The European Commission has adopted a positive assessment of Czechia’s recovery and resilience plan. This is an important step towards the EU disbursing €7 billion in grants under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). This financing will support the implementation of the crucial investment and reform measures outlined in Czechia’s recovery and resilience plan. It…
The German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel has published an article about an Open Letter by 100 renowned China experts, researchers and human-rights activists across the globe who are calling for a suspension of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). The experts are demanding an end to the EU-China investment agreement, naming serious human rights violations and the suppression of…
The European Commission has approved a fifth contract with the European pharmaceutical company CureVac, which provides for the initial purchase of 225 million doses on behalf of all EU Member States, plus an option to request up to a further 180 million doses, to be supplied once a vaccine has proven to be safe and…
Both Mairead McGuinness and Valdis Dombrovskis undergo hearings at the European Parliament today concerning their nomination to Commissioner positions. The appointments are pursuant to the resignation of Phil Hogan following his error in failing to respect national rules in Ireland on social distancing imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. President von der Leyen…
Much ink has been spilled on the topic of the relationship between the European Union and the People’s Republic of China over recent weeks; from imbalanced trade to values and principles, writes Ming-Yen Tsai. As the EU recalibrates its policy towards China, it is worth remembering the position of strength the EU finds itself in…
The Greens/EFA group are calling for support for refugees, climate protection and a permanent binding mechanism to uphold the rule of law in Europe. Ska Keller MEP, President of the Greens/EFA Group in the European Parliament, commented: “The current state of this Union is defined by our own failures; by the fact that EU governments let…
On Friday, a second contract with a pharmaceutical company entered into force following the contact’s formal signature between Sanofi-GSK and the Commission. The contract will allow all EU Member States to purchase up to 300 million doses of the Sanofi-GSK vaccine. Moreover, Member States may donate reserved doses to lower- and middle-income countries. Sanofi and GSK…
ECR Co-Chairman Prof. Ryszard Legutko, has urged the EU to “work with member states.” He was responding to Ursula von der Leyen’s state of the union address this week. He told her,”I urge you: work with member states, not with ideologically driven campaigns.” “The last decade has been rather turbulent for the EU, and the…
Responding to Ursula von der Leyen’s address today, Jeremy Shapiro, research director at the pan-European think-tank, the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), commented: “Last year, Ursula von der Leyen promised Europeans a geopolitical commission that would have a stronger and more unified voice in the world and that could protect European strategic sovereignty. It…
On 16 September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave her first State of the Union address in the European Parliament. In a health and economic crisis-stricken Europe, the President of the European Commission rightly reminded us that COVID-19 “laid bare the strains on our health systems and the limits of a model that values…
