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<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hoc-cr17-viahansard-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="House of Commons, Ctte Room 17" decoding="async" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hoc-cr17-viahansard-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hoc-cr17-viahansard-100x100.png 100w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />A transcript of Ambassador Serrano, and Commissioner Šefčovič’s introductory speech/letter to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly’s 6th meeting. Meta This transcript of Ambassador Serrano, and Commissioner Šefčovič’s speeches/letter to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly’s 6th meeting in the Palace of Westminster was constructed by scraping the transcript from the youtube stream which is the UK’s...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hoc-cr17-viahansard-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="House of Commons, Ctte Room 17" decoding="async" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hoc-cr17-viahansard-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/hoc-cr17-viahansard-100x100.png 100w" sizes="(max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> A transcript of Ambassador Serrano, and Commissioner Šefčovič’s introductory speech/letter to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly’s 6th meeting. Meta This transcript of Ambassador Serrano, and Commissioner Šefčovič’s speeches/letter to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly’s 6th meeting in the Palace of Westminster was constructed by scraping the transcript from the youtube stream which is the UK’s formal record of the meeting. The paragraph formation is mine, and I have converted some of Youtube’s spelling from US to British English and deleted some of Youtube’s double word insertions. Minister Symmonds-Thomas’s speech is hosted on the gov.uk site. I asked Commissioner Šefčovič for a copy of his letter, but his office pointed me at the UK government’s record of the meeting, which it seems is the youtube video. Ambassador Pedro Serrano’s introduction Thank you very much, Madame Co-chair. Mr. Co-chair, dear Minister, for the Constitution, European Union Relations. Dear Nick, what an honour and pleasure to be here with you and with all of you, distinguished members of Parliament. I’m really honoured to be here at the sixth meeting of the EU UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly. I have to start by expressing regrets uh the regrets communicating transmitting to you the regrets of the EU’s co-chair of the partnership council commissioner for trade and inter-institutional relations Marus Sevkovich who is unable to be here with us today in fact he’s addressing EU ministers at the general affairs council as as we speak and he has uh requested me to address the assembly on his behalf before reading out his message. I just want to say how much I agree with the words that have been just spoken by Minister Thomas Simmons, by Nick um on the crucial nature of this relationship, of the turning point that was uh the May 19th summit of of of this year, of the fact that we are facing common challenges in Europe and we have to respond by joining forces the with the UK and the European Union joining forces and we will have a stronger uh Europe and indeed we have a very ambitious agenda, an agenda on prosperity, on security, on defense, people-to-people contact. And this is what we’re trying to and we’re carrying out uh as as we speak with negotiations on quite a few of the elements that we’re agreed May advancing and and more to come. But if you allow me now, I will read out the speech that um Commissioner Sefkovic would have delivered uh to you. Maros Sefkovic’s letter, as read Um to begin I would like to thank the previous speaker uh Minister Thomas Simmons who has provided the UK perspective on the state of play of EU UK relations. With my address I hope to add to these remarks by providing the perspective from Brussels. I recall the assembly’s recommendation from its last meeting in March which was to strengthen EU UK partnership. We can note appreciable progress in this direction since then, not least with the first EU UK summit at leaders level here in London on 19th May. My remarks on EU UK relations are divided in two parts. First, I will provide an overview of the implementation of the agreement underlying EUK relations and second, I will speak to our common understanding for the future of our relationship. Honourable chairs, honourable members, firstly about the existing agreements. Both sides have reaffirmed their commitment to the full timely and faithful implementation of these agreements. This matters and needs to be reflected in concrete results. On the withdrawal agreement, there are a few points which I wish to highlight today. First on citizens right and on a personal note here I do want to also express gratitude to Minister Thomas Simmons also for his personal engagement on all issues but on this issue also very very specifically. EU citizens and UK nationals must enjoy in full the rights set out in the withdrawal agreement. While cooperation in this area remains constructive, there still remain 1.5 million EU citizens who need to transition from presettled to settled status in the UK. So, our attention is needed here. While the overall cooperation remains a constructive, systemic issues persist and our UK counterparts have heard our concerns, and we trust they will be addressing them. Second, the Windsor framework. Progress in implementation has been made across many areas with vast flexibilities rolled out for the benefit of people and businesses in Northern Ireland in the areas of agri food, medicines, customs, trade, VAT, and