Small lexicon of the pfue - omnipote

Trio, trilogue, RMI, DMA or DSA ... while France has taken the lead in the Council of the European Union, many words appear in the debates.All of Europe invites you to see a little more clear in this sometimes nebulous vocabulary.

The functioning of the French presidency

Pfue

It is in a way the essential acronym of this European moment for France.It means "French Presidency of the European Union".However, France will not chair the European Union as a whole, but one of the seven institutions in the EU, including the Commission and the Parliament.The Council of the European Union, it brings together the ministers of the 27 member states according to their thematic portfolios (training) and plays the role of co -opting with the European Parliament.

From January to June 2022, Paris will thus carry out the work of this council - with the exception of the training Affairs presided over the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and the Security Policy.Its main objective will then be to bring up compromises between the EU states.

Advice

One word, behind which can be hidden from different institutions.The Council of the European Union, often simply called council and which France chairs during the Pfue, is the body of negotiations between the ministers of the member states.Proposed by the Commission, a regulation or a directive which follows the ordinary legislative procedure must indeed have the approval of the European Parliament then that of the Council to enter into force.These two institutions can amend these texts before they are adopted.The Council also adopts the budget and develops the Union's foreign policy.

Another EU institution, the European Council brings together the heads of state and government of the twenty-seven.It fixes the general guidelines of the EU and can defuse certain crises or overcome blockages on proposals of European laws.We also speak of “European Summit” to name the meetings of the European Council.

Finally, the Council of Europe is not an institution of the European Union, but an intergovernmental organization, which today has 47 member countries.The Council of Europe defends human rights, democracy and the rule of law.

Coreper

Acronym of "Committee of Permanent Representatives", the Coreper is an essential cog in the process of decision -making at the European level.In Brussels, each Member State has its own permanent representation with the EU.The role of the coreper is to prepare the compromises upstream of the ministerial meetings of the EU Council.Each week, these ambassadors in their own country express the position of their government on a given subject.

Coreper I is made up of permanent deputy representatives of each State: it is competent to deal with technical subjects in fields such as transport, the environment or even social issues.As for the Coreper II, which brings together permanent representatives, it takes care of the justice, economic affairs and the foreign policy of the EU.They are helped in this, at the first level, by many working groups that participate in these preparation tasks.

Thematic training

The Council of the European Union is organized according to thematic training.The ministers of each Member State meet in particular to amend legislative acts and find compromises on current files, according to their portfolio.

Like each country presiding over the Council, France will lead 9 training courses within the framework of the Pfue: “Agriculture and Fisheries”, “Competitiveness”, “Justice and domestic affairs”, “Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumers”, “Transports, telecommunications and energy”, “Environment”, “General affairs”, “Economic and financial affairs” and “Education, Youth and Culture”.The tenth body of the EU Council, "Foreign Affairs", is constantly directed by the High EU representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, in this case Josep Borrell.

The European Council has a permanent president at its head for 2 and a half years, currently Charles Michel.This is also the case of the Eurogroup, an informal body bringing together the only ministers of the member states of the euro zone, currently chaired by Paschal Donohoe.

Informal ministerial meetings (RMI)

If the official meetings of the EU Council, those in which decisions enter the legislative process take place, take place in Brussels and Luxembourg, the countries assuming the presidency are free to organize informal meetings between European ministers on their territory.These informal ministerial meetings (RMI in jargon) make it possible to prepare the ground for the development of agreements between the twenty-seven or more generally to discuss a particular subject.On the occasion of the Pfue, France thus invited European ministers to various meetings (several per week until mid-March), on all subjects relating to the thematic council training, such as space in Toulouse;Social in Bordeaux, or cohesion in Rouen ...

Sgae

In France, the General Secretariat of European Affairs (Sgae) is placed under the authority of the Prime Minister.He coordinates the government's action in European policy.Guarantor of the coherence of French positions on this subject, the Sgae also makes the link between the EU institutions and the French authorities.

Trilogue

In the decision -making process at European level, the trilogue is a key moment in conciliation between the European Parliament and the EU Council.The representatives of these two institutions negotiate the texts of laws initiated by the Commission in order to find common ground.The Commission, as a mediator, is also present during the trilogues.They are held when Parliament and Council, Collégisters, fail to agree on the same version of a text, which is the case on the majority of legislative proposals.The agreement reached at the end of the process must then be validated in plenary session of the European Parliament and by European ministers on the Council.

