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Whatever the military outcome on the killing fields of the Donbas, it’s the solidarity of the European Union that will eventually determine whether Russia’s President Vladimir Putin is defeated or victorious.

Putin’s war will be won or lost in Brussels

By: EBR | Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Giles Merritt looks at the dizzying costs of the Ukraine war and the energy crisis, and warns that a failure of EU solidarity would hand the Kremlin victory

Meloni said the EU should be a political giant and not a bureaucratic one, dealing with the “big matters” and leaving to member states “the issues closest to the lives of citizens”.

Italy’s far-right Meloni tells Europe ‘fun is over’

By: EBR | Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Two different faces of Europe are clashing ahead of the crucial Italian elections on 25 September, with far-right candidate Giorgia Meloni telling Brussels that if she wins, the “fun is over”

Last week, EU defence ministers supported the start of work on setting up an EU military training mission for Ukrainian forces that would complement current efforts by individual EU countries.

EU member states’ weapons stocks running low, Borrell warns

By: EBR | Wednesday, September 7, 2022

EU member States’ weapons stocks are running low as EU member states are making efforts to send military aid to Ukraine, the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell warned on Monday (5 September), renewing calls to better coordinate European supplies to the war-torn country

Scholz’s opposition to the shipments is although, according to the report, German weapon manufacturer Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) had offered Kyiv that it could supply 100 Leopard 2A7 tanks, including spare parts and training for soldiers to be able to operate them.

Scholz allegedly rebuffs Kyiv on heavy weapon deliveries

By: EBR | Wednesday, September 7, 2022

Chancellor Olaf Scholz was not ready to meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal’s calls for fresh arms deliveries despite the German industry’s offer to provide Leopard 2 tanks for Kyiv

In Poland, the ruling PiS party is a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party, whose president is Giorgia Meloni, while in Hungary, Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party was expelled from the EPP due to its anti-EU stance.

Weber must explain why he sells EPP’s identity to far-right

By: EBR | Friday, September 2, 2022

European People’s Party (EPP) chief Manfred Weber must explain why he “sells out” the identity and values of the EU centre-right to the extreme-right

To reach out to younger age groups, the Commission set up an online platform to let Europe’s young people express opinions on bloc policies and the future.

‘Overlooked and tokenised’: Europe’s year of youth falls short

By: EBR | Wednesday, August 31, 2022

As one of its promises to Europe’s youth, the European Commission said it would follow up on demands that arose from the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) for a seat at the table while shaping the bloc’s future

The findings show that while most of the Member States are making progress in their digital transformation, the adoption of key digital technologies by businesses, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data remains low.

Digital Economy and Society Index 2022: overall progress but digital skills, SMEs and 5G networks lag behind

By: EBR | Friday, July 29, 2022

European Commission published the results of the 2022 Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI), which tracks the progress made in EU Member States in digital

Public planning for reduced consumption and compulsory allocation is intended to signal resolve and deter Russia from attempting a siege in the first place.

EU prepares public opinion for winter gas siege

By: EBR | Thursday, July 28, 2022

European Union policymakers have started to prepare the public for siege conditions this winter if gas supplies from Russia are completely cut, an effort to demonstrate diplomatic resolve as well as avoid panic later in the year

"Climate economist William Nordhaus observed that the problem with getting all countries to cut their emissions faster is that, from a short-term economic standpoint, nations are effectively incentivised to ‘free ride’ on the efforts of others rather than moving first".

Net zero vision can deliver missing climate momentum for Europe

By: EBR | Wednesday, July 27, 2022

While climate action is stalling among political leaders, the world faces the disastrous consequences of non-intervention

"If any German going on holiday this year was not yet in need of a break, they probably will be when they finally arrive at their destination. Travelling is no easy feat this summer, as chaos besets airports throughout Europe".

Of Porsches and private jets

By: EBR | Wednesday, July 27, 2022

As Germans scramble to reach holiday destinations, struggling with overcrowded trains and cancelled flights, top politicians have been taking private jets, conspiring with luxury carmakers, and puzzling over the emissions of the government vehicle fleet

“There is an agreement in Parliament. There’s an agreement in Council, but in some areas, these agreements do not overlap yet,” EU climate chief Frans Timmermans told journalists on 14 July.

