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While counting continues in the European Elections, good news has arrived from European Commission HQ in Brussels. South Korea, one of the biggest import markets for beef in the world, has officially opened its market for Irish and French beef, which is good news for Irish beef producers. Earlier this week, I was delighted to attend European Movement Ireland’s, European of the Year ceremony, in honour of Minister Paschal Donohue, President of the Eurogroup. You can see more in the links below.

New EU rules on making more public datasets available for reuse have started applying since 9 June. These so-called ‘high-value datasets' contain information on six thematic areas laid out in the Open Data Directive: geospatial, earth observation and environment, meteorological, statistics, companies and mobility.

The European Commission launched two consultations to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of past and current funding programmes for fisheries and maritime activities.

The Commission sent Pornhub, Stripchat and XVideos requests for information under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The Commission is requesting the companies to provide more detailed information on the measures they have taken to diligently assess and mitigate risks related to the protection of minors online, as well as the to prevent the amplification of illegal content and gender-based violence. Among others the Commission is requiring details on age assurance mechanisms adopted by these pornographic platforms.

The first ever EU rules on combating violence against women and domestic violence enter into force on 13 June. Violence against women and domestic violence affect an estimated one in three of the 228 million women in the EU. By criminalising certain forms of violence against women across the EU, including online, and strengthening victims’ access to justice, protection and support, the Directive aims to ensure the fundamental rights of equal treatment and non-discrimination between women and men.

19.2% of the people in Ireland in 2023 were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This means that they lived in households experiencing at least one of the three poverty and social exclusion risks: risk of poverty, severe material and social deprivation, and/or living in a household with very low work intensity. The figure for Ireland is slightly lower than the average for the EU of 21% of the population or 94.6 million people living at risk. The shares of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion varied across the EU in 2023. The highest values were reported in Romania (32%), Bulgaria (30%), Spain (27%) and Greece (26%). On the other hand, the lowest shares were recorded in Czechia (12%), Slovenia (14%), Finland and Poland (both 16%), according to the data published by Eurostat.

In a significant development for the European beef industry, the Republic of Korea has officially opened market access for beef from Ireland and France. This positive result follows consistent representations made by the Commission, including through direct outreach by Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis in Seoul last November, when he raised the removal of restrictions on imports of EU beef with ministers and parliamentarians. The Republic of Korea is one of the biggest import markets for beef in the world.

European Movement Ireland honoured President of the Eurogroup, Paschal Donohoe as European of the Year at a ceremony on Monday, 10 June. The award recognises individuals and organisations who have made an outstanding contribution to promoting and enhancing Ireland’s place within the EU.

South East Energy Agency invites you to attend the European Climate Pact National Conference on Wednesday, 19th June 2024, 09:00 to 15:00, at Wynn’s Hotel, Dublin. The Conference aims to improve networking, engagement, collaboration between Pact Community, European Commission Representative in Ireland, and Country Coordinator (SEEA), to deliver the Climate Pact in Ireland. The Head of Unit, Communication and Civil Society at DG CLIMA who is also in charge of the Climate Pact, the Head of Communications, European Commission’s Representation, Dublin, Climate Pact Ambassadors, members of the Pact Community, UCC, LAs, SEAI, and people passionate about the climate will also be attending this event.

Are you between 15-29 years old? Then, we are keen to hear your views on certain aspects of the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027. The Strategy aims to encourage young people to participate in democratic life, support social and civic engagement, and ensure that all young people have the resources they need to play an active part in society. Your answers will be included in the next EU Youth Report on the progress of the Strategy during the years 2022-2024. They will complement results of other consultations to provide a better picture of young people’s views and how to give young people a stronger voice in EU policymaking. This survey is available until 30/06/2024.

Are you a Europe-by-Satellite user? We would like to get your feedback! Thank you for taking this short survey on Europe by Satellite (EbS) and its programming. Tell us what you appreciate, and what we could improve.

The EU is seeking highly qualified professionals in the field of data and statistics, as well as macroeconomic statistics. Successful candidates will be recruited at the administrator grades AD 6 and AD 7, respectively.

In view of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, the EU has activated its emergency aid reserve to avoid a risk of famine in the country. This will bring the total EU response to nearly €150 million in humanitarian aid for this crisis in 2024. This funding will support partners working inside Afghanistan (nearly €126 million) and responding to the need of Afghan refugees in Pakistan (over €11 million) and for humanitarian organisations in Iran (nearly 11 million), as well as strengthening disaster preparedness.

The European Commission activated the initial Destination Earth (DestinE) system in the presence of Executive Vice-President Margrethe Vestager and the Finnish Minister for employment, Arto Satonen. DestinE is a flagship initiative of the Commission, aiming to develop a highly accurate digital twin of the Earth. Deployment of the DestinE system means that the Europe's High-performance computers (EuroHPC), including the LUMI supercomputer in Kajaani, Finland, have been tasked to simulate the effects of climate change and extreme weather events. Thanks to this initiative, Europe will be better prepared to respond to major natural disasters, adapt to climate change and assess the potential socioeconomic and policy impacts of such events.

The European Commission's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) as part of its mandate on preparedness, has signed on behalf of participating Member States, a joint procurement framework contract for the supply of up to 665,000 pre-pandemic vaccine doses of the up-to-date Zoonotic Influenza Vaccine Seqirus, as well as an option for a further 40 million doses over the duration of the contract. Thanks to this contract the participating Member States will have access to medical countermeasures to prevent avian flu.

The European Commission has proposed to extend the temporary protection for people fleeing Russia's aggression against Ukraine for another year, from 5 March 2025 to 4 March 2026. Given continued Russian attacks on the civil and critical infrastructure across Ukraine, safe and durable conditions for the return of people to Ukraine are not currently in place. The Commission therefore considers that the reasons for temporary protection persist, and that it should be prolonged for another year as a necessary and appropriate response to the current situation.

At Ukraine Recovery Conference 2024 in Berlin, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the signature of €1.4 billion in new guarantee and grant agreements to support Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction, as part of the Ukraine Facility's Investment Framework. These agreements underscore the EU's steadfast commitment to support Ukraine for as long as it takes.

The European Commission published the twelfth edition of the EU Justice Scoreboard, an annual overview providing comparative data on the efficiency, quality, and independence of justice systems among the EU Member States. Compared to last year, the public's perception of judicial independence has improved, also in countries that had experienced systemic challenges.

As part of its ongoing investigation, the European Commission has provisionally concluded that the battery electric vehicles (BEV) value chain in China benefits from unfair subsidisation, which is causing a threat of economic injury to EU BEV producers. The investigation also examined the likely consequences and impact of measures on importers, users and consumers of BEVs in the EU. Consequently, the Commission has reached out to Chinese authorities to discuss these findings and explore possible ways to resolve the issues identified in a WTO-compatible manner.

The Common Implementation Plan for the Pact on Migration and Asylum sets out the key milestones for all Member States to put in place the legal and operational capabilities required to successfully start applying the new legislation by mid-2026. In addition, the EU Agencies will also provide both operational and targeted support to the Member States throughout this process. It provides a template for the National Implementation Plans to be adopted by Member States by the end of this year. It groups the legal, technical and operational work into 10 building blocks to focus and facilitate the practical implementation efforts.