The EU Council today established a new framework for restrictive measures in response to Russia’s destabilising actions in Europe and abroad. This new framework will allow the EU to target individuals and entities engaged in actions and policies by the government of the Russian Federation, undermining fundamental EU values, European security, independence, and integrity.
IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi has briefed the Board of Governors on his recent trips to Ukraine and the Russian Federation in his effort to ensure nuclear safety and security in the region, calling it “a busy and not an easy summer”.
After five years of negotiations, 82 members of the World Trade Organization (WTO) reached an agreement on the first-ever global rules on electronic commerce. The plurilateral talks were led by the co‑conveners Australia, Japan, and Singapore, under a WTO joint statement initiative (JSI) that had attracted 91 participants, accounting for more than 90 % of global trade.
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The EU Council today approved the Commission’s positive assessment of Lithuania’s and Portugal’s amended recovery and resilience plans. According to the analysis by the Commission, the targeted modifications put forward by both member states do not affect the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and coherence of their recovery and resilience plans.
The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the creation of a joint venture by TotalEnergies SE, based in France, and OQ SAOC, based in Oman. The transaction mainly concerns the development, construction and operation of a liquefied natural gas bunkering project in Oman.
Ireland’s decision to opt-in demonstrates the country’s dedication to shared European values and its willingness to contribute to improved migration management across the EU.
In early September, the EU Commission will present a legislative proposal for a Comprehensive Programme for Palestinian Recovery and Resilience, which will be designed to help the Palestinian Authority reach budgetary equilibrium by 2026 and ensure long-term financial sustainability.
“I have been asking all my interlocutors to use their influence on Russia to stop this war. We know that Vietnam has a good relationship with Russia. President Putin was here some days ago. I asked them to use this influence to make Putin understand that this war has to reach an end” – EU High Representative Josep Borrell.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent. In addition, the Committee will continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage‑backed securities.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued an Opinion to address the risks presented by global crypto firms seeking authorization under the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) Regulation for crypto brokerage while keeping a substantial part of their group activities at intra-group execution venues outside the EU’s regulatory scope.
EIB activates €5 billion initiative for wind industry with €500 million counter-guarantee to Deutsche Bank. Under this pilot project EIB will support Deutsche Bank to issue advance and performance bonds of up to €1 billion to support the construction of new wind projects. The deal is part of the EU Wind Power Package to accelerate the green energy transition in Europe.
For the first time in its history, G20 Members have agreed a comprehensive stand-alone Tax Declaration, reflecting the transformational achievements of international tax cooperation to date, the importance of that cooperation and its commitment to continue to carry it forward.
This Directive will benefit consumers by avoiding the costs of buying new products, and will lead to less waste, less resources and less greenhouse gas emissions. Member States now have until 31 July 2026 to transpose the Directive into their national law.
The euro area economy has been resilient in the face of multiple, large shocks, including the pandemic, Russia’s gas shut-off, and fallout from the war in Ukraine. Nonetheless, the adverse shocks have had persistent effects which shape economic prospects. Energy-intensive industries, in particular, have struggled to adjust to higher input costs and continue to underperform. Despite subdued overall activity, employment growth remains robust. Inflation has declined significantly from its late-2022 peak in response to the ECB’s policy tightening and the decline in commodity prices.
The Croatian economy performed strongly despite external shocks. The impressive post-pandemic growth during 2021-22 moderated to 3.1 percent in 2023, still among the highest in the euro area. Inflation has decelerated considerably since early 2023 but still persists above the euro area average, owing to elevated food and services inflation amid a tight labor market.
Combating aggressive tax planning: The EU Court upholds the validity of various provisions of the EU directive. The EU directive provides that all intermediaries and, in their absence, the taxpayer involved in potentially aggressive cross-border tax arrangements that may lead to tax avoidance and evasion must report them to the competent tax authorities.
The EU wants to showcase European digital solutions, healthcare and medical equipment, as well as green and low-carbon technologies in South Korea.
The two satellites will contribute to increasing the reliability of the system, and thus of the positioning information, to the benefit of the users. Currently, almost half of the world’s population uses Galileo services.
Digital Services Coordinators (DSCs) discussed the Digital Services Act (DSA) Elections guidelines, with a debrief on the stress test of 24 April, and DSCs reporting on their activities.
The EU Commission has designated Apple with respect to iPadOS, its operating system for tablets, as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act (“DMA”). Apple now has six months to ensure full compliance of iPadOS with the DMA obligations.
Announcements include draft guidance documents, a draft plan for international standards, and a new measurement program opening for public comment.
Transparency Reports are part of a larger array of provisions aiming at enhancing transparency and accountability of online content moderation.
To ensure faster deployment of digital network infrastructure across Europe, the EU Council adopted the Gigabit Infrastructure Act to replace the 2014 Broadband Cost Reduction Directive (BCRD).
The protocol shall provide greater legal certainty, ensuring that data flows between the EU and Japan will not be hampered by unjustified data localisation measures. It shall also ensure the benefit from the free flow of data according to the EU and Japan’s rules on data protection and the digital economy.
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, Slovakia’s plans to compensate digital terrestrial television (‘DTT’) network operator Towercom for its direct costs incurred for the release of the 700 MHz band.
Shein is a fashion online retailer with an average of more than 45 million monthly users in the European Union. This user number, which Shein has communicated to the Commission, is above the DSA threshold for designation as a VLOP.
