State of the Union: Decisions on climate, transparency and migration
Stefan Grobe
Switzerland is a country we rarely talk about on this show.
The Confederacy is not a member of the EU, but it ranks highest in the politically stable, well-governed and with high ethical standards metrics. It also appears among the top ve nations in the Sustainable Future ranking.
That last reputation, though, took a heavy blow this week.
The European Court of Human
Rights ruled that Swiss authorities are responsible for not implementing e cient climate policies and thus violating the right to life of its people.
The judgment doesn’t include any sanctions but sets an important precedent that will likely reverberate across future lawsuits.
The reaction of the Swiss government was rather meek.
“Sustainability is very important for Switzerland," said Swiss Federal President Viola Amherd.
"Biodiversity is very important for Switzerland. For Switzerland, the net zero target is very important. We are working on it and will continue to do so with all our strength in the future. This ruling doesn't change that.”
The ruling of the Court is binding, meaning Switzerland must act. If Bern does, it would add enormous credibility to the democratic system.
Gaining democratic credibility was also on the EU agenda this week.
To ensure transparency and fairness in the upcoming European elections, almost all political groups in the Parliament signed a code of conduct.
The signatories especially pledged not to produce, use or disseminate misleading content, generated for example by arti cial intelligence.
Brussels praised the code of conduct as an important means to ght against the high level of public distrust in the European institutions.
"Something is rotten in Brussels. I heard it from many places," said EU Commission Vice President Věra Jourová.
"We have to proactively do something against this feeling of people that, well, it makes no sense to go to elect because the system is dirty. The system is not dirty."
And right on cue the system showed that it can produce meaningful results.
After years of negotiations, the European Parliament adopted the new EU Migration and Asylum Pact.
A series of laws designed to streamline migration policy and x the current status quo.
Yet, the compromise is not appreciated everywhere.
Some wanted even tougher rules, others worry about the respect of human rights of migrants and their families.
To discuss this, we invited Eve Geddie, Head of the European Institutions O ce of Amnesty International and Director of Advocacy.
Euronews: So, Amnesty has