European Union

The European People's Party (EPP) cast the deciding vote in favour of the far-right group, which includes Viktor Orbán's MEPs.

To help avoid future gas price spikes, Brussels is breaking with Green Deal orthodoxy and opening up to fossil fuel investment abroad.

"If we are talking about peacekeepers, then we are walking into the Russian trap because they don't want peace," the EU's top diplomat told Euractiv in an exclusive interview.

''X is committed to defending these [fundamental rights to due process] through the legal system and will not back down in the face of justice'', the platform posted today.

It's a hat-trick for Meta with Whatsapp joining Facebook and Instagram in needing to comply with the Digital Service Act's strictest rules.

Even while the meeting in the Saudi capital was underway, Russia signalled a hardening of its demands.

On 4 February, Meta’s EU Innovation Day 2025 brought together policymakers, tech leaders, and businesses for a series of panel discussions and product demos

Length of video : 75'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Euractiv has obtained a draft of the Clean Industrial Deal, due to be published next Wednesday.

Merz wants to break up the current 'super ministry' for economy and climate.

Length of video : 90'

Disclaimer : The interpretation of debates serves to facilitate communication and does not constitute an authentic record of proceedings. Only the original speech or the revised written translation is authentic.
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

Bayrou had to make key concessions to the Socialists and the far right to secure their goodwill.

SEDE organises a public hearing on 'Hybrid War: protection of undersea cables in the Baltic Sea' on Tuesday, 18 February 2025 from 11.15 to 12.45hrs in Brussels (room SPINELLI 3G2). Subsea infrastructure, such as communication cables and energy pipelines, serves as the global nervous system, simultaneously transporting critical energy resources across continents and enabling communication across the world.

These critical infrastructures are increasingly the target of hybrid activities by malign actors, threatening the security and supply of communication and energy. Recent incidents in the Baltic Sea have highlighted the vulnerabilities of subsea infrastructure. Therefore, three experts will brief the SEDE Committee to explore the technical and geopolitical ramifications of sabotage and other disruptions to our subsea infrastructure, and to discuss possible options for response and improving resilience to such actions.

Location : SPINELLI 3G2
Programme
Poster
Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The Commission chief's proposal to trigger "the escape clause" in the bloc's fiscal rules has created confusion – given the rules include two different such clauses.

In a letter seen by Euractiv, Spain says they want to ease burdens for business, but that the most important thing is to "unlock capital flows forward the green transition."

1) Scholarly Interest in Russian Emigrees 

The immigration politics across Europe receive a greater actuality in the context of Russia’s full-fledged invasion in Ukraine.  The war prompted mass forced emigration not only from Ukraine, where the mass destruction takes place, but also from Russia, where repressions take various forms, as I demonstrated in my recently published books, first, “Diversity of Migrant Entrepreneurship in Varieties of European Capitalism. Post-Soviet Entrepreneurship in Austria, Spain, and Hungary” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023), and second, “Global Crises, Resilience, and Future Challenges. Experiences of Post-Yugoslav and Post-Soviet Migrants” (Ibidem Press, 2024). Simultaneously, many of the European Union’s (EU) immediate responses to Russia’s full-fledged invasion in Ukraine were increasing restrictions in issuing visas for Russian citizens across Europe and increased controls at the EU – Russia borders. One of the questions that I address in my research is, how do immigration regimes shape Russians’ immigration in Europe? This question is conceptually situated in the scholarly discussions concerning the EU immigration and integration policies.

2) Recent Immigration of Russians in Serbia 

Building upon these findings, I embarked on an exploration of immigration politics towards Russian anti-war emigrees in the European Union (EU) candidate countries of the Western Balkans. Through my initial research in Serbia, I found that this country, which counts about 6 million population, received between 100000 and 400000 Russian immigrants since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Thanks to UACES’ Microgrant, in January 2025, I made a short field trip to Serbia, where I met and conducted interviews Russian anti-war emigrees, and by using their services and by attending some of their events, I analyzed their motives to immigrate in Serbia and economic activities. Russians’ in-mass exodus to Serbia provides a certain political paradox: while majority of the Russians currently residing in Serbia represent young anti-war emigrants and Putin’s regime opponents, close ties between Russian and Serbian authoritarian political leaders provided them with visa-free access to Serbia.  

3) Are Russian Immigrants in Serbia Short-Term Phenomenon? 