Long road ahead for carbon market reform

By: EBR | Monday, July 25, 2022

Amid an energy crisis, Russian gas cut-offs, and worsening climate change, EU negotiators face the mammoth task of overhauling Europe’s core emission reduction tool, the emissions trading scheme (ETS)

According to the ECB, this dynamic is a problem as it makes it hard for its monetary policy to have the intended effect in the entire euro area. And it is this problem that the TPI is supposed to solve.

ECB proposes new instrument to prevent eurozone fragmentation

By: EBR | Friday, July 22, 2022

The European Central Bank (ECB) unveiled a new “Transmission Protection Instrument” (TPI) to ensure that the borrowing costs for euro area member states do not diverge as dramatically as to make monetary policy ineffective

From the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Fund (RRF), grants of up to €5.8 billion are reserved for Hungary, but money is yet to be paid out over concerns relating to corruption and the rule of law.

EU might get fooled by Orban, experts say

By: EBR | Friday, July 22, 2022

While the EU Commission is negotiating with the Hungarian government over the payout of the frozen EU recovery funds, local experts warn that they might try to fool the EU

Draghi tendered already his resignation a week ago when the populist Five Star Movement in his broad-based government refused to back him in a vote of confidence.

Draghi resigns!

By: N. Peter Kramer | Thursday, July 21, 2022

The technocrat Mario Draghi has resigned as Italy’s prime minister, a year-and-a-half after he was appointed as unelected head of a unity governmen

The Commission is therefore proposing a new legislative tool and a European Gas Demand Reduction Plan, to reduce gas use in Europe by 15% until next spring.

Save Gas for a Safe Winter

By: EBR | Thursday, July 21, 2022

Commission proposes gas demand reduction plan to prepare EU for supply cuts

The EU’s decision to curb imports of Russian energy and Berlin’s decision to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was meant to transmit gas directly from Russia to Germany, will test the public’s support for Ukraine. And it will test the unity of the EU.

EU’s Continued Commitment to Ukraine Hinges on Germany

By: EBR | Wednesday, July 20, 2022

There’s no end to the doom and gloom. And it’s not only about what’s happening in Ukraine

Virtually all the member states have called for flexibility in the framework of the CAP in solidarity with Ukraine, according to Czech Minister Zdenek Nekula.

Member states push to further loosen CAP environmental measures for 2023

By: EBR | Wednesday, July 20, 2022

The majority of EU agriculture ministers have confirmed the push for further flexibility on environmental measures in the EU’s farming subsidy programme in a bid to increase production and plug the gap left by the Ukraine war

"All this despite the calls vis-a-vis the Commission for more flexibility regarding the fallow and increased agricultural land".

Severe drought could cancel out gains in EU food production

By: EBR | Tuesday, July 19, 2022

Just under half of the EU’s territory is at risk of severe and prolonged drought, according to a new European Commission report

"ECB has set about designing a new crisis tool, the first details of which could be presented after the central bank’s meeting on Thursday (21 July)".

ECB fine-tunes new crisis tool against ‘fragmentation’

By: EBR | Monday, July 18, 2022

As the European Central Bank prepares to raise interest rates for the first time since 2011, policymakers hope to limit “fragmentation” in the eurozone, where borrowing costs faced by different members begin to diverge

"The current crisis is an important reminder that peace on the continent and the prosperity of our citizens is the raison d’etre of the European Union".

Europe’s climate and energy strategy has become disturbingly bipolar

By: EBR | Monday, July 18, 2022

Brussels is pursuing overambitious and costly decarbonisation policies while national capitals are desperate to guarantee the necessary energy supply and struggle to keep gas storages full and the lights on

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EU Actually

Six EU countries demand revision of climate policy: ‘Ideological dogmatism harms our industry’

By: N. Peter Kramer

Six European heads of government have called on Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to review the current EU climate policy.

Europe

EU agrees €90bn loan for Ukraine but without using Russian assets

European Union leaders have struck a late-night deal to lend Ukraine €90bn (£79bn; $105bn) over the next two years, after failing to agree on using frozen Russian assets.

Business

EU waters down plans to end new petrol and diesel car sales by 2035

Current rules state that new vehicles sold from that date should be "zero emission", but carmakers, particularly in Germany, have lobbied heavily for concessions.