European Union

Delfarma
Free movement of goods
EU law precludes national legislation under which a parallel import licence of a medicinal product is to expire automatically after one year from the expiry of the marketing authorisation for the reference medicinal product, without carrying out an examination whether there is any risk to the health and life of humans

EDA’s project on Prediction Models for the Implementation of Munition Health Management (PREMIUM), launched in May of this year with Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands as participating countries, has gained traction last week with three additional Member States joining: Germany, Poland and Portugal have become full members of the 4-year project which aims to improve Member States’ Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) based management of munition by developing models for the estimation of remaining life and health status. 

The project is meant to tackle the problem of inadequate models used by Member States to predict the life cycle and functional reliability of  materials used in munitions and missiles, or of newly developed materials. A better assessment and prediction of the materials’ ageing status and process can be achieved through accurate prediction models and corresponding sensors to measure the environment and change of material. 

More concretely, the objectives of the project are to: 

• collect information, develop know-how and predictive models about the health status of munition for an efficient life cycle management;
• develop more reliable ageing models at material (energetic and non-energetic) or component level to customise and integrate them into improved HUMS units;
• harmonise the management approach across Europe and develop in Member States a common method for the surveillance of munitions and missiles.

The project is expected to perform analyses of ammunition life-cycle stored in mainland depots, on board of a ship, a fighter jet and an armoured vehicle, both in Europe and outside in operations. 

The expected military benefits of the project are improved missiles and munitions reliability and safety and reduced costs. 

The project is implemented by a consortium composed by 13 European organisations, namely: MBDA Italy, Italian National Research Council (CNR), The Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), The Swedish Defense Research Agency (FOI), BAE Systems Bofors AB, Polish Military Institute of Armament Technology (MIAT), Polish Military University of Technology (MUT), Research Network Łukasiewicz - Institute of Aviation (Ł-IoA), MESKO SA, Portugal LAETA-ADAI, CINAV, CINAMIL and CIAFA.

Background

The PREMIUM Project started in May 2021 and builds upon  previous project called Munition Life Management or MLM (2015-2018), developed by EDA Capability and Technology group on Missiles and Munitions technologies.

MLM aimed to quantify and predict the influence of extreme conditions during Out of Area operations on safe and reliable use of ammunition. The participating Member States exchanged information concerning experiences of logistical and operational use of ammunition in Out of Area operations, on whole-life-assessment (incl. analysis on returned ammunition), data monitoring during storage and operational use, selection or development of models for predicting the environmental impact on safety and reliability.

More information:

• EDA CapTech Ammunition Technologies

État luxembourgeois (Informations sur un groupe de contribuables)
Approximation of laws
Coopération administrative dans le domaine fiscal : une demande d’informations peut concerner un groupe de personnes identifiables, mais non nominativement et individuellement identifiées

In this Over a Coffee, Botswana’s President Mokgweetsi Masisi and EURACTIV editor Benjamin Fox talk about his government’s handling of the pandemic and its economic and social effect, Botswana’s plans to overhaul its economy and EU relations.

Thursday, 25 November

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Thursday, 25 November

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Little stands in the way of Turkey's currency collapse expanding into a deeper economic crisis after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan ignored appeals, even from within his government, to reverse policy, according to top officials and analysts.

Written by Dessislava Yougova (1st edition).

The EU’s effort-sharing legislation covers greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in sectors not included in the EU emissions trading system. A wide range of sources account for these emissions, such as petrol and diesel used for road transport, energy used for heating and cooling in buildings, animal digestion and fertilisers used in agriculture, waste treatment, and small industries. To cut the emissions in these sectors, the EU effort-sharing legislation establishes binding targets and sets up annual emissions allocations for each Member State for the 2013-2020 and 2021-2030 periods. On 14 July 2021, the European Commission submitted a proposal on a regulation amending the binding annual emissions reductions by Member States from 2021 to 2030. It reviews the collective and national targets set up in the Effort-Sharing Regulation (ESR). The proposal is part of the ‘fit for 55’ package, which aims to adapt EU climate and energy legislation to the new EU objective of an at least 55 % reduction in net GHG emissions by 2030 compared to 1990, in accordance with the recent European Climate Law. In order to contribute to the new climate ambition, sectors covered by the ESR should achieve a collective reduction of 40 % in their emissions by 2030 compared to 2005.

The file has been referred to the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). Initial debates have been held and a draft report is being prepared.

Versions

• November 2021: Revising the Effort-Sharing Regulation for 2021-2030: ‘Fit for 55’ package (1st edition)

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EU) 2018/842 on binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions by Member States from 2021 to 2030 contributing to climate action to meet commitments under the Paris Agreement Committee responsible:Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI)COM(2021)555
14.07.2021Rapporteur:Jessica Polfjärd (EPP, Sweden)2021/0200(COD)Shadow rapporteurs:Javi López (S&D, Spain)
Linea Søgaard-Lidell (Renew, Denmark) Margrete Auken (Greens/EFA, Denmark) Silvia Sardone (ID, Italy)
Anna Zalewska (ECR, Poland)
Silvia Modig (The Left, Finland)Ordinary legislative procedure (COD)
(Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Publication of draft report

Germany aims to have at least 15 million electric cars on the roads by 2030 in its shift towards climate neutrality, up from a previous goal of 14 million, according to the coalition agreement of the incoming government published on Wednesday (24 November).

Decarbonising Europe’s building stock requires robust Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS), not a piecemeal approach that fails to regulate buildings that are ripe for renovation projects, writes Adrian Joyce.

In the face of rising energy prices, Spain and Poland have called for trading limits to be placed on the world’s largest carbon market, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS). Market analysts, however, say speculative positions are currently too small to be statistically significant.

Germany will remain part of NATO's nuclear sharing agreement under its new government, according to the coalition deal, a move that will prevent a rift in the Western military alliance at a time of rising tensions with Russia.

Coronavirus infections broke records in parts of Europe, with the continent once again the epicentre of a pandemic that has prompted new curbs on movement and seen health experts push to widen the use of booster vaccination shots.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about Sweden's first female PM resigning after a few hours in power, a Budapest-based research centre suspected of spying on the Central and Eastern Europe region for China, and so much more.

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