European Union

It is impossible to stop the planned whaling this summer despite the country’s Food Authority’s conclusion that the hunt does not comply with the objectives of Icelandic animal welfare legislation, Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Svandís Svavarsdóttir said on Monday. The...

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP/Renew) has called for a tougher stance on China after a scheduled meeting with his Chinese counterpart was cancelled at the last minute. Lindner was scheduled to meet with Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun on...

The European Parliament appears to have abandoned plans for an expensive expansion of its premises in Strasbourg, according to a note obtained by EURACTIV,  

AMENDMENTS 39 - 217 - Draft opinion Prohibiting products made with forced labour on the Union market
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Salima Yenbou

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

The European Parliament adopted a report on Tuesday (9 May), on the implementation of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), including criticism of the belated transposition from certain EU countries. 

A draft Cybersecurity Certification Scheme for Cloud Services, seen by EURACTIV, moved the requirement excluding non-European companies into a new subcategory.

To make German law fit for the Digital Services Act (DSA), Berlin proposed an advisory board that monitors the EU regulation's implementation and enforcement, according to a draft of the implementation law seen by EURACTIV.

The leader of Bulgaria's conservative GERB party, Boyko Borissov, is widely expected to propose on Wednesday morning (10 May) European Commissioner Maria Gabriel as the country's next prime minister, in the hope of forming a viable government after four failed elections.

French EU lawmaker Raphaël Glucksmann on Tuesday (9 May) rejected the idea of a joint list with the radical left La France Insoumise (LFI) ahead of the 2024 European elections, arguing that the political differences between the parties were too large.

A delegation of AFET Members will travel to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia and the seat of the ASEAN Secretariat, and to Hanoi in Vietnam from 20 to 24 February. The main goal of the mission is to contribute to furthering the EU-ASEAN Strategic Partnership, in particular cooperation between the parliaments, and to enhancing bilateral relations with EU’s major partners in the region.
Members will hold meetings with government and parliament officials in Indonesia and in Vietnam to discuss global and regional security issues as well as to follow-up on the EU-ASEAN Summit of 14 December 2022 and the own-initiative-report of June 2022 on the 'EU and the security challenges in the Indo-Pacific'. Members will also pursue dialogue with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Indonesia is chairing in 2023.
Location : Jakarta and Hanoi
Mission report
Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

An ambitious new law to reduce methane emissions in the energy sector was approved by the European Parliament on Tuesday (9 May), despite a last-minute attempt by the far-right and conservative lawmakers to water down the regulation.

As digitalisation expands and the volume of data required to sustain it grows, attention is increasingly turning to the promotion of connectivity and what might be required to boost it in the future.

Dictators are afraid of people. It would be very worrying if democracies were too.

The legal service of the EU Council of Ministers slammed the EU proposal to fight child sexual abuse material (CSAM), criticising, in particular, the ambiguity of detection orders and their possible impact on privacy rights. The CSAM draft law has...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed Ukraine as "the beating heart of today's European values" in a deeply symbolic visit to Kyiv on Europe Day (9 May) as Russia marked its World War Two Victory Day.

The EU probiotics industry is currently hindered by a ‘fragmented’ internal market that confuses customers and distorts the playing field for businesses, according to stakeholders, who call for regulatory harmonisation.

Parliament decided on Tuesday to urgently deal with a draft bill to increase European production of ammunition and missiles.
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Parliament decided on Tuesday to urgently deal with a draft bill to increase European production of ammunition and missiles.
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy

Source : © European Union, 2023 - EP

Telecoms sector regulation must look to the future if Europe's connectivity goals are to be met. Still, it is important not to lose sight of efforts to bridge the digital divide, according to stakeholders.  

One month before the European Commission is expected to propose a deregulation of certain gene editing techniques, the German governing coalition remains unable to find common ground and might be forced to abstain.