Trio

The term "trio" designates a set of three countries which successively take the presidency of the Council of the European Union.Between the commission, representatives of the member states and the MEPs, the European texts sometimes take time to be negotiated and then adopted.The trio of presidencies therefore ensures continuity in the work of the council.The three member states linked within a trio develop a joint program, with a set of themes deemed to be priority in the long term.

The end of the Slovenian Presidency of the Council (July-December 2021) came to close a sequence inaugurated with Germany in July 2020 and pursued by Portugal from January to June 2021.For its part, France opened a new trio on January 1, 2022.The Czech Republic and then Sweden will take over.

French priorities

Strategic autonomy

Even if the expression was first of all in the defense field, the concept of strategic autonomy now applies to other sectors such as digital or the economy.This supposes that in military affairs, among others, Europe is capable of having greater room for maneuver, not to mention solely on the United States and NATO.It is a question of increasing the independence of the continent.A major issue, while the EU must renew its orientations in terms of security and defense during the Pfue.

Carbon adjustment mechanism to the borders

Often abbreviated under the term “carbon tax” (although it is not strictly speaking a tax), the carbon adjustment mechanism to the borders is intended to limit pollution imported by the European Union as well asthat competition from third-party establishments in environmental matters.

Certain greenhouse gas emissions are indeed “relocated” outside the EU at the same time as business activities, thereby reducing the European carbon footprint in an artificial way since the production and consumption of these imported products participate despitePollutant emissions worldwide.While the costs associated with compliance with environmental standards can disadvantage European companies vis-à-vis their competitors outside the union.

With the carbon adjustment mechanism, it would be a question of defining a threshold from which an activity would be considered too polluting, and thus subject to an additional cost on its exported products to the EU. Dans le cadre du Pacte vert, cette mesure pourrait entrer en vigueur dès le 1^er janvier 2023.

European minimum wage

If 21 of the 27 member states have set a minimum remuneration of workers at the national level, the amount of it varies strongly from one country to another: set at 332 euros per month in Bulgaria, it reaches 2,202 euros per monthin Luxembourg.While in Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Austria, Cyprus and Italy, a minimum wage is defined by branch, that is to say for each sector of activity, through negotiations between social partners.

Proposed by the European Commission at the end of 2020, the European minimum wage does not correspond to a unique "minimum wage" for all countries.It is not a question of fixing the same salary, but rather of defining a common framework.The objective is to “make minimum (national) (national) wages more adequate”, that is to say adapted to the standard of living in the country and to “improve workers' access to the protection offered by minimum wages inthe EU ”.To achieve these objectives, the proposal for a directive aims in particular to promote collective wage negotiations in all member states.It also invites member states whose minimum wage is set at national level, to take into account four criteria: the purchasing power linked to the cost of living, the general level of wages, the rate of growth of wages and theevolution of the productivity of the workforce.

DMA/DSA

Two acronyms for two proposals for regulations published by the European Commission in December 2020.They designate laws on digital markets (Digital Markets Act, or DMA) and on digital services (Digital Services Act, or DSA).These initiatives, which aim to better regulate large digital platforms, are currently in the hands of Parliament and Council.

The DMA sets up a set of bonds for access controllers (“gatekeepers”) which have many users within the European Union.These multinationals play an almost exclusive intermediary role between companies and consumers: some companies use for example Amazon, Google or Facebook to sell their products or services, which can lead to unfair behavior on the part of large platforms that offerCompetiting offers.The objective of Digital Markets Act is therefore to protect the smallest companies and consumers, by preventing for example that the own products of large web companies (GAFAM) are favored compared to others on their online platforms.

As for the DSA, it aims to establish a clearer responsibility frame for digital platforms and internet service providers.Digital Services ACT first aims to fight against goods, services or illicit content online.This goes in particular, for digital companies, by the obligation to verify reported online content and to withdraw them if necessary, to cooperate with the national authorities or to be transparent on the functioning of certain algorithms.So many bonds graduated according to the importance and size of the company.Thus, an SME and Google would not be housed in the same brand, the tech giant being subject to greater obligations.