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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EU Agency on drugs is recognised as a hub of excellence in Europe and internationally
The Commission has published a report positively evaluating the work of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), the EU Agency on drugs. The report confirms that, over the period 2013 to 2018, the Agency continued to be widely recognised as a true hub of scientific excellence in Europe and internationally, providing […]
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European Parliament achievements 2014-2018
With the EU elections coming up on 23-26 May, check out how the European Parliament’s work over the past five years has helped improve your daily life. Cheaper phone calls In force since June 2017, EU “roam like at home” rules mean that wherever you travel in the EU you can call, text and use mobile data […]
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