Eu Briefing – Facts and Analysis of the Week

by Ross Elwood

BRUXELLES (Public Policy Europe) – The week began with UK Prime Minister Starmer’s resignation, which caused the upcoming EU-UK summit, significant for resetting relations, to be postponed. Then policymakers in Brussels overheated with record temperatures (read below for the knock-on effects).

The Facts

The following facts are compiled from hundreds of updates on the Public Policy Europe Newswires this week. Find out more about the newswire here.

EU-US AGREEMENT: On 25 June, the EU Council gave definitive approval to the two regulations implementing the EU-US tariff agreement. Both will now be signed and published in the Official Journal, entering into force the day after publication. The Commission stated: “We have always made it clear that an agreement is an agreement and that the European Union honours its commitments. We look forward to continuing to work with our American counterparts to follow up on the commitments of the joint statement, to identify new areas of potential tariff reduction, and to cooperate on areas of common interest and concern, such as global overcapacity in certain industrial sectors. We are very confident that, with these solid foundations, the work can move forward.”

Critical Raw Materials Act: On 24 June, the Parliament’s Industry Committee (ITRE) adopted its negotiating mandate on the proposed amendment to the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), part of the ReSourceEU Action Plan. The text needs plenary approval during the 6–9 July session to become Parliament’s official position for trilogues with the Council and Commission.

China/Procurement/Innovation: The Public Procurement Act and the European Innovation Act have been postponed from 1 July to 9 September, according to the latest provisional agenda for the College of Commissioners. On the same day, the Commission will present its proposal on supply-chain dependencies, as requested by EU leaders at the last European Council during the China debate.

EU-UK: Following the resignation of British Prime Minister Starmer, the EU-UK summit — originally scheduled for 22 July in Brussels — has been postponed. “This does not mean it is cancelled. As soon as possible we will consider another date,” said Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho at a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday.

Digital Omnibus: EU ambassadors meeting in Coreper are expected to approve the negotiating mandate on the digital omnibus regulation (which also touches on GDPR) this Friday, 26 June. The Cypriot Council presidency has drawn up the final compromise text, to be submitted to Coreper for review and approval. Meanwhile, Parliament has begun its legislative process: all shadow rapporteurs have been appointed, and the first draft report is under legal-linguistic review.

Transport Funding: On Monday, the Commission published a call for proposals worth €1.1 billion to finance construction and modernisation of transport infrastructure under the TEN-T network. “The selected projects will contribute to the implementation of key European initiatives in the transport sector, supporting the high-speed rail plan, the industrial action plan for the European automotive sector, and the strengthening of maritime connectivity, in line with the new EU strategies for the maritime industry and ports.” The deadline for submitting proposals is 6 October 2026.

The analysis

01. Climate Adaptation Back On The Agenda  

Europe, and Brussels most relevantly for this brief, is suffering from extremely high temperatures this week. This is relevant because policymaking is inextricably human. When policymakers really feel an issue, it can shift the emphasis considerably. So, with many policymakers feeling the heat, what implications does this have for energy and climate policy?

The outcomes have two possible areas in which to manifest: climate policy, in the case of climate adaptation (city greening initiatives, heat-health measures in cities, etc.) and climate mitigation (ETS, CO2 emissions, CBAM etc.); and energy policy, in the form of energy security (specifically storage and grid infrastructure).

Climate is very much off the priority agenda. On Thursday, at the Environment Council, Commissioner Hoekstra acknowledged the relevance of the heatwave in a discussion on climate resilience, but also noted that it was effectively a member-state issue. When asked about the need for EU-wide heat rules, he deflected, saying it was a labour issue that should be dealt with by national ministers. The main angle journalists are taking is how the drive to cut climate rules under the ETS can be reconciled with the fact that climate change has caused the current heatwave. However, this line of attack (which the Greens and S&D will no doubt pick up) won’t carry much weight, since climate mitigation is so far off the agenda as to be unretrievable. A question remains, though, around climate adaptation. The Commission is due to publish a climate resilience strategy by the end of this year, but the key issue is that adaptation costs money (as stated by the Council in a December discussion on the topic), and the EU wants to spend on defence and competitiveness instead.

Energy is a more straightforward case. Although the current heatwave hasn’t caused major blackouts, it certainly will cause major stress on grids as summer goes on. The two main issues are grid infrastructure, which can’t transport renewable electricity far and wide enough to keep the system running seamlessly, and relatedly, storage, since intermittent wind and solar always need consistent backup. At tomorrow’s Energy Council, ministers are being asked to agree their negotiating position on the Grids Package, which has already been identified as a major issue for energy security and the efficient use of generated power, but the heatwave will concentrate minds further on the need to invest, and the European Parliament will likely push to be even more ambitious. In terms of storage, there will likely be greater emphasis on Small Modular Reactors, which tie into the wider energy-independence agenda as well as competitiveness (SMRs, and energy more broadly, as the backbone of AI).

But these energy security measures, however cleverly they address the problem while serving the wider political agenda, are medium- to long-term, and citizens are dealing with the effects of extreme heat now. Politicians ignore this at their peril: citizens are already angry, as shown by the recent fuel protests in Ireland, and that anger could boil over at the lack of relief on yet another front of the livability crisis — one that already ties together the cost-of-living, housing, and energy-price crises, and now an unbearable-heat crisis on top. This means a policy response will eventually emerge under that broader umbrella, but not without considerable foot-dragging first, given the EU’s reluctance to deviate from its independence agenda (again, a question of money) and its reluctance to wade into areas traditionally seen as member states’ exclusive competence. That said, the EU has already set a precedent here, with a Commissioner for Housing and an affordable housing plan. The push from the most affected member states will be for EU solidarity and support. At the same Environment Council meeting, the Spanish environment minister said the climate resilience plan also needs to include investment, that it must send signals to investors that climate adaptation is “investable,” and called for a European umbrella mechanism to make things happen faster.

0.2 Costa Believes Own Resources Essential For Any MFF deal 

It’s been just a week since the European Council (EUCO) took place, and already it feels like a month. A number of different issues were discussed at the meeting, but of particular interest to this briefing are the ongoing negotiations on the EU’s long-term budget, the MFF. The main outcome was that a much more advanced negotiating box (budget figures) will be presented by the Irish presidency before the October European Council.

You can read last week’s newsletter for the full political picture on the MFF, but one point of particular interest is the possible introduction of new own resources. On this, leaders noted the Commission’s proposals as a starting point, but also expressed interest in pursuing the European Parliament’s proposals for a tax on Big Tech, a tax on cryptocurrencies, and a tax on online gambling. The Irish presidency has been tasked with prioritising work on these aspects in the coming weeks.

As stated in previous editions of this newsletter, own resources were previously seen as something of a taboo issue, with member states fearing it would hand the Commission too much power. It is therefore extremely noteworthy that this is now being seriously considered and is being strongly pursued by European Council President Costa, who noted after the meeting that reaching any deal on the MFF in December will require additional revenue in the form of own resources. (Public Policy Europe)

(foto cc Palazzo Chigi)