COVID-19 lessons learned: stronger role for EU medicines regulator
By: EBR | Tuesday, June 22, 2021
Public health MEPs agree to change the European Medicines Agency’s mandate to reinforce its role and better equip the EU to manage future health crises
EU data watchdogs want ban on AI facial recognition
By: EBR | Tuesday, June 22, 2021
The EU’s data protection agencies on Monday (21 June) called for an outright ban on using artificial intelligence to identify people in public places, pointing to the “extremely high” risks to privacy
EU struggles for unity on global tax drive
By: EBR | Friday, June 18, 2021
EU finance ministers worked Thursday (17 June) to find European unity on striking an international deal on taxation, with low-tax countries Ireland and Hungary needing cajoling to stay on board
Austria calls for return to strict budgetary rules
By: EBR | Thursday, June 17, 2021
Ahead of the Council meeting of EU finance ministers on Thursday (17 June), Austrian Finance Minister Gernot Blumel urged his European counterparts to return to strict EU budgetary rules
EU Council reaches agreement on road charging
By: EBR | Thursday, June 17, 2021
The Council of the European Union (EU), chaired by Portugal, has reached an agreement with the European Parliament to revise the rules on road charging, the so-called Eurovignette, to reduce emissions of polluting gases and infrastructure congestion
EU eyes tighter rules for ‘renewable’ biomass energy
By: EBR | Thursday, June 17, 2021
The European Union is considering tightening rules on whether wood-burning energy can be classed as renewable and count towards green goals, according to a draft document seen by Reuters on Wednesday (16 June)
Commission convinces markets with first issuance of recovery bonds
By: EBR | Wednesday, June 16, 2021
The European Commission raised €20 billion in the markets on Tuesday (15 June) to start financing the EU’s €800 billion recovery fund, beating its expectations for the planned monthly bond sale
Commission to invest €14.7 billion from Horizon Europe for a healthier, greener and more digital Europe
By: EBR | Wednesday, June 16, 2021
The Commission has adopted the main work programme of Horizon Europe for the period 2021-2022, which outlines the objectives and specific topic areas that will receive a total of €14.7 billion in funding
COVID crisis worsened corruption in EU: watchdog
By: EBR | Tuesday, June 15, 2021
The pandemic has worsened corruption across the European Union, Transparency International said Tuesday (15 June), with citizens at times needing personal connections to get medical care and some governments using the crisis for their own gain
Infrastructure dispute reveals deep divisions in EU over gas
By: EBR | Tuesday, June 15, 2021
The EU’s 27 energy ministers on Friday (11 June) came to an uneasy compromise on the revision of EU rules covering investments in cross-border energy infrastructure, the so-called TEN-E regulation
No CAP reform without trade reform
By: EBR | Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Negotiations to attempt to align the next phase of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to the EU Green Deal drag on. Yet the goal of a truly sustainable European agricultural policy will only be achieved alongside a courageous trade policy
The EU is coming into its own on global rules for the Digital Age
By: EBR | Tuesday, June 15, 2021
“There are the things we know and those we don’t know, and then there’s what we don’t know we don’t know”
What is the EU doing at G7?
By: EBR | Tuesday, June 15, 2021
At the G7 round table, there are actually nine seats. At last week’s three-day G7 summit in Cornwall, two of them were taken by European Council President Charles Michel and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
EU countries agree to prolong funding for selected gas projects, with caveats
By: EBR | Monday, June 14, 2021
European Union energy ministers on Friday (11 June) agreed to prolong EU support for some cross-border natural gas projects, despite a push from 11 countries and the European Commission who said such funding should end to comply with climate change goals
G7 Summit: President von der Leyen outlines key EU priorities
By: EBR | Monday, June 14, 2021
Ahead of the G7 Summit taking place from 11 to 13 June in Cornwall in the United Kingdom, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen outlined the key priorities and initiatives the EU will present in meetings with leaders of world’s key economies
EU’s building renovation wave hits administrative snag
By: EBR | Friday, June 11, 2021
Differing views within the European Commission on how the EU’s unprecedented recovery fund can be spent, and a rush to translate national spending plans from their original language, risk slowing down the EU’s building renovation wave, experts say
Austria sides with Denmark on controversial asylum law
By: EBR | Thursday, June 10, 2021
Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer has welcomed Danish legislation to move asylum seekers to third countries as their application is processed
Can EU Sanctions Change Lukashenko?
By: EBR | Friday, June 4, 2021
EU sanctions will not change Belarusian leader Lukashenko’s determination to cling to power, but they send an important signal. To avoid isolating ordinary citizens, the EU must combine sanctions with enhanced support for Belarusian civil society
Denmark passes law to process asylum seekers outside Europe
By: EBR | Friday, June 4, 2021
Denmark on Thursday (3 June) passed a law enabling it to process asylum seekers outside Europe, drawing anger from human rights advocates, the United Nations and the European Commission
Widespread division over new EU rules against tax avoidance
By: N. Peter Kramer | Friday, June 4, 2021
After five years of negotiations, EU countries have finally agreed on a law that requires large companies to be more open about the taxes they pay
By: N. Peter Kramer
