As European leaders applaud the success of Airbus, an aerospace giant in a duopoly with Boeing, they are about to prevent any possibility of similar success in the digital sector, writes Pierre Bentata. A Franco-Dutch proposal, now gaining European attention, aims at imposing specific regulations on the major digital platforms, in order to limit their…
A total of 644 lawmakers from the European Union and elsewhere in Europe have called on the World Health Organization (WHO) to include Taiwan in its annual assembly, which is scheduled to resume virtually next week, writes Sylvia Teng. The WHA meetings will take place virtually from Nov. 9-14 in light of the ongoing pandemic….
Today we commemorate and honour the warriors who paid the ultimate sacrifice to defend the values of peace and democracy. Remembrance Sunday was established in 1919 to mark Armistice Day with the objective of ensuring that future generations would never forget those who gave their lives to secure the freedom of their families. Have we…
Commissioner Didier Reynders was, on Friday, meeting the 11 online platforms participating in the dialogue on tackling online consumer scams related to the coronavirus pandemic, together with consumer protection authorities. The purpose is to encourage platform operators to reinforce their preparedness to address new scams that could appear during the second wave of the pandemic and to prevent…
The European Commission has published several reports on actions taken by the signatories of the fake news code of conduct to fight false and misleading coronavirus-related information. The reports continue to give a good overview of actions taken by the online platforms during the month of September, and demonstrate willingness to provide increased transparency around their…
EPP Group MEPs Sven Simon, Christian Ehler and Christian Doleschal, together with a number of top scientists have sent a letter to the commission and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, pleading with them to reject the drastic cuts to European research funds, as part of an agreement on the 7-year-EU-budget and the Recovery Fund. The letter was initiated…
Women in the European Union still earn less than men. The gender pay gap in the EU-27 has slightly improved since last year: from 14.5% to 14.1% according to the latest Eurostat findings. The European Equal Pay Day marks the day when women symbolically stop getting paid compared to their male colleagues for the same…
Following the selection announcement in August, the Commission has now signed grant agreements, under Horizon 2020, with 23 new research projects that will receive a total of €128 million to address the continuing coronavirus pandemic and its effects. The funding will enable additional research to strengthen and adapt industrial capacity to manufacture and deploy medical equipment.This…
EU countries that disrespect the rule of law will risk losing access to EU funds, under a provisional deal struck by Parliament and Council negotiators. “Today’s agreement is a milestone for protecting EU values. For the first time, we have established a mechanism that enables the EU to stop funding governments that disrespect our values…
The coronavirus pandemic represents a very large shock for the global and EU economies, with very severe economic and social consequences. Economic activity in Europe suffered a severe shock in the first half of the year and rebounded strongly in the third quarter as containment measures were gradually lifted. However, the resurgence of the pandemic…
