On 17 October, the European Council adopted conclusions on Ukraine, the Middle East, ensuring a rules-based international order, competitiveness, migration, the Republic of Moldova, Georgia, external relations and other items.
By clarifying the legal interpretation of this concept, the Commission aims to provide certainty for affected farmers regarding their Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments, while also ensuring a uniform application across the Union by national administrations.
“The new and stricter rules will strengthen our systems in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. A new agency based in Frankfurt will supervise the work of actors involved” – Vincent Van Peteghem, Belgian minister for finance, for the EU Council Presidency.
E-commerce: A Member State may not impose additional obligations on an online service provider established in another Member State.
The Directive on the legal protection of computer programs does not allow the holder of that protection to prohibit the marketing by a third party of software which merely changes variables transferred temporarily to a game console’s RAM.
The European Banking Authority (EBA) today launched a consultation on the Guidelines for the plans to orderly redeem asset-referenced or e-money tokens in the event that the issuer fails to fulfil its obligations under the Markets in Crypto assets Regulation (MiCAR).
The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of joint control of Auberge Resorts LLC by MSD Hospitality Partners L.P. and ARC Capital Holdings LLC, all of the US. The transaction relates primarily to the hospitality industry. The Commission concluded that the notified transaction would not raise competition concerns, given that Auberge Resorts has negligible activities in the European Economic Area and that the companies are not active in the same or vertically related markets.
The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the acquisition of sole control of VOLTERRA S.A. by MYTILINEOS S.A., both of Greece. The transaction relates primarily to the energy sector, particularly to the retail supply of electricity and natural gas. The Commission concluded that the notified transaction would not raise competition concerns, given the companies’ limited market positions resulting from the proposed transaction.
The European Commission has approved a €1.1 billion Italian scheme to support investments for the production of equipment necessary to foster the transition towards a net-zero economy, in line with the Green Deal Industrial Plan. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, adopted by the Commission on 9 March 2023 and amended on 20 November 2023, to support measures in sectors which are key to accelerate the green transition and reduce fuel dependencies.
Equality between women and men is a fundamental value of the European Union enshrined in the Treaties. A great deal of progress has been made over the years – now we have a substantial body of legislation and other measures aimed at furthering equality between men and women. The EU is a global leader on gender equality, with 14 of the top 20 countries worldwide in terms of gender equality being EU member states.
On 12 September 2023, the EU Commission tabled a proposal on harmonising transfer pricing rules within the EU. The main objective is to establish a common approach at EU level towards transfer pricing and define a number of key transfer pricing principles in order to enshrine them into EU law.
Ministers discussed progress on the work to reach a common position on the late payment regulation. Ministers exchanged their views on the basis of a document prepared by the Belgian presidency. The main points of discussion were the choice of the legal instrument (directive or regulation) and the binding 30 day payment periods (whether they should be fixed or adapted to the situations in which businesses operate).
The ECB Governing Council today decided to keep the three key ECB interest rates unchanged. Since the last Governing Council meeting in January, inflation has declined further, and in the latest ECB staff projections, inflation has been revised down, in particular for 2024 which mainly reflects a lower contribution from energy prices. But domestic price pressures remain high, in part owing to strong growth in wages.
On 7 March 2024, the Finnish Government submitted to Parliament a proposal concerning the implementation of the amendments made to the guidelines of the Maritime Labour Convention of the International Labour Organization in 2022. The proposal would adopt the amendments and bring them into force at the national level. The amendments to the guidelines made in 2022 concern private employment services in the maritime sector and annual reporting of the deaths of seafarers to the International Labour Organization (ILO). Based on these, the Government proposes amendments to national legislation.
The past four years were marked by several important legislative milestones advancing gender equality. Just one year after the adoption of the Gender Equality Strategy, in March 2021, the Commission put forward a proposal for a Directive strengthening the equal pay principle through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms. A political agreement on the Pay Transparency Directive, was reached in December 2022, in record time, paving the way for the adoption of the Directive in May 2023.
Following a dialogue with the European Commission and national consumer authorities, Tinder has committed to inform consumers that discounts they propose for premium services are personalised by automated means. Tinder uses automated means to, for exemple, identify consumers who showed little or no interest in their premium services at a standard price to subsequently offer them personalised discounts. Personalising discounts without explicitly informing consumers is unfair as it hinders them from making an informed choice.
