The Commission has given a positive assessment of Spain’s modified recovery and resilience plan, which includes a REPowerEU chapter. The plan is now worth €163 billion (€83 billion in loans and €80 billion in grants) and covers 111 reforms and 142 investments. Spain’s REPowerEU chapter consists of a new reform, a scaled-up investment drawing on three existing measures, and seven new investments to deliver […]
Read More
Anti-coercion instrument: the EU’s new weapon to protect trade
The anti-coercion instrument will be the EU’s new tool to fight economic threats and unfair trade restrictions by non-EU countries. Why does the EU need a new tool to tackle trade conflicts? Global trade can help to boost wealth and create jobs. However, sometimes countries resort to blackmail or trade restrictions to give their companies […]
Read More
Do you know how Europeans travel?
The great cultural and gastronomic wealth of European cities and towns attracts, every year, a multitude of tourists, both from inside and outside the European Union. We analyze the data on tourism in the EU in recent years. Europe has a lot of great places to travel and explore. The great cultural and gastronomic richness […]
Read More
EU calls for greater market access and fair competition at EU-China High-Level Dialogue
European Commission Executive Vice-President, Valdis Dombrovskis, and Vice Premier of the State Council, He Lifeng, co-chaired today the 10th EU-China High-level Economic and Trade Dialogue (HED). The HED is the main platform for the EU and China to discuss economic and financial matters, as well as trade and investment cooperation. Specifically, the two sides discussed […]
Read More
European Commission bans Booking’s takeover of eTraveli
The European Commission has prohibited, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed acquisition of Flugo Group Holdings AB (‘eTraveli’) by Booking Holdings (‘Booking’). The acquisition would have allowed Booking to strengthen its dominant position on the market for hotel online travel agencies (‘OTAs’) in the European Economic Area (‘EEA’). Booking did not offer remedies that were sufficient […]
Read More
Commission re-imposes €376.36 million fine on Intel for anticompetitive practices in the market for computer chips
The European Commission has re-imposed a fine of around €376.36 million on Intel for a previously established abuse of dominant position in the market for computer chips called x86 central processing units (‘CPUs’). Intel engaged in a series of anticompetitive practices aimed at excluding competitors from the relevant market in breach of EU antitrust rules. […]
Read More
European Chips Act enters into force
the European Chips Act enters into force. It puts in place a comprehensive set of measures to ensure the EU’s security of supply, resilience and technological leadership in semiconductor technologies and applications. Semiconductors are the essential building blocks of digital and digitised products. From smartphones and cars, through critical applications and infrastructures for healthcare, energy, defence, communications […]
Read More
Green transition: new EU rules to protect consumers
The Council and the Parliament have reached a provisional political agreement on the directive to empower consumers for the green transition. The proposal aims at enhancing consumers’ rights by amending the unfair commercial practices directive (UCPD) and the consumer rights directive (CRD) and adapting them for the green transition. Today’s agreement maintains the main objectives […]
Read More
European Commission proposes new measures to boost SME competitiveness and resilience
On 12th September, the Commission is presenting a series of initiatives to address the needs of Europe’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the current economic environment. Representing 99% of Europe’s businesses, SMEs are essential drivers of Europe’s green and digital transitions, but continue to face unpredictability and volatility as a result of a number of […]
Read More