Interior ministers of the German federal states of Brandenburg and Saxony call for border checks with Poland and the Czech Republic. The Spanish Presidency of the EU Council will prioritise legislation of artificial intelligence during its term. Several EU member states wish to move away from unanimity in the foreign policy decision-making process.
Preoccupied by multiple crises, the EU has seen a restless year. Many of the calamities which shook the EU in 2022 will still be around in 2023.
The European Parliament has been in the eye of the storm since it was announced that a large-scale corruption case is under investigation. Other news: A green hydrogen pipeline to be built between the Iberian Peninsula and the rest of Europe, subsidy dispute between the EU and the US, and potential EU enlargement in the Western Balkans.
At an emergency meeting about increasing migration figures, opinions of the Member States on the situation differed. On his upcoming trip to the US, French President Emmanuel Macron wants to ask for exemptions for European manufacturers penalized by US law. Spain and the EU propose to the UK to eliminate “the fence” between Spain and the British territory Gibraltar.
The renewal of the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary has been blocked for four years now. As Spain will hold the EU Council presidency in the second half of 2023, Brussels is urging the country to end the deadlock in the appointment of new incumbents to important judicial positions.