Taxation to Finance Recovery

Krister Andersson

Taxation is a major tool for financing the recovery, as well as the digital and green transition. But the old national and international rules are no longer fit for some of the new business models used today.  In an opinion adopted during its March plenary, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) welcomed the European…

Regulating Cryptocurrencies

Regulating cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum should no longer be an Eldorado for money laundering and terrorist financing, say MEPs. “Regulating cryptocurrencies is just as important as the fight against terrorism. It’s clear that, especially now with Russia’s horrible war on Ukraine, we have to get this right. We need to make sure our law…

Vodafone Digital Enabler Showcase

digital enabler showcase

Vodafone this week hosted its Digital Enabler Showcase event at the Concert Noble in Brussels.Leaders and policymakers from EU institutions, ambassadors, permanent representatives, academics, and media attended the event, which spotlighted the opportunity of digitalisation. Real-life examples of how the latest 5G digital technologies are being used to transform and accelerate the EU’s Digital and Green transition,…

NATO Releases Annual Report for 2021

Jens Stoltenberg

“We have entered a new era in global security, where authoritarian powers, like Russia and China, are openly contesting core principles for our security, and seeking to re-write the entire international order on which our peace and prosperity depend. Moscow is using force to pursue its objectives, as we are seeing in Ukraine. At the…

Transparency for Crypto-Assets

Cryptocurrency

Under new requirements agreed by MEPs, all transfers of crypto-assets will have to include information on the source of the asset and its beneficiary, information that is to be made available to the competent authorities. The rules would also cover transactions from so-called unhosted wallets (a crypto-asset wallet address that is in the custody of…

EU-China Summit

EU China

On Friday, the 23rd EU-China Summit took place with the participation on the EU side of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Council President Charles Michel and on the Chinese side President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. Commenting on the context of the Summit and EU-China relations, BusinessEurope Director General Markus J. Beyrer…

Controlling Hate Crime and Hate Speech

Hate Crime and Hate Speech

The growth of hatred, expressed both online and offline across Europe, confirms the need to address hate speech and hate crime at EU level, an EESC hearing was told. On 30 March, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a public hearing to discuss the European Commission’s proposal to broaden the list of EU crimes…

Calling Time on Russian Propaganda

Russian Propaganda

On February 24, Russia announced the start of a so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine. Any sane person understands that what’s happening in Ukraine is a full-scale war, but not a classic, conventional war where one country’s army fights another one’s. Russia’s aggression against the sovereign state of Ukraine is a new type of warfare…