The Council approved additional restrictive measures against four persons and two entities under the European Union’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime. The listed individuals and entities are responsible for serious human rights abuses worldwide, including torture and systematic and widespread sexual and gender-based violence. This listings include the chief of staff of the Syrian army, Abdel Karim Mohammad Ibrahim, and Ali Mahmoud […]
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Commission publishes new guidelines for more clarity on air passenger rights
The Commission is publishing revised interpretative guidelines on air passenger rights that will facilitate compliance with regulations and harmonise enforcement by national bodies. Since 2016, the Commission has been providing guidelines to address common concerns raised by national enforcement bodies, passengers and their associations, and industry representatives. Today’s revision notably takes into account rulings by the Court of Justice since […]
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The Commission has published its fifth annual Rule of Law Report
The Commission has published its fifth annual Rule of Law Report, examining systematically and objectively rule of law developments in all Member States on an equal basis. In comparison to the first issue of the Rule of Law Report adopted in 2020, Member States and the EU as a whole are much better prepared to detect, […]
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Spanish MEPs on parliamentary committees
The members of each of the European Parliament’s standing committees and subcommittees for the tenth parliamentary term were announced on Friday. The 60 Spanish MEPs will be divided between the 20 committees and four sub-committees. The election of the chairpersons and vice-chairpersons of each committee will take place at their respective constituent sessions next […]
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EU annual budget for 2025: Council agrees its position on the draft budget
The Council’s reached an agreement on its position on the 2025 EU draft budget. In total, the Council’s position for next year’s budget amounts to €191.53 billion in commitments and €146.21 billion in payments, not including appropriations foreseen for special instruments outside the MFF. Overall, the Council takes a prudent approach. The Council stresses the […]
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European Court of Justice reprimands Commission for failing to give sufficiently wide public access to Covid-19 vaccine purchases
That infringement concerns, inter alia, those agreements’ provisions on indemnification, and concerns the declarations that there was no conflict of interest on the part of the members of the team who negotiated the purchase of the vaccines In 2020 and 2021, purchase agreements for Covid-19 vaccines were concluded between the Commission and some pharmaceutical […]
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EU to invest record €7 billion into sustainable, safe and smart transport infrastructure
The Commission has selected 134 transport projects to receive over €7 billion in EU grants from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), the EU’s instrument for strategic investment in infrastructure. This represents the largest call under the current CEF Transport programme. Around 83% of the funding will support projects that deliver on the EU’s climate objectives, […]
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Newly elected Parliament reaffirms its strong support for Ukraine
With Russia’s war against Ukraine raging on, Parliament reconfirmed on Wednesday its view that the EU must continue to support Kyiv for as long as it takes until victory. The resolution, which sets out the newly-elected European Parliament’s first official position on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, restates the continued support of MEPs for […]
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Environmental tax revenue shows slight decline in 2022
In 2022, environmental tax revenue in the EU amounted to €317.2 billion (2.0% of the EU’s gross domestic product; GDP) compared with €330.2 billion recorded in 2021, indicating a 4% decrease (-€13 billion). The long-term upward trend resumed after the exceptional years of 2020 and 2021 (COVID-19). However, 2022 remains notable due to the situation […]
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