The EU Commission is still not releasing the frozen cohesion funds for Hungary. Legislative amendments presented by Budapest at the beginning of December were not sufficient to eliminate the risk of conflicts of interest on the boards of public interest foundations, the Commission announced. Therefore, the measures adopted by the Council in December 2022 to […]
Manfred Weber wears a gray knitted cap. It is a clear, cold winter’s day in Washington. He is here to make connections with American friends, Weber reports in a video on Instagram. The dome of the Capitol can be seen behind him. He then told the Münchner Merkur newspaper that he had met with professors, […]
The red-green federal government is in favor of a far-reaching restructuring of European cohesion policy. There is a “fundamental need for reform”, according to a statement on cohesion policy after 2027, which the Federal Ministry of Economics sent to the EU Commission on Thursday. The existing system for promoting structurally weak regions suffers from slow […]
António Costa will chair his first summits next week. The meeting with the heads of state and government of the Western Balkan states is still to come before the European Council on Thursday. According to EU diplomats, preparations have gone remarkably smoothly so far. They are still on their honeymoon with the new Council President, […]
The German government is calling for concrete changes to European competition law. In particular, merger control must be modernized in light of the fundamental changes of the past decades, according to a position paper distributed by the coalition in Brussels this week. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had announced her intention to reform EU […]
The German Engineering Federation (VDMA) is pushing for the ratification of the EU trade agreement with the Mercosur states. “The agreement must come. It is extremely important for our industry,” said VDMA President Bertram Kawlath on Tuesday. On the one hand, exporting companies have so far paid a 20 percent duty on their exports worth […]
It is no surprise that the political conclusion of the Mercosur agreement has met with rejection in many places: environmentalists fear additional deforestation of the rainforest, farmers fear increased competition from exports from Latin America. The European Commission was accordingly prepared to counter these points of criticism.The agreement that has now been negotiated contains significantly […]
Commission President Ursula von der LeyenTeresa Ribera (Clean, Just, and Competitive Transition)Henna Virkkunen (Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy)Stéphane Séjourné (Prosperity and Industrial Strategy)Kaja Kallas (High Representative) Roxana Mînzatu (People, Skills and Preparedness)Raffaele Fitto (Cohesion and Reforms)Maroš Šefčovič (Trade and Economic Security)Valdis Dombrovskis (Economy and Productivity)Dubravka Šuica (Mediterranean)Olivér Várhelyi (Health and Animal Welfare)Wopke Hoekstra (Climate, Net-Zero, […]
The list is long, very long: The German Chemical Industry Association (VCI) has compiled almost 900 implementing acts in a table that the EU Commission still has to present in the coming years. These include around 650 delegated acts and implementing acts, as well as studies and reports by the authority. Most of them resulted […]
The Commission President traveled to the Mercosur summit in Montevideo on Thursday to conclude negotiations on the free trade agreement. The finish line is “in sight“, she wrote on X. Von der Leyen thus disregarded Macron’s explicit rejection. The Élysée Palace also reacted immediately via X and said that the French President had once again […]