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Updated: 13 hours 36 min ago

[Ticker] Germany launches investigation into Google Maps

Wed, 06/22/2022 - 07:03
Germany's competition watchdog on Tuesday launched an investigation into potentially anti-competitive restrictions by Google Maps. "We have information to suggest that Google may be restricting the combination of its own map services with third-party map services," said federal cartel office chief Andreas Mundt. The investigation will focus on whether restrictions, for example to the embedding of Google Maps location data, were used by Google to expand its market power.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Poll: half of Europeans oppose using public money for meat ads

Wed, 06/22/2022 - 07:03
More than half of Europeans agree that public money should not be used to fund marketing campaigns promoting meat consumption, a poll by Greenpeace France revealed on Tuesday. The new findings, resulting from a survey in eight EU countries, come amid discussion over how to green the EU agri-food promotion. Last month, EUobserver revealed that the EU had spent €143m to promote meat-eating over the last five years.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Ukraine holds two officials suspected of spying for Russia

Wed, 06/22/2022 - 07:02
According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), two suspects, identified as a senior official in the secretariat of the cabinet of ministers and a department head at the chamber of commerce, have been detained over suspicions of being part of an alleged Russian spy network. "These officials passed on various intelligence information to the enemy... of our defence capability," the SBU said in a statement on Telegram.
Categories: European Union

MEPs want EU Commission to reveal vaccine prices

Wed, 06/22/2022 - 07:02
MEPs in a sometimes agitated hearing on Tuesday with EU transparency commissioner Věra Jourová called on her to reveal Covid-19 vaccine prices.
Categories: European Union

[Interview] 'Without pesticide reduction, we'll have a food crisis in Europe'

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:28
Despite tough lobbying, the EU commission is set to present this week the first binding EU law mandating farmers to reduce their use of chemicals. Long-term food security must not be sacrificed for short-term gains, says EU commissioner Frans Timmermans.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Nobel medal sold for Ukrainian kids

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:27
An auction of Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov's Nobel Peace Prize raised $103.5m (€98m) for Unicef efforts to help children displaced by the war in Ukraine. It is a record sum for a Nobel. Muratov was awarded the gold medal in October 2021 for helping found the independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta. He was the publication's editor-in-chief until it was shut down in March by the Kremlin.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Russia: Lithuania-Kaliningrad row can be solved by diplomacy

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:27
Moscow is going to summon the EU ambassador to Russia, Marcus Ederer, to complain that Lithuania has blocked transit of some Russian goods to its Kaliningrad exclave, Reuters reports. "This is, of course, a situation, that can be resolved by diplomatic means," Kaliningrad governor Anton Alikhanov told Russian TV. Lithuania says it is acting in line with EU sanctions on Russian exports and in close consultation with the EU Commission.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Turkey: Sweden and Finland deal may come after Nato summit

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:19
Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin has said an accord on Sweden and Finland joining Nato need not be made before the Nato summit in Madrid next week, Reuters reports. Their joint Nato bid "now depends on the direction and speed at which these countries will take steps," he said after joint talks in Brussels, referring to "binding promises" that Stockholm and Helsinki will stop Kurdish separatists sheltering in their countries.
Categories: European Union

Russia, while starving Africa, threatens Lithuania

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:07
Russia's weaponisation of global food supplies is a "war crime", while its new threats against Lithuania are "worrying", the EU's foreign policy chief has said.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] 15 EU countries call for faster trade deals

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:04
Fifteen member states called Monday for the EU to accelerate finishing free trade deals to ensure long-term economic growth and geopolitical strength, Reuters reported. In a letter to EU Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis, they said the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest trade agreement including China, Japan and Australia which entered into force in 2022, should be a "wake-up call", adding that the EU was taking too long.
Categories: European Union

Europe turns back to coal as Russia cuts gas supplies

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:04
With Russia reducing natural gas supplies to Europe, several EU countries are considering burning further carbon-intensive coal to secure supplies for next winter.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] European states sued over treaty protecting fossil fuels

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:03
Five young people have launched a lawsuit against several European countries for hindering the transition away from fossil fuels, under the controversial Energy Charter Treaty (ECT). The case against Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and UK was filed on Tuesday with the European Court of Human Rights. The ECT, which is currently being reformed, is an international trade agreement that protects energy investments.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] Belgium returns Congo independence fighter's tooth

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:03
Belgian authorities returned on Monday a tooth of the murdered Congolese independence fighter, and its first premier, Patrice Lumumba, to his children at the Egmont Palace in Brussels. It is another move by Belgium to come to terms with recognising the atrocities committed during the African country's brutal exploitation as a colony. The tooth is all that remains of Lumumba, who was murdered by a firing squad in 1961.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] EU sued by Intel for €593.2m in compensation

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:03
US tech giant Intel is suing the EU Commission for €593.2m in compensation, representing the interest on a €1.1bn anti-trust fine it paid in 2009, but which was overturned by the EU courts in January following lengthy appeals. The EU already paid back the sum of the fine. The claw-back on interest comes after a separate EU court decision last year (Commission v Printeos) established a precedent on interest-related damages.
Categories: European Union

Czech coalition rocked by scandal on eve of EU presidency

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:03
Sleaze affair in Prague will raise questions about the Czech Republic's moral authority to lead a bloc which is more concerned than ever about the rule-of-law in central Europe.
Categories: European Union

[Livestream] Unhack Democracy Conference

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:01
Elections are the bedrock of democracy. Yet threats to electoral integrity extend far beyond the ballot box, from political financing to state capture of democratic institutions and media to disinformation. Follow live from 9:30 CET.
Categories: European Union

[Ticker] ECB: Ukraine refugees could help with labour shortage

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:00
The influx of Ukrainian refugees in the EU could ease labour shortages in the eurozone, the European Central Bank (ECB) said on Monday. Around seven million people have fled Ukraine since February. The ECB expects an increase of between 0.3 and 1.3 million in the size of the euro area labour force as a result of the Ukrainian refugee crisis. But that also depends on governments cutting red tape.
Categories: European Union

[Opinion] A chance for peace in Yemen?

Tue, 06/21/2022 - 07:00
I want to reaffirm the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council and government are sincerely seeking to end the war, but there is a stubborn party, that is afraid of the consequences of peace, and that is the Iranian-backed Houthi militia.
Categories: European Union

[Analysis] ECB rate-setting versus green climate goals

Mon, 06/20/2022 - 13:15
Following the European Central Bank's unanimous decision earlier this month to end negative interest rates by September, nervous private investors and speculators immediately started selling their government bonds.
Categories: European Union

Media watchdogs blast EU funds for Balkans 'mouthpieces'

Mon, 06/20/2022 - 09:15
Media freedom advocates have criticised the European Commission over funding for a joint newsroom of European press agencies.
Categories: European Union

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