European Union

Europeans are preparing to stay in their home countries for summer 2021 vacations due to the pandemic, with bookings and real-estate prices soaring for cottages in Ireland and Sweden, for instance, Reuters reports. Houseboat bookings in Germany also shot up, amid fears Greek and Spanish beach resorts may be closed. "People shouldn't be booking holidays right now - not domestically or internationally", British transport minister Grant Schapps also said Wednesday.

The trial of French far-right leader Marine Le Pen started in Paris on Wednesday, AFP reported. She is charged with breaching hate speech laws by tweeting pictures of atrocities committed by the Islamic State. Le Pen argues the charges challenge her right to free speech. The National Rally party leader in 2015 tweeted the images, in response to a journalist, shortly after the Paris terrorist attacks that killed 130 people.

Eurozone countries must keep fiscal spending up this year and into 2022 to protect the bloc from permanent damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday. Lagarde also urged the EU to kick start the bloc's €750bn recovery spending package, as some economic restrictions could remain in place until the second half of the year, she told the Economist magazine.

The EU Commission adopted a proposal on Wednesday to ask the UK if it can take an extra two months to ratify the post-Brexit trade agreement, by extending the provisional application of the deal until April 30, Reuters reported. The commission said it needed more time to translate the deal into all 24 languages, and for the European Parliament to vote on the deal.

The International Organization for Migration, an inter-governmental body related to the UN, is demanding the EU and member states put an end to illegal expulsions of people seeking asylum.

The European Commission admitted mistakes were made during the bloc's approval and rollout of vaccines - triggering criticism from MEPs who demanded more transparency and accountability, plus solidarity with low and medium-income countries.

It's more than geography. Ukraine and the European Union are "stitched" together with a common worldview and goals, with common values and future. And the best thing we can do – is to make these threads stronger.

Portugal’s secretary of state for internationalisation, Eurico Brilhante Dias, defended the importance of the EU-Mercosur agreement, not only in the field of trade, but also at "geopolitical and geostrategic" level.

The development of the Chinese economy over the past 40 years has also been a process of greater alignment, connection, and integration with the world economy.

The world’s poorest oil-dependent countries are set to take the biggest hit in the transition away from fossil fuels, according to a new report published on Thursday (11 February).

While Western vaccine nationalism condemns the world to a lose-lose situation, India, the pharmacy of the developing world, has clearly the potential to come to the rescue, writes Gauri Khandekar.

Geert Maesmans, President of the European Specialty Food Ingredients association, explains how specialty food ingredients contribute to reaching the ambitious goals set by EU policy makers in the framework of the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy. 2.12.0.0

Germany is earning better marks than France, though not as high as the U.K.  The United States is average, landing squarely in the middle of the pack.  And Spain and Italy, well, they have quite a ways to go.

Russia has admonished the EU and Poland for organising a meeting with EU and foreign diplomats to discuss potential sanctions against Moscow with jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s close associates. Moscow would consider it morally and ethically “treasonous” that Navalny’s associates...

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

Member states agreed on a negotiating mandate for revised rules on the protection of privacy and confidentiality in the use of electronic communications services (ePrivacy).

The German government wants to create a culture of open data sharing - and is setting a good example. The second Open Data Act, which the cabinet passed on Wednesday (10 February), expands the obligations of public authorities to make their data available to the general public. EURACTIV Germany reports.

On Wednesday, MEPs called for democratic oversight of tech giants to safeguard freedom of expression.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

On Wednesday, MEPs called for democratic oversight of tech giants to safeguard freedom of expression.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

The implementation of ARTUS, a project selected under the 2019 call for proposals for the EU Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR) managed by EDA, was officially launched at an online kick-off meeting held on 10 February 2021. 

ARTUS stands for ‘Autonomous Rough-terrain Transport UGV Swarm’. The project, with a budget of approximately €1.5 million, was selected following an EU-wide PADR call for proposals on the topic of ‘Future Disruptive Defence Technologies - Emerging Game-changers’, sub-topic ‘Augmenting Soldier Capacity’. 

ARTUS aims at developing a technological feasibility concept and demonstrator for a small swarm of intelligent and autonomously operating Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) to support infantry platoons during their missions. The supporting swarm will significantly augment their capacity by: providing substantially added payload for the entire equipment through harsh environments, including densely wooded or sloped areas; reacting autonomously to unexpected developments, such as losses of parts of the swarm; increasing the unit's mobility and flexibility; and increasing the overall protection level of the troops.

The consortium is led by Fraunhofer Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung E.V. (Germany) and also encompasses ONERA (France), another well-established R&T organisation, Diehl Defence (Germany), a global player in defence systems, and charismaTec (Austria), a highly innovative SME. The project has a duration of 24 months. 

More information on the consortium can be found on the ARTUS project page.

About the PADR

The ARTUS project is part of the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR) launched by the European Commission in 2017 to assess and demonstrate the added-value of EU supported defence research and technology (R&T). It paved the way for a proper European Defence Programme to come as part of the European Defence Fund (EDF), under the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027).
The PADR implementation is run by EDA following the mandate via a Delegation Agreement between the European Commission and EDA signed on 31 May 2017. By this agreement the Commission entrusts EDA with the management and implementation of the research projects launched within the PADR.