Politico: Brussels goes to war against plastic garbage

The Commission certainly is. The strategy includes new requirements to design products that are recyclable, and EU-wide quality standards for plastic waste, which can then be more easily plugged back into the production chain. It will also encourage producers to use as much recycled material as possible. To help, Brussels will spend €100 million a year on plastics recycling and clean-up research.

A surprise proposal last week by Budget Commissioner Günther Oettinger to bring in a plastic tax — aimed both at shoring up the bloc’s finances after Brexit and making it more expensive to litter and widely resisted by industry and some NGOs — managed to get a mention in the strategy. [...]

The Commission also focused on seas, where each year between 150,000 and 500,000 tons of plastic waste enters the oceans. The strategy calls marine litter — debris from items such as plastic products and abandoned fishing gear — a “visible and alarming” sign of the problem of waste.

The EU also wants to crack down on microplastics — minuscule bits of plastic less than 5 millimeters in size. Brussels is considering a ban on intentionally added microplastics found in cosmetics, body washes and paints. It also wants to carry out more research into unintentional microplastics, like the rubber worn off tires.

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Politico: Macron ♥ Vestager

There is  a stumbling bloc: She’s a member of the Liberals, languishing in fourth place behind two center-right and the main center-left political families in terms of size and support. The backing of a French president — even one whose approval ratings have gone through the floor — could provide a major boost to the Liberals, however. [...]

The current Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, announced last year that he would not seek a second mandate when his term ends in 2019. And Vestager, who has been dubbed the “most powerful woman in the EU,” would be in a good position to replace him, and is believed to be interested in the job. However, she would likely face competition from fellow Commissioners Jyrki Katainen and Pierre Moscovici as well as Michel Barnier, the EU’s lead Brexit negotiator. [...]

The liberal ALDE group to which Vestager belongs is the fourth force in the European Parliament and the party has eight EU leaders in its ranks, including Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Xavier Bettel from Luxembourg and now Andrej Babiš in the Czech Republic. If Macron joins the Liberals, they would leapfrog the Socialists to become the second largest group in the Council. [...]

According to EU lore, an aspiring president of the European Commission is said to need three qualities. First they must have been a member of the European Council — a head of state or government. Second, they must come from a country that is a member of the eurozone. Third, they must not have been around long enough to have made enemies in national capitals.

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