European Union

MEPs and the Finnish presidency of the EU Council agreed Thursday (5 December) on a taxonomy to determine what economic activities can be considered ‘green’, paving the way for billions of euros to be channelled into investments to fight climate change.

The EU executive responds that its public opinion survey is not a statistic, but a snapshot, after concerns were raised over the method that could result in pro-EU bias.

Let’s face it: the choice facing British voters next Thursday is not an appealing one. Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn are locked in an unpopularity contest – both are deeply divisive, on Brexit and a swathe of domestic policies – and the winner will be the person deemed least unpalatable.

The EU has proven to be successful in legislating in the digital age but it needs to keep up the work to avoid being left behind, because "the digital revolution has been moving faster than legislation", MEP Angelika Niebler (EPP, Germany) told EURACTIV in a written interview.

Last year (2018) the number of beer breweries in Europe passed 10,000, double the amount of five years ago, according to the Brewers of Europe. The increase is almost entirely due to an explosion of microbreweries, mostly in the UK and France. Despite an overall decrease in alcohol consumption, beer consumption in Europe increased, partly due to the growing popularity of non- and low-alcohol beers.

The EU council said on Thursday that "stablecoins" (a type of cryptocurrency designed to minimise the volatility of the price) "should not come into operation until all of these risks and concerns are properly addressed". The lack of adequate information about the operability and risks of stablecoins makes it difficult to reach definitive conclusions on whether and how the existing EU regulatory framework applies, the institution concluded.

After the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that organisms obtained by new plant breeding techniques (NBTs) should, in principle, fall under the GMO Directive, the Council of the EU has requested a study from the Commission to clarify the situation. But what this means in practice remains unclear.

The Green Deal commissioner, Frans Timmermans, said the costs of inaction in climate policy are "tremendously high". However, it is still unclear if member states will unanimously agree on the EU's 2050 climate-neutrality goal at next week's summit.

EU finance ministers failed to reach an agreement on Wednesday (4 December) on the reform of the EU's bailout fund and move to political discussions on the European Deposit Insurance Scheme ahead of the Euro summit next week.

The Brexit party, formed by veteran Eurosceptic Nigel Farage, is in danger of imploding after suffering a series of high-profile defections and expulsions a week before the UK's general election on 12 December.

Welcome to EURACTIV’s Digital Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.    “We don’t want to be dependent on imports of crucial technologies.”  – Lucilla Sioli, Director of Artificial Intelligence and...

Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš has threatened to veto Europe’s goal of becoming the first climate neutral continent in the world by 2050, adding his voice to a growing chorus of discontent as EU leaders prepare for heated climate discussions at a summit in Brussels next week.

Recent research published found that new-borns in intensive care units are in contact with a variety of medical products that contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) such as bisphenol A (BPA) and parabens.

Democratic debates require trusted information, less economic pressure on media, and more policy pressure on platforms. Supporting citizens’ choices, three concepts will help the von der Leyen Commission: ‘co-regulation’, ‘trust indicators’, ‘systemic publishing platforms’. This open letter to the new...

A conflict is brewing in Bulgaria between civil society and the government over plans to reconstruct a 12-floor ruin, built during the last years of communism and abandoned ever since, into a children's hospital.

The urgent need to act fast and now It is becoming increasingly evident that actions to limit global warming to 1.5°C are no longer a choice. As stated by the IPCC Special Report, we are running out of time and,...

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s executive began work on the 1 December. Read here all the details and figures on the self-dubbed “geopolitical Commission”. UPDATED: Lists of cabinet members have now been published. Info below. After a lengthy...

To meet the objectives of the Energy Union and support the transition to a clean energy system, funding will be needed to finance structural changes to ensure security of supply, due to lack of capacity and funding restraints.

NATO leaders wrapped up their acrimonious 70th-anniversary meeting in relative harmony on Wednesday (4 December), bridging a series of intense internal divisions and agreeing to focus more on the challenge of China's "growing international influence" and military might.

The EU’s digital agenda for the next mandate will be marked by a series of broad-ranging reforms, from artificial intelligence and data protection to digital tax. However, the issue of ethics in the digital field continues to be at the centre of the debate, namely in regulating AI and data usage.