Situation in Afghanistan Following the Taliban takeover on 15 August, a new reality exists in Afghanistan, a reality that affects the EU, affects the region, international stability and has a direct impact on European security. The future of Afghanistan remains a key issue for the EU. The EU remains firmly committed to supporting the Afghan […]
Commission approves new contract for a potential COVID-19 vaccine with Novavax
The European Commission has approved its seventh Advanced Purchase Agreement (APA) with a pharmaceutical company to ensure access to a potential vaccine against COVID-19 in Q4 of 2021 and in 2022. Under this contract, Member States will be able to purchase up to 100 million doses of the Novavax vaccine, with an option for 100 […]
JRC launches new tool to explore the future of European energy
The JRC has launched an online tool allowing anyone to explore the energy options we have for a more sustainable future. The tool creates simple visuals from complex energy data to show how much energy is consumed in the industry, buildings and transport sectors – and what the sources of that energy are. It can […]
How often do you drink sugar-sweetened soft drinks?
In 2019, 9% of people aged 15 and over in the EU drank sugar-sweetened soft drinks daily, while 6% drank such beverages 4-6 times a week and 19% drank these 1-3 times a week. Daily consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks was more common for men than for women (12% of men vs. 7% of women). In addition, […]
HORIZON EUROPE: ERA Chairs
Expected Outcome: Progress towards more and better links between research and innovation actors across European Research Area and beyond is a requirement if Europe as a whole is to capitalise on excellence from across the continent. To foster brain circulation for researchers and innovators the intervention point of the ERA Chairs actions is attracting in […]
EU research shows COVID-19 poised to end progress on gender equality
The social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis threaten to roll back recent progress in gender equality, including an overall trend of upward convergence. Despite slow progress in some areas over the past decade, crucial improvements had been made in countries with lower levels of gender equality. The regressive consequences of COVID-19 on gender […]
Over half of adults in the EU are overweight
While 45% of adults living in the EU had a normal weight in 2019, slightly more than half (53%) were considered as overweight (36% pre-obese and 17% obese) and almost 3% as underweight, according to their body mass index (BMI). BMI is a measure of a person’s weight relative to their height that links fairly well with body fat. With the exception of […]
Immigration law enforcement in the EU – figures for 2020
In 2020, 137 800 non-EU citizens were refused entry into the EU territory while 557 500 were found to be illegally present in one of the EU Member States. The number of non-EU citizens issued with an order to leave an EU Member State was 396 400 people. Following an order to leave, 99 300 […]
Major drop in EU’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, official data confirms
Greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union (EU) decreased by almost 4 % in 2019, according to latest official data, published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA). These data confirm the EEA’s preliminary estimates, published in October 2020. The large decline in emissions, achieved before the COVID-19 crisis, was mainly due to reduced coal […]