As of today, Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft and ByteDance, the six gatekeepers designated by the Commission in September 2023, have to fully comply with all obligations in the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA aims to make digital markets in the EU more contestable and fairer. It establishes new rules for 10 defined core platform services, such as search engines, online marketplaces, app stores, online advertising and messaging, and gives new rights to European businesses and end-users.
The Directive on the legal protection of computer programs does not allow the holder of that protection to prohibit the marketing by a third party of software which merely changes variables transferred temporarily to a game console’s RAM.
Strasbourg, 15 February 2022 Why is the Commission proposing a Secure Connectivity initiative? The functioning
Strasbourg, 15 February 2022 Today, the EU is acting on its space ambitions by tabling
Bordeaux, 15 February 2022 Under the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union,
REGIONAL POLICY New Cohesion Report shows that differences between EU regions are narrowing thanks to
Brussels, 15 February 2022 The EU Commission unveils significant actions to contribute to European Defence,
Brussels, 14 February 2022 Today, Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, agreed with Singaporean Minister in
Brussels, 14 February 2022 Until today, already EUR 347 million of EU funding has been
Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on contestable and
Published on 8 February 2022 The French Presidency’s ministerial conference on e-invoicing, to be held
Published on 9 February 2022 The French Presidency of the Council of the European Union
On 17 October, the European Council adopted conclusions on Ukraine, the Middle East, ensuring a rules-based international order, competitiveness, migration, the Republic of Moldova, Georgia, external relations and other items.
In addition to the political consultations, the two sides convened the two Senior Officials (SOM) working groups meetings on trade and global affairs. In this framework, the EU and Bahrain held in-depth, technical discussions on economic diversification; green transition and climate; development cooperation and humanitarian aid; education; research; innovation and space cooperation; and security and counterterrorism.
The review has shown that the EU Commission controls and existing safeguards in place- which have been significantly strengthened in the past years – work well and no evidence has been found to date that money has been diverted for unintended purposes.
The exercise is part of the measures being implemented by the European Union to ensure free and fair elections in June 2024. It took place in the European Parliament and was organised by the European Parliament’s services, the European Commission and the EU Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA).
Ten years of dignity. Ten years of pride. Ten years of striving for freedom. The cold November nights of Euromaidan have changed Europe forever. Even if back then, Europe did not realise it. A whole nation took to the streets, and spoke with one voice. You said: Ukraine belongs in Europe. And our future belongs to us. And that is why the people of Ukraine wrapped themselves in European flags – defying the snipers and the riot police.
EU Parliament and the Council negotiators have reached a deal political agreement on updating the framework for fingerprint, DNA and vehicle registration data and facial image searches across EU borders.
On Monday evening, negotiating teams from the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a provisional agreement on automated data searches between authorities investigating crimes in EU member states, currently based on the so-called Prüm Convention.
The Strategic Compass on Security and Defence 1 of March 2022 confirmed that substantially enhancing military mobility is vital for European security and defence, in particular in the context of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. It enables the EU Member States’ forces to respond quickly and at the required scale to crises erupting at the EU’s external borders and beyond, including by moving military materiel quickly and smoothly as possible. In line with the Strategic Compass, the EU Action Plan on Military Mobility 2.0 2 provides a comprehensive framework to develop a well-connected military mobility network, with shorter reaction times and capable, secure, sustainable and resilient transport infrastructure and capabilities.
The EEA Council discussed the overall functioning of the EEA Agreement and held an orientation debate on economic security.
The United States is announcing today a new package of weapons and equipment to support the people of Ukraine as they defend their country and their freedom against Russia’s aggression.
Operation MOZAIK 2023 was led by the Slovenian National Police and coordinated by Europol in the framework of the European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT). It aimed to identify and arrest people using online forums and messaging applications to share and distribute child sexual abuse material. The Western Balkan countries –Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia – Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary carried out a series of enforcement actions between 6 to 17 November.
The United Kingdom is committed to development partnerships founded on mutual respect that support national efforts to reduce poverty and instability. Today, my Government launched an ambitious new international development ‘White Paper,’ setting out the re-energised agenda for the UK to work with partners and accelerate progress towards the SDGs.
The Court – to which the matter was referred on the basis of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination – requested that, pending a final decision, Azerbaijan should ensure that all persons who left Nagorno-Karabakh after 19 September 2023 and who wish to return there are able to do so in a safe, unimpeded and expeditious manner.
The FDFA and EAER are jointly coordinating the NAP 2020–2023 for the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The NAP aim is to protect human rights in the context of business activities of Switzerland’s private sector and federal government. It is the roadmap for the government’s work to assist companies with training, awareness-raising events and practical tools in carrying out human rights due diligence.
