On 25-27 February 2020, EU Ambassador to the U.S. Stavros Lambrinidis visited northern California.
Upon his arrival to San Francisco, Ambassador Lambrinidis was greeted by European Consuls General at the German Residence — German Consul General Hans-Ulrich Südbeck currently serves as EU Local Chair. There are now twelve European Consulates in San Francisco since the opening of an Estonian Consulate a few weeks ago. 
Ambassador Lambrinidis was then received by Governor Gavin Newsom in Sacramento. During their meeting, they discussed the close partnership between California and the European Union on a wide range of common priorities, from climate action and the digital economy to science and the future of mobility. The European Union recently welcomed Governor Newsom’s decision to order a moratorium on the death penalty.
He also met with San Francisco Mayor London Breed and praised the city for its leading role in technology and sustainability. San Francisco is home to many Europeans who contribute to the city’s prosperity and unique way of life.
In Silicon Valley, Ambassador Lambrinidis met with European and American tech entrepreneurs. EU trade and investment in California create 750 thousand jobs (see infographic here).
Ambassador Lambrinidis finally joined Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis on stage at UC Berkeley to discuss “California, the EU and the Future of the Transatlantic Relationship” (see here).
EU officials will be back in California on April 6 for the California-EU Energy Efficiency Forum (register for the webcast here). And Executive Vice President – A Europe Fit for the Digital Age Margrethe Vestager will speak at CODE CONFERENCE 2020 in Los Angeles (May 26-28). 
Compliments of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States

On the occasion of the World Wildlife Day, the European Commission launched today in Monaco a new global coalition for biodiversity. With this communication campaign, the Commission is calling for stronger mobilisation in raising awareness about the need to protect biodiversity.
Ahead of the crucial CoP 15 meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in October 2020, the Commission is turning to all national parks, aquariums, botanic gardens, zoos, science and natural history museums to join forces and boost public awareness about the nature crisis.
European Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius said: “Biodiversity crisis is an important part in climate change. Protection and restoration of biodiversity would not only save the nature for future generations, but also help to tackle climate change, and avoid negative consequences on our food, health and economy. We urgently need to take global action, otherwise, our only chance of seeing nature is in the zoos and botanical gardens. That would be a failure of the humankind.”
With their collections, education and conservation programmes, national parks, aquariums, botanic gardens, zoos, science and natural history museums are the best ambassadors to raise public awareness about the dramatic effects of the biodiversity crisis. The Commission also encourages national, regional and local authorities, non-governmental organisations, businesses, scientists and individual citizens to play their part in raising awareness ahead of the United Nations Biodiversity Summit (CoP 15).
During CoP 15, the 196 Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity are expected to adopt a new global framework to protect and restore nature, as much-needed as the Paris Agreement focusing on the climate urgency. Following the Summit, the focus of the coalition for biodiversity will be on coordinated actions with tangible impact aimed at bending the curve of biodiversity loss. This initiative is consistent and fully in line with other initiatives and coalitions, such as the High Ambition Coalition led by Costa Rica.
Background
The Global coalition for biodiversity will complement the highly successful coalition of “World aquariums #ReadyToChange to #BeatPlasticPollution” launched in 2017 which gathered more than 200 aquariums in 41 countries to raise global awareness about marine litter.
The Oceanographic Museum of Monaco today hosted a ceremony to mark both this launch and the handover of direction of the Aquariums coalition from the European Commission to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) under the Clean Seas campaign.
Later this month, the European Commission will announce the new EU Biodiversity Strategy to protect and restore nature in Europe, detailing the EU’s ambition for the Biodiversity CoP15. A major public engagement event, EU Green Week, will also aim to mobilise society for nature and biodiversity from 1-5 June 2020, with dozens of events across Europe, and a conference in Lisbon and Brussels.
A 2019 Report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services IPBES shows that nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history. The rate of species extinctions is accelerating, with up to a million species facing extinction, and with likely serious impacts on people around the world. This means ecosystems would no longer be able to support humanity by providing water, food, clean air and timber, and their services of pollination, climate regulation, soil formation and regulation of floods would be seriously affected.
Compliments of the European Commission

