The European Commission has issued the first NextGenerationEU green bond, thus raising €12 billion to be used exclusively for green and sustainable investments across the EU. This represents the world’s largest green bond issuance ever. With NextGenerationEU green bonds, the EU is set to become the world’s largest green bond issuer by far, providing a […]
Read More1.2 million to help 300 redundant workers in the Basque metal sector
Today, the Commission proposes to support 300 former workers in the metal sector in the Basque region in Spain, who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed €1.2 million from the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for Displaced Workers (EGF) will help these workers find new jobs through further education or training, or […]
Read MoreCOVID-19 evolution in America during September
This news shows an analysis of the evolution of COVID-19 in America with the data provided by the Johns Hopkins University. September has ended with an increase of 6.38% of COVID-19 diagnosed cases (89,964,588), and a growth of 4.62% (2,214,867) in deaths by the aforementioned disease. In August these numbers were 83,799,880 diagnosed cases and 2,103,067 deaths by […]
Read MoreThe CJEU rules that the financing regime of the social discount rate for electricity companies in Spain is unfair
The CJEU has decided that the criterion chosen by the national legislator to distinguish between the companies that must assume, to a greater or lesser extent, the cost of the social bonus is not objectively justified. The financing regime of the social bonus results in more than 99% of the cost of this bonus falling […]
Read MoreThe renewed EU commitment to the fight against human trafficking must bring tangible results
The EESC broadly supports the new EU Strategy against trafficking in human beings 2021-2025, but also calls attention to the need of the social dimension to be incorporated into the policy. The new EU strategy on the fight to uproot trafficking displays a gap in terms of victims’ rights and social dimension. Trafficked people suffer […]
Read MoreSpanish police arrests 5 Jihadists on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack
With the active support of Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre, the Spanish National Police (Policía Nacional) has arrested in Barcelona and Madrid five suspected members of an Islamic State cell. The suspects – all Algerian nationals, are believed to have been preparing a terrorist attack. The police swooped on the members of this terrorist cell after […]
Read MoreMeet the 2021 Nobel Prize Laureates
We look back at the Nobel Prize winners in 2021. In this 2021 edition, we have six Europeans among the winners: Germany’s Klaus Hasselmann and Italy’s Giorgio Parisi in Physics; Germany’s Benjamin List and Britain’s David W.C. MacMillan in Chemistry; Russia’s Dmitry Muratov who has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize; and the Netherlands’ Guido […]
Read MoreSMEs weight in EU’s international trade in goods
In 2019, 99% of importing enterprises in total trade (intra-EU and extra-EU) were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), while this share was only slightly lower for exporting enterprises (98%). For both importing and exporting enterprises, this value remained almost unchanged between 2015 and 2019. Micro enterprises represented the highest share of importing enterprises (77%), significantly higher than […]
Read MoreReport hate crime, support victims
Significant barriers to reporting hate crime across the EU hinder victims’ access to protection and justice, finds a new report of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA). Many victims do not report attacks, as it is too difficult or they do not trust the police. FRA calls on EU countries to encourage hate crime […]
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