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News & Opinions

  • Why now is the time to overcommunicate

    March 1, 2021

    It was June 2016. I was sitting in a room in Brussels and I was listening to a communications professional talk about his organisation’s target audience. That was the first time I heard the term ‘Brussels Bubble’. I soon discovered it was a term used to refer to all professionals employed directly or indirectly by the business of running the European Union in Brussels, and thus a select group of 40,000 very influential decision makers...

  • The EU’s Digital Services Package: An Attempt to Reshape the Digital Platform Economy

    February 16, 2021

    After several years of intense debates, the European Commission recently released its legislative overhaul of the EU digital rulebook. This includes the two flagship initiatives on content moderation and competition in the digital economy. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) will have far-reaching consequences on digital markets and online platforms. The question remains how far. The EU’s approach includes some of the most stringent legislative changes ever seen since the adoption...

  • 2021 – the year of the vaccine

    January 12, 2021

    New Year’s Eve, 2020 marked a full-year since the first case of SARS-CoV-2 was reported to the World Health Organisation China Office. What unfolded next shocked the world to its core as our global economy was brought to its knees and human resilience was pushed to its limits. Within the first three months of 2020, over 100 countries worldwide had instituted restrictions in a bid to stop the spread of the virus, affecting the majority...

  • The EU’s chemicals strategy for sustainability

    November 3, 2020

    The EU’s chemicals strategy for sustainability towards a toxic-free environment presented by the European Commission on 14 October 2020 is a flagship initiative under the European Green Deal. It sets out a response to today’s chemicals management challenges which is as groundbreaking as the introduction of the REACH and CLP Regulations was more than a decade ago. The Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability aims to simplify and strengthen the regulatory framework on chemicals to further increase the...

  • What’s going to be in the Better Regulation Communication?

    October 26, 2020

    The Ursula von der Leyen Commission will soon set out how it intends to improve on the EU's Better Regulation agenda. The Communication on Better Regulation led by Maroš Šefčovič, the Commissioner for Interinstitutional Relations, is now scheduled to be adopted on 24 November by the College of Commissioners. Here are a few things to watch out for next month as Mr Šefčovič presents the Communication: How will the ‘one-in, one out’ principle work? As...

  • The EU Sustainable Product Policy Initiative

    October 19, 2020

    The EU is set to fundamentally revamp EU product policy as a part of the EU Green Deal and the new Circular Economy Action Plan in the forthcoming Sustainable Product Policy Initiative. With the Sustainable Product Policy Initiative, the European Commission wants 'green products to become the norm'. It recently launched a consultation on the Initiative's roadmap. The aim is to publish a legislative proposal in the fourth quarter of 2021. The FleishmanHillard EU Roundtable...

  • Safety as a goal: five principles of public policy responses to risks

    September 21, 2020

    Whether responding to a global pandemic or hazardous chemicals, the fundamental policy goal is essentially the same: maximise safety/minimise risks. This policy goal may sound simple, but it is far from straightforward how to maximise safety. Something the wide array of different policies around the world in response to Covid-19 have shown. So, here are a few principles which I have found to help my understanding of public policy responses to risks from working with...

  • Introducing: Mette Analysis | September 2020

    September 4, 2020

    A warm welcome to the inaugural Mette Analysis. As European policymakers return from the summer break, our General Manager, Mette Grolleman, looks ahead at the challenges which the EU faces for the remainder of 2020 and the beginning of 2021. The resignation of the Irish European commissioner Phil Hogan ,also know as 'Big Phil', may have a significant impact on the way the EU conducts negotiations in the future.   Furthermore, there are concerns regarding the...

  • #RightByHer Campaign: Supporting Women’s Rights in Africa

    August 18, 2020

    Earlier this year, the German NGO Deutsche Stiftung Weltbevölkerung (DSW) approached our Brussels office for a new video project. After the #TrumpetHealth video campaign, they wanted us to help raise awareness on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) issues for women in Africa. In other words, DSW wanted to convince EU legislators to insist on strong SRHR language and provisions in the EU-Africa partnership that we expect to see renewed and strengthened later this...

  • FleishmanHillard Brussels launches FH2050 climate and sustainability practice

    June 30, 2020

    With the launch of its FH2050 climate and sustainability practice, FleishmanHillard Brussels strengthens its offer in the sustainability space. This will help organisations navigate, communicate and engage with the green recovery. Climate change and sustainability have long been significant drivers of European public policy. Now for the first time, the Sustainable Development Goals are mainstreamed into EU policies and initiatives. The COVID-19 crisis has only served to catalyse Europe’s ambition, and focus minds on the...

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