European Union

Ryanair v Commission
State aid
The deferral of the payment of taxes introduced by France to support airlines which hold a French licence amid the Covid-19 pandemic is consistent with EU law

Ryanair v Commission
State aid
The loan guarantee scheme put in place by Sweden to support airlines holding a Swedish operating licence amid the Covid-19 pandemic and intended to remedy the serious disturbance to the economy of that Member State is compatible with EU law

Learn more about what big data is and what the benefits and challenges are for people, businesses and the environment.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Learn more about what big data is and what the benefits and challenges are for people, businesses and the environment.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

News Corp struck a global news deal with Alphabet Inc’s Google, the Rupert Murdoch-controlled media company said on Wednesday (17 February), in one of the most extensive deals of its kind with big tech.

Most of the world's planned hydrogen projects and the biggest chunk of related investments this decade are expected to be in Europe, an industry report said, as the continent races to scale up the low-carbon fuel to meet climate goals.

Written by Miroslava Karaboytcheva (1st edition),

© metamorworks / Adobe Stock

The digitalisation of the economy opens the door to new cross-border economic activities that make it possible to under-report income and under-pay tax. It also presents new challenges for tax administrations, already faced by limited access to information at the national level. Hence, in July 2020 the Commission proposed to amend the provisions on information exchange and administrative cooperation and to include the automatic exchange of data on information declared by digital platform operators in their scope. The goal is to ensure that sellers on digital platforms pay their fair share of taxes, align EU countries to the digital economy, and close the gaps for tax evasion and avoidance. Right now, having secure tax revenues is vital for the provision of support to the people and businesses most in need.

The Parliament’s ECON committee adopted its report on the proposal for an amended Directive on Administrative Cooperation (DAC7) on 4 February 2021. The report is expected to be voted in plenary in March 2021. On 1 December 2020, the Council reached agreement on the proposal, and will thus be in a position to adopt it once Parliament’s opinion is delivered.

Complete version

• Advances in administrative cooperation in the field of taxation (1st edition)

Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 2011/16/EU on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation Committee responsible: Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) COM(2020) 314 final
15.7.2020 Rapporteur: Sven Giegold (Greens/EFA, Germany) 2020/0148(CNS) Shadow rapporteurs: Lídia Pereira (EPP, Portugal)
Aurore Lalucq (S&D, France)
Monica Semedo (Renew, Luxembourg)
Gunnar Beck (ID, Germany)
Roberts Zīle (ECR, Latvia)
Dimitrios Papadimoulis (The Left, Greece) Consultation procedure (CNS) – Parliament adopts a non-binding opinion only Next steps expected: Parliament’s opinion voted in plenary

The coronavirus pandemic, log-jammed trade talks and a long-delayed meeting of member states are just a few of the crises awaiting Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as she takes the helm of the World Trade Organisation next month.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about how Italy's Veneto region will receive more vaccines than requested, the crowding of Polish ski slopes, and so much more.

Fifth-generation mobile networks from China may pose a certain number of possible risks, the director of the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service, Antti Peltarri, warned in an interview with the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation (YLE), adding that countries like Russia and...

A rare earth mining project in Greenland has reignited dreams of the autonomous Arctic territory's full independence from Denmark one day, but environmentalists fear large-scale mining could harm the remote island's pristine landscape.

It was positive to see a large number of Serbs cast ballots in Kosovo’s recent snap elections and vote for the Serb Ticket party as it represented a connection with Serbia, Serbian parliament Speaker Ivica Dačić told Pink TV on...

After several drama-fuelled weeks, Croatia’s biggest opposition party SDP (S&D) finally chose Joško Klisović as its candidate for the Zagreb mayor in the local elections this spring. “He is a qualified and experienced person, and will be given full liberty...

The performance of Romania’s economy in the fourth quarter obliterated all the apocalyptic scenarios, Romanian Prime Minister Florin Citu wrote on Facebook after the national statistics institute announced in a flash release that the country’s GDP rose by 5.3% in...

In two of its judgments, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Bulgarian institutions had reacted inadequately by not reprimanding or convicting Volen Siderov, the far-right leader of the pro-Russian Ataka (Attack) party – which was part of the...

The Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber (SPPK) is preparing a protest against the farming subsidy changes drawn up by Agriculture Minister Ján Mičovský after his ministry announced last week that it would introduce a redistributive payment to shift a portion...

550,000 doses of the two-shot Chinese Sinopharm vaccine arrived in Hungary on Tuesday, making it the first EU country to receive the Chinese vaccine.  Vaccinations with the jab, however, can only start after the National Public Health Centre gives its...

The Czech government approved the nomination of former Health Minister Adam Vojtěch to become the new Czech ambassador to Finland – which according to news site SeznamZpravy, was based on the nomination proposal of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. Though the...

As Poland’s government allowed ski slopes to reopen from Friday for a two-week trial period, with cinemas, theatres, and hotels also being allowed to open at 50% capacity, Zakopane – the country’s largest ski resort – was full of tourists...

The management of EU recovery funds could be “a challenge for the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, as there are fears that fraud may occur in claiming and disposing of these particularly large sums,” Greece’s EU prosecutor, Dimitrios Zimianitis, told EURACTIV’s...