European Institutions

Dutch Senate Backs Deal Rejected in 2016 Vote

August 02, 2017

Politico reports that, despite the rejection of the deal by voters in the Netherlands in a referendum held last year, the Dutch Senate supported in May the adoption of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, which bolsters trade ties between the supranational bloc and the Eastern European country.
ECJ Official Seeks Looser Rules for Migrant Spouses

August 02, 2017

In a May opinion, an Advocate General for the Court of Justice of the EU (ECJ) found that EU law prohibited the UK from restricting the right of the spouse of a person who migrated from Spain to remain in that country solely on the basis that the Spanish migrant had become a naturalized citizen of the UK and was therefore no longer the beneficiary of rules on "free movement."
EU Announces "Sustainability" Strategy for Transport Industry

August 02, 2017

In the first of a series of eight "Europe on the Move" proposals for EU-wide policies regulating the transportation sector to promote a "socially fair transition towards clean energy," the European Commission has proposed regulations for road travel that include standardization of labor rights in the truck driving industry.
EU Body: Member States Are Failing Fisheries Duties

August 02, 2017

The European Court of Auditors has released a report analyzing fisheries practices in Italy, Spain, France, and the UK and finding that these EU member states are failing to fully implement their responsibilities under the bloc's fisheries control regulation by measuring a broad array of details about their fishing fleet, including capacity, tonnage, engine power, and catch data.
EU Officials Signal Focus on Defense Union

August 02, 2017

Signaling that it will maintain its push to consolidate policy-making on defense cooperation in EU institutions, in May, the European Commission held an "orientation debate" on the future of European defense, where EU officials called for greater strides toward the funding of and collaboration on a European "Security and Defence Union."