standard credit transfers. The Council and Parliament agreed that the new rules will come into force after a transition period that will be faster in the euro area and longer in the non-euro area, who need more time to adjust. The colegislators agreed to grant access for payment and e-money institutions (PIEMIs) to payment systems, by changing the settlement finality Directive (SFD) in order. As a result, these entities will be covered by the obligation to offer the service of sending and receiving instant credit transfers, after a transitional period. The colegislators added appropriate safeguards to ensure that the access of PIEMIs to payment systems doesn’t carry additional risk to the system. Under the new rules, instant payment providers will need to verify that the beneficiary’s IBAN and name match in order to alert the payer to possible mistakes or fraud before a transaction is made. This requirement will apply to regular transfers too. The Council and Parliament included a review clause with a requirement for the Commission to present a report containing an evaluation of the development of charges for credit charges. Background This initiative comes in the context of the completion of the Capital Markets Union. In March 2021 and April 2022 the Council adopted conclusions in which it highlighted the widespread use of instant payments and recalled the objective of developing competitive EU-wide market-based payment solutions. On 26 October 2022 the Commission put forward a proposal for a regulation on instant credit transfers in euro. It amends and modernises the single euro payments area (SEPA) regulation of 2012 on standard credit transfers in euro by adding to it specific provisions for instant credit transfers in euro. The aim of the draft regulation is to increase the uptake of euro instant credit transfers and to facilitate the access to such services for consumers and businesses in the Union. There will be the following requirements regarding euro instant payments: making instant euro payments universally available, with an obligation on EU payment service providers that already offer credit transfers in euro to offer also their instant version making instant euro payments affordable, with an obligation on payment service providers to ensure that the price charged for instant payments in euro does not exceed the price charged for traditional, non-instant credit transfers in euro increasing trust in credit transfers, with an obligation on providers to verify the match between the bank account number (IBAN) and the name of the beneficiary provided by the payer in order to alert the payer of a possible mistake or fraud before the payment is made removing friction in the processing of instant euro payments while preserving the effectiveness of screening of persons that are subject to EU sanctions, through a procedure whereby payment service providers will verify at least daily their clients against EU sanctions lists, instead of screening all transactions one by one Position of the Council ahead of negotiations with the Parliament Commission proposal Council adopts conclusions on strategic autonomy of the European economic and financial sector (press release, 5 April 2022) Retail payments: Council supports action to promote instant payments and EU-wide payment solutions (press release, 22 March 2021) Digital finance (background information) Capital Markets Union (background information)