A British House of Lords panel is urging the European Commission to reconsider some of its key agricultural proposals, calling for more robust spending on research and cuts in direct payments to farmers.
Biotech companies should agree not to market genetically modified (GM) crops in member states wishing to ban their cultivation before seeking EU approval for their products, a draft Danish proposal shows.
This week’s EU summit has again illustrated that austerity continues to be Berlin’s only response to the crisis, ignoring social issues and a rising tide of euroscepticism and anti-German feelings among the population, writes Susanne Gratius from Madrid-based think-tank FRIDE.
Facebook, Google, Twitter and other social networking sites will support European citizens’ initiatives that will be launched starting 1 April, corporate representatives said during a conference in Brussels last week.
As negotiations over the EU’s 2014-2020 budget move forward, the Danish EU presidency is being criticised in Parliament for paying little attention to regional policy in Europe’s future financial framework.
Since the start of the year, one phrase has tripped off the lips of European leaders more than any other: “jobs and growth”. After two years of debt crisis and budget austerity, there is a strong desire to shift the narrative on.
The European Union will soon launch the European Citizens’ Initiative, a new tool to enhance participatory democracy and dialogue between the EU institutions and citizens. Staffan Nilsson, president of the European Economic and Social Committee, is confident that the instrument will empower Europeans to deliver collective wisdom.
With two month to go before the first European Citizens’ Initiative is registered, governments must invest in a proper participative infrastructure that would make people aware of their rights and build trust in the new forms of empowerment, writes Bruno Kaufmann.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has revealed her long-term vision for Europe, saying the debt crisis is forcing eurozone countries towards a federalist model and placing her on a collision course with the more eurosceptic UK.
European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič is confident that the European Citizens’ Initiative, one of the new democratic tools pushed forward by the Lisbon Treaty and to be launched on 1 April, will contribute to bringing Europe closer to its citizens and create a “genuine European public space”.
European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič is confident that the Citizens’ Initiative, one of the new democratic tools pushed forward by the Lisbon Treaty, will bring Europe closer to its citizens and create a “genuine European public space”.
China’s growing water problems make it a likely ally for European efforts to press global action on sustainable development at a UN conference later this year, Denmark’s environment minister said yesterday (25 January).
The EU’s next budget is likely to include the first-ever binding document setting “stronger” and “clearer” objectives for regional funds to support sustainable development.
The latest draft of the fiscal compact – which we reveal here – includes a new clause compelling countries to ratify the pact or face losing lines of bailout cash as a penalty.
Plans for an EU-wide tax on financial trading remain uncertain amid growing concerns that introducing such a fee in troubled economic times could harm recovery efforts. EU finance ministers are set to discuss the proposal at their next meeting on 24 January.
Plans for an EU-wide tax on financial trading remain uncertain amid growing concerns that introducing such a fee in troubled economic times could harm recovery efforts. EU finance ministers are set to discuss the proposal at their next meeting on 24 January.
Martin Schulz, a German MEP and former Socialists and Democrats leader, was elected president of the European Parliament yesterday (January 17) in Strasbourg, promising a more assertive and controversial Parliament in the face of MEPs’ marginalisation in the eurozone crisis. EurActiv France reports from Strasbourg.
If 2011 was Europe’s annus horribilis, EU ambassadors hope actions in the making will restore confidence in the 27-nation bloc, reverse the cascade of the sovereign debt crisis that has marred the EU, and ultimately turn 2012 into an annus mirabilis.
As Denmark officially inaugurated its EU presidency today (12 January) with green jobs high on its priority list, Danish company Vestas, the world leader in the wind turbine industry, announced it would cut over 2,000 jobs by the end of the year.
With the euro debt crisis, Denmark's presidency of the EU council coincides with one of the most difficult moments in the Union's history. As Denmark is not member of the eurozone, it is prepared to take a back seat in the troubleshooting effort, but would strive to keep the countries from both sides united – “a bridge over troubled water” as European Affairs Minister Nikolai Wammen described it.
