Ursula von der Leyen graces the cover of this issue, our final before the summer break, as the European Commission President looks to galvanise the support of EU heads of state and Government behind her revised EU budget and Coronavirus recovery plan. Ahead of this week’s special summit of EU leaders in Brussels on 17-18 July, she argues, in an exclusive article for The Parliament Magazine, that, “Europe’s citizens have high expectations, and rightly so. This is the moment to meet their expectations - with a strong budget, with the Next Generation EU recovery instrument and with sustained leadership in the world. This is Europe’s moment.”
Our main focus this issue is 5G technology. Featuring comment and viewpoints by MEPs from across the Parliament’s groups, including Josianne Cutajar who explains why she believes 5G will usher in a fourth industrial age, Axel Voss meanwhile calls for 5G to be ‘made in Europe’, Kris Peeters weighs the risks that the technology poses to society, and Nicolás González Casares urges the EU to claim its place in the 5G development and roll out race.
We also bring you a feature on sustainable shipping, where rapporteur Jutta Paulus and shadow rapporteur Pernille Weiss put forward their arguments around decarbonising the maritime sector, while European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean sets out her vision of Europe’s course for the industry.
We also have MEP contributions from Eero Heinäluoma, who looks at how the EU can better address money laundering and combat terrorism financing, Clara Aguilera discusses reform of the EU’s fisheries control system and Grace O’Sullivan tells us what’s at stake for Europe’s fishing industry amid ongoing Brexit talks. Jens Geier meanwhile argues the case that carbon capture, storage and utilisation technologies can play a key role in Europe’s decarbonisation transition – but warns that they are not the solution to greening Europe’s future energy needs.
Elsewhere, Europol Executive Director Catherine de Bolle explains why a European strategy is the best way to fight online child sex abuse, and Rajnish Singh interviews US Ambassador to the EU, Ronald Gidwitz, who argues that the transatlantic partnership remains strong despite recent differences. Lorna Hutchinson reports on the European Parliamentary Forum’s recent webinar on attacks against sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and Martin Banks speaks to Scottish minister Michael Russel, who puts forward his argument for Scotland being in the EU.
We also review Vinyl Plus’ latest progress report on how they are driving recycling efforts in the recycling industry, as well as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts’ (ECMWF) latest state of the climate report.
Finally, answering our five questions this issue is French Renew Europe deputy Pierre Karleskind.