European Union

The city council of Madrid announced on Wednesday that all education centres will be closed for two weeks, El País reported. The decision will affect over 1.5m students from early education to university. A city in the Basque region took the same measures earlier. All regions have reported cases of coronavirus, but about 60 percent of cases are concentrated in three regions: La Rioja, Madrid and the Basque Country.

A member of Russia's ruling party has proposed amending the constitution in a way that would reset president Vladimir Putin's term count back to zero, the Guardian writes. Currently, Putin is required by the constitution to step down in 2024 when his second sequential presidential term ends. If the amendment is approved Putin could thus be able to remain president of Russia until 2036.

More than 100 MEPs have signed a letter asking EU Council president Charles Michel to support them in their request for a stand-in, in case they take parental leave. They write "for women this [current system] can have the effect of hampering them either in their choice to enter politics or in their choice of having children. We cannot allow that seats in the European Parliament become vacant."

Without a doubt, with its infrared light, visible light and UV light components sunlight is of central importance to all of us. However, over the last couple of years, an unjust demonization of the sun and to a similar extent of tanning beds has taken place, writes Torben König, Scientific Advisor of the European Sunlight Association (ESA).

Following EU leaders' video conference on COVID-19, European Council President Charles Michel issued these conclusions.

President Charles Michel called a video conference with the members of the European Council to coordinate EU efforts to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The EU must help Greece manage its border with Turkey, while ensuring the right to asylum for those who need it, several MEPs said on Tuesday.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The EU must help Greece manage its border with Turkey, while ensuring the right to asylum for those who need it, several MEPs said on Tuesday.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Group leaders adopted a revised calendar of parliamentary activities on Tuesday, following the precautionary measures taken to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Group leaders adopted a revised calendar of parliamentary activities on Tuesday, following the precautionary measures taken to contain the spread of COVID-19.

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

MEPs deplore that member states are not ready to give the EU the necessary resources to deal with the European Union’s challenges.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

MEPs deplore that member states are not ready to give the EU the necessary resources to deal with the European Union’s challenges.
Committee on Budgets

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

‘RESHUB’, a Slovenian-led project increasing reliable and sustainable energy in the defence sector, has been selected to receive technical support thanks to funding from the EU’s Structural Reform Support Programme (SRSP). EDA assisted the Slovenian Ministry of Defence in applying for the SRSP.

“RESHUB”, which stands for ‘Defence RESilience Hub Network in Europe’, is a project conceived and led by the Slovenian Ministry of Defence under the Consultation Forum on Sustainable Energy in the Defence and Security Sector (CF SEDSS) which is currently in its third phase. Other participating countries in the project are Austria, Belgium, Germany and Hungary.  

The aim of RESHUB is to help build a renewable energy harvesting and hydrogen (H2) energy storage capability and to facilitate cross-Europe transportation, which will lower CO2 emissions and contribute to energy sustainability in the EU defence and security sector. EDA was instrumental in helping participating Member States in preparing and drafting the RESHUB application following a call under the SRSP issued by the Commission. 

Throughout phase III of the Consultation Forum, EDA will continue to support participating Member States’ Ministries of Defence (MoDs) to tackle energy security challenges including via energy efficiency and buildings performance, renewable energy solutions and the protection of defence-related critical energy infrastructure. In this context, EDA will help MoDs to develop defence energy-related project ideas and identify available funding opportunities through its “IdentiFunding” tool. Furthermore, EDA will continue to provide the most mature energy projects with tailored support in their application for  funding at European level. 

The successful application is important as it demonstrates that the Consultation Forum, a European Commission funded initiative managed and run by EDA, is the appropriate forum at the EU level where practical defence energy projects can be initiated and brought to the next level.  
 

Background 

CF SEDSS is a European Commission funded initiative managed by EDA. This project was established in 2015 with the primary scope to create a defence energy-related community to share relevant information and best practices to reach sustainable energy objectives. Building on the successful outcome of the previous two phases (CF I: 2015-2017, CF II: 2017-2019), the European Commission and EDA launched the third phase (CF III: 2019-2023), which is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 882171. 
 

More information: 

Access to EU funding for Defence.

Access to “European Funding Gateway for Energy in Defence”.    

CF SEDSS.

CF SEDSS: defence energy-related project ideas.

EDA Chief Executive and Slovenian MoD’s talks on EU defence cooperation.  

Structural Reform Support Programme. 

 

 

Rock-bottom oil prices normally mean bad news for the environment - you can burn more of a cheap fuel - but the world has changed and the latest slump might catapult the EU Green Deal’s to new heights.

Plans for an EU-wide hydrogen alliance were confirmed on Tuesday (10 March) when the European Commission unveiled its new industrial strategy.

Despite the fact that there are fewer cases compared to other countries from Europe, last night, the minister of Interior of Romania announced many drastic measures for the public institutions, flights, road and rail transports to/from Italy. The measures were...

The European Commission agreed on Tuesday (10 March) to suspend rules that oblige airlines to fly empty ‘ghost flights’, as the EU tries to mitigate the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the economy.

European parliamentarians hailed on Tuesday (10 March) the political agreement between Georgian ruling and opposition parties that promises to resolve the electoral reform conflict that resulted a series of protests in the country. 

With Michael Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren dropping out of the Democratic primaries, Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden are the only Democrats front-runners left in this year's presidential race. But do Germans thinks they are more economically literate than Donald Trump? EURACTIV's partner WirtschaftsWoche reports.

For Giovanni Badiali, it is a day like any other. Adorned in the standard surgical attire, he enters the operating room and prepares his medial implements with the patient lying flat before him.