European Union

The EU Council of Ministers is close to formalising its position on the new product liability rules, based on a compromise text circulated this week, seen by EURACTIV.

A new compromise text on the European Media Freedom Act from the Swedish Council Presidency proposes changes to areas including the threshold of application for rules on allocation of public funds and the provisions covering spyware and the protection of sources. 

In 2022, vaccination against Covid in Africa had significantly increased and the number of cases had dropped. But African public health experts say there is now a need for long-term investment.

"This will be the first time a member state that is under the Article 7 procedure will take over the rotating presidency of the council," French Green MEP Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield, the key lawmaker on Hungary, warned.

Twitter told the European Commission it is seriously considering withdrawing from the EU Code of Practice on Disinformation, a voluntary agreement that preludes upcoming binding rules, EU officials told EURACTIV. The announcement of Twitter’s withdrawal from the code would come...

Alternative economic models that want to ditch the current growth imperative are becoming more prominent for a reason. It is important to engage with them productively.

Researchers found that global societal costs of the so-called forever chemicals or PFAS amount to €16 trillion per year. Meanwhile, the bigger producers of these chemicals are also among the ones spending the most to lobby EU policies.

On 25 May 2023, the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on International Trade will hold a hearing on the implementation of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement that has been in force since 1 May 2021. Members will discuss with four expert speakers how unprecedented arrangements with a third country have been implemented so far.
Their valuable expertise will feed in the preparation of a joint implementation report on the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement that the two Committees are preparing.
Poster
Draft programme
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

I envy the three journalists from The Economist who spent eight hours over two days talking to Henry Kissinger and last week published a fascinating transcript of more than 16,000 words. The transcript mentions Russia 55 times and China 177 times. Europe is mentioned 50 times.

France must spend €66 billion every year until 2030 in order to hit its climate targets, a new report by a government advisory body says, suggesting more debt and taxing the rich as a way to foot the bill.

The EU has condemned plans by Belarus to host Russian nukes following a signed agreement between Minsk and Moscow.

In construction, long and complex subcontracting chains are a major factor of exploitation. If done in an appropriate way, subcontracting should not be a problem. Trouble starts when subcontracting is simply used to reduce costs and to escape legal responsibilities.

Welcome to EU Politics DecodedWelcome to EU Politics Decoded. In this edition, we look at how economics trumped a series of political scandals in last week’s Greek elections.

The EU's ambition to be a digital superpower stands in stark contrast to the US — but the bigger problem is that it remains far better at regulation than innovation, despite decades of hand-wringing over Europe's technology gap.

Rewatch this EURACTIV Virtual Conference to learn about the implications of the EU’s Critical Raw Material Act for European industry and technology providers, and how extraction, processing and recycling of critical raw materials by European companies can be supported. Discussed questions included: - What are the prospects for a critical raw materials “club” in the current complex geopolitical context? - What is needed to ramp up sustainable exploration in the EU and ensure the required acceptance? - How can Member States and private companies be supported in maximising the recovery and reuse of critical raw materials? - How effective can the CRMA be in monitoring and mitigating risks of disruptions to the supply chain as well as enhancing circularity and sustainability?

At the European Trade Union Confederation’s (ETUC) 50th anniversary Berlin meeting, labour leaders and EU lawmakers pushed for faster implementation of the Minimum Wage Directive and criticised the role of corporate profits in rising prices.

Talks on Germany’s future electricity market are heating up as all parties await a key analysis from grid operators amid looming threats from Brussels to split up the country’s wholesale market bidding zone.

When I was born, there were around 3.7 billion people on this planet. There are now over 8 billion. The solutions for how to feed them that I was taught in school are insufficient today. Alexandra Brand is the Regional...

Defying its own impact assessment, the European Commission refrained from proposing a full ban on sales commissions for financial advice in its Retail Investment Strategy (RIS), proposing instead a limited ban of inducements on advice-free sales and more cost transparency.

The EU Commission should not accept member states’ demands to reduce the EU budget, said MEP Siegfried Mureșan, as discussions around the EU budget for 2024, as well as the revision of the Union’s long-term budget, draw closer.