excise to only quote a few. The framework, however, represents a careful balance between flexibilities and safeguards. The latter are essential for the protection of the EU single market while avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland. A lot of work has been done but more remains to be done by the United Kingdom to deliver in full the safeguards, not least in the areas of customs and Sanitary and Phytosanitarymeasures. with respect to an EUK agreement um Gibralt uh I’m sorry with respect to an EUK agreement on Gibraltar we’re working very hard in order to finalize the legal text after the political agreement reached in June. Turning now to the trade and cooperation agreement. We continue to assess this agreement as serving our interests well. Thanks to the TCA, we cooperate with our UK partners in many policy areas, ranging from trade through energy and fisheries to law enforcement and union programs. At the same time, we can acknowledge that not all of our discussions are easy. For example, the Commission has been engaging with our counterparts on the UK decisions related to the closure of waters where sand-eel are fished. Another example where the EU and the UK must engage constructively is the Commission’s recently proposed steel measure. This measure seeks to tackle the negative trade related effects of overcapacity on the EU steel market. This measure will have an impact on our major steel trading partners including the United Kingdom. At the same time, the commission’s proposed measure foresees a similar regime to the current one as regards the trade flows of UK originated steel from originating steel from Great Britain to Northern Ireland in line with the Windsor framework commitments and solutions. We have engaged with the UK authorities with the United Kingdom authorities on those issues and in particular why excluding the United Kingdom from its scope was not possible. We will have the possibility to discuss the specifics of the country allocation of quotas and per category in our bilateral engagements. Moving now to the renewed agenda. It is a little less than six months since our leaders met at the first ever EU UK summit in London. It marked a new chapter in EUK relations. Our joint ambition to deepen the relationship was agreed and set out in the common understanding adopted at the summit. We are working hard to deliver on our objectives. Within one month of the summit, we formalized our political agreements on fisheries and energy, providing predictability for our fishermen, women, and continuously extending energy cooperation. We are now ready to start negotiations with United Kingdom for a Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement and an agreement on linking the Union’s and the United Kingdom’s emission trading schemes. Discussions on all other issues have also started, notably security and defence, the UK’s association to Erasmus Plus, youth mobility, electricity, law enforcement and judicial uh cooperation, and irregular migration. In particular, the following developments are worth mentioning. The negotiations with the United Kingdom on the conditions for its participation in the SAFE instrument are at a critical phase. We would need to find an agreement particularly in relation to financial contribution before the end of November deadline for the submission of national plans. In order to strengthen our people-to-people contacts, a key commitment of the renewed agenda, we are in active negotiations for a youth experience scheme. Our joint aim is to give our young people opportunities including for cultural, creative and educational exchanges. In her September remarks advocating an ambitious scheme, Chancellor Reeves said that she wanted young people to have the same opportunities to come to the United Kingdom as her generation had to travel in Europe. We are in full agreement. We have seen also a drop in the number of EU students studying in the UK by 57% in 2023-2024 as a consequence of Brexit. We think this is unfortunate and we would like to tackle the root causes of this problem. We are also working hard to reach an agreement on UK participation in Erasmus Plus. This issue cannot be looked at through a financial lens only. We believe in the importance of this program for building bridges between our people and building on the things that we have in common as Europeans. As President Von der Leyen has stressed, Erasmus Plus is key for creating a better understanding of each other. We truly hope that we will be able to find solutions. Believing that close cooperation on electricity is in both the EU and the UK’s interests, we are exploring with the United Kingdom the parameters for the UK’s possible participation in the EU’s internal electricity market. Of course, such participation would require respecting the integrity of the internal market and ensuring a genuine level playing field. Furthermore, we’re deepening our cooperation across wider security issues, irregular migration, law enforcement, and judicial cooperation. We will continue our efforts to implement this renewed agenda in a manner which ensures a balanced outcome for the eur European Union. Honourable chairs, honourable members, minister, we are convinced that a stable and positive relationship between the EU and the United Kingdom based on our existing agreements is in our mutual interest. The common understanding shows that we can inject dynamism into the relationship in identifying new areas for cooperation in our mutual interest. I have no doubt that this partnership assembly will continue to play a key role in promoting and facilitating mutual understanding in the EU UK relationship. I look forward to hearing your views and be pleased to answer questions you may have. Thank you very much. [Applause]
UK & EU’s SAFE (Defence) funding programme