The European Energy Exchange (EEX) will add natural gas products for Baltic-Finnish markets to its platform, currently operated by GET Baltic within EEX Group. The product portfolio will comprise products for the gas spot (Within-Day, Day, Weekend) and derivatives (Month, Quarter, Season, Year) products for Lithuania, common market area of Latvia-Estonia and Finland.
Mental health and wellbeing among children and young people are a growing concern in Europe. This is why, today, the Commission has launched a two-year multi-country project to support four Member States undertake reforms to improve the provision of mental health and wellbeing support to this target group. With this Technical Support Instrument (TSI) project, the Commission in collaboration with UNICEF will work with the authorities of Cyprus, Slovenia, Italy and Spain (specifically Andalusia), to strengthen Member States’ administrative capacity and promote cross-collaboration amongst national public administrations. The objective is to improve the overall quality of mental health services.
Fertilisers’ labelling: EU Council on the provisional deal to make fertilisers’ labelling, clearer, simpler and more digital +++ EU Parliament on the agreement on harmonised EU rules for digital labels for fertilisers +++ Open call for the organisation of interlaboratory studies in the field of soil improvers +++ GENOMIC TECHNIQUES: Statements der EU-Abgeordneten Liese und Lins (CDU) zu neuen genomischen Techniken +++ EU-Abgeordneter Martin Häusling zur Deregulierung der Agro-Gentechnik wäre verantwortungslos
IPCC agrees on the set of scientific reports for the seventh assessment cycle +++ EU Commission: A common carbon emissions calculator for the European audiovisual sector: Towards an environmentally conscious future +++ Financing Building Decarbonization: The Roles of Government and Private Sector Investors – Belfer Center +++ GERMANY: Die Antrags- und Bewilligungspause für KTF-Förderprogramme des BMWK ist aufgehoben
The Belgian EU Presidency presented its work programme for the first half of the year in the field of agriculture and fisheries. “Our presidency comes at the end of the current institutional cycle, and we are determined to make the most of the months ahead of us. Our overarching ambition as far as agriculture is concerned is ensuring the EU’s open strategic autonomy and food security. At the same time, we want to enhance the economic, social and ecological sustainability of our food systems, while also improving animal health and welfare and ensuring the profitability of the sector.” – David Clarinval, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Small Businesses, the Self-Employed, SMEs and Agriculture, Institutional Reform and Democratic Renewal of Belgium
MEPs of the Regional Development Committee discussed new tool proposed by the European Commission to remove barriers in cross-border context. MEPs of the Regional Development Committee welcomed Commission´s proposal to tackle legal and administrative obstacles in Europe´s cross-border regions following up on their BridgeEU legislative initiative adopted last September.
In 2021, 49% of employed persons aged 25 to 64 in Switzerland took part in at least one continuing education and training course for professional purposes. Of these people, 93% received support from their employer, either in terms of time allocated during working hours or funding. This support was mainly influenced by factors relating to the professional context, such as work-time percentage, number of years’ service in the company or the size of the company.
Today, the Council formally adopted a regulation to modernise and simplify the structure of fees paid to the European Medicines Agency. The new rules will ensure both adequate funding for the EMA and sufficient support for national competent authorities to undertake their scientific evaluation tasks.
Today, the European Commission is proposing more time for companies to apply the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation (IVDR), under certain conditions. With this revision, the Commission aims to ensure patient care by improving the availability of these essential healthcare products. The Commission is also proposing measures to enhance transparency in the Medical Device sector including by speeding up the launch of some elements of the European Database on Medical Devices – EUDAMED.
HYDROGEN: EIB and NIB to provide €371 million with InvestEU backing for H2 Green Steel’s large-scale production of green steel with minimal carbon footprint +++ Latest hydrogen industries’ headlines +++ ENERGY EMISSIONS: Eurelectric: Are you ready to reskill for net zero? +++ HEAT PUMPS: 19 organisations urge EU Commission: publish Heat Pump Action Plan for a net-zero Europe +++ Update: Which countries are scrapping fossil fuel heaters? – European Heat Pump Association
The EU Council and the European Parliament reached today a provisional deal on the regulation for digital labelling of fertilising products. This proposal, which amends the currently applicable legislation, aims to introduce the possibility to opt for digital label on EU fertilising products, to improve the readability of labels, leading to a more efficient use of fertilizing products, and to simplify the labelling obligations for suppliers while reducing costs for the industry.
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