The Communication on Building the future with nature identifies the challenges and barriers and proposes to tackle them, in line with the Communication on the long-term competitiveness of the EU. The advances in life sciences, supported by digitalisation and artificial intelligence (AI), and the potential of solutions based on biology to solve societal issues, make biotechnology and biomanufacturing one […]
Taking stock of the Spanish Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan
The European Commission Representation in Spain organised the second annual conference on the Spanish Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan. The event took stock of the Plan, analysing the opportunities it offers to achieve a greener, more digital and resilient Spain, as well as the challenges for its implementation. The event was opened by the acting […]
The Community of Madrid is the EU region with the highest life expectancy at birth
In 2022, the life expectancy at birth in the EU was 80.6 years, up by 0.5 years from 2021. Over two decades, since 2002, the highest value was recorded in 2019 when life expectancy at birth reached 81.3 years (up 3.7 years compared with 2002). However, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, this indicator declined to 80.4 in […]
2023 figures show stagnating progress in reducing road fatalities in too many countries
The Commission is publishing preliminary figures on road fatalities for 2023. Around 20,400 people were killed in road crashes in the EU last year, a small 1% decrease on 2022. Despite some progress since the baseline year of 2019[1], few Member States are on track to meet the EU and UN target of halving […]
Eurostat: Spain had the second lowest fertility rate in the European Union in 2022
In 2022, 3.88 million babies were born in the EU, a slight decrease from 4.09 million in 2021. The number of children born in the EU has been declining since 2008, when 4.68 million children were born. The total fertility rate in 2022 was 1.46 live births per woman in the EU, which is another decline, after the small increase […]
Eurostat: EU fruit and vegetable production in 2022
The EU produces a wide range of fresh vegetables and fruit. Fresh vegetables were cultivated on 2.0 million hectares of land across the EU in 2022, on which 59.8 million tonnes of crops were harvested. The three most commonly grown fresh vegetables – in quantity terms – were tomatoes (15.4 million tonnes of harvested production), onions (6.2 […]
EU adopts 13th package of sanctions against Russia after two years of its war of aggression against Ukraine
The Commission welcomes the Council’s adoption of a 13th package of sanctions against Russia. Two years since Russia brutally invaded Ukraine, EU’s support for Ukraine and its people remains as strong as ever. Europe is united and determined to continue defending its values and founding principles. This package focuses on further limiting Russia’s access to […]
Halfway through its lifetime, the Recovery and Resilience Facility continues to deliver across the EU through ambitious reforms and investments
The Commission presented the mid-term evaluation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), the EU’s recovery instrument at the heart of the €800 billion NextGenerationEU (NGEU) plan. Unprecedented in its scale and ambition, the RRF was established in February 2021 and has the two-fold objective of helping Member States to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well […]
Air quality: Council and Parliament reach agreement to strengthen EU rules
The Council presidency and the European Parliament’s representatives reached a provisional political agreement on a proposal to set EU air quality standards to be attained with the aim of achieving a zero-pollution objective, thus contributing to a toxic-free environment in the EU by 2050. It also seeks to bring EU air quality standards in line with the World Health Organization […]