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/snmg1-1021x580-viaNATO-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="NATO warships at sea, CC NATO BY" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/snmg1-1021x580-viaNATO-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/snmg1-1021x580-viaNATO-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />I wrote a piece on the Starmer Administration walking away from the EU’s defence funding programme. Here are the links, I used and didn’t. … Links What I can’t understand is whether, under SAFE the UK might have used EU funds to buy Archer or Boxer, or even pay for part of the AJAX or...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/snmg1-1021x580-viaNATO-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="NATO warships at sea, CC NATO BY" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/snmg1-1021x580-viaNATO-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/snmg1-1021x580-viaNATO-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> I wrote a piece on the Starmer Administration walking away from the EU’s defence funding programme. Here are the links, I used and didn’t. … Links The EU reports that, EU and UK conclude security and defence partnership mostly used for the picture. The EU version of the “Reset Communique” EU-UK summit-2025-outcome-documents Minister Nick Thomas Symond’s speech at the UK-EU parliamentary partnership assembly plenary, 17-November The Commission on SAFE funding, i.e. by ECB bonfs UK excluded from €150bn EU defence deal from EuroWeekly News. What I can’t understand is whether, under SAFE the UK might have used EU funds to buy Archer or Boxer, or even pay for part of the AJAX or Challenger 3 programmes, since all these army vehicles either have EU member state components or are sourced from EU member states. Image Credit (c) NATO, used under CC NATO BY
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/siliconchip-lauraockel-unsplash-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="silicon chips, in wafer form" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/siliconchip-lauraockel-unsplash-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/siliconchip-lauraockel-unsplash-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />There’s probably a joke about British and American use of the word chips here, but in this article we are talking about silicon chips. Here is some stats I took 1½ years ago on which countries make them, taken from Wikipedia. The spreadsheet hosting this table, and my version of the data is on my...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/siliconchip-lauraockel-unsplash-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="silicon chips, in wafer form" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/siliconchip-lauraockel-unsplash-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/siliconchip-lauraockel-unsplash-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> There’s probably a joke about British and American use of the word chips here, but in this article we are talking about silicon chips. Here is some stats I took 1½ years ago on which countries make them, taken from Wikipedia. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="650" height="524" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Chips-by-Country-2023.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13557" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Chips-by-Country-2023.png 650w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/Chips-by-Country-2023-300x242.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px" /> Chips by Country, 2023 via Wikipedia The spreadsheet hosting this table, and my version of the data is on my [google] share drive.
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/graduatingstudents-rutmiit-unsplashw1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="Students in gowns and mortarboards" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/graduatingstudents-rutmiit-unsplashw1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/graduatingstudents-rutmiit-unsplashw1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />There is a Commons Education Select Committee Inquiry going on into University Funding, with hearings held at the beginning of the week. On the Tuesday 25th, they took oral evidence including that from Susan Lapworth, the CEO of the Office for students, who stated that 50 institutions were [financially] vulnerable with 24 at risk of...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/graduatingstudents-rutmiit-unsplashw1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="Students in gowns and mortarboards" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/graduatingstudents-rutmiit-unsplashw1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/graduatingstudents-rutmiit-unsplashw1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> There is a Commons Education Select Committee Inquiry going on into University Funding, with hearings held at the beginning of the week. On the Tuesday 25th, they took oral evidence including that from Susan Lapworth, the CEO of the Office for students, who stated that 50 institutions were [financially] vulnerable with 24 at risk of imminent, if orderly failure. Links The Select Committee home page at Parliament The Hearing on the 25th Nov on youtube Comment The Government seems to ignore that modern growth theory suggests that GDP growth is dependent on Human Capital and that the current funding scheme discourages citizens and residents from going to University. Our University system is being funded by overseas students, and many of the postgraduate places and research posts are filled by overseas students and workers and many EU researchers have gone home because of Brexit.
