Brussels Brief | 46th Edition
46th Edition | 6–12 April 2018
It’s the 46th Edition of Brussels Brief* and we are back with popular populists, unpopular social media and some (un)comfortable reading.
Comfort or liberty. Historically the struggle for liberty, be it through revolutions or civil rights marches, have been uncomfortable endeavours. Those involved in the struggle always lead difficult lives leading usually towards early deaths. In other words, the price for liberty is always discomfort and power has a way of feeding on comfort. Consumer capitalism has emancipated millions from dreary manual tasks (a good thing) to a world of convenience where (if you can afford it) most things can be achieved through services. However, this ‘comfort zone service economy’ is one that has a price. Cooking for yourself has been replaced by Deliveroo and, in the information age, critical thinking has been replaced by Twitter. In the debate about the abuse of Facebook data or the rise and permanence of populism one can not help but return to the uncomfortable (excuse the pun) truth that it is us that give our data which is then abused and it is also us that vote for lazy populist rhetoric which, inevitably, becomes corrupt when in power. Both end up being prisons but as long as the feedback loop is short and sweet — a like on social media or a simplistic policy against immigrants — the unwillingness to get uncomfortable will continue the trend of ‘techno-dystopia’ news we have had of late. No EU regulation, General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or otherwise, will be able to stop it.
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The Brussels Brief Team 👨👩👦 ✌️ 🇪🇺
Collated and Curated over ‘Le Mellotron 24/7’ and a cup of hot something ☕ in Brussels Brief HQ.
“I think that they get things right”
Mark Zuckerberg
Facebook CEO and global data overlord on the European approach to data protection.
🔝 FRONT PAGE — Top News This Week
Hungary for the power. Another month another European election, only this time, the result is overwhelming with no room for debate. The Godfather of the Visegrad Bad Boys got a mandate for the next four years… and he intends to use it. In a ballot held on Sunday, Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party secured a staggering two-thirds majority of the seats in parliament. Despite being backed by the centrist and pro-European European People’s Party, those most excited by the Hungarian Prime Minister’s landslide victory came mostly from the usual suspects in the populist right wing of Europe and to the chagrin of most of Brussels. The socialists were decimated and the resultant main opposition party, Jobbik, has been historically further to the right than Fidesz. He ran a campaign that characterised much of his leadership thus far, anti-immigrant, a disdain for a free press, and a particular penchant for calling out the actions of a particular billionaire boogeyman called George Soros. This latter point was raised by the newly crowned Primer Minister on Tuesday who said that the election gave him the mandate to roll out a series of ‘Stop Soros’ laws aimed at curbing NGO activity in the country. What is sure is that Orban prefers rich folks a bit closer to home, but his consolidation of power is part of the wider populist sentiment across EU member states in recent memory, from Italy to the Netherlands, from Brexit to Poland, there is a war against liberalism and the jury is out on whether it will survive another four years, at least in Hungary. [The Economist, EUobserver, Deutsche Welle, Euronews, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, Buzzfeed, Euractiv]
💸 ITS THE ECONOMY, STUPID — Top Economic, Trade and Innovation News
The regulation so nice they applied it twice. Ill-suited, but well prepared to answer questions before gods and men, the world’s №1 connector and guy who just wanted to date girls in college, Mark Zuckerberg, testified before the US Congress trying to calm the waters over the building controversy his company, and the world’s combined global phonebook-meeting place, Facebook, has been embroiled in since the revelation of the recent Cambridge Analytica scandal. Surprisingly not only to US media but probably some Europeans too, Zuckerberg confessed that there was a need for stronger privacy regulations and admitted that in the case of data regulations Europe might be on the right track. The real reason might be that EU laws (in this case the GDPR) have a global reach and since Facebook is incorporated in Ireland it must abide by EU rules. Luckily for people in the US and beyond this could extend protections even beyond the old continent, proving to be a rare case of positive interference in the digital age. [The New York Times, Wired, The Economist, The Washington Post]
The traders of Serendip. UK proponents of Brexit claimed that Europe was too small and global trade was the answer and it seems people outside of the UK got a similar idea. Owing not least to the prospects of the UK leaving the EU adding both urgency and pushing aside some thorny trade issues the EU and India a renewing their resolve to push forward to achieve a free trade deal. Among the thorns to be removed are questions of Indian protectionism, investors lacking certainty in the Indian courts and Indian wishes to have easier access for migration to Europe, which with the UK departure is expected to move to other parts of the EU. The talks are spurred in part by fears of a trade war with US president Trump and possibly let the Indo-Europeans take the lead in global free trade. [European Sting, Politico Europe, Euractiv]
BONUS: look out for a grumpy Putin in the coming days as Mutti Merkel has finally been convinced that a northern gas pipeline between Russia and Germany might be a political concern [EUobserver]
🇬🇧 STATE OF THE (DIS)UNION — Brexit Stories
Regulatory misalignment. ‘Taking back control’ does not make the heart grow fonder for some regulatory agencies. This week there have been call from all sides to take the exit out of Brexit when it comes to their particular industry. Firstly, there is the UK Financial Conduct Authority who, seeing the need to spend over 34 million EUR in dealing with Brexit, has called for immediate “regulatory engagement” so as to assuage financial firms’ concerns as the business side of Brexit comes. Speaking about business, the Confederation of British Industry, the lobby for over 190,000 businesses, warned that the real work of Brexit is not in the big headline issues such as the Irish border or citizen’s rights but in how to untangle over 19,000 EU rules and regulations from British legislation. Finally on the EU side, Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier warned against any attempt from the UK to reduce environmental standards in order to find a “competitive advantage’’ over the EU’s stringent environmental laws. Red lines abound, negotiations stagnate… less than a year left. [Reuters, Quartz, Bloomberg, Sky News]
The great Passport exodus. What began as a joke for Brits at the bar during the Brexit referendum, became a fully fledged administrative nightmare. Applications from Brits wanting to acquire EU citizenship shot up 165% from 2015 to 2016 according to a report from Eurostat. The countries that are adopting most of the British applicants were Germany and Belgium. However, the same report stipulates the biggest recipient of applications from countries outside the EU is currently Italy with over a million granted in the EU as a whole. Ironically the EU numbers were swelled as the UK gave citizenship to over 149,400 people or 15% of the EU numbers. Of the third country applicants, Morocco made up most of them followed by citizens of Albania, India, Pakistan and Turkey. Polish plumbers meet the British brefugee. [The Guardian, Quartz, The Brussels Times]
- The number of seats won by Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party in the Hungarian parliamentary elections out of 199 seats up for grabs.