As I noted in “Global Crises, Resilience, and Future Challenges”, “it is essential to distinguish between people and states, especially in non-democratic regimes, as they are very different units and actors.” My initial findings from Serbia confirm this statement: my interlocutors revealed that many of them – relokanty (migrants) as they refer to themselves – in the beginning of the war first moved to visa-free countries territorially closer to Russia, such as Georgia, Armenia, Kazakhstan and Turkey. However, for a variety of reasons, they decided to move forward to the EU. Coming to Serbia, many of them found it both culturally close and convenient for living. Most of them are under forty years old, and they initially were employed by Russian companies, which relocated their offices to Serbia, such as the Russian tech giant, Yandex. However, after spending sometime in Serbia, most of Russian immigrants quit their jobs in large Russian companies and founded their small businesses. Most of my interlocutors expressed intension to stay in Serbia for a long-term. Similarly, most of them expressed deep sympathy with the current Serbian students’ mass anti-corruption protests.   

4) Russian Immigrants’ Current Impact on Serbia  

Seemingly endless number of restaurants, cafes, and small shops with Russian titles, and Russian language heard on every corner of Belgrade, making the portrayal of the city vibrant as never before. Relying on the theory built in “Diversity of Migrant Entrepreneurship in Varieties of European Capitalism”, I also found that Serbia resembles dependent market economy of Visegrad Four group of post-socialist countries in the early 2000s, before they joined the EU. Some Serbia’s official sources demonstrated that Serbia’s remarkable economic growth in 2023-2024 is owing to the large number of Russian immigrants in Serbia. At the same time, Serbia’s immigration policy, which particularly resembles the process of Hungary’s immigration regime at the time of its’ emergence in 2010-2012, has not moved further from visa-free regime for these Russian citizens, with largely liberal political views. It remains a question, whether and to what extent will they be enabled to contribute to further economic growth and democratic reforms in Serbia, and the country’s EU integration. 

The post UACES Blog Post: Is Russian Anti-War Emigrees in Serbia A Short-Term Mass Phenomenon? appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

Abstract 

This article revisits the productivity paradox in the context of the European Union’s (EU) digital transformation, exploring the intersection of responsible innovation (RI) and productivity growth. The analysis is guided by two pivotal questions: how regulatory frameworks promoting RI influence productivity in the digital economy, and whether traditional productivity metrics effectively capture RI’s broader impacts. By introducing key debates surrounding EU regulations, such as the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and the Digital Services Act (DSA), the article highlights that while these frameworks may initially constrain conventional productivity measures, they also catalyse new forms of innovation and value creation. The exposition highlights the limitations of traditional productivity metrics in capturing RI’s societal benefits, calling for alternative frameworks aligned with the EU’s vision of sustainable, inclusive growth. 

 

Productivity and RI: Friends or Foes? 

In 1987, Nobel laureate economist Robert Solow famously observed, “You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics,” coining what became known as the productivity paradox. This paradox emerged during a time of rapid technological advancement, where innovations like personal computers and mainframes were transforming workplaces, yet productivity growth remained stagnant. Brynjolfsson and Hitt’s seminal 1998 research revealed that this apparent paradox stemmed from several factors: measurement challenges, implementation lags, redistribution of benefits, and mismanagement of technology. These insights prove remarkably relevant to today’s digital transformation challenges. Contemporary scholars continue to grapple with the innovation-productivity paradox, particularly in the context of the EU’s digital transformation (Fragkandreas, 2021). 

At the same time, as society faces the complexities of rapidly advancing technologies, the need for a responsible approach to innovation has also become increasingly significant. Awareness of environmental challenges, climate change, social inequality, and the broader impacts of technological advancements has shifted societal expectations of business activities. RI has emerged as an important framework for navigating the complexities of technological advancement, offering a structured approach to ensure that innovation aligns with societal values and sustainable development goals. 

RI, as defined by von Schomberg (2013), represents “a transparent, interactive process by which societal actors and innovators become mutually responsive to each other with a view to the acceptability, sustainability and societal desirability of the innovation process.” This definition, however, is just one perspective in a rich academic discourse. Building on this foundational definition, Owen et al. (2013) position RI as a powerful policy discourse that enables innovation processes to address societal challenges while acknowledging inherent uncertainties and ambiguities. Their work emphasizes that innovation must be guided not only by technological capabilities but also by ethical and societal implications, providing a flexible approach for responsible development. 

Expanding this theoretical framework further, Stilgoe, Owen, and Macnaghten (2013) developed four dimensions of RI: anticipation, reflexivity, inclusion, and responsiveness. Anticipation involves systematic thinking about potential impacts, both positive and negative. Reflexivity requires innovators to scrutinize their own assumptions and commitments. Inclusion demands meaningful engagement with stakeholders throughout the innovation process. Responsiveness ensures that innovation systems can adapt to changing societal needs and values. These dimensions of RI, while of great importance for ethical innovation, introduce new complexities into traditional productivity calculations. They require businesses to invest resources in stakeholder engagement, impact assessment, and adaptive management practices that may not yield immediate measurable returns. 