And yet there’s more, the Labour Government and immigration.
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/borderforce-at-sea-gov_uk-OGL-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a border force patrol boat at sea" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/borderforce-at-sea-gov_uk-OGL-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/borderforce-at-sea-gov_uk-OGL-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Shabana Mahmood trailed and then announced even more appalling restrictions on asylum seekers. The Govt announcement entitled, “Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy” is on the web. Freemovement,org respond with this article, ‘Home Secretary announces major asylum and other changes in new policy paper: “Restoring Order and Control”’....
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/borderforce-at-sea-gov_uk-OGL-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a border force patrol boat at sea" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/borderforce-at-sea-gov_uk-OGL-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/borderforce-at-sea-gov_uk-OGL-100x100.png 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> Shabana Mahmood trailed and then announced even more appalling restrictions on asylum seekers. The Govt announcement entitled, “Restoring Order and Control: A statement on the government’s asylum and returns policy” is on the web. Freemovement,org respond with this article, ‘Home Secretary announces major asylum and other changes in new policy paper: “Restoring Order and Control”’. Momentum in an email circulated a model motion which I reposted in a blog article. Immigration based on compassion and dignity The New Statesman is tracking those Labour MPs who object.
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/waves-jeremybishop-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a breaking wave" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/waves-jeremybishop-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/waves-jeremybishop-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />The EU is rolling back some of its corporate regulatory measures in the areas of sustainability reporting, and coming soon, simplifications in the digital economy laws. Here are some notes and links … Links
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/waves-jeremybishop-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="a breaking wave" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/waves-jeremybishop-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/waves-jeremybishop-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> The EU is rolling back some of its corporate regulatory measures in the areas of sustainability reporting, and coming soon, simplifications in the digital economy laws. Here are some notes and links … Links https://finance.ec.europa.eu/news/omnibus-package-2025-04-01_en, a press release, they say, On 26 February 2025, the European Commission adopted a simplification package. It covers a number of legislative areas, including sustainable finance rules, carbon border adjustment mechanism and investment with the aim of simplifying EU rules,… The simplification link above points at Omnibus I package – Commission simplifies rules on sustainability and EU investments, delivering over €6 billion in administrative relief which describes itself as a proposal. An early look at the European Commission’s proposed digital law reforms by the IAPP, most importantly, in my eyes, a get out of responding to DSARs if supplementing an employment tribunal, defining AI training as a legitimate interest (PTUI) and weakening the prohibition on automated decision making.
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/db-bernddittrich-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="German station with iCE train" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/db-bernddittrich-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/db-bernddittrich-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />I may have missed an opportunity in September, here is the DB railway map, I should have travelled from Stralsund to Lubeck via Rostock …
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/db-bernddittrich-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="German station with iCE train" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/db-bernddittrich-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/db-bernddittrich-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> I may have missed an opportunity in September, here is the DB railway map, I should have travelled from Stralsund to Lubeck via Rostock … <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="724" height="1024" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways-724x1024.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13409" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways-724x1024.png 724w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways-212x300.png 212w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways-768x1087.png 768w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways-1086x1536.png 1086w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways-1447x2048.png 1447w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/DB-Railways.png 1653w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 724px) 100vw, 724px" />
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/berlaymont-guillaumeperigois-unsplash-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="the flag rank outside the Berlaymont building" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/berlaymont-guillaumeperigois-unsplash-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/berlaymont-guillaumeperigois-unsplash-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />Oops, missed this, … published on the 21st October, this article was made on 5th November and is unfinished. A summary of the defence & security programmes and the social cohesion programmes would be useful. Links VDL’s State of the Union speech, landing page which hosts the video, and text. This page has a series...