Новости за 14.02.2020

EU Council president Charles Michel proposed Friday 1.074 percent of the EU GNI as an overall figure for the seven-year budget, ahead of crucial talks with EU leaders next Thursday. Michel proposes to have more flexibility in spending EU funds, and to weaken the threshold for procedures against countries that have rule of law "deficiencies". The Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Denmark are demanding a budget of no more than 1.0 percent.

At the Munich Security Conference this weekend, the Euro-Atlantic Security Leaders Group (EASLG) will publish Twelve Steps Toward Greater Security in Ukraine and the Euro-Atlantic Region, endorsed by nearly 50 distinguished current and former senior officials, military officers, and experts.

The Italian foreign minister and former leader of the Five Star Movement (M5S), Luigi di Maio is calling for protests this weekend against the government he is minister in, the Guardian reports. He said the Italian people "must peacefully demonstrate" in Rome on Saturday against a government that "wants to cancel our laws". Since Lega Nord left the government last summer, M5S is in an uneasy coalition with Partito Democratico.

EU budget commissioner Johannes Hahn owns 2,200 shares in Austria's largest electricity provider. Those shares have tripled in value since he first declared them in 2014. In January, the firm met his head of cabinet to discuss climate policy.

The European Commission is ready to launch a joint procurement of medical supplies and to mobilise EU funding instruments, although no shoratges have been identified in the EU so far, the commissioner for health Stella Kyriakides said on Thursday.

Small steps are being made to reveal who is lobbying who within the EU. But the approach is basically haphazard and piecemeal - meaning the public remains largely in the dark and unable to truly scrutinise the influencers.

The world is becoming less Western as China and other actors grow in importance alongside the US. The West must reinvent itself to remain a stabilising force.

France is pushing for a tougher EU starting position on the trade deal talks with the UK. France, along with other member states, wants Britain to commit to following EU standards on social and workers' rights, the environment. The EU Commission only proposed that the UK commits to the current EU standards and does not undercut them. EU countries are due to sign off the negotiating mandate on 25 February.

Facebook has postponed the European roll-out of its new dating app, after an inspection of its European headquarters in Dublin by Ireland's data protection commission (IDPC), AFP reported. The IDPC said it only learnt of the planned 13 February launch at the start of February. The IDPC conducted the inspection after it said Facebook failed to provide information in a privacy-review process. Facebook says it has strong privacy safeguards.

The EU Commission on Thursday set a moderate eurozone growth forecast for this year and 2021, at 1.2 percent. Inflation is likely to accelerate slightly. The commission said that while the first phase of a US-China trade deal helped reduce risks, the spread of the coronavirus was now the main threat to economic growth. "The longer it lasts, the higher the likelihood of knock-on effects on economic sentiment," it said.

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Thursday defended the use of external experts during her time as German defence minister, in testimony before a parliamentary inquiry. She said mistakes were made in awarding contracts, but insisted that outside expertise was necessary, especially on digitalisation. An inquiry has been looking into the use of outside experts at the ministry which von der Leyen ran from 2013.