Vulcan View: The latest EU developments 10 November – 14 November

Commissioner McGrath rolls out his “Democracy Shield”

On Wednesday (12 November), Michael McGrath, the European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, unveiled a new bulwark against the pressures testing European democracies.

The European Democracy Shield aims to fortify the EU against foreign interference, disinformation, and the internal strains undermining trust in institutions. At its heart is a recognition that democracy is neither static nor guaranteed. “Democracy is only as strong as the people who believe in it,” said Mr McGrath during the presentation.

The Shield rests on three pillars. First, safeguarding the information space: disinformation, often amplified by artificial intelligence, has become a potent weapon in elections from Romania to Moldova. To counter this, the Commission plans a European Network of Fact-Checkers, a crisis protocol linked to the Digital Services Act, the law holding online platforms accountable for harmful content and lack of transparency, and enhanced monitoring through the European Digital Media Observatory, a consortium that supports independent efforts to expose disinformation. The aim is not censorship but clarity, helping citizens tell fact from manipulation in an age of viral deceit.

Second, strengthening institutions and electoral integrity. Though voting remains a national matter, Brussels seeks stronger coordination via the European Cooperation Network on Elections, updates to the DSA Elections Toolkit, and guidance on AI-generated content/deepfakes in campaigns. The Shield also backs independent media through a Media Resilience Programme, updated broadcast rules, and legal safeguards for journalists, all to build a democratic ecosystem resilient to both internal erosion and foreign interference.

Third, boosting societal resilience. Citizens are at the centre of Europe’s democratic defence, McGrath emphasised. The Shield promotes media literacy, critical thinking, and youth participation, supported by new civic-tech tools and a framework to embed democratic values from school onward.

A key pillar is the European Centre for Democratic Resilience, a voluntary hub pooling expertise from EU members and candidate countries to anticipate and counter threats. A Stakeholder Platform will link civil society, academia, and media to strengthen cooperation.

A shield of paper?

Yet critics see sharp limits. Enforcement is done through the  DSA, with its slow investigations, dragging on long after falsehoods spread. The European Centre for Democratic Resilience, meanwhile, is voluntary and underfunded, raising doubts about its bite. Pressure from Washington and Big Tech has further softened the Shield’s language, as Brussels treads carefully to avoid sparking transatlantic trade spats.

Domestic politics add another layer of fragility. Member states disagree on what counts as disinformation, while civil society groups risk being stigmatised under new transparency rules meant to curb foreign influence. Carl Dolan of the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think tank, warns that by fixating on outside interference, the Commission underplays homegrown polarisation and the deeper erosion of trust within Europe’s democracies.

Ireland’s 2025–2030 housing plan: targets, reforms, and reactions

On Wednesday (12 November), the Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025‑2030 plan was published by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, setting out the Government’s strategy to accelerate housing delivery and tackle homelessness over the next five years. The plan is anchored on three pillars: activating supply, facilitating investment and viability, and increasing skills and modern methods of construction.

The headline commitment is delivery of over 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030, representing an average of approximately 60,000 homes per year. Within that total, the plan highlights the creation of 90,000 “starter homes” over a five-year period. The plan also commits to increasing social housing delivery (noting a target of about 12,000 social homes annually in one source) and sets out mechanisms for activating land, infrastructure and funding.

Key features include:

• An additional €2.5 billion allocation for the Land Development Agency (LDA) to expand its remit in land-purchase and delivery of homes, bringing its total funding to ~€8.75 billion.
• Reforms to land zoning, compulsory purchase orders, improved coordination of utilities (such as ESB Networks, EirGrid and Uisce Éireann) and steps to reduce planning- and infrastructure-related construction delays.
• Emphasis on modern methods of construction (MMC), workforce skills, standardised design and procurement reform to boost productivity and reduce build costs.

Reactions to the plan have been mixed. Business representative groups such as Ibec welcomed the target of 300,000 homes by 2030. Ibec described the plan’s investment in enabling infrastructure and large-scale development as a “critical intervention” in addressing Ireland’s long-standing housing deficit. Some industry-aware commentators additionally emphasise that supply-chain constraints remain substantial. For instance, the Construction Industry Federation and Ibec have cautioned that unless zoned and serviced land, planning permissions, and infrastructure (water, electricity, roads) are actively unlocked, the ambition of delivering more than 60,000 homes per year remains difficult to sustain.

By contrast, opposition parties and commentators have raised significant reservations. Sinn Féin’s housing spokesperson noted that the plan appears to contain “no increase in funding or targets for the delivery of new-build social homes” and argued the strategy does not sufficiently tackle core systemic issues. Critics also pointed to the removal of annual output targets — the plan emphasises a cumulative target (300,000 by 2030) rather than fixed year-on-year benchmarks — which has prompted concerns over accountability and delivery risk.

