The Commission presented the mid-term evaluation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the EU’s recovery instrument at the heart of the €800 billion NextGenerationEU (NGEU) plan. Unprecedented in its scale and ambition, the RRF was established in February 2021 and has the two-fold objective of helping Member States to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well […]
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Air quality: Council and Parliament reach agreement to strengthen EU rules
The Council presidency and the European Parliament’s representatives reached a provisional political agreement on a proposal to set EU air quality standards to be attained with the aim of achieving a zero-pollution objective, thus contributing to a toxic-free environment in the EU by 2050. It also seeks to bring EU air quality standards in line with the World Health Organization […]
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Electricity from renewable sources up to 41% in 2022
In 2022, renewable energy sources made up 41.2% of gross electricity consumption in the EU, 3.4 percentage points (pp) more than in 2021 (37.8%) and well ahead of other electricity-generation sources such as nuclear (less than 22%), gas (less than 20%) or coal (less than 17%). In total, renewable energy sources increased by 5.7% from […]
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European Commission presents new initiatives for tomorrow’s digital infrastructures
The Commission presented a set of possible actions to foster the innovation, security and resilience of digital infrastructures. The future competitiveness of Europe’s economy depends on these advanced digital network infrastructures and services, since fast, secure, and widespread connectivity is essential for the deployment of the technologies that will bring us into tomorrow’s world: telemedicine, […]
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Ministers update EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions
The Council removed Bahamas, Belize, Seychelles and Turks and Caicos Islands from the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. With these updates, the EU list consists of the following 12 jurisdictions: American Samoa Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Fiji Guam Palau Panama Russia Samoa Trinidad and Tobago US Virgin Islands Vanuatu The Council regrets that […]
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The European Commission clears the creation of a joint venture between Orange and MásMóvil in Spain.
The European Commission has approved, under the EU Merger Regulation, the proposed creation of a joint venture by Orange and MásMóvil. The approval is conditional upon full compliance with a commitments package offered by Orange and MásMóvil. Today’s decision follows an in-depth investigation of the proposed transaction. Orange is a full mobile network operator while MásMóvil is a hybrid mobile network operator. MásMóvil relies on its own mobile […]
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Two projects in Madrid and Barcelona, finalists for the Mies Van Der Rohe Contemporary Architecture Award
The European Commission and the Mies van der Rohe Foundation will announce the seven finalists who will compete for the 2024 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Awards. There will be five in the architecture category and two in the emerging category. After shortlisting 40 works, the international jury of […]
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EU wins WTO compliance action against US in ripe olives dispute
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has today confirmed that the EU was right to challenge the US for not complying with a ruling relating to ripe olives from Spain. Today’s WTO panel report presents again a clear and full win for the EU. It confirms that the US failed to implement the recommendations of the original panel, […]
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Report from experts on Cohesion Policy proposes ways to maximise the effectiveness and impact of Cohesion Policy in the future
The independent Group of High-Level Specialists on the Future of Cohesion Policy presented its report, which assessed the functioning of Cohesion Policy and included recommendations on how to ensure the Policy continues to promote prosperity and convergence across the EU. These recommendations will add to the ongoing reflections and body of opinions from many stakeholders and […]
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