The Council today adopted the new Renewables Energy Directive to raise the share of renewable energy in the EU’s overall energy consumption to 42.5% by 2030 with an additional 2.5% indicative top up to allow the target of 45% to be achieved. Each member state will contribute to this common target. All member states will contribute to achieving […]
Read More
European Union launches three new missions in space
Three new In-Orbit Demonstration and Validation (IOD/IOV) missions were launched onboard of the European launcher Vega flight VV23 from the European spaceport in French Guyana, under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. The three missions, six satellites and nine experiments, will allow the test of technologies with a wide variety of application, which are […]
Read More
Foreign affairs ministers discuss situation in Israel and the region
EU ministers of Foreign Affairs held an informal videoconference during which they discussed the situation in Israel and in the region following recent attacks by Hamas. In line with the co-chairs’ statement published earlier after the 27th GCC-EU Joint Council, EU ministers in their internal meeting condemned the recent attacks, called for the protection of civilians and […]
Read More
Eurostat: In 2020, alcohol caused 3.6 deaths per 100.000 population in the European Union
In 2020, there were 193 893 deaths in the EU resulting from mental and behavioural disorders, representing 3.7% of all deaths in the EU. Mental and behavioural disorders include dementia, schizophrenia, and also disorders related to psychoactive substance use, such as alcohol or drug dependence. The EU’s standardised death rate for mental and behavioural disorders was 39.1 deaths per […]
Read More
EDIRPA: regulatory green light to boost common procurement in EU defence industry
The Council adopted a regulation establishing an instrument for the Reinforcement of the European Defence Industry through common procurement (EDIRPA), paving the way for its entry into force. The regulation will incentivise cooperation in defence procurement between member states in order to increase solidarity, prevent crowding-out effects, increase the effectiveness of public spending and reduce excessive fragmentation in defence procurement. […]
Read More
The European Union will extend geographical indications to artisanal and industrial products
The Council has adopted a regulation on geographical indication protection for craft and industrial products. This is the last step in the decision-making procedure. Once this regulation comes into force, the geographical indications (GI) of industrial products linked to the geographical area of production (such as Albacete cutlery, Bohemian glass, Limoges porcelain) will enjoy similar […]
Read More
Fishing for 2024 in the Mediterranean and Black Seas
The Commission adopted its proposal for fishing opportunities for 2024 for the Mediterranean and the Black Seas. The proposal promotes the sustainable management of fish stocks in the Mediterranean and the Black Seas and delivers on the political commitments made in the MedFish4Ever and Sofia Declarations. The Commission proposes to use the same tools that were introduced in the 2022 and […]
Read More
The European Commission announces an urgent review of its financial assistance for Palestine
The Commission unequivocally condemns the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel over the weekend. Following these events, the Commission has announced that it is launching an urgent review of the EU’s assistance for Palestine. In addition to the existing safeguards, the objective of this review is to ensure that no EU funding indirectly […]
Read More
Eurobarometer: Europeans see mental health promotion as equally important as physical health promotion
On the eve of World Mental Health Day, a new Eurobarometer on mental health has revealed that nine in ten respondents (89%) consider that mental health promotion is as important as physical health promotion. At the same time, less than half of respondents agree that people with mental health issues receive the same level of care as […]
Read More