Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. COMMISSION PROUD OF ACHIEVEMENTS AS PRESIDENT VON DER LEYEN UP FOR RE-ELECTION One day before the formal confirmation of Ursula von der Leyen as the EPP’s lead candidate for Commission President, the European Commission on Wednesday published “The story of the von der Leyen Commission”, a 56-page document showing how the Commission ensured “Keeping our promise to Europe”. The timing of the paper raises eyebrows, even if a similar document was published together with the incumbent President’s last state of the Union speech last autumn. In fact, the Code of Conduct of Commissioners prevents standing Commissioners to use any human or material resources for electoral campaigns, but here’s the catch: unlike some other Commissioners, von der Leyen is not running for…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. FINANCE MINISTERS PRESENT THEIR ABC FOR CAPITAL MARKETS IN EUROPE In the coming days, Finance Ministers will be putting their ideas on the table for a refresh of the Commission's Capital Markets Union project. Meeting in Ghent for informal Eurogroup and ECOFIN meetings, it will be hard for ministers to avoid the draft shopping lists that will be finalised later this semester by Enrico Letta to reboot the internal market, and by Mario Draghi on competitiveness. On top of that, bankers are in town for their regular Eurofi school trip, using bilateral meetings with politicians to indirectly influence the EU's financial regulatory agenda for the next mandate. Ministers are expected to promote an "ABC" for capital markets: revise the financial supervision…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. INSTITUTIONS STRUGGLE TO FINALISE AGREEMENTS, AS OPPORTUNISM GROWS As the countdown to the Parliament elections goes on, EU institutions face an institutional crisis on their main method of decision-making in trilogues: provisional deals agreed in trilogue are increasingly blocked last-minute by national governments, driven by their own national electoral concerns and populism. In December, a last-minute opposition led by France blocked the adoption of the Platform Workers Directive, on which a provisional agreement was already agreed between the Parliament and the Spanish Presidency. Now, it is the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive which is at great risk, after Germany, Italy and several countries indicated to the Belgian Presidency that they would either abstain on or oppose the provisional agreement reached by…

Welcome to Better Europe's weekly update on EU Affairs. EUROPE BIDS GOODBYE TO OFFSETTING CLAIMS BY EMPOWERING CONSUMERS With an overwhelming majority, the Parliament this week adopted the agreement on the Empowering Consumers Directive (ECD) aimed at combatting greenwashing (for EU nerds, it amends the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Consumers Rights Directive). The deal includes a ban on claims based on carbon offsetting and provisions to ensure that sustainability labels are based on a verified certification scheme. What does this mean in practice? As of 2026, when the rules are expected to apply, companies will no longer be allowed to claim that their products and/or services are “climate neutral” or “climate positive”. Companies can also no longer require consumers to replace parts or update software before it is…