European Union

Trump's anti-EU jibes are not slips of the tongue, but signs of a "conflictual" new century in world affairs, Maros Sefcovic has warned.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) would risk its model business if it invested in Iran, given the US sanctions after its withdrawal of the nuclear deal, president of the EIB Werner Hoyer told the press on Wednesday (18 July).

The European Commission slapped Google on Wednesday (18 July) with a record fine of €4.34 billion for abusing its dominant position and said it would continue to investigate as a “top priority” Google's other businesses for possible additional breaches of market rules. The company said it would appeal.

Margrethe Vestager has fined the US tech giant with €4.34bn for abusing its market dominance in mobile operating systems - but assured US president Donald Trump that it is not because she does not like America.

Donald Trump wants Europe to spend more on defence. He’s right. But forget about tanks, missiles and guns: we need to pump cash into an energy arms race. There’s no doubt we’d win it.

Boris Johnson accused Theresa May's government of 'dither' over Brexit on Wednesday, as he set out his reasons for resigning as foreign secretary last week over May's Chequers white paper. Speaking in parliament, Johnson said it was "not too late to save Brexit", but said "We dithered. We burnt through negotiating capital. We agreed to hand over a €40bn exit fee, with no discussion of our future economic relationship."

The EU will respond to any provocation coming from the US on trade or any other matter, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker warned on Wednesday (18 July) ahead of his trip to Washington to meet Donald Trump next week.

The International Monetary Fund continues to project global growth at 3.9%  in 2018, but a rise in trade tensions “are an important downside risk”. EURACTIV’s partner La Tribune reports.

The European Commission and Macedonia signed an agreement Wednesday to send EU border guards to the country. The agreement will allow teams from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency to be deployed "with executive powers" and do border checks "if needed" to prevent irregular migration, EU migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said. A similar agreement exists with Albania and negotiations are also ongoing with Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), known as the 'Juncker Plan', raised €335bn since it was launched in 2015, the European Commission and the European Investment Bank announced Wednesday. The fund, which provides EU guarantees on private investment, aimed to raise €315bn. It is now expected to reach €350bn by 2020. The commission and EIB said it will create 1.4 million jobs and increase EU GDP by 1.3 percent.

European Commission Vice-President Maroš Šefčovič meets with EURACTIV’s Sam Morgan over a coffee to talk about Europe’s climate policy, Nord Stream 2 and why he thinks he can succeed Jean-Claude Juncker in the top job.

A EU-wide ban on ivory trade is essential if the global trend to close down markets is to succeed in protecting elephants from poachers, argue Mark Jones and Joanna Swabe.

Written by Marcin Grajewski,

The European Union lags behind the United States and China in fostering disruptive technology and needs a policy overhaul to catch up with, or even leapfrog, its rivals. Spending on research and development by the EU and its Member States should be streamlined, more agile and, above all, funds should be disbursed much faster than at present, notably to start-up companies. A risk-taking bias should replace a sometimes over-cautious attitude on the part of programme managers. These were some key messages from analysts and industry practitioners speaking at a conference on ‘Harnessing disruptive technologies: Converting EU research into successful start-ups’, organised by the European Parliamentary Research Service (EPRS) on 10 July 2018 in the European Parliament’s Library Room.

‘The EU, and indeed the Member States, spend a lot of money on promoting research of various kinds, and the question is how to make sure that as much of it as possible can be commercialised in a way that adds over time to GDP. There is a general perception that Europe is less successful than some of its competitors in doing so,’ said EPRS Director-General, Anthony Teasdale, opening the debate.

Dr Alexander Waibel

Indeed, the EU is good at funding basic research and incrementally improving traditional engineering-based industries, but its achievements in information technology, artificial intelligence and creating the environment for innovative start-ups to flourish is less impressive, said Dr Alexander Waibel, Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany. ‘Europe is doing a fantastic job in basic sciences, fundamental research programmes in physics, chemistry and human brain projects. We have companies that are the envy of the world, manufacturing products of a quality that no one can match’, he said.

