MIDDAY BRIEF, IN BRIEF

Today at Commission, Timmermans talks, Vestager in action

First vice president unveils migration assessment reports.

As Wednesday is the day that the college of commissioners meets, an actual commissioner usually appears at the podium. Today, it was none other than First Vice President Frans Timmermans.

Timmermans presented the latest assessment report on EU migration policy, and slapped down national governments. “If some believed you can have a sustainable migration policy by border controls, or countries of origins […] they are misguided,” he said in reference to governments who had voted for exactly that system of controls at a meeting yesterday.

But this is Frans Timmermans, the master of tough speech, followed by … not much action.

While Timmermans pushed EU countries to speed up the relocation of refugees from the Greek islands, he is still not ready to launch legal action against governments for failing to meet their refugee hosting obligations.

Sometimes, even the tough speech is lacking. Timmermans declined to comment on a Hungarian government plan to change its asylum legislation, but insisted the Commission will “maintain international and EU standards in terms of protection of asylum-seekers.”

Given everything we know about the state of European migration policy implementation, he is likely to need legal action for that.

The Commission also discussed “thoroughly” what to do about Chinese solar panels being dumped onto the EU market. The Commission will extend the measures, and recommend phasing them out over 18 months. It will be up to EU countries to agree on the phase-out.

Vestager’s three-ring circus

Just before the Midday briefing, European commissioner for competition Margrethe Vestager announced a €68 million fine against three recycling firms for taking part in an international cartel fixing the price of scrap automotive batteries. Read more here on POLITICO Pro.

Speaking to reporters after the read-out of the decision, Vestager said the Commission will announce her decision on four important mergers in April; between LSE and Deutsche Boerse, Bayer and Monsanto, Syngenta and ChemChina, and DuPont and Dow Chemical.

Vestager is also busy cultivating her wider political credentials, for what many suspect is a run to be the liberal candidate for European Commission president in 2019. Next stop on her tour is an event called “Wednesday Social Brussels” to be held on March 8. Invitations went out today. Vestager will speak on “A European Society of Fairness and Equal Opportunities.”

Click Here: Maori All Blacks Store