European Union

On 12 June, ministers from the current Trio Presidency of the Council of the EU (Romania, Finland and Croatia), together with the European Commission, met with their Western Balkans counterparts to discuss a range of employment and social policy issues and issued a press statement.

President Tusk met President Pendarovski in Brussels at the occasion of his first official visit abroad and discussed EU-North Macedonia relations including the opening of accession talks.

Main agenda items, approximate timing, public sessions and press opportunities.

The new European Labour Authority will have its headquarters in Bratislava, Slovakia, EU employment ministers decided in Luxembourg on Thursday. Slovakia received 15 out of 28 votes in the first round of voting. Other contenders were Bulgaria (Sofia), Cyprus (Nicosia), and Lithuania (Riga). Central and eastern EU members have long complained about the geographical distribution of EU agencies, many of which are headquartered in western Europe.

Organisation juive européenne and Vignoble Psagot
Approximation of laws
Advocate General Hogan: EU law requires, for a product originating in a territory occupied by Israel since 1967, the indication of the geographical name of this territory and, where it is the case, the indication that the product comes from an Israeli settlement

Organisation juive européenne and Vignoble Psagot
Approximation of laws
Advocate General Hogan: EU law requires, for a product originating in a territory occupied by Israel since 1967, the indication of the geographical name of this territory and, where it is the case, the indication that the product comes from an Israeli settlement

TopFit and Biffi
DISC
The exclusion, in part, of nationals of other Member States from the German senior amateur athletics championships may be contrary to EU law.

TopFit and Biffi
DISC
The exclusion, in part, of nationals of other Member States from the German senior amateur athletics championships may be contrary to EU law.

The European Union's investment arm risks torpedoing the bloc's commitment to abide by the Paris climate goals by financing billions of euros worth of new natural gas infrastructure projects, new analysis said Thursday (13 June).

Donald Trump has pledged to move troops from Germany to Poland, while praising Poland's nationalist rulers and attacking Germany on energy and defence.

The leaders of Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic will discuss in Budapest on Thursday (13 June) potential candidates for top jobs in the European Union coming up for grabs shortly, in a sign of regional coordination by the so-called Visegrad Four.

EU Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has warned against ramping up climate goals. Nine of the bloc's 28 nations have called for the EU to set a target to go carbon neutral by 2050, which means steeper emissions cuts for industry by 2030 than under the 2015 Paris climate accord. "To fix new goals, again and again, doesn't make sense. Let's focus on delivering what we already agreed," he said.

Counterfeit medicine is a "growing threat" in Europe, causing serious illness or death and costing the pharmaceutical industry more than €10bn every year, a study published Wednesday by Europol and its intellectual property office found. Professional gangs are producing pharmaceuticals in unhygienic clandestine laboratories by unqualified workers, which can be toxic. Gangs are also repackaging illegal medicines, while there is a boost in online marketplaces, AFP reported.

Ethnic and racial minorities make up at least 10 percent of the EU's population but hold just five percent of seats in the new European Parliament, the European Network Against Racism has found. Representation of Europe's biggest minority, the six-million strong Roma, has dropped, Reuters reported. The total percentage of new minority lawmakers will also fall to four percent, when UK lawmakers leave the EU parliament after Brexit.

European governments should make a fresh push for deeper eurozone integration, especially on a bank deposit guarantee scheme where almost no progress has been made, the European commissioner for the euro, Valdis Dombrovkis said Wednesday. The call comes as EU finance ministers meet on Thursday and Friday to sort out outstanding deeper integration ideas such as the deposit guarantee scheme and a eurozone budget, Reuters reported.

China's ambassador to the UK warned London that excluding Huawei from Britain's 5G network "sends a very bad signal", and that Chinese investment in Britain could be affected. Liu Xiaoming said Chinese businesses may be put off dealing with the UK if Huawei's equipment is not used for the network, the BBC reported. The US is already boycotting the company, due to concerns over security.

Thousands took to the streets of Barcelona on Wednesday to show support for the Catalan "political prisoners" whose trial ended after four months in Madrid. The jailed leaders denied the charges, arguing that Catalonia's 2017 secession bid had been non-violent. The nine defendants charged with rebellion, including former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras, who was elected to the EU parliament last month, could face 25 years in jail if convicted.

The Capitals brings you the latest news from across Europe, through on-the-ground reporting by EURACTIV’s media network.

Swedish start-up Northvolt Wednesday (12 June) announced it had secured funding, in large part from Volkswagen, for Europe’s biggest car battery factory, set to rival electric carmaker Tesla’s US “Gigafactory”. The battery producer said it had completed a $1 billion...