Is the EU getting too excited over the common phone charger?

Within a year almost any type of data-enabled mobile phone you buy, anywhere in the world, is going to come with one common mobile phone charger – thanks to the EU. This week the 14 main mobile phone companies signed a binding agreement to all use a common Micro-USB charger port standardised by Brussels. And because the EU is the Western world's largest common market, this will mean all data phones worldwide will likely have this standard. Who says the EU doesn't have global influence?

The companies - which include Apple, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, Motorola and Qualcomm – were issued an ultimatum by the EU in 2009: voluntarily adopt a common charging system or be forced to do so by EU legislation. The companies agreed to go with the voluntary root. The common Micro-USB port standards were finalised in December, and the first phones with this port are expected to hit the market within months. According to the agreement, none of these manufacturers can market a new phone in the EU that does not have this common charging port.

I have to admit I've been a bit confused by this policy, and the unrestrained exuberance with which the European Commission has been celebrating it, since it started. After all, isn't Micro-USB the syncing/charging format most smartphones were moving to anyway? Is this just a case of the EU mandating something that was going to happen on its own?

Switzerland buries its head in the sand

Switzerland's foreign minister was in Brussels yesterday for some awkward discussions with EU leaders, and despite the beaming smiles following her meetings it was clear that by this point Brussels and Bern are operating on two different wavelengths.

The visit was arranged following a serious souring in relations between Switzerland and the EU after a resolution from EU foreign ministers in December warned that the relationship between the two had become incoherent and unwieldy. While Switzerland is not a member of the EU, it is a sort of "pseudo-member" and is allowed to participate in the EU single market thanks to a series of bilateral agreements. These 120 agreements were negotiated in two rounds in 1999 and 2004. In exchange for allowing Switzerland the benefits of access to the common market, the EU expects certain things in return - such as the right for any EU citizen to live and work in Switzerland (and vice versa). But in return, the EU position is that if Switzerland violates any of these accords, all 120 of them will be torn up.

So far this arrangement has suited the Swiss just fine - probably because most Swiss citizens are unaware of the extent of the accords and think their country remains completely independent and separate from the EU. But Brussels has grown frustrated with the unwieldy and complicated arrangement, and now they are saying Switzerland needs to move over to a more defined relationship as exists in the other pseudo-EU countries - Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

Hungary caves in to EU pressure on media law

After a month of skirmishes between Budapest and Brussels over the new Hungarian government's controversial media law, it looks like the country's defiant prime minister Viktor Orban might be ready to throw in the towel.

Yesterday the country's communication minister announced that the government had agreed to change the wording of the law following concerns from the European Commission that it restricts press freedom. The minister didn't specify what the change in wording would be, but he told the BBC it will be submitted on Thursday and that Budapest and Brussels are "very, very close" to resolving the issue.

The media law took effect at the start of this year, on the same day that Hungary assumed the rotating EU presidency. The law will create a new agency called the Media Council that will monitor news reports for "balance" and "human dignity". Offending news outlets who are found to have not been "balanced" would face large fines and possible deaccreditation in the country. The law would require all journalists, even video bloggers, to be accredited by the state. The word "balanced" had particularly alarmed the commission because the Media Council was to be packed with people from Orban's governing conservative party, Fidesz. So it is likely that this is one of the words that will be changed in the new text.

An embarrassing day for Ashton and Van Rompuy

Today's summit of European leaders is winding down, and now everyone is waiting for the prime ministers and presidents to emerge to announce what they have decided for the stability of the Eurozone. Between the euro crisis and the turmoil in Egypt, this council has turned out to bear little resemblance to the gathering it was supposed to be – a special summit on European energy issues.

This is actually the first European Council (the summits of European heads of government) that I've covered. Since my beat is environment, there hasn't been an occasion so far where the leaders have had an environmental issue on the agenda important enough for me to spend the day here. Today was supposed to be different. European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, now one year into his newly created position, called for this summit dedicated to energy last year. But as the European debt crisis has raged on, in the past two months it became clear that the seemingly non-pressing issue of energy security and sustainability was going to take a back seat to the crisis. And now that a revolution is underway in Egypt, by yesterday few were expecting to see anything significant come out of this council in the way of energy - even though that was still purportedly the main subject behind today's meeting.

Sure enough, at noon today we received a very short list of conclusions on energy by the council - and there was little to really sink your teeth into. I'm told the leaders spent just an hour talking about energy before moving on to the Egypt issue. Essentially they just looked over the pre-agreed conclusions and signed off on it. Ah well, it did mean I could file my story earlier and be done with it!

Brussels gets a press club

Are press clubs - those storied oak-paneled dens where an elite cadre of journalists meet to smoke cigars and swap gossip - a relic of the past? I found myself wondering this last night at the launch party for the new 'Brussels Press Club' here in the EU Quarter.

For years, long-time Brussels journalists have bemoaned the fact that Brussels has no press club for the many international journalists based here. Though other world capitals like Washington, London or Paris have famous press clubs that have been around for over 100 years, Brussels had nothing. But now the International Press Association (API) has been able to get the backing of the Brussels regional government to establish a club, located just next to the European Council and European Commission headquarters.

Better the devil you know

Both Europe and the United States have been put in an awkward position this month by the unfolding political revolt in Egypt. On one hand, they want to be consistent in encouraging democratic values and they don't want to be seen to be propping up dictatorships. On the other hand, they are terrified of the instability that could be set off by a political meltdown in the Middle East's most populous country. This is not helped by the fact that the Muslim Brotherhood is the second most powerful political force in Egypt after the regime of president-for-life Hosni Mubarak.

As the saying goes, better the devil you know than the devil you don't. Thus, the statements coming out of Brussels and Washington this week have been tepid and non-committal, stressing the need for stability over any ideological talk of overthrowing tyrants. The west is no great fan of Mubarak, but his semi-dictatorial rule has kept Egypt's strong Islamist movement in check and kept the country at peace with Israel. If he goes, there's no telling who might replace him.

The EU has come under particular criticism, as political violence has unfolded around the Mediterranean, for its slow reaction to events in its own backyard. This has been a particular embarrassment for the EU because its new diplomatic arm, the EEAS, was supposed to make Europe more decisive and reactive to foreign policy issues. And yet as one riot after the other has unfolded across the Mediterranean over the past weeks, the EU has been very restrained in its reaction.