However, ‘future growth and the economy’s ability to create jobs lies elsewhere’, Waibel added. ‘Disruption is absolutely key for society. Famous investor, Warren Buffet, once said: first come the innovators, then come the imitators, and then come the idiots. Uber, Google, Apple Facebook, they all in some way disrupted the way we do things and now dominate the market.’

The EU is spending considerable sums on research and development as part of its GDP. In Germany, the ratio is higher than in the USA.

However, André Loesekrug-Pietri, former venture capital investor and then adviser to the French government, noted that no European company is among the world’s 10 top firms in terms of market capitalisation. The market capitalisation of the seven largest platforms (four American, and three Chinese), is four times higher than the same parameter for the 30 biggest German and 40 largest French companies. China accounts for 48 % of investment in artificial intelligence, the US for 38 %, and the rest of the world, including the EU, for 14 %. This is because the current IT-based economy creates a ‘winner takes all’ market for the best conceived disruptive innovations.

André Loesekrug-Pietri

To be able to compete in this area, the EU and its Member States need to reform their system of awarding research grants. ‘We are too much focused on research papers. No venture capitalist is interested in research paper, we need prototypes,’ said Loesekrug-Pietri. In the current, fast-changing world, speed is of the essence. Project submissions should be 10 pages long, rather than 120, as is the case at present, and reviewed in six weeks by temporarily hired scientists acting as project managers, rather than by civil servants. A winner would receive funding swiftly, but it would face tough regular scrutiny on progress.

This is how the major US innovation incubator, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) works. DARPA is responsible for the development of emerging technologies for military and later civilian use. With a current budget of some $3.4 billion, it has 240 employees. DARPA was responsible for inventions such as the internet, global positioning systems, or driverless vehicles. Waibel listed some commandments for a DARPA-destined project. An applicant needs to answer questions as to: what they are trying to do, without any jargon; what the limits of current practice are; who cares if you are successful; what the risks and payoffs are; how much it will cost; how long it will take to implement; what the ‘mid-term and final exams’ for success are.

Both Waibel and Loesekrug-Pietri agreed that creating a European DARPA is worth considering, although the former advocated a pan-EU approach, while the latter said a few most committed countries should first launch the project. Loesekrug-Pietri is now the speaker of the Joint European Disruptive Initiative (JEDI), a private-public project aimed at accelerating French and German leadership in disruptive innovation.

The EPRS’ Head of the Scientific Foresight Service, Lieve Van Woensel, stressed that the EP attaches great importance to innovation, and its members are well briefed on the issue, to address the numerous concerns of ordinary people regarding the speed of technological change.

‘Disruption is about individual creativity. At the beginning of many disruptive technologies, we have an individual daring to do what others thought impossible, daring to test what others thought not worth testing’, concluded Franck Debié, the Acting Head of the Innovation and Project Management Unit in the EP.

Click to view slideshow.

The EU "will continue to give tit for tat to US unilateral measures" on trade, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said Tuesday. Ahead of a meeting with US president Donald Trump next week in Washington, where US tariffs on steel and aluminium, as well as threats of tariffs on cars will be discussed, he said that "it's not about fake news, it's about objective facts."

The European Commission agreed on Wednesday to register a European Citizens' Initiatives (ECI) that aims to permanently guarantee European citizenship and its associated rights once they have been attained - especially for UK citizens after Brexit. It also agreed to register another ECI calling on the commission to make legislative proposals to "embrace the hunger problem" in the EU. The petition need one million signature to be taken into account.

Following fierce criticism of his statements during a press conference with Vladimir Putin the US president has backpedalled, saying that he hadn't mean to say that there had been no Russian interference in the US election campaign. Will this "slip-up" in Helsinki have fateful consequences for Trump and his party?