On the agreement of the EU Heads of State and Government on a partial oil embargo and the ongoing European Council meeting Philippe Lamberts MEP, President of the Greens/EFA group in the European Parliament, comments: “The agreement to ban 90 percent of Russian oil from entering the European Union and to finally put the sixth sanctions package…
Business
Internal Market Committee Visits Silicon Valley
Last week a delegation from the Internal Market Committee visited leading tech companies including Google, Meta, Apple, Airbnb, eBay, Paypal and Uber in the Silicon Valley. From 23 to 27 May, an Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee delegation travelled to the Silicon Valley to meet with tech companies, local authorities and academia. MEPs had…
Reform of Emission Trading Scheme
The European Parliament’s environment committee (ENVI) has voted on the reports for the reform of the Emission Trading Scheme and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, two of the most important files in the Fit-for-55 package. The ETS covers more than 11.000 industrial installations in the EU, and with this reform it will expand its scope…
Minimum Corporate Tax Rate
The European Parliament is set to debate and adopt the Aurore Lalucq report calling for the establishment and rapid implementation of a minimum corporate tax rate for multinationals into European law following the 2021 OECD agreement. At their most recent meeting, EU economic and finance ministers failed to reach a common approach. Currently, Poland is…
SCM Donates US$48 billion to Ukraine in 40 days
From 24 February 2022 to 4 April 2022, SCM businesses, the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, and FC Shakhtar donated about UAH 1.4 billion ($48 million) in aid to Ukraine and Ukrainian people. In particular, this amount includes humanitarian aid (food, medicines, essential items, evacuation, shelters, etc.), as well as support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces and…
Regulating Cryptocurrencies
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
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,…
Transparency for Crypto-Assets
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
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…
Forum hears that electrotechnical sector can be “key driver” of growth
A major conference heard how the economies of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are booming despite the crippling pandemic. The event brought together thousands of investors, consultants, businesses and government officials with a common aim to discuss and connect to explore the investment potential of the region, in particular Uzbekistan. With the CIS now slowly emerging…