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

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

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

On the agenda: the work programme of the Hungarian presidency; trade-related agricultural issues; and ways to improve the long-term viability of rural areas.

On Friday 5 July at 1pm, Professor Tobias Lock will give a detailed examination of the constitutional and legal processes behind German reunification to highlight the substantial legal challenges that Irish unification would entail. Similar to German reunification, achieving Irish unity would necessitate negotiations at multiple levels: domestic, bilateral, and international, including with the EU. This process would involve integrating two distinct legal systems, addressing issues ranging from the routine to the contentious. Tobias Lock is a Professor of Law at Maynooth University and the founding director of the Maynooth Centre for European Law.

A new report published this week by the European Commission highlights three main challenges for EU Research and Innovation (R&I): underutilised R&I ecosystems; persistent R&I divide; and technological gap compared to other regions of the world. The Science, Research and Innovation Performance report (SRIP) also shows that there has been an increase in EU investments in R&I over the past two decades which has contributed to the EU's competitiveness in green tech especially, and to the overall high quality of EU research.

The European Commission has launched a 12-week open stakeholder consultation on the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL). The consultation seeks to gain insights into the needs of stakeholders related to the digital transformation, DIGITAL's benefits and possible improvements - small and medium-sized enterprises, non-governmental organisations, academia, social partners, public authorities, and other public and private organisations and citizens from EU Member States and associated countries.

The European Parliament has recently published two Calls for Expression of Interest for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Officers (Contract Agents – Function Group III) and ICT Experts (Contract Agent – Function Group IV). They are looking to recruit these positions in Luxembourg, Strasbourg and Brussels. Applicants must hold EU citizenship; have fulfilled any obligations imposed by national laws concerning military service; and produce the appropriate character references as to your suitability for the performance of the duties.

The European Commission this week launched the 2025 edition of the European Prize for Women Innovators. This joint initiative, supported by the European Innovation Council (EIC) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), celebrates the outstanding achievements of women entrepreneurs behind Europe's most game-changing innovations. Winners will be selected in three prize categories: EIC Women innovators, EIC Rising innovators and EIT Women leadership. The deadline for applications is 25 September 2024. A number of Irish women have won prizes in recent years.

Applications opened this week for the Access City Awards 2025, an EU initiative that recognises efforts by cities to become more accessible and to promote equal access to urban life for people with disabilities. The awards are open to all EU cities of over 50,000 inhabitants and to urban areas composed of two or more towns with a combined population of over 50.000 inhabitants. The winner and runners-up will receive a monetary prize: €150,000 for the first place; €120,000 for second place and €80,000 for third place. Applications are open until 10 September 2024. Dublin received a special mention in 2011 while South Dublin County received a special mention for landscape and playground areas in 2024.

EU leaders are meeting this afternoon and tomorrow in Brussels where they will decide on the top EU jobs for the next institutional cycle and adopt the strategic agenda 2024-2029, a policy plan that sets the EU’s direction and goals. Leaders are also expected to adopt a roadmap for future work on internal reforms to be undertaken by the EU to fulfil long-term ambitions and strengthen its capacity to deal with increasingly complex challenges. Also on the agenda are: Ukraine; the Middle East; security and defence; competitiveness; migration; foreign policy; and, hybrid threats.

Producers of certain plants from 21 EU Member States, which include Ireland, will soon be able to export to the United States, thanks to the European Commission’s efforts to negotiate the removal of US import restrictions. On 12 June 2024, after several years of discussions, the US published its final Notice recognising 'country free' status for 21 EU Member States for two plant pests: the Asian long-horned beetle (ALB) and the Citrus long-horned beetle (CLB). This positive result follows a long and detailed engagement with the US to see this trade restriction lifted.

Renewable energy (hydro, wind and solar PV) was the leading source of electricity in the EU in 2023, according to Eurostat, when it accounted for 44.7% of all electricity production, an increase of 12.4% on 2022. Fossil fuels were in second place accounting for 32.5 % of electricity (down from 39.4 % in 2022). The remaining 22.8% came from nuclear power, which saw a very mild recovery in 2023 compared with the record-low levels registered in 2022.

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

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

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

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

On Thursday morning 10 July, Eurofound and the European Environment Agency (EEA) are hosting #EurofoundLive webinar: Is Europe's green transition in jeopardy? Join the experts Maria Jepsen, Deputy Director at Eurofound, and Riyong Kim, Head of Sustainability Transitions (STR) at the EEA, who will discuss why Europe has embarked on its green transition, what impact will be on jobs, and the prospects for Europe’s environmental policies are for the future.

Approximately 700,000 displaced children from Ukraine are estimated to be enrolled in schools across the EU, according to a new European Commission report on the inclusion of displaced Ukrainian children in European education systems. In Ireland, there are over 11,000 Ukrainian students enrolled in primary schools, almost 7,000 in secondary schools and over 18,600 in the third level sector. All 23 Member States that responded to the survey, which include Ireland, have mobilised support for students, families, teachers and educational institutions, across all levels of education and training. They also provide support in the language of schooling.

The European Commission this week published the 2024 Convergence Report in which it provides its assessment of the progress non-euro area Member States have made towards adopting the euro. The report covers the six non-euro area Member States that are legally committed to adopting the euro: Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden. It concludes that none of the six currently meets all of the criteria for joining the euro area.