The European Research Council (ERC) has announced the award of 100 new proof-of-concept grants in the first round of the 2024 competition. This latest round of grants includes the 2000th project since the programme’s introduction in 2011, which will receive proof-of-concept funding. Astrophysicist Nanda Rea, who works at Spain’s Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), […]
The European Commission appoints a Spanish woman as Director in the Directorate-General for Statistics
The European Commission has appointed María Antonia Martínez Luengo as Director for “Macroeconomic Statistics” in the Commission’s Directorate-General for Statistics (DG Eurostat), responsible for providing high quality statistics and data on Europe in collaboration with the national statistical authorities of the EU Member States and for proposing all EU statistical legislation. The date of entry […]
Commission approves €1.1 billion Spanish State aid scheme to support investments in equipment necessary to foster the transition to a net-zero economy
The European Commission has approved a €1.1 billion Spanish scheme to support investments for the production of equipment necessary to foster the transition towards a net-zero economy, in line with the Green Deal Industrial Plan. The scheme was approved under the State aid Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, adopted by the Commission on 9 March 2023 and amended on 20 November 2023, to support […]
Spanish Presidency debriefs EP committees on priorities
Ministers are holding a series of meetings in parliamentary committees to present the priorities of the Spanish Presidency of the Council. Committee on Culture and Education On 7 September, acting Minister for Education and Vocational Training Pilar Alegría said the presidency will focus on educational responses to support Ukraine, ambitious implementation of the European Education […]
Spanish Parliament approves the transposition of six European Directives
More accessible products and services The first of the rules to be transposed is Directive 2019/882, which ensures non-discrimination for people with disabilities when accessing certain products and services. Products include general-purpose computer equipment and operating systems, self-service terminals and responses provided from the European emergency number 112. The services that will apply new requirements […]
European Commission publishes regional competitiveness index: Spanish regions improve their performance
On 27 March, the European Commission published the Regional Competitiveness Index (RCI), a completely revised version of a tool long used to measure different dimensions of competitiveness in EU regions. The fully revised RCI 2.0 shows that large disparities persist between EU regions, but it also shows that the competitiveness of less developed regions has […]
The Commission has approved a Spanish scheme worth 88.3 M € to support connectivity in rural areas
The European Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, an €88.3 million Spanish scheme made available through the Recovery and Resilience Facility (‘RRF’) to support the provision of wholesale services and retail broadband services in remote rural areas in Spain. The measure is part of Spain’s strategy to address the needs of citizens and […]
Europe signs multimillion-dollar contract with Spanish industry to heat ITER plasma
Fusion for Energy (F4E), the EU organisation responsible for the European contribution to ITER, the international fusion experiment, has announced the signing of a major contract with IDOM and Alsymex. The consortium of the two companies has been commissioned to design and produce very powerful heating systems that will help raise the temperature of the […]