Notwithstanding these concerns, the plan reflects a clear shift in the Government’s approach: from purely setting numeric targets to “activating supply” and reform-driven delivery. The integration of infrastructure, utility-planning, land-use and investment levers is a more holistic framing than older plans. The focus on both new housing supply and tackling homelessness (including the highest-ever recorded number of children in emergency accommodation) demonstrates recognition of the dual challenge of supply and social support.

The “Delivering Homes, Building Communities” plan outlines a substantial investment- and reform-oriented framework for Irish housing policy through to 2030. Its success will depend on the execution of the supply chain, the unlocking of land and infrastructure, the pace of regulatory reform, and market-sector engagement. While the targets are ambitious, the prevailing consensus among analysts and media commentators is that implementation risk remains high.

European Parliament backs simpler green rules in contentious vote

On Thursday (13 November), the European Parliament voted to scale back environmental reporting requirements for businesses, marking the first time the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) has successfully passed major legislation with the backing of far-right groups after negotiations with centrists and centre-left groups collapsed.

A total of 382 MEPs endorsed simplification measures to the EU’s sustainability rules, with 249 voting against and 13 abstaining. The vote followed weeks of failed negotiations between the EPP, the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D), and the liberal Renew group, prompting the EPP to turn to the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and the far-right Patriots for Europe (PfE) to secure passage. The move came after a previous consensus text on the “Omnibus I” package, negotiated between the EPP, the S&D, and Renew, was rejected during October’s plenary when a significant number of S&D MEPs voted against it on the grounds that it went too far in weakening the rules. Following that impasse, the European Council urged Parliament President Roberta Metsola to expedite the adoption of an agreement, a step that may have tipped the balance towards the EPP seeking right-wing support. The decision has provoked anger among pro-European lawmakers, who warn it sets a dangerous precedent that could reshape the balance of power in Brussels for years to come.

The new rules

The adopted text touches two key EU environmental laws, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

Under the revised CSRD, the scope of companies required to report on their environmental and social impact has been significantly narrowed. Only firms employing more than 1,750 staff and with an annual turnover exceeding €450 million will now be subject to sustainability reporting obligations. This represents a substantial increase from the 1,000-employee threshold included in a previous compromise text, which was rejected by centre-right and liberal MEPs during the last plenary session.

As for the CSDDD, the thresholds climb even higher. Only corporations with more than 5,000 employees and an annual turnover above €1.5 billion will be required to comply. These large firms will be expected to adopt a risk-based approach, relying mainly on information already available rather than systematically requesting data from smaller business partners.

Perhaps most controversially, companies will no longer be obliged under the CSDDD to prepare transition plans outlining how their business models align with the Paris Agreement’s climate goals. Liability for non-compliance will rest primarily at national level, rather than at the EU level, although firms that fail to meet due diligence obligations will still have to fully compensate victims for any damages. To facilitate implementation, the European Commission will create a digital portal providing free templates, guidance, and information to help businesses navigate the simplified requirements.

A political earthquake in Brussels

The vote represents far more than a technical adjustment to reporting rules; it signals a fundamental shift in how legislation may be passed during this parliamentary term. Until Thursday, cooperation between the EPP and far-right groups had been largely symbolic, confined to non-binding resolutions such as the EP’s Venezuela Resolution on 19 September 2024, a vote that gave rise to the term “Venezuela majority” now used to describe this emerging centre-right and right-wing alliance. This marks the first time such a coalition has succeeded in shaping major EU legislation.

“It is a black day for European democracy,” declared René Repasi, the lead German S&D negotiator. “We are sleepwalking into breaching a taboo, the fallout of which is unpredictable.” Green MEP Kira Marie Peter-Hansen accused the EPP of “slamming the door in the face of the pro-European parties” and “deliberately choosing to ally themselves with extremists.”

The Patriots group celebrated what it called the breaking of the “cordon sanitaire”. Meanwhile, EPP rapporteur on the file Jörgen Warborn defended the outcome, insisting that “Europe can be both sustainable and competitive” whilst urging socialist lawmakers to prove “as constructive as their socialist governments have been in the Council.”

Next steps

Negotiations between Parliament and EU member state governments, that have already adopted their own position, are scheduled to begin on 18 November, with lawmakers aiming to finalise the legislation by the end of 2025. Finally, whether this new political alignment between centre-right and far-right forces becomes the template for future lawmaking remains to be seen.

Compliments of Vulcan Consulting – a member of the EACCNY