🏢 BRUXELLES MA BELLE — News about the city
Air trouble for the bubble. Every year there are over 600 premature deaths in Brussels. Families who have children between the ages of 2 and 5 and live near main roads are more likely to experience bronchiolitis (a form of bronchitis) than the average. This is, as at least in part due to the fact that the levels of fine particles in the air as twice as much as the level recommended. And while the city is looking to find ways to reduce car traffic and regularly organises car-free days, it’s all a little too ironic for the city that hosts the European Institutions: aka a symbol for environmental regulation. In fact, the Commission has launched an infringement procedure against the Belgian capital for not complying with air-quality standards. [Euronews]
Here comes the sun. If it’s true that the best of us comes out with a little sunshine, then Brussels had a field day (literally) this past Sunday, 8 April where temperatures reached 24 degrees Celsius. After a dark and very cold (we are talking record-breaking cold) winter, Brussels parks and green spaces were filled with people, young and old, soaking up on vitamin D and outdoor activity. So much so that the news reached China, which thought it was worth reporting on. What does that say about Belgian weather, we wonder? [The Global Times]
✂️ EXTRA — From The Cutting Room Floor
Too old for the old school. At 92 former president, Valery Giscard d’Estaing is still going strong. One of the architects of the European Union he laments the stagnation the EU has seen in recent years claiming that there haven’t been any true developments since the early 90s. His remedy has also changed, where before it would have been a smaller but closer union of countries real-life events have now overtaken such a possibility. But to relaunch a vision for Europe the former president has launched a new advocacy group, Re-imagine Europa, to kick-start a European revival proving that you’re never too old to start something new. [Politico Europe]
Too cool for orthodoxy. If the Frenchman is proof that you are never too old to get out of the game, young Mohammed Bin Salman (or MBS to the cool kids), Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, shows that experience and old age need not be required to run a country, an oil company nor waging war either. Busy at home with reforms covering everything from permitting women to drive, opening cinemas the young Saudi Crown Prince started a European charm offensive hoping to add allies and investments to the coffers of the Saudi Kingdom. [Reuters, France24]
💡 OPINION — Top minds muse on the European project
Go where the money’s at. Euro 19.2 billion at the disposal of German cities and municipalities for the purpose of finding innovative initiatives to make its cities smarter. The problem? The amount of money. There is little harmonisation in the best approach to adopt and time is being wasted agreeing on what makes the most sense. Berlin deputy who sits on the Committee of Urban Development and Housing, Katalin Gennburg, claims there is too much money floating around for a vision that does not even hold a definition for ‘Smart Cities.’ This is fair but author, Florence Schulz, argues that this lacking strategy creates the ideal situation for the big corporations and companies to come in and sweep off the money. [Euractiv]
The magic formula? In an effort to project and invest his political vision into a European framework, French President Macron wishes to do the impossible: give power to the supranational institutions while ensuring more flexibility for national governments to step in where they are, in fact, better suited to act. In essence, this strategy, if successful, what strike a balance between European integration and individual state sovereignty. In one example the author of the article, Mark Leonard, illustrates the President’s plan for migration: agree on national quotas for incoming refugees in the short term, while harmonising or better, centralising asylum systems at European level. A similar tactic is planned in the field of Defence: support the newly-agreed upon PESCO while, in the long run, build on a European Initiative that would surpass current EU or NATO programmes. All rather ambitious but, what if it works? [SocialEurope]
🎧 PRESS PLAY — Media Corner
🔊 Podcast of the Week. Geeks are all the rage lately and controversial. Microsoft co-founder, philanthropic king and mega billionaire Bill Gates talks to Ryan Heath about his the Bill Gates Foundation which has revolutionised public health, but not without its critics. [Politico EU Confidential]
🎥 Video(s) of the Week. Democracy is a wonderful thing. It allows all hues and ideologies to come forth and present a platform that the public can get behind…and jokers. Enter the ‘Two Tail Dog Party’ in the recent Hungarian elections with its leader a mans dressed up as chicken clucking on TV. Not to be missed. [Last Week Tonight with John Oliver]
✏️ Cartoon(s) of the Week. Viktor Orban and Europe, Zuckerberg, Paris Saudi Meeting [Cagle.com]
📺 GIF of the Week
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