The cybersecurity threat landscape has grown in terms of sophistication of attacks, complexity and impact. Such a trend is spurred by an ever-growing online presence, the transitioning of traditional infrastructures to online solutions, advanced interconnectivity and the exploitation of new features of emerging technologies. Without surprise, supply-chains attacks rank highly among prime threats because of the significant […]
September infringement package: main decisions for Spain – Agriculture and Fisheries
In its regular package of infringement decisions, the European Commission pursues legal action against Member States for failing to comply with their obligations under EU law. These decisions, covering various sectors and EU policy areas, aim to ensure the proper application of EU law for the benefit of citizens and businesses. The main decisions adopted […]
EU reinforces its leading position in global agri-food trade
2020 marked another improvement in the EU’s leading position among the world’s biggest exporters of agri-food products. On the import side, the EU has become the third largest importer after the United States and China, according to a report published on september 8th 2020 was an exceptionally challenging, yet successful year for EU agri-food trade, which […]
2021 Rule of Law Report
The European Commission has published the second EU-wide Report on the Rule of Law with a Communication looking at the situation in the EU as a whole and dedicated country chapters on each Member State. The 2021 report looks at the new developments since last September, deepening the assessment of issues identified in the previous report and taking […]
COVID-19 vaccination developments in Europe – 1st four-month period 2021
Vaccination against COVID-19 started on 27 December 2020 across the European Union, in a moment of unity. To date, 4 safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines have been licensed for use in the EU, following positive scientific recommendations from the European Medicines Agency: BioNTech-Pfizer: On 21 December 2020, the European Commission granted conditional marketing authorisation to […]
New VAT rules for e-commerce in the EU
New value added tax (VAT) rules for online shopping came into force this week. This development comes in the context of efforts to ensure a more level playing field for all businesses, simplify cross-border e-commerce and introduce greater transparency for EU shoppers in terms of prices and choice. The EU VAT system was last updated […]
More legal options for migrant workers coming to the EU
An EU framework for legal migration would encourage more orderly migration, attract much-needed workers, undermine smugglers and traffickers, and ease integration. In a report adopted with 495 to 163 and 32 abstentions, Parliament highlights that legal migration has barely been part of the EU’s migration policy since 2015 and underlines that the New Pact on Migration […]
High-level Military Mobility Symposium discussed way ahead
More than 350 participants from Member States, EU institutions, industry, academia and think tanks joined the high-level online symposium on ‘Military Mobility – Transforming Ambition into Reality’, co-organised by the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union and EDA. After 2018, it was the second European conference specifically devoted to Military Mobility. In […]
Gender equality in EU Institutions
Parliament leadership adopts roadmap to achieve gender equality in political processes and its administration. 50% women in middle and senior manager positions and 40% women in top manager positions in the administration. These are the targets the European Parliament’s Bureau, comprising the President, Vice-Presidents and Quaestors, set in January 2020. To reach these targets by […]