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“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

The binding mandates put forward by Brussels are intended to stimulate investment in the production of e-fuels.

Parliament lawmakers raise e-fuels targets in bid to boost market

By: EBR | Friday, July 15, 2022

Lawmakers in the European Parliament’s industry committee voted Wednesday (13 July) to more than double the 2030 target for fuels produced from green electricity in the transport sector, a move aimed at bolstering the fledgling electro-fuels market

Last November, the European Commission unveiled plans to revamp the law that governs the activities and funding of European political parties and their affiliated foundations, aimed at making them financially more viable, cutting red tape and making it easier for them to contribute to and take part in national campaigns.

MEPs seek to extend funding for political parties beyond EU

By: EBR | Thursday, July 14, 2022

MEPs want to expand the remit of the law on European political parties to allow them to register and obtain funding in countries outside the EU, under a proposal adopted on Wednesday (13 July)

EU countries are scrambling to reduce gas demand and find alternatives to Russian fossil fuels.

Report: Increase in emissions from coal comeback, ‘negligible’

By: EBR | Wednesday, July 13, 2022

Plans by four EU countries to place coal-fired power plants on standby in case of a serious disruption to their gas supply from Russia will only have a negligible impact on the climate

The 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a globally endorsed framework to move towards sustainable economic, environmental and social development.

The EU needs to be the driving force for the SDGs

By: EBR | Wednesday, July 13, 2022

The European Union must be the driving force for reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goals, where progress has come to a halt or has even been reversed

While youth unemployment decreased in 2021, particularly towards the end of the year, it remained 1 percentage point (pp) higher than before the crisis (in 2019). Of those in work, nearly 1 in 2 young people (45.9%) had temporary contracts, compared to 1 in 10 for all workers (10.2%).

Commission report shows young people most affected by job losses due to economic impact of COVID-19

By: EBR | Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Today, the Commission published its Employment and Social Developments in Europe (ESDE) review 2022

EU bond issuance will be aligned with the arrangements used by EU sovereign issuers and the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) whose bonds transactions are settled in central bank money.

European Commission to transfer its bond issuance settlement to a Eurosystem-based infrastructure

By: EBR | Tuesday, July 12, 2022

The European Commission has today launched the process for organising the settlement of NextGenerationEU and other EU bonds through the payment and settlement infrastructure of the Eurosystem

Russia’s war in Ukraine is having profound consequences on the EU’s energy and climate policies.

Four EU Parliament groups unite behind 14.5% energy savings goal for 2030

By: EBR | Tuesday, July 12, 2022

The four largest political groups in the European Parliament have united behind proposals to raise the EU’s energy efficiency target for 2030, saying this will help ease energy prices for consumers and eliminate imports of Russian fossil fuels

"Decarbonising buildings is becoming even more important in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine and the tensions surrounding energy supplies".

European cities call for more staff, resources to decarbonise buildings

By: EBR | Friday, July 8, 2022

While the EU is planning to decarbonise buildings across the bloc to advance the green transition, local authorities are calling for more support to face a shortage of skilled workers to design and implement decarbonisation projects

If passed, the amended text will form the Parliament’s negotiating position during talks with EU member states to finalise the legislation.

Airlines and NGOs join forces ahead of EU vote on green jet fuels

By: EBR | Thursday, July 7, 2022

Climate NGOs and airlines have called on lawmakers to narrow the definition of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) ahead of a European Parliament vote on Thursday (7 July)