News

On Wednesday morning 15 May Anders Adlercreutz, Minister for European Affairs and Ownership Steering of Finland, will address an online IIEA event. In Minister Adlercreutz’s view, the long-term success of Europe is being decided now, and Europe must act now. As part of the Future-Proofing Europe project, Minister Adlercreutz’s address will outline how Finland seeks to meet these challenges as well as the country’s key priorities: strategic competitiveness, comprehensive security, and promoting a clean ecological transition.

On the agenda: a proposal to make the relief of excess withholding taxes faster and safer; VAT in the digital age; the state of play of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF); the economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine; the fiscal sustainability challenges arising from ageing; the G20; financial literacy; financial literacy; and the work programme of the Coalition of Finance Ministers for Climate Action for 2024-2025. An economic and financial dialogue between the EU and the Western Balkans partners, Türkiye, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, as an observer, will take place in the margins of the meeting on 14 May.

Ministers from EU member states responsible for education, youth, culture and sport will meet in Brussels to discuss a range of topics, including: inclusive societies for young people, European and international policy agendas for children, youth and children’s rights, and the legacy of the European Year of Youth 2022; learning mobility and artificial intelligence in education and training; the rise of influencers as a part of the EU’s media ecosystem; and the EU’s Work Plan for Sport.

Information on this meeting is available at the link below.

European Movement Ireland is hosting this in-person event as part of EUact2, a pan-European project promoting engagement with EU topics. This event will feature a keynote speech from journalist Muiris O’Cearbhaill (The Journal) and a crash course on the European Parliament and Elections, before breaking into roundtables where attendees will have their chance to share their views on the key issues ahead of the elections and discuss all things EU. It will take place from 1-3pm at ALE 1.17/18, O’Brien Centre for Science UCD, Belfield Dublin 4.

To mark Europe Day on Thursday 9 May, the EUNIC Ireland Network (European Union National Institutes for Culture) is organising a free online screening of its 2023 Short Shorts from Europe programme showcasing the diversity of contemporary European cinema. Action, comedy, animation, drama – expect this and more from Short Shorts from Europe – a selection of European short films from eleven member countries of EUNIC Ireland. The programme also features shorts from Cork International Film Festival and TUS Limerick School of Art and Design (Clonmel). The full programme is available at the link below.

A special Europe Day concert will be broadcast live on RTE Lyric FM on Thursday 9 May from 7 to 8.15 pm. The concert is being organised by the European Parliament Liaison Office in Ireland, the Belgian Embassy to Ireland and the European Commission Representation in Ireland. The music will be provided by the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Le Conservatoire royal de Liège and the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp.

The European Commission has adopted an amendment to the State aid Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework (TCTF) to prolong by six months certain provisions of the Framework aimed to address persisting market disturbances specifically in the agriculture and fisheries sectors. This decision to delay the phase-out of the TCTF allows Member States to provide limited amounts of aid to companies active in these sectors for a further six months, until 31 December 2024.

Applications opened this week for the 2024 EU Organic Awards. Since their establishment in 2022, the EU Organic Awards have offered operators in the sector a vital platform to highlight excellence and innovation as the European Union looks to increase the amount of farmland under organic cultivation to 25 per cent by 2030. The deadline for applications is 12 May 2024 and submissions can be made online via the EU Organic Awards website. In 2023, an Irish SME - the Merry Mill in Co. Laois - won the 'Best organic food processing SME' category.

Applications for paid 5-month traineeships in the European Parliament from October 2024 to February 2025 have just opened. Applicants for the Schuman traineeships must be aged 18+; fulfil the language requirement; provide a university level diploma(s); provide an eligible criminal record; not have worked for more than two consecutive months within an EU institution or body; not have carried out a Study Visit in the Secretariat of the European Parliament six months prior to the beginning of the traineeship. The deadline to apply is 31 May 2024.

