European Union

The draft of Germany's recovery plan promises that 80% of the EU recovery funds will go to climate protection and digitalisation, well above the EU's requirements. However, Green MEP Sven Giegold has complained that only a quarter will go to future investments and most of the money is earmarked for old projects.  EURACTIV Germany reports.

Germany is modernising its competition law to stand up to digital corporations. In the future, the Cartel Office will be able to act faster and tougher when companies dominate the market. Europe can learn from this. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Small companies have been hit hard by the Covid-19 crisis. MEPs believe the EU can help by easing requirements and supporting their resilience.

Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

"In the context of the exponential growth of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the President of the European Parliament has announced a number of measures to contain the spread of epidemic and to safeguard Parliament's core activities.

The current precautionary measures adopted by the European Parliament to contain the spread of COVID-19 do not affect work on legislative priorities. Core activities are reduced, but maintained to ensure that the institution's legislative, budgetary, scrutiny functions are maintained.

The meetings will be with remote participation for Members (being able to view and listen to proceedings, ask for the floor and intervene in the meeting). Other participants are invited to follow the meeting through webstreaming.

Following these decisions, the next ordinary AFET Committee meetings will take place on 25-26 January (via videoconference).

EP Calendar 2021
AFET-SEDE-DROI meetings
Source : © European Union, 2020 - EP

Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid (Retour d’un mineur non accompagné)
Area of Freedom, Security and Justice
Before issuing a return decision in respect of an unaccompanied minor, a Member State must verify that adequate reception facilities are available for the minor in the State of return

The US State Department this month told European companies which it suspects are helping to build Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline that they face a risk of sanctions, a spokesperson confirmed.

Scottish fishermen have threatened to dump rotten shellfish outside the British parliament after their deliveries to the European Union were blocked by post-Brexit red tape.

Official data Thursday (14 January) are expected to show that the German economy weathered the pandemic better than many nations last year, partly thanks to its resilient manufacturers, but a virus resurgence is fuelling concern for 2021.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about the Bulgarian ruling party saying it will not allow for mail-in voting for the next parliamentary elections, former Italian PM Renzi causing a crisis in government, and so much more.

Johnson & Johnson could deliver the first doses of its COVID-19 vaccine to Europe in April, an EU official said after a top lawmaker said the US healthcare company was likely to seek EU regulatory approval in February.

The German and Austrian ambassadors to BiH, Margret Uebber and Ulrike Hartmann, together with EU Delegation head in BiH, Johann Sattler, paid a visit to the Lipa migrant camp, near northwest city Bihać. “First important goal achieved – 750 migrants/refugees...

Serbia made limited progress in 2020 when it comes to protecting human rights, according to Human Rights Watch’s annual report about the state of human rights in the world published on Wednesday. On Serbia, the international NGO declared that, during...

The planned no-confidence motion against the government has a slim chance but still might succeed, and would then result in early elections, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša said on Wednesday. Constitutional Arch Coalition (KUL) is planning to propose voting on...

A Lithuanian MEP accused of homophobia apologised on Wednesday (13 January) after fellow lawmakers threatened to expel him from the liberal Renew grouping in the European Parliament.

Epidemiologists used the Moderna vaccine to start jabbing residents of Petrinja, the town that received the first shipment of 3,600 Modern doses because the devastating earthquake that hit the country on 29 December increased the risk of the virus spreading....

While Romania still has no budget for 2021, the country’s Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that the Parliament needs to clarify a law requiring a 40% increase of pensions. The government wants a much lower increase, in the current economic...

The ruling coalition in Bulgaria does not intend to allow mail-in voting in the coming parliamentary elections – something they referred to as “an exotic idea”. This became clear when President Rumen Radev met the ruling GERB party as a...

The Slovak government is breaking the law by not letting its draft national recovery plan undergo an environmental impact assessment (EIA), said Renew MEP Martin Hojsík. According to Slovak law –  which is based on an EU directive – every strategic...

Three patients were diagnosed with the more infectious variant of coronavirus first identified in the UK, Hungary’s chief medical officer Cecília Müller told journalists on Wednesday, adding that “it was obvious that Hungary could not avoid the variant either.” According...

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) has followed a recommendation by the finance ministry not to enter the European banking union for now. A study carried out by the foreign ministry recommends monitoring the banking union’s development and re-assessing all aspects...