The EU’s regulatory approach to digital transformation exemplifies the complexities of embedding RI principles into governance frameworks, ensuring that technological advancements align with ethical and societal values. Yet, this framework also challenges traditional conceptions of productivity and innovation. This raises two critical questions: First, how do EU digital regulations that promote RI influence productivity growth? Second, can conventional productivity metrics effectively capture the broader value of RI? The next section addresses the first question by discussing the impact of these regulations on productivity, while the following section examines the adequacy of conventional metrics in reflecting the societal contributions of RI. 

 

EU Digital Regulations: Balancing RI and Productivity Growth  

The EU has established a framework of major regulatory initiatives in digital governance through four cornerstone regulations: the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act for comprehensive AI oversight, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for data privacy standards, and the Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA) for platform governance and market competition. Recent academic literature highlights critical concerns about how these regulations, while aiming to institutionalize RI principles, affect productivity growth, market dynamics, and business performance, particularly for smaller firms navigating compliance requirements. 

The AI Act stands as the world’s first comprehensive AI regulation, employing a risk-based model to categorize AI systems by their potential societal impact. However, Meyers (2024) brings attention to the tension between implementing robust safeguards, such as transparency, robustness, and human oversight, and maintaining the flexibility businesses need to advance cutting-edge AI technologies. Meyers (2024) also highlights the Act’s singular rulebook approach, designed to ensure regulatory coherence across the EU, which could paradoxically lead to institutional complexity and fragmentation, complicating its implementation. This critique underscores the broader tension between establishing robust safeguards, such as transparency, robustness, and human oversight, and maintaining the flexibility businesses need to promote advancements in AI technologies.  

The GDPR provides a revealing case study of RI’s practical implementation challenges. Research by Chen et al. (2022) demonstrates significant disparities in the regulation’s impact across different business segments. Their findings reveal that enhanced data protection requirements led to measurable reductions in financial performance for companies targeting European consumers, with small technology companies experiencing nearly twice the negative impact on profits compared to industry averages. Also, Chen et al. (2022) point out that larger technology firms remained relatively unaffected, highlighting the regulation’s uneven economic impact. At the same time, despite these challenges, Bachlechner and van Lieshout (2020) note that the GDPR has catalysed innovation in privacy-preserving technologies, spurring the growth of new market segments in data security and encryption, user consent management, and more, thereby advancing the EU’s vision of a digital economy founded on accountability and trust.  

The varying impacts of GDPR implementation across different business segments illustrate a key challenge in measuring the productivity effects of RI-focused regulations. While traditional metrics might show decreased financial performance, especially for smaller firms, these measurements fail to capture the long-term value created through enhanced trust, improved data security, and the emergence of new privacy-preserving technologies 

The DMA and DSA further expand EU’s regulatory framework by addressing digital platform market power and content governance. While these regulations aim to foster a more competitive and ethical digital economy, scholarly analysis reveals potential limitations. Teese and Kahwaty (2021) critique the DMA’s Impact Assessment for applying outdated industrial-era tools to dynamic digital markets. Furthermore, Erixon et. al. (2022) present a nuanced perspective, acknowledging potential benefits from reduced network effects and increased trust in AI-based services while warning about indirect economic consequences. The scholars emphasize that even without direct compliance burdens, these regulations may introduce new costs and affect resource allocation throughout the economy, potentially reinforcing advantages for larger firms and economies. 

The EU’s regulatory approach to digital transformation illustrates both the potential and limitations of implementing RI at scale. While the regulatory frameworks establish important safeguards and foster trust in digital markets, they simultaneously reveal the inherent complexities of balancing innovation, competition, and broader societal benefits. The empirical evidence suggests varying impacts across different market segments, particularly for smaller enterprises, raising fundamental questions about the way in which productivity is measured and evaluated in the context of RI. This measurement challenge requires a deeper examination of traditional productivity metrics and their adequacy in capturing the full spectrum of value created through RI practices. 

