European Union

The head of the group advising the European Union on its green finance rules has urged Brussels to resist political pressure to weaken them, saying the credibility of the regulation is at stake.

After Kyiv and Moscow traded blame over the worsening situation in the eastern Donbas region, Ukraine was able to mobilise its Western allies at political level, with several high-level meetings planned this week.

Airlines could check new European Union COVID certificates before allowing onboard passengers going on summer holidays, a senior official said on Tuesday (13 April) as the bloc seeks to restart a travel sector ravaged by the pandemic.

Welcome to EURACTIV’s weekly Transport Brief – your one port of call for all the news moving the world and much more!

Austria's Health Minister Rudolf Anschober (Greens) is resigning from office for health reasons and his successor is expected to be named later on Tuesday (13 April). EURACTIV Germany reports.

EU lawmakers from the Renew group have submitted a request to the European Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee to hold off on adopting a position on the UK's adequacy for EU personal data transfers until the EU's data protection watchdog has weighed in on the plans.

After criticism from regional leaders, the Czech government overturned its decision to support local sports clubs with money from the REACT-EU emergency instrument. Instead, a large majority of the funds will go to the healthcare system, EURACTIV Czech Republic reports.

The Subcommittee on Security and Defence will hold a hearing with experts on the security situation in the Sahel, addressing the difficulties faced by Sahel countries from the African perspective, on 14 April. The debates will focus on the political, societal and military challenges posed to the security situation in the region, on the evolution of the mandates of CSDP missions, and on the EU's involvement in the process of redeployment of state services in the areas where the missions operate.
Draft programme
Poster
EPRS study: Peace and security in 2020: Evaluating the EU approach to tackling the Sahel conflicts - 16 September 2020
EPRS briefing: The G5 Sahel and the European Union: The challenges of security cooperation with a regional grouping - 15 September 2020
EPRS briefing: Understanding the EU Strategy for the Sahel - 7 September 2020
Live streaming
EU Fact Sheets: Security and defence
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

On 13 April, the Committee on Foreign Affairs will hold an online hearing "The Arctic: a new arena of geostrategic importance and great powers' rivalry". The growing geo-economic and geopolitical importance of the Arctic region for European economy and security calls for an updated, more integrated EU approach towards this region.
The hearing will focus on the main geopolitical challenges and opportunities that a rapidly changing Arctic is creating in the fields of security, trade and development, and the exploitation of natural resources as well as their possible repercussions on Arctic governance. It will also explore avenues towards developing a more coherent framework for EU action with a focus on the European Arctic, in order to have a unified response to the new challenges posed by the changing role of this region.
Draft programme
Poster
Biographies of the speakers
Publictation - Elana Wilson Rowe
Presentation - Nils Wang
Publication - Liselotte Odgaard, Danish Hudson Institute Researcher
Presentation - Rebecca Pincus
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

On 13 April, the Committee on Foreign Affairs will hold an online hearing "The Arctic: a new arena of geostrategic importance and great powers' rivalry". The growing geo-economic and geopolitical importance of the Arctic region for European economy and security calls for an updated, more integrated EU approach towards this region.
The hearing will focus on the main geopolitical challenges and opportunities that a rapidly changing Arctic is creating in the fields of security, trade and development, and the exploitation of natural resources as well as their possible repercussions on Arctic governance. It will also explore avenues towards developing a more coherent framework for EU action with a focus on the European Arctic, in order to have a unified response to the new challenges posed by the changing role of this region.
Location : BRUSSELS
Draft programme
Poster
Biiographies of speakers
Publications - Elana Wilson Rowe
Presentation - Nils Wang
Publication - Liselotte Odgaard, Danish Hudson Institute Researcher
Presentation - Rebecca Pincus
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Ukraine accused the Kremlin of ignoring its request for talks between the two countries’ presidents over a build-up of Russian troops near its border, but Moscow said its soldiers were on its own territory, unlike US forces in the region.

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out more about Greece reopening its high schools as it has recently started offering free home-testing kits to its population, Croatia's pensioners set to receive COVID-19 relief from the government, and so much more.

Despite the fatigue with the pandemic and the longing for stability and predictability, Europe has entered the age of ‘permacrisis’, in which volatility, uncertainty, and a prolonged sense of emergency have become the new normal, argue Ricardo Borges de Castro, Fabian Zuleeg and Janis A. Emmanouilidis.

Europe needs a massive increase in renewable electricity to meet its 2030 decarbonisation targets, including a ramp up of clean hydrogen production from electrolysers, a senior EU official has said.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias called Monday (12 April) for the pullout of foreign forces from Libya, during a visit to the eastern city of Benghazi.

European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said on Monday the EU would not help Montenegro repay a loan it had taken from a Chinese bank for the construction of a highway. On Monday, Montenegro’s Minister of Capital Investments Mladen Bojanić said...

The Reisu-l-Ulema of the Islamic Community of Serbia, Sead Nasufović, said on Monday that followers of Islam can receive the COVID-19 vaccine during the Ramadan fast. “Not a drop of water may be drunk during fasting, food may not be...

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday that an agreement has been reached with pensioners’ representatives regarding COVID-19 support to be paid to approximately 850,000 seniors in late April or early May. It is estimated that about 850,000 pensioners...

Malfunctioning ventilators have caused the deaths of three COVID-19 patients in an intensive care unit on the grounds of a Bucharest infectious diseases hospital. Five other patients were moved from the care unit. Both the interior ministry and the prosecutors’...

Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček on Monday announced the establishment of a new government commission that will be tasked with calculating the European Green Deal’s impact on the Czech Republic. The decision to establish a new Green Deal commission, which...