On Monday, 6 May, the EU will host the EU-Ukraine Defence Industries Forum in Brussels. Over 350 representatives from the EU institutions, governments, European and Ukrainian defence industries, industry associations, key partner countries and organisations will gather to strengthen defence industrial cooperation between the EU and Ukraine. The event is organised with the support of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU and the Aerospace, Security and Defence Industries Association of Europe.

The European Commission has published a call for evidence seeking views on the application of the ‘Do No Significant Harm' (DNSH) principle to the Social Climate Fund. The DNSH principle aims to ensure that no EU-financed activities have a significant negative impact on climate and environmental objectives. The views collected should help ensure a consistent application of the DNSH principle to the Social Climate Fund, which was created to support the most vulnerable citizens and small businesses through the green transition. The feedback period ends on 28 May 2024.

During a visit to Beirut this week, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU will provide a financial assistance package for Lebanon worth €1 billion for 2024 to 2027. This continued EU support will strengthen basic services such as education, social protection and health for the people in Lebanon. It will accompany urgent economic, financial and banking reforms. Furthermore, support will be provided to the Lebanese Armed Forces and other security forces with equipment and training for border management and to fight against smuggling.

The winners of the 'Aistritheoirí Óga 2024' (Young Translators) contest were announced at an award ceremony in Dublin yesterday evening. Five secondary school students made the list - one from each of the 4 provinces in Ireland and one overall winner, Róisín Ní Lionaird from Coláiste na Coiribe in Galway. Speaking at the awards ceremony, Thomas Byrne TD, Minister of State with responsibility for Irish and the Gaeltacht said “It is encouraging to see young people showing so much interest in the field of translation and that secondary school students are thinking about the employment opportunities in Europe. I have no doubt that we will see some of these fine young people here today again as our colleagues in the European institutions in the years to come.”

The government hosted a ‘Day of Welcomes’ reception in Farmleigh House on 1 May. The venue was used during Ireland’s EU Presidency back in 2004 to host a ceremony to mark the accession of the ten new Member States. The event included speeches by the Taoiseach Simon Harris, Tánaiste Micheál Martin, EU Commissioner Mairead McGuinness and the Minister for European Affairs Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. Pat Cox, President of the European Parliament during the 2004 Enlargement, also joined, along with members of Seamus Heaney’s family. Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney was commissioned by the Government of Ireland to write a poem for the 2004 ceremony -‘Beacons at Bealtaine’ - which was translated and published in the languages of the ten states this week.

New Eurostat figures show that 8% of Irish people work long hours in their main job in 2023, i.e. they usually spend 49 hours or more per week at work. Irish people who were self-employed with employees (44%) were the most likely to work long hours, followed by self-employed without employees (27%). Irish employees (4.8%) were the least likely to work long hours. Across the EU, Greece had the highest overall share of workers with long hours (11.6%), followed by Cyprus (10.4%) and France (10.1%). Meanwhile, the lowest rates were recorded in Bulgaria (0.4%), Lithuania and Latvia (1.1% each). The EU average was 7%.

Dublin's Samuel Beckett Bridge was illuminated on Tuesday night as part of the celebrations across the EU for the 20th Anniversary of the European Union's biggest enlargement which welcomed 10 countries as new Member States. On 1 May 2004, the citizens of Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia became citizens of the EU. Dublin was at the centre of this historic enlargement as it took place during the 2004 Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

European Movement Ireland is hosting this in-person event as part of EUact2, a pan-European project promoting engagement with EU topics. This event will feature a keynote speech from journalist Muiris O’Cearbhaill (The Journal) and a crash course on the European Parliament and Elections, before breaking into roundtables where attendees will have their chance to share their views on the key issues ahead of the elections and discuss all things EU. It will take place from 1-3pm at ALE 1.17/18, O’Brien Centre for Science UCD, Belfield Dublin 4.

Information on this meeting will be available at the link below.

Information on this meeting will be available at the link below.