The European Parliament today agreed on the ambitious measures proposed by the Commission to tackle marine litter coming from the 10 single-use plastic products most often found on European beaches, as well as abandoned fishing gear and oxo-degradable plastics. The rules on Single-Use Plastics items and fishing gear, addressing the ten most found items on EU beaches place […]
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Venezuela EU increases emergency assistance by €50 million!
As the social and economic crisis in Venezuela continues to worsen, the European Commission is allocating a further €50 million in emergency assistance to help Venezuelans most in need. Today’s announcement is also part of the EU’s commitment to mobilise further assistance as stated in the Montevideo Declaration of the International Contact Group. Total EU assistance […]
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€250 million available to support healthy eating habits for European schoolchildren
Millions of children across the EU will receive milk, fruit and vegetables under the EU’s School Scheme in 2019/2020. This programme reached over 20 million children across the EU during the school year 2017/2018. The national budget allocations for the EU school fruit, vegetable and milk schemes for the 2019/2020 school year was adopted today. €145 million […]
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European Citizens’ Initiative: Commission registers ‘#NewRightsNow’ initiative
#NewRightsNow’ initiative The European Commission has today decided to register a European Citizens’ Initiative entitled ‘#NewRightsNow – Strengthening the rights of “uberised” workers’. The organisers call on the Commission to ‘establish an obligation for digital platforms to pay a guaranteed minimum income to self-employed people who regularly work for them.’ The organisers argue such measures […]
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Copyright reform: modernised rules fit for digital age
The European Parliament has voted in favour of the new Copyright Directive designed to bring tangible benefits to citizens, all creative sectors, the press, researchers, educators, and cultural heritage institutions. This Directive protects creativity in the digital age and ensures that the EU citizens benefit from wider access to content and new guarantees to fully […]
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European Parliament confirms that the 2017 EU budget was well-managed
The European Parliament today gave its final approval, known as ‘discharge’, to the way in which the European Commission, in cooperation with the Member States, managed and implemented the EU budget in 2017. The positive vote follows from the European Court of Auditors’ decision to give the EU annual accounts a clean bill of health for […]
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Employment and social developments in Europe: Record number of people in employment, but more investment in skills needed
The spring edition of the Commission’s Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) Quarterly Review published today shows that the number of people in employment and the number of hours worked continues to rise. Hours worked are finally above the peak of 2008. Most of the jobs created are permanent and full time jobs. But growth is […]
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Car rentals: EU action leads to clearer and more transparent pricing
Following a call from the European Commission and EU consumer authorities, five industry leaders, Avis, Europcar, Enterprise, Hertz and Sixt, have changed the way they present car rental prices, making them fully transparent to consumers. Until now, the companies concerned had not fully implemented some of their commitments in order for the European Commission and EU consumer […]
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Antitrust: Commission fines Nike €12.5 million for restricting cross-border sales of merchandising products
The European Commission has fined Nike €12.5 million for banning traders from selling licensed merchandise to other countries within the EEA. This restriction concerned merchandising products of some of Europe’s best-known football clubs and federations, for which Nike held the licence. Licensed merchandising products are extremely varied (e.g. mugs, bags, bedsheets, stationery, toys) but all […]
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