News

One of the two measures set out in Council Implementing Decision on measures for the protection of the Union budget against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary adopted on 16 December 2022 affects direct and indirect management. It prohibits the entering into new legal commitments with Hungarian public interest trusts or any entity maintained by them. Look at our eMoP for more details.

The second edition will take place on 13 February under the ‘Are we already CINEA, instead of INEA - EASME? How to strengthen the Agency’s core values to continue building up our corporate culture?’ topic. Colleagues will have an informal chat with the Agency’s senior management and will be given the opportunity to express their views on building a strong corporate culture.

The project’s main aim is to make future high-voltage direct current systems mutually compatible and interoperable by design, and to improve the grid forming capabilities of both offshore and onshore converters. With EUR 50 million in EU funding, InterOPERA receives one of the highest amount of project funding from the Horizon Europe programme.

This week Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) took centre stage for two full days of key developments, with the launch of the new MSP Assistance Mechanism and Blue Forum, the kick-off of three EU-funded projects on MSP and the establishment of the Community of Practice on MSP for the Mediterranean.

Following the 'Greening the Commission' public communication inviting staff to take initiatives and to lead by example, the Greening groups of the six EAs created a series of 11 internal videos to reduce our daily digital carbon footprint while improving our work efficiency.

This week the Commission launched the updated diversity and inclusion action plan. It complements the new Commission HR strategy and addresses important matters such as the role of managers, diversity in recruitment, accessibility of workplaces and tools and creating an inclusive working environment.

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GREEN ASSIST is the new InvestEU Advisory Initiative focusing on green and sustainable investment. Browse our webpages to know all about it and how it can improve your project/investment!

Heating, cooling, lighting, and the energy to power appliances are vital for our health and standard of living. But an estimated 35 million EU households have reported being unable to keep their households warm.

This monthly newsletter offers information on calls, projects and events from 8 EU programmes in the area of sustainable energy: Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe, LIFE, Innovation Fund, Connecting Europe Facility Energy, the Just Transition Mechanism, the Renewable Energy Financing Mechanism, and the EU Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund.

The European Union has granted EUR 1.8 billion through the Innovation Fund to 16 innovative clean tech projects that will avoid around 125 million tonnes of CO2 emissions in the first ten years of operation.

The #LIFEis30 podcast series celebrates thirty years of nature protection, environmental and climate action projects under the LIFE Programme. The final episode gives a voice to members of the new generation of environmental activists and experts, bringing their ideas and aspirations for a more sustainable and greener future, including Bakwatch representatives that work in the Just Transition Regions.

From new calls for funding to the prestigious Awards, here’s what the next 12 months have in store for the LIFE Programme.

The 2023 annual risk assessment was concluded on 12 January. This bottom-up exercise was launched on 21 September 2022, and performed with the collaboration of several appointed colleagues, in consultation with the Heads of Unit and Senior Management. CINEA’s 2023 Risk Register includes four non-critical risks. To check the full results, consult the Risk Management section of CINEA’s Manual of Procedures.

In our series of short interviews - ‘Meet your colleagues’, this week we met Anduela Gjergji, Project Adviser in Unit B4 ‘CEF Energy and Renewable Energy Financing Mechanism’. Let us know if you would like to be next!

Following the calls for proposals to support preparatory studies for cross-border renewable energy projects (CB RES), a second call to obtain CB RES status has been launched. Projects that obtain this official status will be then eligible for CEF Energy funding. An info day will take place on 26 January.

You might have noticed that just before the winter holiday break, the kitchen on the ground floor of the W910 building was equipped with brand new bins. This will help significantly improve the recycling rate of the Agency. There are five containers: glass, paper, P+MC/ P+MD (for plastic, tins and Tetra Pak), organic waste and non-recyclable waste.

Last December the Nobel Prize banquet featured a special ingredient: sea lettuce produced by Nordic Seafarm. This Swedish company is the first one in Europe to grow this protein-rich crop in the ocean on an industrial scale, thanks to the support of EMFF (now EMFAF – European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund).

An informal meet and greet took place between Paloma and all CINEA staff on 12 January, where Paloma informed staff that she will work towards ensuring continuity in the way business operates in the Agency and implementing some simplifications when required. She takes on this role until the new Director is appointed by the Commission in the course of 2023.

The EU is supporting with EUR 616 million a total of 35 projects that will help deliver key infrastructure investments for dual civil/defence use, which is crucial in the light of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The projects will also help in strengthening the EU-Ukraine Solidarity Lanes.