EU Policy Intelligence and Advocacy (April 2022) Go back »
2022-04-14 | All chapters
Chamber Advocacy
On 7th April, the European Chamber, along with other national chambers and the EU SME Centre, held a debriefing session on the EU sanctions on Russia.
On 31st March, the European Chamber held a debriefing session on the European Commission’s proposal for a regulation on sustainable corporate governance.
On 30th March, European Chamber President Joerg Wuttke met Michael Hager, Head of Cabinet of Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis.
On 21st March, a group of senior European Chamber representatives from the financial services working groups led by President Jörg Wuttke met with DG FISMA Director General John Berrigan.
Policy Intelligence
China
On 7th April, it was reported that H.E. Jorge Toledo Albiñana, former Spanish Ambassador to Japan and Spanish Secretary of State for European Affairs, will be succeeding H.E. Nicolas Chapuis as EU Ambassador to China after the latter’s current term ends in summer 2022 (The Diplomat in Spain).
On 5th April, during the European Parliament Plenary Session in Strasbourg High Representative/Vice President Josep Borrell discussed the recently concluded EU-China Summit, calling it a ‘dialogue of the deaf’ (SCMP).
On 1st April, the 23rd European Union (EU)-China Summit took place. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel met first with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and afterwards with President Xi Jinping. Please find below the links to the European and Chinese read-outs:
European Council meeting page for the EU-China Summit
Remarks by European Council President Charles Michel
Remarks by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
Chinese read-out of the meeting between Premier Li Keqiang and European leaders
Chinese read-out of the meeting between President Xi Jinping and European leaders
On 29th March, EU High Representative/Vice President Josep Borrell met with Chinese State Councillor/Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi (EU and Chinese read-outs).
Russia/Ukraine
On 8th April, the Council of the EU adopted a fifth round of sanctions on Russia (Council of the EU).
On 24th and 25th March, the European Council meeting with EU heads of state took place. The European Council adopted conclusions on the Russian military aggression against Ukraine, security and defence, energy, economic issues, COVID-19 and external relations. US President Joe Biden joined the first day of the summit. (Council of the EU).
Others
On 10th April, the first round of the French Presidential elections took place, with current President Emmanuel Macron placing first with 27.8% of the votes and National Rally leader Marine le Pen placing second with 23.1% of the votes. The run-off between the two top candidates will take place on the 24th April (official elections results page from the Ministry of the Interior (in French), and dedicated POLITICO page on the elections).
On 21st March, Foreign Affairs and Defence Minsters of the Council of the EU approved the EU’s Strategic Compass, which assesses the key risks and trends the Union face and proposes concrete steps to address them (Council of the EU).
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