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"Serious and organised crime touches the lives of Europeans in unprecedented ways. It is destructive, pervasive and complex."

Press remarks by Vice-President Schinas on EU Strategies to tackle Organised Crime and fight Trafficking in Human Beings

By: EBR | Thursday, April 15, 2021

"When we presented our Security Union strategy last year, we committed to stepping up the EU’s work against organised crime"

The European Court of Auditors (ECA) looked at how the European Commission supports member states in expanding electrical charging infrastructure as well as how it manages EU funding.

Deployment of EU electric vehicle charging stations too slow, auditors say

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 14, 2021

The European Union’s deployment of charging infrastructure for electric vehicles is not quick enough to meet the bloc’s targets

The Commission will use a diversified funding strategy to raise up to around €800 billion in current prices until 2026.

NextGenerationEU: Commission gets ready to raise up to €800 billion to fund the recovery

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 14, 2021

The Commission has today taken steps to ensure that borrowing under the temporary recovery instrument NextGenerationEU will be financed on the most advantageous terms for EU Member States and their citizens

“We believe that, first and foremost, we need to continue to apply the energy efficiency first principle, ensuring that really we make the most out of our limited resources,” Pinho said.

Energy efficiency must apply across all renewables, EU Commission says

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Europe needs a massive increase in renewable electricity to meet its 2030 decarbonisation targets, including a ramp up of clean hydrogen production from electrolysers

"Crisis fatigue has become a widespread sentiment in Europe. There is no immediate end in sight to the COVID-19 pandemic, not to mention the inevitable and fundamental economic challenges that will follow."

The age of permacrisis

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 13, 2021

Despite the fatigue with the pandemic and the longing for stability and predictability, Europe has entered the age of ‘permacrisis’, in which volatility, uncertainty, and a prolonged sense of emergency have become the new normal

"The Certificate would constitute proof that a person has been either vaccinated against COVID-19, received a negative test result, or already recovered from the disease. The document should be free, and available in digital or paper format."

Digital Green Certificate: MEPs to review Commission proposal

By: EBR | Monday, April 12, 2021

On Tuesday, MEPs will take a detailed look at the proposed Digital Green Certificate, the aim of which is to ensure the freedom of movement within the EU during the pandemic

In a joint statement, the four nations, known as the BASIC countries, “expressed grave concern regarding the proposal for introducing trade barriers such as unilateral carbon border adjustment”.

Emerging economies share ‘grave concern’ over EU plans for a carbon border levy

By: EBR | Monday, April 12, 2021

European Union plans to impose taxes on carbon at its border are “discriminatory” and unfair to developing nations, ministers from Brazil, South Africa, India and China have warned

“To really make a difference in our current situation, the delivery would have to come in the next two to four, five months — otherwise we’ll have more than enough vaccines,” Spahn said, adding he was seeking a “binding commitment on which amounts specifically could reach Germany after regulatory approval and when”.

EU ‘better off’ with Sputnik V, says MEP as Germany moves to secure Russian shots

By: EBR | Friday, April 9, 2021

Germany’s health minister Jens Spahn has said he is prepared to push ahead without the rest of the bloc to purchase doses of the Russian Sputnik V virus vaccine after approval from European regulators and would be entitled to do so, according to the European Commission

“When we look to the climate urgency and we look to the carbon budgets, which are left globally and also in the EU, basically there is no space for something which the gas industry would call an ‘energy transition’ – a smooth transition taking several decades.”

Europe risks €87 billion in stranded fossil gas assets, report reveals

By: EBR | Friday, April 9, 2021

Europe is already building or planning to build €87 billion worth of fossil gas infrastructure in a continued expansion of pipelines and LNG terminals, despite the need to halve emissions by 2030

The Executive Board endorsed the multilingual digital platform that will allow citizens from across the EU to contribute to the Conference. It also agreed on its working methods and advanced preparations for the inaugural event on Europe Day (9 May).

