European Union Member States gave the Commission the green light to start formal negotiations with the U.S. on two agreements, one on conformity assessment, and the other on eliminating tariffs on industrial products.

The directives for the negotiations cover two potential agreements with the U.S.:

In parenthesis percentage consumption of total Russian exports.

1. Netherlands: $43.5 billion (9.7%)
2. Germany: $34.1 billion (7.6%)
3. Poland: $16.5 billion (3.7%)
4. Italy: $16.4 billion (3.7%)
5. Finland: $11.4 billion (2.5%)
6. United Kingdom: $9.8 billion (2.2%)
7. Belgium: $9.2 billion (2%)

Increasing their import purchases from Russia at the fastest pace from 2017 to 2018 were: Germany (up by 120.1%), United Kingdom (up by 73%), Italy (up by 67.3%), and Poland (up by 56.5%).

1. Non à la Turquie dans l’UE.
2. Rétablir des relations équilibrées avec la Russie comme avec les Etats-Unis.
3. Protéger ensemble les frontières extérieures de l’Europe.
4. Rétablir le contrôle aux frontières nationales.
5. Avoir une politique migratoire ferme, refonte du système d’asile, arrêt de l’immigration légale, expulsion des clandestins, priorité nationale pour les aides.
6. Expulser les islamistes étrangers, fermer les mosquées radicales.
7. Abroger la directive sur le travail détaché.

The shadow economy includes the production of goods and services "hidden" intentionally for any of the following reasons:

a) to avoid paying income tax, value added tax and other taxes;

b) to avoid paying contributions to the health system, the social security system etc;

c) to avoid compliance with certain legal labour market standards, such as the mandatory minimum wage per economy, the maximum number of working hours, labour security standards;

A comparative Eurobarometer survey on citizens’ 'perceptions and expectations', conducted for the European Parliament in 2016 and 2018, shows that the share of EU citizens who would like the EU to intervene more in the fight against tax fraud has remained almost unchanged – a marginal fall of one percentage point, from 75 % to 74 %.

Legislative work in the European Parliament’s eighth term ends on 18 April 2019. In other words, 73 days will elapse until 1st July 2019 (date at which the EP’s eighth term ends) without any legislative work. Ongoing negotiations with Member States on legislative proposals have already been suspended. If no agreement was reached Parliament as a whole can vote on its position and close first readings for the next Parliament to continue the work.

Major legislative decisions during the Parliament's 8th term

Trade between Russia and the European Union started to improve in early 2017 despite trade barriers from mutual sanctions introduced almost five years ago. In the first three quarters of 2018, trade turnover between Russia and the EU increased by 21.5 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. Russian exports to the EU countries increased by almost 30 percent while imports are up by 7.4 percent. The trade volume has already exceeded 2014 figures when Western anti-Russia sanctions were introduced.

Author: Igor Delanoë is Deputy Director of the Franco-Russian Observatory in Moscow.

Alphabetical Listing

Nationalist anti-immigration parties plan to join forces following next month’s European Union parliamentary election, looking to create a new bloc to shake up the EU. The group would be called the European Alliance for People and Nations (EAPN) and would draw its members from Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF), Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD), and European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) to involve at least 10 parties from as many nations.