The trio of EU presidencies “is a joke” – at least in the current form that groups Poland, Denmark and Cyprus, three countries with completely different agendas – says a prominent Brussels-based political analyst.
Denmark’s environment and energy ministers vowed yesterday (19 December) to make sustainability and resource efficiency priorities during the country’s upcoming EU presidency, despite pressure across Europe to prioritise short-term crisis-fighting measures.
The European Commission presented today (30 November) its €80-billion research funding programme for the decade – Horizon 2020 – with the aim of boosting research, stimulating innovation and simplifying the way scientists and smaller businesses can get funding for EU-backed projects.
The European citizens' initiative, one of the main innovations of the Lisbon Treaty to engage the people of Europe, is too 'weak' to bridge the democratic gap as it preserves the legislative monopoly of the European Commission, Switzerland’s leading expert on direct democracy said in an interview with EurActiv.
With the euro debt debacle focusing lawmakers' minds, the European Parliament passed a series of six budget laws intended to make it harder for eurozone countries to ignore EU warnings, giving more powers to Brussels in policing debt.
With a new government still to be sworn in, Danish diplomats in Brussels are hurrying preparations for Denmark's six-month turn at the EU's helm, due to start in January. But they are under no illusion regarding their ability to shape the agenda, realising that the eurozone debt crisis is likely to “overshadow” the presidency.
With a new government still to be sworn in, Danish diplomats in Brussels are hurrying preparations for Denmark's six-month turn at the EU's helm, due to start in January. But they are under no illusion regarding their ability to shape the agenda, realising that the eurozone debt crisis is likely to “overshadow” the presidency.
The European Parliament is getting ready to adopt six legislative bills aimed at mastering the bloc's debt crisis, amid criticism from leftist MEPs that the new rules are not social enough.
London and Warsaw have put themselves firmly on a collision course with France over the upcoming reform of the EU's farm policy, calling for a “modernisation of European agriculture” which they claim currently “protects outdated practices of the past.”
Asking for labour market reform to spur competitiveness, BusinessEurope says it has identified a number of ready-to-use actions that could bring Europe back to work and lead the 27-country bloc closer to its strategic goal of raising the employment rate from 68 to 75%.
Polish rural communities largely depend on low-cost but dirty coal for their heating, but under pressure from Brussels to provide cleaner energy, Warsaw is proposing controversial shale gas wells as an alternative.
President Barack Obama's chief climate change negotiator has issued a warning over the future of the Kyoto Protocol, casting doubt on a key plank of international climate talks this December in South Africa.
While the EU is marred by a severe debt crisis and a lackluster economic recovery, schools and companies are trying to make the changes necessary to adapt the workforce to new challenges and increase entrepreneurship and competitiveness.
Poland is trying to broker a face-saving deal for Romania's and Bulgaria's accession to the European Union's borderless Schengen area. Under the compromise the two countries would first have barriers at airports and maritime ports removed, while maintaining land restrictions until after the French elections, diplomats told EurActiv.
EU energy ministers meeting in Poland today (20 September) will debate a paper by the European Commission, which makes the case for strengthening electricity interconnections in the face of Germany's nuclear phase-out.
On a visit to Germany, Turkish President Abdullah Gül said that his country and Germany were the only countries with healthy economies in Europe. EurActiv Turkey contributed to this article.
Political and financial support is needed from the EU to help rural areas develop renewable energies at local level such as biomass and small hydro, according to Euromontana, an association representing Europe's mountainous regions.
Standard and Poor's cut its unsolicited ratings on Italy by one notch, warning of a deteriorating growth outlook and damaging political uncertainty, in a move that took markets by surprise and added to pressure on the debt-stressed eurozone.
The ongoing trial against Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is not political and EU circles should not link this issue to a possible freezing of negotiations on the Free Trade Area Agreement, said Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin in an exclusive interview with EurActiv.
Helping young people to become entrepreneurs starts at school, where companies have a role to play in coaching students to get the skills required to succeed and compete in the world economy, argues Brian Ager, secretary-general of the European Roundtable of Industrialists (ERT), in an interview with EurActiv.