European Union

The discussion over how and whether so-called “novel products” such as e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products can help people stop smoking has been prominent in Europe in recent years. Different EU countries have adopted various approaches but there is still no overall picture of their effectiveness and their long-term health effects.

EU citizenship cannot be traded as a commodity, according to a majority of speakers, who want to end the “golden passports” schemes currently in place in some member states.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

EU citizenship cannot be traded as a commodity, according to a majority of speakers, who want to end the “golden passports” schemes currently in place in some member states.
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The Parliament's 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought will be awarded to the democratic opposition in Belarus.

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The democratic opposition in Belarus has been awarded the 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Development
Subcommittee on Human Rights

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

The democratic opposition in Belarus has been awarded the 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Committee on Development
Subcommittee on Human Rights

Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

As policy-makers in Brussels and Addis Ababa plough ahead with plans for what is billed as an ambitious ‘strategic partnership’ between the EU and Africa, civil society groups complain that they have been repeatedly shut out from having any influence over EU-African relations.

Airbus and two Israeli arms companies received €100 million to fly unmanned drones over the Mediterranean that will be used to identify boats loaded with migrants trying to reach Europe, according to the Guardian. EURACTIV Italy reports.

Last week, experts from 12 EDA Member States as well as Norway and Switzerland participated in an online workshop organised by the Agency to identify and discuss research & technology needs as well as potential future applications of hypervelocity systems.

The workshop (12-13 October) took place as part of an ongoing series of EDA Technology Foresight Workshops which aim to assess the potential of emerging technologies which are expected to strongly impact future defence capabilities. Hypervelocity is without doubt among these, given its high potential for application and disruptiveness in the defence domain. 

Against this backdrop, last week’s workshop gathered some 90 European subject matter experts to discuss current and future hypervelocity technologies and associated R&T needs. The topic was approached from different angles, including hypersonic transport, effectors and protection against hypervelocity threats. More detailed discussion took place on propulsion and launching platforms, manoeuvrability, trajectory, questions related to information management as well as guidance and control of such hypervelocity systems. In this way, the workshop comprehensively covered the defence view on hypervelocity from an EU perspective and its required autonomy. Furthermore, potential synergies with the civilian sector were also discussed. 

This workshop was an activity bringing together several EDA Capability & Technology (CapTech) groups on: Missiles and Munitions Systems, Air Systems, Guidance, Navigation and Control, and Materials and Structures.  

The workshop on hypervelocity systems was conducted virtually over a period of two working days, with the support of Ingeniería de Sistemas para la Defensa de Espana (Isdefe), under a specific contract with EDA. At the beginning, participants attended a plenary session during which keynote speakers introduced the topic and set the scene of hypervelocity, the expected advantages, examples of use cases and the current challenges, such as suitable test systems. Afterwards, participants were separated in smaller groups (virtual tables) in which they thoroughly discussed the subject of hypervelocity from different perspectives. In a final plenary session, the results of the virtual tables discussions were presented and summarized. The workshop results will be further analysed in the upcoming weeks and a comprehensive report will be elaborated for EDA participating Member States’ Ministries of Defence. It will include the main conclusions and recommendations for Member States concerning hypervelocity applications for defence, research needs and possible dual-use synergies.
 

Background 

EDA’s Technology Foresight Workshops aim to provide input to the EDA process of technology evaluation, including the identification and classification of technology trends and emerging technologies as well as the prioritisation of important technologies with respect to medium- and long-term capability needs. The output of the workshops is used as background information for relevant defence technologies, to be integrated in EDA Strategic Research Agendas (SRAs) and their Technology Building Block (TBB) roadmaps, as well as the Overarching Strategic Research Agenda (OSRA) toolchain, the analyses of Key Strategic Activities (KSA) and in the Strategic Context Cases of the 2018 Capability Development Plan (CDP).
 

More information:

• Missiles and Munitions Systems
• Air Systems
• Guidance, Navigation and Control
• Materials and Structures

 

Poland will ask the European Commission to approve state aid for the construction of a nuclear power station, the minister responsible for energy infrastructure said on Thursday (22 October). “It is impossible these days to build a nuclear power plan...

The European Parliament awarded its annual Sakharov Prize for human rights on Thursday (22 October) to the democratic opposition movement in Belarus led by the exiled Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who stood up to strongman Alexander Lukashenko. “They have stood and still...

US Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe said on Wednesday (21 October) that Russia and Iran have both tried to interfere with the 2020 presidential election.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought to the fore the untapped potential for the deployment of digital health tools in Europe. Digital tools can empower citizens to manage their own health, allow healthcare workers to treat patients remotely, enable beneficial research efforts,...

As part of her state of the union speech in September, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted that the EU’s recovery fund, the so-called ‘Next Generation EU’ outlay, should be spent on digital projects by member states. Questions have now...

The incoming Portuguese Presidency of the EU says that one of its priorities for its six-month stint chairing the EU Council is to foster the uptake of digital tools for governments across the bloc and that 'significant' funds from the EU's recovery package should be allocated to this field.

The president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, announced on Wednesday that the Belarusian opposition, represented by Svetlana Tijanovskaya, Maria Kolesnikova and Veronika Tsepkalo, together with political and civil society figures, are the winner of the 2020 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Conscience. The prize itself will be awarded in a ceremony in parliament's hemicycle on 16 December.

Belgium's foreign minister Sophie Wilmes was admitted into intensive care on Wednesday night, after testing positive for Covid-19 last week. Wilmes led Belgium's fight against the virus during the pandemic's first wave as the country's prime minister. Wilmes, 45, was conscious and in a stable condition, according to her spokesperson. Last week Wilmes attended a meeting of EU foreign ministers after which her Austrian counterpart, Alexander Schallenberg, also tested positive.

European lawmakers called on Wednesday (21 October) for a stronger European commitment to nuclear non-proliferation, including support for a key UN treaty, amid global uncertainty over nuclear arms control.

The Common Agricultural Policy, voted on this week in the European Parliament and Council, will remain one of many funding sources for biodiversity schemes, despite criticisms it has encouraged intensive and damaging farming.

A majority of MEPs on Wednesday agreed to restrict funding of the EU's common agriculture policy (CAP) for bullfighting. "Couple support income will proportionally exclude the number of heads of cattle whose final destination is the sale for activities related to bullfighting, both by direct sale and through intermediaries," according to wording of the passed amendment, proposed by Greens. The CAP is one-third of the EU budget.