Conference on the Future of Europe: launch of the citizens’ platform on 19 April

By: EBR | Thursday, April 8, 2021

At its meeting on Wednesday, the Executive Board of the Conference on the Future of Europe continued preparations to get the Conference started

“Public and private investment should ally, and governments have the responsibility to give the right signals, creating the regulatory framework and conditions for the private sector to invest with stability and predictability.”

Energy ministers urge for regulatory framework on hydrogen

By: EBR | Thursday, April 8, 2021

European energy ministers have highlighted the need to create a stable regulatory framework for hydrogen in the European Union, capable of attracting private investors into a competitive and predictable market

"Three problems explain why most of Europe has found it so hard to deal with this crisis."

Why Can’t Europe Cope With the Coronavirus?

By: EBR | Thursday, April 8, 2021

Three factors explain why most European countries have found it difficult to deal with the pandemic: an unsuitable level of integration, an inability to make rapid decisions, and a breakdown of trust between governments and the governed

"Bulgarians are fed up with their country’s corruption."

Bulgaria’s Election: The EU’s Negligence of Corruption and Its Values

By: EBR | Wednesday, April 7, 2021

EU governments are undermining the rule of law, independent judiciaries, and vibrant media. What a bonus for Russia’s and China’s efforts to weaken and divide Europe

"Audrey Pulvar, a former television anchor who is part of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s administration, was speaking about revelations that a leading student union held meetings about discrimination that were closed to white people."

French Socialist reignites row over ’non-white’ meetings

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 6, 2021

A black French politician came under fire on Sunday for saying that whites should "keep quiet" if allowed into a meeting of people of colour discussing racism, reigniting a debate over how to address discrimination

President Von der Leyen cuts a sympathetic picture at the lectern; she is articulate and has won widespread recognition as figurehead of the EU’s efforts to contain Covid-19.

It’s time for VDL to admit errors and develop a more global plan

By: EBR | Tuesday, April 6, 2021

When Ursula von der Leyen steps down in autumn 2024, she will probably look back on this Easter as marking only the initial phase of the Covid crisis

“We need to break the silos between separate flows of energy production and use,” said EU climate chief Frans Timmermans, saying the current energy system “is quickly becoming a relic of the past.”

What now? Policymakers mull options for greater energy system integration

By: EBR | Monday, April 5, 2021

Consumers will be at the centre of EU efforts to create a more integrated energy system, with local authorities playing an essential role to bring energy users closer to suppliers in a bid to maximise efficiency and cut greenhouse gas emissions

Research published recently in the journal Environmental Research Letters, looked at agricultural production in 28 European countries – the current European Union and United Kingdom – from 1961 to 2018.

Europe’s heat and drought crop losses tripled in 50 years: study

By: EBR | Friday, April 2, 2021

The severity of crop losses driven by heat waves and drought have tripled in the last fifty years in Europe, according to a study that highlights the vulnerability of food systems to climate change

"The impact of the EU’s post-coronavirus recovery fund will come late and may be less than meets the eye. Not being a sovereign state, the EU is ill equipped to run policies on the fly."

Will the EU Recovery Fund Happen?

By: EBR | Friday, April 2, 2021

On March 26, the German Constitutional Court ordered the country’s president not to sign off on legislation to ratify the EU’s €750 billion post-coronavirus recovery fund. At stake is Europe’s ability to recover after the pandemic is over

The Commission presented new legislative proposals to combat climate change: the European Green Deal. For instance, houses must become more energy efficient and energy friendly by installing solar panels.

EU mandates all solar panels underground by 2030

By: N. Peter Kramer | Thursday, April 1, 2021

Solar panels must all be placed underground in the future; decided a majority of the European Parliament in response to the climate plans of the European Commission

“Non-renewable and low-carbon fuels, including so-called ‘low carbon’ fossil fuels, should not be included in any provision under the Renewable Energy Directive nor should they count towards the EU’s binding 2030 renewable energy target.”

EU urged to keep ‘low-carbon fuels’ out of renewable energy mix

By: EBR | Thursday, April 1, 2021

A group of 88 lawmakers in the European Parliament have joined environmental NGOs and the renewable energy industry to demand the exclusion of low-carbon fossil fuels from the upcoming revision of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive