The figures were worth only a brief paragraph in the EU Commission’s daily news digest, but the recalculation of the maximum grants from the European reconstruction instrument has a significant impact on many national budgets. Accordingly, Portugal, Spain, and Germany will be able to draw considerably more money from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), […]
France’s Finance and Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire is ramping up the pressure in negotiations with Hungary over the minimum tax rate for companies. “The minimum tax will be introduced in the coming months with or without Hungary’s support,” Le Maire said at a press conference on France’s EU presidency, which ends Thursday. Le Maire […]
Just last week, the EU Commission published its ideas for more sustainability in trade policy, and yesterday it already presented the first use case: the deal between the EU and New Zealand contains “the most ambitious sustainability agreements ever in a trade agreement,” said Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, who was responsible for the deal, when […]
Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager has announced an implementation strategy for the EU’s digital agenda. She said at an event organized by the think tank Bruegel that numerous regulatory projects have been launched and will soon come into force, such as the Digital Services Act, the Digital Markets Act, and the Data Governance Act. More […]
Europe should reduce its dependencies on key technologies for decarbonization and digitalization, according to the EU Commission. “In today’s world, everything can be used as a weapon, data, food, energy,” Vice President Maroš Šefčovič said yesterday. “Therefore, we need to look at our policies and make sure we are prepared for all eventualities.” Diversification of […]
Following political agreement, the German government now wants to quickly introduce the bill to ratify the free trade agreement with Canada in the German parliament. The corresponding bill was submitted to the departmental vote yesterday and is expected to be approved by the cabinet on Friday.Last week, the parliamentary groups of the SPD, the Greens […]
Mr. De Boeck, what is the modernization of the Energy Charter Treaty for you: piecemeal or real reform?We must wait for the final text, but from what is known it is a major reform at least in one respect: It is confirmed that intra-EU application of the dispute resolution provision of Article 26 will be […]
In view of the looming recession, several business associations are calling for a new political impetus to reduce barriers in the common market. “Businesses no longer experience the Single Market as a true free trade area,” BusinessEurope, Eurochambres, Digitaleurope, EuroCommerce, and the European Round Table criticized in a joint statement. In the past ten years, […]
German Economic Affairs Minister Robert Habeck is counting on solidarity between EU countries in dealing with the current gas crisis. “No country can depend on itself,” the Green politician said ahead of the meeting of ministers responsible for energy in Luxembourg. “A supply crisis in one country leads to an economic crisis in the other.” […]
Future trade agreements of the European Union will require partner countries to comply with climate protection standards and international labor standards to a greater extent than before. As the responsible EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis announced yesterday, new agreements are to allow for violations of the Paris Climate Agreement and the standards of the International […]