 

Measuring Productivity in the Age of RI 

Traditional productivity metrics, focused primarily on labour and capital inputs versus economic outputs, increasingly fall short in capturing the multifaceted impact of RI. This limitation stems in part from significant measurement challenges, as many RI initiatives generate long-term societal benefits that extend well beyond the timeframe of conventional productivity statistics (Cunha, 2018). Moreover, “the variety of the social impact … is substantial and it is difficult to capture all kinds of impacts fairly or objectively,” admits the EU (2014). RI initiatives also create positive externalities that benefit the broader ecosystem rather than individual firms, making their value challenging to quantify through traditional firm-level measurements (Nieminen and Ikonen, 2021). The transformation of business models and organizational processes through RI also generates value that transcends traditional product and service measurements (Yaghmaei and van de Poel, 2021). 

In response to these limitations, new frameworks are emerging that strive to rflect the fuller scope of innovation’s impact. Porter and Kramer’s (2011) Creating Shared Value (CSV) theory offers a particularly compelling approach, demonstrating how businesses can transcend traditional socioeconomic trade-offs. The CVS framework shows how redefining productivity in the value chain through social and environmental innovations can simultaneously improve operations, reduce costs, and contribute to societal well-being without sacrificing corporate competitiveness (Dembek et al., 2016). This methodological innovation emphasizes the importance of considering both direct and indirect value creation, including improvements in supplier capabilities, local cluster development, and workforce development. 

The EU has embraced this broader perspective in its policy evaluation approach, developing impact assessments that integrate social, environmental, and ethical dimensions alongside traditional economic metrics. Such a shift is further exemplified by the growing adoption of Social Impact Measurement and Management (SIMM), which systematically evaluates an organization’s broader societal effects. SIMM enables a more nuanced understanding of long-term impacts and community well-being, fostering greater accountability and transparency while supporting more informed decision-making. 

The integration of CSV and SIMM approaches with traditional productivity metrics presents practical challenges, particularly in standardization and comparability across different contexts. However, these frameworks offer important insights into how regulatory compliance costs might be balanced against broader value creation, especially in the context of RI initiatives. 

Recent scholarly work has also highlighted the importance of considering network effects and innovation ecosystem impacts in productivity measurement. Digital platforms and RI initiatives often create value through network externalities, knowledge spillovers, and ecosystem development that traditional productivity metrics fail to capture. Additionally, the role of intangible assets, such as data, algorithms, and organizational capital, has become increasingly significant in the digital economy, requiring new approaches to value measurement. 

New measurement frameworks must move beyond financial returns to address environmental sustainability, social equity, and long-term resilience. Incorporating more comprehensive assessment dimensions aligns with the EU’s vision of a digital economy that integrates societal well-being with economic competitiveness. This is particularly important for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which often lack the resources to implement sophisticated measurement systems yet play a vital role in the digital economy’s transformation. The challenge ahead lies in developing governance frameworks that can effectively balance traditional productivity metrics with these broader value dimensions, while remaining accessible and practical for enterprises of all sizes. 

 

Conclusions  

In the EU’s pursuit of digital transformation, a complex interplay emerges between RI and productivity growth, challenging established paradigms of economic measurement. The implementation of RI frameworks introduces asymmetric productivity constraints across the business landscape, with SMEs bearing a disproportionate burden of compliance costs and operational adjustments. Nevertheless, these regulatory frameworks also catalyse innovation in unexpected ways, fostering new market opportunities and technological solutions. 

The EU’s comprehensive regulatory approach, exemplified by the AI Act, GDPR, DMA, and DSA, illustrates the intricate balance required between advancing RI and maintaining economic dynamism. This balance holds heightened significance for SMEs, which often lack the resources to effectively navigate complex regulatory requirements while maintaining competitive productivity levels. 

This discussion reveals a fundamental need to reconceptualise productivity measurement in ways that acknowledge both immediate economic impacts and broader societal benefits. While conventional metrics inadequately capture the positive externalities generated by RI, emerging frameworks like SIMM and CSV offer promising pathways forward. The challenge lies in developing measurement approaches that are both comprehensive enough to capture the full spectrum of value creation and sufficiently practical for implementation across enterprises of all sizes, ensuring that the transition to responsible digital innovation supports rather than impedes the competitiveness of Europe’s diverse business ecosystem. 

The post The New Solow Paradox? Responsible Innovation and Productivity in the EU Digital Age appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

The annual European Parliamentary Week will take place on Monday and Tuesday, bringing MEPs together with MPs from member states and EU candidate countries.
Committee on Budgets
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

The annual European Parliamentary Week will take place on Monday and Tuesday, bringing MEPs together with MPs from member states and EU candidate countries.
Committee on Budgets
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP

An EP survey of EU citizens aged 16-30 shows social media is their main information source, and that the majority are also aware of the risks of online disinformation.

Source : © European Union, 2025 - EP