European Union

More than 900,000 Austrians, or about 10% of the population, risk losing their vaccination status if they do not get their second or booster shot before February. This is because, from February, COVID certificates will be valid for six months...

The European Commission admits more needs to be done for rule of law reforms in the Western Balkans following a European Court of Auditors report which deemed the €700 million of EU work “ineffective” and “not successful”. The report, completed...

In its long-awaited second “anti-inflation shield”, the government announced its plan to cut value-added tax on fuel and introduce a zero VAT rate on goods such as basic food products, fertilisers and natural gas. The significant rise in food, fuel...

If the government does not provide subsidies to companies, many of them will opt to relocate, said company consortium Confindustria on Tuesday. The consortium is worried about skyrocketing energy prices, which could lead to companies choosing another location for their...

A research group at Helsinki University is in the process of developing an intranasal sprayed inhibitor that should create a biological mask and block omicron and other variants of COVID-19. The results have been promising. In an article published in...

German chancellor Olaf Scholz should hold a vote of confidence in the Bundestag, former conservative transport minister Andreas Scheuer said on Tuesday, amid disputes over potential mandatory vaccines. It is a “matter of character at this point” to call a...

Following remarks by parliament’s speaker who hoped that Hungarians drive Prime Minister Viktor Orbán out of office in the upcoming general elections, controversy has been sparked in the new Czech governing coalition. “Czechs have already driven their Babiš out. I...

One year after Britain's formal exit from the European Union, London's powerful City financial sector still reigns on the continent despite losing key business and bankers to rival hubs.

Pressure on Mali's junta increased Tuesday as France and the United States underlined their support for the West African bloc ECOWAS, which has slapped sanctions on the country over delayed elections following two coups.

Lors de la conférence de presse qui a suivi sa rencontre avec le président Macron à Paris, le président Michel a évoqué les principales priorités de la présidence française de l'UE.

The press briefing ahead of Eurogroup meeting will take place on Thursday, 13 January 2022 at 14.30.

More than half of people in Europe will likely catch Omicron by March, the World Health Organization said Tuesday (11 January), as the World Bank warned the contagious variant could hamper global economic recovery.

Authorities in the Sicilian port of Trapani detained the Ocean Viking migrant rescue ship following an 11-hour inspection, the group that operates the vessel said Tuesday.

The EU’s decision on Monday (10 January) to scrap travel bans on people from a group of African countries has removed a major diplomatic obstacle ahead of February’s EU–African Union summit where the two blocs are hoping to agree on a ‘strategic partnership’.

Amid global criticism for holding on to vaccine patents during the pandemic, a new study commissioned by the European pharmaceuticals industry claims that integrating stronger intellectual property protection into free trade agreements would benefit the EU economy.

Written by Ionel Zamfir (1st edition).

On 21 September 2021, the Commission published its proposal for a new EU scheme of generalised preferences. Two of the current scheme’s three components are due to expire at the end of 2023, which would deprive developing countries of a vital opportunity to trade under preferential terms with the EU. Therefore, renewing the scheme appears to be both a necessity and an opportunity to strengthen its conditionality in the light of lessons learned and the increased urgency for dealing with the climate.

The Commission considers that the scheme has delivered on its objectives, and proposes some ‘fine-tuning’. To ensure that its benefits remain broadly shared, it proposes changes to the economic vulnerability criteria for GSP+ and to the product graduation threshold for Standard GSP. Taking on board proposals from civil society, but also from the Parliament, the Commission proposes to extend negative conditionality to environmental and good governance conventions, and to improve monitoring and stakeholders’ involvement overall.

Civil society organisations and other stakeholders have put forward some more ambitious proposals, such as making the monitoring fully transparent and rewarding countries that fulfil jointly agreed benchmarks related to the conventions under the GSP with additional preferences.

Versions

• New EU scheme of generalised preferences (1st edition)

Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on applying a generalised scheme of tariff preferences and repealing Regulation (EU) No 978/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council Committee responsible:International Trade (INTA)COM(2021) 579
22.9.2021Rapporteur:Heidi Hautala (Greens/EFA, Finland)2021/0297(COD)Shadow rapporteurs:Gabriel Mato (EPP, Spain)
Raphaël Glucksmann (S&D, France)
Jordi Cañas (Renew, Spain)
Marco Campomenosi (ID, Italy)
Emmanouil Fragkos (ECR, Greece)
Helmut Scholz (The Left, Germany)Ordinary legislative procedure (COD)
(Parliament and Council on equal footing – formerly ‘co-decision’) Next steps expected: Vote in committee on draft report

Current beneficiaries of the EU GSP

If one of your new year’s resolutions is to get a tattoo but you’ve always had health concerns about it, you might not need to (th)ink again.

Europe woke up in a state of shock today, mourning the death of David Maria Sassoli, the good president.

Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabić attended the “Days of Republika Srpska” celebrations in the Serb half of neighbouring Bosnia, an inflammatory extravaganza condemned by the European Union.

Germany missed its climate target for 2021 and is likely to miss them again this year and next, according to Vice-Chancellor Robert Habeck who said the country “must triple the pace of emission cuts” to reach its 2030 goals.