The European Defence Agency (EDA) 22 Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden) have signed a new programme that will facilitate the granting of cross-border surface and air movement permissions. The programme is developed in the […]
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EU leads the fight against breast cancer
Breast cancer has been a primary focus of EU policy initiatives and research funding. In a commitment to patient-centred care, the EU is overseeing the creation of Breast Units throughout Europe, specialising in all aspects from diagnosis to treatment and reconstruction. Steered by the EU’s Joint Research Centre in Ispra, Italy, the European Commission Initiative […]
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European Citizens’ Initiative: Commission registers ‘Save the bees!’ initiative’
Today, the European Commission decided to register a European Citizens’ Initiative entitled ‘Save the bees! Protection of biodiversity and improvement of habitats for insects in Europe‘. The organisers call on the Commission to ‘adopt legislation to maintain and improve habitats for insects as indicators of an undamaged environment’. The Citizens’ Initiative focuses on the creation of mandatory […]
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How the EU improves workers’ rights and working conditions
Find out how the EU is improving workers’ rights and working conditions across Europe, from working hours and parental leave to health and safety at work. The EU has put in place a set of labour rules to ensure strong social protection. They include minimum requirements on working conditions – such as working time, part-time […]
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EU Solidarity Fund
The Commission proposes €293.5 million under the EU Solidarity Fund for Austria, Italy and Romania following natural disasters that occurred in 2018. The Commission also publishes a report evaluating the work of the Fund since its creation in 2002 and providing recommendations for the future. The €293.5 million is broken down as follows: €277.2 million for Italy following […]
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Mechanical sails can help decarbonise the oceans
Decarbonising the shipping industry is a big challenge, but a Finnish company has spent the last two years showing how we can use wind power to save up to 20 % of energy used by ships on long sea voyages. Shipping contributes around one gigaton or one billion metric tons of the roughly forty gigatons […]
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VAT Fraud: New tool to help EU countries crack down on criminals and recoup billions
The new system will allow Member States to rapidly exchange and jointly process VAT data, leading to earlier detection of suspicious networks. The launch of the Transaction Network Analysis (TNA) tool comes as recent media investigations once again laid bare the huge costs of VAT fraud for public finances, with criminal gangs profiting at the […]
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Antitrust: Commission fines AB InBev €200 million for restricting cross-border sales of beer
The European Commission has fined AB InBev €200 409 000 for breaching EU antitrust rules. AB InBev, the world’s biggest beer company, has abused its dominant position on the Belgian beer market by hindering cheaper imports of its Jupiler beer from the Netherlands into Belgium. Anheuser-Busch InBev NV/SA (AB InBev) is the world’s biggest beer […]
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Digital Single Market: Cheaper calls to other EU countries as of 15 May
As of 15 May, a new maximum price will apply for all international calls and SMS within the EU. As a result, consumers calling from their country to another EU country will pay a maximum amount of 19 cents per minute (+VAT) and 6 cents per SMS message (+VAT). Following the end of roaming charges […]
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