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/berlaymont-guillaumeperigois-unsplash-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="the flag rank outside the Berlaymont building" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/berlaymont-guillaumeperigois-unsplash-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/berlaymont-guillaumeperigois-unsplash-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> Oops, missed this, … published on the 21st October, this article was made on 5th November and is unfinished. A summary of the defence & security programmes and the social cohesion programmes would be useful. Links VDL’s State of the Union speech, landing page which hosts the video, and text. This page has a series of categorises bullet summaries, competitiveness (6), defence and security (5), social fairness (6), quality of life (5), democracy (5) includes anti-corruption, and a global Europe aka trade and peace (3). The Commission Work Plan, has a landing page, and they have published the workplan which has a supplementary documents’ index. I made a diigo post of the work plan, highlighting and commenting on it. Davelevy’s Favorite Links from Diigo EU Institutional Workplan 2026 on November 5, 2025 at 4:11 pm “COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS aka the EU Work Plan 26. “In a world of imperial ambitions and imperial wars, a world in which […] What do I think? This would be better organised as the Commission has organised the plan, competitiveness (6), defence and security (5), social fairness (6), quality of life (5), democracy (5) includes anti-corruption, and a global Europe aka trade and peace (3). Democracy On democracy, few +ive promises, and nothing on citizen’s assemblies nor the ECI. Although the democracy shield remains in place and will be progressed, unless the EU caves to Trump’s demands. On agriculture, there’s no promises (again) on responding to the “End the cage age” ECI. On anti-corruption, there is cross party unanimity on its importance, although the ECR and others oppose the imposition of democratic conditionality on the release of EU funds. This needs a statement on their media reform plans, it’s unlikey that they will make significant legislative constraints on privately [billionaire] owned media organisations. See also Digital market regulation in the EU includes the Democracy Shield and some brief comments on the Media Freedom Act. Single Market The omnibus regulation and the 28th regime. The omnibus package is described on its EU page. Is this just minimising regulation and rules? However the Commission is reducing protections under the GDPR as part of the omnibus regulation and is also weakening the EU’s environmental protection. The latest news on climate change and COP is reported at E3G. (5/11/2025). The 28th regime is the origination of a common commercial law regime; this may be the means by which genuine pan-European companies can be regulated by a common code. It might also be a trojan in which EU entities can be created but probably not as the Commission are with drawing its current proposals as the Council i.e the member states will not agree the current proposals. The work plan makes further reference to The Draghi report on EU competitiveness. I may need to read this. This seems to have been supplemented by Enrico Letta’s Report on the Future of the Single Market The Middle East The work plan does mention the middle east, but the words used underline the failure to agree on the big questions. It says, … the immediate priority in Gaza is to ensure sufficient humanitarian aid reaches the population, the EU will also contribute by providing support for the governance and reform of the Palestinian Authority and funding reconstruction, including through convening the Palestine Donor Group and by strengthening the presence of its EU CSDP missions. See also https://davelevy.info/wiki/my-eu-start-page/ which points to other EU resources on this wiki.
What are the politics of the EU Commission?
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="the berlaymont building" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-100x100.png 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-45x45.png 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />This explains a lot. This is a chart of the EU commissioners by political party, I made this today and it includes a few judgements. The EPP have a voting majority on the Commission. In addition, there is a creeping Presidentialisation of European politics which in my opinion concedes too much power to the singular...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="the berlaymont building" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-100x100.png 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/berlaymont-dfl-2023-cropped-45x45.png 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> This explains a lot. This is a chart of the EU commissioners by political party, I made this today and it includes a few judgements. The EPP have a voting majority on the Commission. In addition, there is a creeping Presidentialisation of European politics which in my opinion concedes too much power to the singular leader of political authorities. <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="752" height="479" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Commissioners-Party-Chart-25.png" alt="" class="wp-image-13395" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Commissioners-Party-Chart-25.png 752w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Commissioners-Party-Chart-25-300x191.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 752px) 100vw, 752px" /> I made this using google for facts, and excel as the chart drawing tool, it includes my judgements in one or two cases. Please feel free to use, a credit would be nice. Von Der Leyen was confirmed as President of the Commission by a centre left alliance consisiting of pro-EU parties; these things are done as a deal, which impacts the selection of the President of the Council, and the Parliament. [Ref} In November 2026, a couple of things are playing out, https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-wins-no-confidence-vote/ But https://www.euractiv.com/news/far-right-offers-metsola-third-term-in-exchange-for-more-power/ & https://www.ceps.eu/this-weeks-motion-of-censure-in-the-european-parliament-was-a-proxy-war/ , the latter article says, This week’s motion of censure against President Ursula von der Leyen’s Commission was not about vaccines but rather a proxy war over the emerging centre-to-far-right alliances in the European Parliament (EP), with the far right exploiting the tool to destabilise and divide. Many MEPs —particularly from the centre left— also opted to abstain to signal their discontent without formally breaking ranks. Overall, the debacle reflects a deepening rift between the EPP and the S&D, Renew and the Greens, signalling a new, increasingly polarised, even hostile, dynamic within the EP. But it also reveals a deeper unease with von der Leyen’s leadership style – never have so many MEPs withheld their support from a Commission President in such a visible way. The vote on the omnibus bill, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20251106IPR31296/sustainability-reporting-and-due-diligence-meps-back-simplification-changes from the EP, represents a further coalescence of the rightward shift of the EPP, led of course by the German CDU. [I need a political commentary, it seems I did not forward them to diigo.]
