In 2022, land roughly the size of Corsica was scorched by wildfires in the EU, according to the latest JRC report on fires in the pan-European region. It’s a third year in a row that unprecedented wildfire events cause large environmental and economic damage in the EU and, often, tragic loss of life. While most […]
Eurobarometer: TV still main source for news but social media is gaining ground
A dedicated Eurobarometer survey, published by the European Parliament, takes an in-depth look at media habits, including trust in different media sources. Awareness and media recall 68% of respondents recall having recently obtained news about the European Union via either press, internet, television or radio – with considerable variation across Member States, between 49% in […]
2023 EU Drug Markets Analysis from the EMCDDA and Europol
New analysis highlights greater diversity of cannabis products, rising potency and security risks posed by Europe’s largest illicit drug market Cannabis products are becoming increasingly potent and diverse, while collaboration between criminal groups is creating new security risks in Europe. These are among the conclusions of a new analysis — EU Drug Market: Cannabis — […]
EU Commission to spend €186 million promoting agri-food products in and outside EU in 2024
The European Commission will allocate €185.9 million in 2024 to fund promotion activities for sustainable and high-quality EU agri-food products at home and abroad. The 2024 promotion policy work programme adopted by the Commission aims to develop new market opportunities, while taking into account the political priorities, analysis of projected exports to existing and emerging […]
Mexico and the European Union hold the 11th High-Level Dialogue on Human Rights in Mexico City
On November 17th, Mexico and the European Union held the 11th High Level Dialogue on Human Rights in Mexico City. The Dialogue addressed an extensive array of human rights issues in Mexico and the European Union, including gender equality and the care agenda, femicides, combating gender-based and domestic violence, migrant rights, xenophobia, enforced disappearances, torture prevention, […]
Autumn 2023 Economic Forecast for Spain
Following strong real GDP growth this year of 2.4%, economic activity is expected to slow down in 2024 to 1.7%. Headline inflation is projected to keep moderating over the forecast horizon, although upside risks persist. Based on unchanged policies, the general government deficit is set to remain slightly above 3% of GDP in 2024 despite […]
Commission opens access to EU supercomputers to speed up artificial intelligence development
The Commission and the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) committed to open and widen access to the EU’s world-class supercomputing resources for European artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups, SMEs and the broader AI community as part of the EU AI Start-Up Initiative. To support the further development and scalability of AI models, access to […]
New European Union rules on short-term accommodation rentals
As part of the ongoing efforts to promote a balanced tourism ecosystem within the EU, the Council and the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on a draft regulation on data collection and sharing for short-term accommodation rental services. Simpler, harmonised system of data collection The proposal for a regulation aims at enhancing transparency in […]
Council greenlights UK participation in Horizon Europe and Copernicus
The Council gave its green light to UK participation in the EU’s Horizon Europe and Copernicus programmes, approving the agreement in principle reached between the Commission and the UK government on 7 September 2023. According to the agreement in principle, as of 1 January 2024, researchers and organisations in the UK will be able to […]