The European Commission welcomes the Council’s decision today, as expected, to authorise the opening of the future partnership negotiations with the UK.  
The negotiating directives adopted today are based on the draft recommendation put forward by the Commission on 3 February 2020. They fully respect existing European Council guidelines and conclusions, as well as the Political Declaration agreed between the EU and the United Kingdom in October 2019.
The comprehensive negotiating directives define the scope and terms of the future partnership that the European Union envisages with the United Kingdom. These directives cover all areas of interest for the negotiations, including trade and economic cooperation, law enforcement and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, foreign policy, security and defence, participation in Union programmes and other thematic areas of cooperation. A dedicated chapter on governance provides an outline for an overall governance framework covering all areas of economic and security cooperation.
President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen said:“We are now ready to start negotiations with the United Kingdom. We want to build a close, ambitious future partnership, as this is in the best interest of people on both sides of the Channel. I would like to thank the European Parliament and all Member States for their continued trust in our negotiating team. We will work as hard as we can to achieve the best possible result.”
Michel Barnier, the European Commission’s Chief Negotiator, said: “We are determined to reach a deal that protects EU interests. We will work hand-in-hand with the European Parliament and all Member States and will continue to be fully transparent throughout this process.”
As Union negotiator, the Commission intends to continue work in close coordination with the Council and its preparatory bodies, as well as with the European Parliament, as was the case during the negotiations for the Withdrawal Agreement.
 

The Council today adopted a decision authorising the opening of negotiations for a new partnership with the UK, and formally nominating the Commission as EU negotiator. The Council also adopted negotiating directives which constitute a mandate to the Commission for the negotiations.

The Council has adopted a clear and strong mandate for our negotiator, Michel Barnier. This confirms our readiness to offer an ambitious, wide-ranging and balanced partnership to the UK for the benefit of both sides. The EU is now ready to start negotiations.
Andreja Metelko-Zgombić, Croatian State Secretary for European Affairs

Infographic – EU-UK negotiations
See full infographic
The EU wishes to establish an ambitious, wide-ranging and balanced economic partnership with the UK. The mandate stresses that the future partnership should be underpinned by robust commitments to ensure a level playing field for open and fair competition, given the EU and the UK’s geographic proximity and economic interdependence.
The EU intends to establish a free trade agreement with the UK which ensures that zero tariffs and quotas apply to trade in goods. This agreement should provide for cooperation on customs and regulatory aspects. It should also include effective management and supervision, dispute settlement and enforcement arrangements.
On fisheries, the mandate outlines that the future partnership should uphold the existing reciprocal access to waters as well as stable quota shares. The agreement on fisheries should be established by 1 July 2020, to give time for determining fishing opportunities after the end of the transition period.
The mandate also contains provisions for future cooperation in areas such as digital trade, intellectual property, public procurement, mobility, transport, and energy.
The EU will seek to establish a comprehensive security partnership with the UK. The partnership should comprise law enforcement and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, as well as foreign policy, security and defence. The mandate foresees that the future partnership should be embedded in an overall governance framework covering all areas of cooperation.
Council decision authorising the opening of negotiations, 25 February 2020
Negotiating directives
Next steps
The Commission will agree with the UK the dates for the first negotiating sessions. The first formal meeting between the EU and the UK negotiators is expected to take place in early March.
Background
The Council decision and the negotiating directives are based on a recommendation presented by the Commission on 3 February 2020. They build on the political declaration agreed by the EU and the UK in October 2019, as well as on the European Council (Art. 50) guidelines on the future EU-UK relationship of March 2018 and April 2017.
On 13 December 2019, EU27 leaders reconfirmed their aim of establishing as close as possible a future relationship with the UK. They invited the Commission to submit to the Council a draft negotiating mandate for a future relationship with the UK immediately after its departure. 
The entry into force of the withdrawal agreement marked the end of the period under Article 50 TEU and the start of a transition period until 31 December 2020. During the transition period, the UK will continue to apply Union law but it will no longer be represented in the EU institutions.
Compliments of the European Commission