While virtual worlds can boost children’s creativity and motivation to learn and even help them heal from diseases, they also pose multiple challenges, not least regarding privacy and exposure to harmful and illegal content.
China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced Tuesday that it will impose temporary anti-dumping measures on brandy originating in the EU by requiring importers to pay a cash deposit on purchase. The EU Commmission sees this as an abuse of trade defence for inappropriate reasons and a clear breach of WTO rules.
Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz äußert sich zuversichtlich, dass die Europäische Union für die kommende Legislaturperiode gut aufgestellt ist. Die Sicherheitsvereinbarung zwischen der EU und der Ukraine sei außerdem ein Zeichen der Ermutigung für die Ukrainerinnen und Ukrainer.
The new funding will support Ukraine’s macro-financial stability as it implements critical long-term structural reforms under the Ukraine Plan, Ukraine’s reform and growth plan for the next four years, which has been positively assessed by the EU Commission and the EU Council.
EU leaders have agreed on appointments and nominations for the EU’s top jobs and adopted the strategic agenda for 2024-2029, a policy plan that steers the EU’s future direction and goals. They also adopted conclusions on Ukraine, the Middle East, security and defence, competitiveness, migration, the Black Sea, Moldova, Georgia, hybrid threats, the fight against antisemitism, racism and xenophobia and a roadmap on internal reforms.
The European Council adopted the Strategic Agenda for the European Union 2024 – 2029. Get an insight into the strategy set out by the European heads of state or government.
“Some Member States have already done it on their side, but these security commitments cover the military, the financial, and the diplomatic domains – and, in particular, it will be the way of channelling the resources coming from Russian frozen assets. It is good that we could take this money and provide more military support to Ukraine” – EU High Representative Borrell.
Committed to common values and interests and in line with European Council Conclusions and a Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine, the EU and its Member States will contribute, for the long term and together with partners, to security commitments to Ukraine, which will help Ukraine to defend itself, resist destabilisation efforts and deter acts of aggression in the future.
Opening remarks by President Michel Opening remarks by Charles MICHEL, President of the European Council,
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave an introductory statement upon his arrival at the European Council in Brussels.
The NIS2 Directive covers mid-sized and large entities in a wider range of sectors essential to the economy and society, including providers of public electronic communications services, digital services, wastewater management and waste, critical product manufacturing, postal and courier services and public administration.
The EU Parliament has gathered a selection reflecting MEPs’ priorities for topics on the summit agenda. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola will represent the European Parliament at the summit, where she will address the heads of state or government.
“There is an urgency to our three sides working closely together to identify potential supply chain vulnerabilities for strategic goods that have resulted from a wide range of non-market policies and practices” – joint statement by Japan, South Korea, and the United States.
„Wir haben klare Prioritäten: Sicherheit, Zusammenhalt und Wachstum“ – sagte Bundeskanzler Olaf Scholz in seiner Regierungserklärung über den Haushalt 2025. Außerdem ging er auf die europäischen und internationalen Herausforderungen ein.
The aim of the scheme is to promote the shift of freight and passenger transport from road to rail and to improve the security and efficiency of rail transport. The scheme will be fully funded through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF’), following the Commission’s positive assessment of Poland’s Recovery and Resilience Plan and its adoption by the Council.
Large-scale projects like ITER are pushing the boundaries of fusion as a viable energy source. Yet, ITER’s groundbreaking nature remains largely experimental. Its successor, DEMO (Demonstration power plant), is considered the ultimate stepping stone towards commercial fusion reactors.
The measure will be open to new installations with a projected annual production of biomethane of more than 25 GWh per year. Beneficiaries will be selected through a competitive, transparent and non-discriminatory bidding process on the basis of the strike price per MWh of biomethane offered.
A €46 million loan from EIB to SIMEST will unlock funds to promote two strategic priorities: the green economy and innovation. The EIB will also provide advisory services to bolster SIMEST’s support for innovation and green transition.
The EU Commission has decided to close its antitrust investigation into allegedly anticompetitive behaviour by EPEX Spot SE in the market for electricity intraday trading facilitation services in at least six Member States (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands).
The latest monthly agri-food trade report published today by the European Commission showed that in April 2024, the EU agri-food trade surplus reached €5 billion, still 4% higher than in April 2023, despite a reduction of 25% compared to the previous month.
The European Commission decided to open an infringement procedure by sending a letter of formal notice to 26 Member States for failing to fully transpose into national law the provisions of the revised EU Emissions Trading System Directive (EU ETS) related to new emissions trading system (ETS2).
“In this sacred space, I’m surrounded by portraits of extraordinary American presidents. Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the immortal words that guide this nation. George Washington, who showed us presidents are not kings. Abraham Lincoln, who implored us to reject malice. Franklin Roosevelt, who inspired us to reject fear” – U.S. President Josef Biden.
In its regular package of infringement decisions, the European Commission pursues legal action against Member States for failing to comply with their obligations under EU law. The Commission is also closing 72 cases in which the issues with the Member States concerned have been solved.
Based on the latest available data reported by Member States, all have failed to meet several waste collection and recycling targets laid down under the current EU waste legislation.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending Greek energy company DEPA Commercial SA a total of €390 million to build and operate solar-energy farms across the country. The EIB funding covers 75% of total cost of the new photovoltaic (PV) sites, which is expected to reach up to €521 million.
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