The EU has agreed to ban imports of Russian-origin gold, including jewellery and to reinforce export controls of dual use goods. New measures, just like earlier sanctions, do not target Russia’s exports of food, grain or fertilisers. In response to Russia’s continuing war of aggression against Ukraine, the Council has adopted new measures intended to […]
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EU solidarity with Slovenia in combating wildfires
20 June, Slovenia requested assistance to tackle unprecedented forest fires in the Karst of Gorica region of the Miren Kostanjevica municipality. Various firefighting assets have been already deployed or are on their way to help the local responders. The EU Civil Protection Mechanism is providing Slovenia with 3 firefighting helicopters, (one from Austria, one from […]
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EU and World Vision’s COVID-19 response programme enhance resilience and livelihoods of vulnerable communities in Indonesia
The European Union (EU), World Vision Netherlands and Wahana Visi Indonesia held a closing ceremony of their two-year project “Indonesia COVID-19 Pandemic Emergency Responses (I-COPE)”. The project has contributed to limiting the spread of COVID-19 and reducing its impact on vulnerable children and families in Indonesia. The project is implemented in 90 villages in six districts/ […]
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FAST-CARE: Council agrees to provide more aid to Ukrainian refugees and to strengthen support in the aftermath of Russian aggression
The permanent representatives of the 27 EU member states, on 20 July, agreed on the Council’s negotiating mandate for further support to countries and regions hosting displaced persons from Ukraine, as well as for tackling some of the adverse economic effects of Russia’s aggression. The legislative proposal, known as FAST–CARE (Flexible Assistance for Territories), introduces […]
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General product safety regulation: Council adopts its position
Member States agreed on a mandate for negotiations with the European Parliament on the proposal for a regulation on general product safety (GPSR). An increasing number of consumers buy goods and products online – a trend which was reinforced by the Covid-19 pandemic. To keep up with challenges linked to this trend, the GPSR proposal modernises the rules […]
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Josep Borrell about the 10th anniversary of the introduction of the law on Foreign Affairs
Yesterday marked the tenth anniversary of the signing by President Putin of the law on “foreign agents”, a decade shaped by the Russian authorities’ growing fear of critical voices from within Russian society. This law was the first of several legislative measures, including the law on “undesirable organisations” in 2015 and the 2022 “fake news […]
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Spain’s assessment of the European Commission’s ‘Save gas for a safe winter’ package
Teresa Ribera, Vice-President of the Government and Minister for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, has called for a debate on the ‘Save gas for a Safe winter’ package presented yesterday by the European Commission aimed to reduce the impact of a possible total cut-off of Russian gas supplies to the EU: “we understand that […]
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Commission takes action to ensure complete and timely transposition of EU directives
Today the Commission is adopting a package of infringement decisions due to the absence of communication by Member States of measures taken to transpose EU directives into national law (referred to as ‘non-communication infringements’). The Commission is sending a letter of formal notice to those Member States who have failed to notify national measures transposing […]
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Defence Industry: EU takes steps to invest almost €1.2 bn
The Commission announced plans to grant a total EU funding of almost €1.2 billion supporting 61 collaborative defence research and development projects selected following the first ever calls for proposals under the European Defence Fund (EDF). With the proposals selected for funding, the EDF will support high-end defence capability projects such as the next generation of fighter aircrafts, tanks […]
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