Joint statement by the President of the European Commission, Ms. Ursula von der Leyen, the Prime Minister of India, Mr. Narendra Modi, the Chair of the African Union and President of the Comoros, Mr. Azali Assoumani, the President of the French Republic, Mr Emmanuel Macron, the President of the World Bank, Mr Ajay Banga and […]
The European Commission has designated six gatekeepers – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft – under the Digital Markets Act
The European Commission has today designated, for the first time, six gatekeepers – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Meta, Microsoft – under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). In total, 22 core platform services provided by gatekeepers have been designated. The six gatekeepers will now have six months to ensure full compliance with the DMA obligations for each of their designated core platform […]
Commission wants to address challenges related to wolf returns
The return of the wolf to EU regions where it has been absent for a long time is increasingly leading to conflicts with local farming and hunting communities, especially where measures to prevent attacks on livestock are not widely implemented. President von der Leyen said: “The concentration of wolf packs in some European regions has […]
Fishing opportunities for 2024 in the Baltic Sea
The Commission has adopted its proposal for the 2024 fishing opportunities for the Baltic Sea in response to a scientific assessment that indicates several fisheries are in a dire situation. The Commission proposed the total allowable catches (TACs) and quotas for three out of the ten stocks managed in the Baltic Sea. The remaining quota proposals will be […]
Commission authorises adapted COVID-19 vaccine for Member States’ autumn vaccination campaigns
The Commission has authorised the Comirnaty XBB.1.5-adapted COVID-19 vaccine, developed by BioNTech-Pfizer. This vaccine marks another important milestone in the fight against the disease. It is the third adaptation of this vaccine to respond to new COVID-19 variants. The vaccine is authorised for adults, children and infants above 6 months. In line with previous recommendations by EMA […]
EU and the Philippines to start scoping exercise for a free trade agreement
The EU and the Philippines announced their intention to explore the relaunch of negotiations for an ambitious, modern, and balanced free trade agreement (FTA) – with sustainability at its core. The EU and the Philippines will shortly kick off a bilateral ‘scoping process’ to assess to which extent they share a mutual understanding on the […]
Commission opens investigation into possible anticompetitive practices by Microsoft regarding Teams
The European Commission has opened a formal investigation to assess whether Microsoft may have breached EU competition rules by tying or bundling its communication and collaboration product Teams to its popular suites for businesses Office 365 and Microsoft 365. Microsoft is a global technology company offering productivity and business software, cloud computing and personal computing. Teams is a cloud-based communication and collaboration […]
Enhancing EU resilience: A step forward to identify critical entities for key sectors
The Commission has adopted a list of essential services in the eleven sectors covered by the Critical Entities Resilience Directive (CER), which entered into force on 16 January 2023. Critical entities provide essential services in upholding key societal functions, supporting the economy, ensuring public health and safety, and preserving the environment. Member States will have to identify the […]
Commission published a Communication presenting the building blocks for a common European tourism data space
The Commission published a Communication presenting the building blocks for a common European tourism data space. This data space will allow tourism businesses and public authorities to share a broad range of data to inform the development of innovative tourism services, improve the sustainability of the tourism ecosystem and strengthen its economic competitiveness. Tourism is […]