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/windmills-annajimenezcalaf-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="modern windmills in a purple sunset/rise" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/windmills-annajimenezcalaf-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/windmills-annajimenezcalaf-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />What is this? How will it help the cost-of-living crisis? … LInks
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/windmills-annajimenezcalaf-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="modern windmills in a purple sunset/rise" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/windmills-annajimenezcalaf-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/windmills-annajimenezcalaf-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> What is this? How will it help the cost-of-living crisis? … LInks Great british energy founding statement at gov.uk What-we-will-do at GBE GB Energy From pledge to reality a commentary by Public First
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-100x100.png 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-45x45.png 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />A new law, good or bad? This article is a bit better now. is nowhere near finished, come back later. Links Copyright The creative industry or at least its superstars kicked off on the issue of AI training and copyright. They lost it seems, this is covered in the article linked below. UK passes updated...
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-150x150.png" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-150x150.png 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-100x100.png 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/files-absolutevision-unsplash-w1280-45x45.png 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> A new law, good or bad? This article is a bit better now. is nowhere near finished, come back later. Links The text of the legislation @ legislation.gov.uk The Data Use and Access Act 2025 (DUAA) – what does it mean for organisations by the ICO, published prior to final passage. What the House of Commons briefing had to say. Briefing: The Data Use and Access Bill (Second Reading) by the Open Rights Group, the had an unfounded fear that the UK might lose its adequacy ruling, because the law planned to weaken protection from automated decision making and for use by AI. It reduces the threshold protecting personal data from law enforcement enquiries. They also argue that it weakens the safeguarding requirements with respect to personal information. They also oppose the introduction of Henry VIII powers. (Much of the criticism is based on a fear that the UK would lose its adequacy ruling, which it did not. See below.) The weakening of the requirement to not automatically process/profile people is a serious criticism which could have been met if they’d wanted to.) They also publish the narrower briefings on use for political purposes & DUAB and AI harms Copyright The creative industry or at least its superstars kicked off on the issue of AI training and copyright. They lost it seems, this is covered in the article linked below. UK passes updated data bill without AI copyright provisions by coingeek, who also highlight that there are key updates in the bill include expanding the scope for data processing under ‘Legitimate Interests,’ such as for direct marketing and security processing, reducing interruptive and ineffective cookie consent banners, and provisions to boost market research, product development, and technological innovation. However, one key change the bill doesn’t include is a much-debated amendment to force big tech firms and artificial intelligence (AI) companies to get permission and/or pay for U.K. content, as the government insisted that it was planning to address this topic in future AI and copyright legislation—after the conclusion of a consultation on the topic in February. Adequacy The renewal of the UK adequacy decision is documented in the list below, although it is a long process, which has now gone through the first two (of five) stages. 3/11/2025. See The European Commission proposes UK adequacy deadline extension by the IAPP, an interim measure to give themselves another 6 months to make their mind up, in light of the UK’s proposed reforms. Pinsent Mason report on the Commission’s draft decision to renew the UK’s data protection adequacy The Commission’s Adequacy decisions page from the Commission, details the renewal process, does not yet have the most recent decisions to renew/extend the UK’s adequacy decisions. The text of the Commission decisions from the Commission. (I have not read this). The EDPB has given its opinion and asks the Commission to consider aspects of DUAB. These include the Henry VIII powers as they relate to “.. to international transfers, automated decision-making, and the governance of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The EDPB invites the Commission to address possible risks of divergence by highlighting, in the final adequacy decision,” On the ICO I asked