The In Vitro diagnostic medical devices regulation that will apply as from 26 May 2022, can now be progressively rolled out, thanks to its adoption by the European Parliament and the Council. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic Member States, health institutions and economic operators redeployed financial and other resources to address the unprecedented…
Year: 2021
Calling all Culture Vultures
Swedish Forests at Dubai Expo 2020
Expo 2020 in Dubai has now opened, and many Swedish industries, authorities and organisations are here, including the Swedish Forest Industries Federation. Dubai is currently hosting 190 countries at the World Expo on the theme ‘Connecting Minds – Creating the Future’. Much of Swedish industry is here, including companies such as Scania, Ericsson and SSAB, and…
Stop Destructive Fishing Practices
A giant colourful pop-up book depicting the devastation caused by destructive bottom trawling – and how the marine environment thrives in its absence – was delivered to European Union Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius by NGOs on Monday on behalf of 150,000 who signed a petition calling for the EU to phase out destructive fishing practices, starting with…
France Prepares for Council Presidency
A Presidency prepared in close collaboration with the French corporate sector which is setting a policy agenda that strongly reflects business demands.That is the verdict of Corporate Europe Observatory and Observatoire des multinationales in their new report, published on Monday in the run up to the start of the French Presidency on 1 January. The…
Renewing the Transatlantic Partnership
With China and Russia on the offensive, a renewed and reliable transatlantic partnership is the key to maintaining international and legal order and peace. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) supports the idea of an Alliance of Democracies, ensuring that civil society has significant say in the joint defence of universal values and rights….
Author seeks to shed fresh light on President’s controversial son
Earlier this month, President Biden organised a much-publicised conference on “democracy”. It was an event he’d promised on the presidential campaign trail. The aims were highly laudable, not least as the meeting with the heads of state of Australia, India and Japan was to ensure that “the way in which technology is designed, developed, governed and…
Understanding the Cosmos
The world news is dominated by doom and gloom, causing depression and pessimism, but sometimes a shaft of sunlight cuts through the fog to brighten the day and give us hope. This Christmas Eve, the launch of flight VA256 by Ariane 5 promises to open new horizons on our understanding of the universe and cosmic…
BioNTech Pfizer Accelerates Vaccine Delivery
The Commission has today agreed with BioNtech-Pfizer to accelerate the delivery of its mRNA vaccine to Member States, starting in a few weeks. In Q1 of 2022, BioNtech-Pfizer will deliver an additional 20 million vaccine doses (5 million in January, 5 million in February and 10 million in March). These doses come on top of…
France Signs Space Surveillance Contract with ArianeGroup
The French Ministry for the Armed Forces has signed a new contract with ArianeGroup for an augmented optical surveillance capability for Medium Earth Orbits (MEO), Geostationary Earth Orbits (GEO) and High Earth Orbits (HEO). ArianeGroup has a reliable and operational network of varied optical sensors around the world and a centralized Command and Control centre,…