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…
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…
The European Commission has endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of Portugal’s payment request for €1.16 billion, of which €553.44 million of grants and €609 million of loans under the RRF, the key instrument at the heart of NextGenerationEU. On 25 January, Portugal announced reforms in the areas of health, social housing, social services, investment and innovation,…
The Socialists and Democrats in the European parliament have called for fundamentally reorienting the European Semester away from the austerity matrix to putting the wellbeing of people first. Driving the transformation towards sustainable development requires a new governance approach and new rules and instruments: a Sustainability Pact. Irene Tinagli, Chair of the economic and monetary affairs…
The Commission has approved 225 projects under the Technical Support Instrument (TSI), to support Member States in preparing, designing and implementing reforms that will lead to modern and resilient public administrations, sustainable growth strategies and resilient economies while enhancing their capacity to react to current and future crises. Several reforms projects are also included in the…
A week ago, it would have been hard to believe that the Kremlin would ever backtrack. A country in the geographical centre of Europe was about to fall in a matter of days under the onslaught of the second most powerful army in the world. But that has not happened. Instead, the aggressor has been…
The European Union says it has reached a major milestone in the implementation of the InvestEU programme with the signature of the Guarantee and Advisory Hub Agreements between the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF). The InvestEU programme is a key pillar of the European Union’s largest ever…
The Socialists and Democrats are hosting an event in Saarbrücken, Germany, on cross-border work later this week. Anke Rehlinger, Saarland’s Minister for Economic Affairs, Labour, Energy and Transport, and Nicolas Schmit, EU Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, will deliver keynote speeches. S&D Group leader Iratxe García; SPD-MP Secretary General Christian Petry; head of the SPD delegation in the European Parliament Jens Geier;…
The EU needs to reassess the priorities of its industrial policy in light of the pandemic and the conflict on Europe’s eastern border: this is what emerged from a conference hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). The Conference, titled “A sustainable future for European industry”, was organized in cooperation with the European…
The EESC is urging the creation of a European network of special ombudsmen to help SMEs cope with the financial and funding issues they are experiencing, particularly as a result of the COVID crisis. The Committee also stresses that for SMEs to take up AI there needs to be the political will to support them…