Gemini, Does duaa change the governance of the ICO? It answered yes, I may be most interested in “The ICO will be reformed and replaced by a new corporate body called the Information Commission (IC). This replaces the previous single-Commissioner model (a corporation sole). And the IC will be governed by a board, which will include a mix of executive and non-executive members. This is intended to bring the regulator’s structure more in line with other major UK regulators like the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The deadline to apply for non-execs has closed. They don’t muck around. The job advert has some interesting statements about role and experience, They want people with regulatory experience. The current IC is the new Chairman of the Board, John Edwards biography. comment Monica & Graham seem silent on this other links Davelevy’s Favorite Links from Diigo Data Use and Access Bill will fail to protect public from AI harms | Open Rights Group on September 2, 2025 at 7:40 pm “The Data Use and Access Bill will fail to protect the public from harmful uses of artificial intelligence, say digital rights campaigners, Open Rights Group. The Bill, published today, rehashes many of the provisions in the previous government’s controversial Data Protection and Digital Information Bill, which was ditched in wash-up prior to the General Election. Annotations: The Data Use and Access Bill weakens our rights and gives companies and organisations more powers to use automated decisions. This is of particular concern in areas of policing, welfare and immigration where life-changing decisions could be made without human review. Tags: technology regulation duab duaa openrightsgroup European Commission should rescind UK data adequacy | Computer Weekly on June 16, 2025 at 2:46 pm Seven civil society organisations are calling on European Commissioner Michael McGrath to rescind the UK’s data adequacy status, citing major concerns around the country’s ongoing erosion of privacy and data rights. Annotations: Commenting on the DUAB proposals – which “would represent a systematic weakening of privacy and data protection safeguards” – the civil society groups noted the bill will diminish the right not to be subject to automated decision-making; delegate “extensive” legislative power to UK ministers that would allow them to circumvent Parliamentary scrutiny when making decisions around the legality of data processing or transfers; and otherwise grant government and law enforcement agencies “expansive access” to personal data. Tags: politics europeanunion gdpr adequacy article22 duab
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-45x45.jpg 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" />This post talks about scripting on raspbian. I have two problems, cron and privilege and running a java script … cron & privilege My script, run_aptjob requires sudo authentication and so asks for it from the gui when run from crontab despite being defined in the root crontab file and called using the sudo command....
<img width="150" height="150" src="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" srcset="https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-150x150.jpg 150w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-100x100.jpg 100w, https://davelevy.info/wiki/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/code-pankajpatel-unsplash-w1080-45x45.jpg 45w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px" /> This post talks about scripting on raspbian. I have two problems, cron and privilege and running a java script … cron & privilege My script, run_aptjob requires sudo authentication and so asks for it from the gui when run from crontab despite being defined in the root crontab file and called using the sudo command. See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/60754639/sudo-asks-for-password-in-cronjob-script-but-the-same-script-works-without-passw And https://askubuntu.com/questions/419548/how-to-set-up-a-root-cron-job-properly https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=296993 https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/57835/why-my-script-is-not-executed-with-root-privileges-using-crontab https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/32955/cron-job-doesnt-work-but-runs-successfully-manually, looks like a syntax error java I can’t get the script to run from a batch file, I need to set DISPLAY and pass the -input parameter to the command line. It was working but now isn’t. export DISPLAY=:10.0 java -jar /opt/java/ksar-latest -input ${YESTERDAY} This code works from the command line where $YESTERDAY is yesterday’s SAR text file. Does DISPLAY need to be passed over using the -D flag? Otherwise, I found these, https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/226008/how-to-pass-arguments-to-a-java-process-from-within-a-shell-script https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8123058/passing-on-command-line-arguments-to-runnable-jar how to get a .jar to display its options, usually java -jar ${jarfile} –help should work, it did for me. This on duckduckgo gave a number of options