Applications for the Department of Foreign Affairs annual Communicating Europe Initiative grants scheme are now open. This year’s theme is “Europe as a catalyst for change”. The Communicating Europe Initiative provides funding to voluntary organisations, educational bodies, civil society groups and Local Authorities for projects intended to deepen public awareness of the role that the European Union plays in our daily lives, and improve the quality and accessibility of public information on European issues, at local, regional or national level. Projects should communicate European issues, the role of the European Union and Ireland’s place in Europe. The deadline for applications is 17 April 2025.

The European Commission is taking action to maintain and expand European industrial capacities in the steel and metals sectors. The Action Plan on Steel and Metals, presented by the Commission this week, is designed to strengthen the sector's competitiveness and safeguard the industry's future. It focuses on 6 pillars: ensuring access to clean and affordable energy; preventing carbon leakage; strengthening European industrial capacities; promoting circularity for metals; defending quality industrial jobs; and de-risking projects through lead markets and public support. President von der Leyen, said: “The steel industry has always been a core engine for European prosperity. Next-generation, clean steel should therefore continue to be manufactured in Europe. That means we have to help our steelmakers who are facing strong headwinds on the global market".

The European Commission this week unveiled its strategy for the Savings and Investments Union. It aims to create better financial opportunities for EU citizens, while enhancing the financial system’s capability to connect savings with productive investments. Commissioner for Financial Services and the Savings and Investments Union, Maria Luís Albuquerque, said: "Europeans are some of the best savers in the world, but many of their savings are sitting in low-yield deposit accounts. At the same time, Europe is struggling to meet its investment needs. With the SIU, we can create a virtuous cycle for the benefit of both citizens and companies, helping Europeans get a better return on their hard-earned savings, while bringing substantial investment into the economy".

The European Commission this week presented a White Paper on the future of European Defence, together with the ReArm Europe plan. The White Paper presents solutions to close critical capability gaps and build a strong defence industrial base while the the ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030 enables funding of over €800 billion to be mobilised. President von der Leyen said: "The era of the peace dividend is long gone. The security architecture that we relied on can no longer be taken for granted. Europe is ready to step up. We must invest in defence, strengthen our capabilities, and take a proactive approach to security”.

In 2024, 47.4% of net electricity generated in the EU came from renewable energy sources, up by 2.6 percentage points compared with 2023. Denmark had the highest share of renewables in its net electricity generation at 88.8%, followed by Portugal (87.4%) and Croatia (73.8%). The lowest shares of renewables were recorded in Malta (15.1%), Czechia (17.5%) and Cyprus (24.1%). In Ireland, just over 46% of electricity came from renewable sources in 2024.

The High Representative Kaja Kallas and Commissioners Dubravka Šuica (Mediterranean) and Hadja Lahbib (Equality; Preparedness and Crisis Management) issued a joint statement this week deploring the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza and the deaths of civilians, including children, in Israeli airstrikes: "The EU calls on Israel to end its military operations and reiterates its call on Hamas to release all the hostages immediately. It urges Israel to exercise restraint and to resume unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid and electricity to Gaza. We call on all parties to abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law."

New data from Eurostat shows that average life expectancy at birth in the EU was 81.4 years, up from 80.6 years in 2022. Average life expectancy at birth in Ireland was also up - from 82.6 years in 2022 to 82.9 years in 2023. The highest life expectancy at birth in the EU in 2023 was the Spanish region of Comunidad de Madrid (86.1 years). In general, women in the EU had an average life expectancy of 5.3 years more than men with this figure rising to 10.1 years in Latvia. Ireland, however, had the 4th lowest gender gap in life expectancy at birth at 3.5 years.

Gordan Grlić Radman, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia, and President of the Danube Commission will address an IIEA Future Proofing Europe event on Tuesday afternoon, 2 April.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is seeking a number of Presidency Policy Officers (Administrative Officer level) for temporary positions in the lead up to, and during, the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Ireland will assume the rotating six-month Presidency on 1 July 2026. Successful candidates will have an exciting opportunity to be involved in all aspects of the work of the Department, either directly related to the Presidency or in other priority areas where they will provide cover for staff who have been assigned to Presidency duties. See below for information on jobs in Dublin.

During the ninth edition of the Brussels Conference on “Standing with Syria: meeting the needs for a successful transition” hosted earlier this week by the European Union, the donor community pledged a total amount of €5.8 billion. The overall figure includes the nearly €2.5 billion pledged by the EU for 2025 and 2026, announced during the Conference by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The total amount pledged by the EU and its Member States amounted to almost €3.4 billion, reaffirming them as the largest donor to Syria and neighbouring countries hosting Syrian refugees.

The 2025 Consumer Conditions Scoreboard, published last week, shows that 68% of European consumers feel confident about the safety of the products that they buy, while 70% trust that their consumer rights are respected by traders. The respective figures for Irish consumers are 71% and 77%. However, data from the Scoreboard also shows that online risks for consumers persist, including scams, fake reviews, and misleading advertising practices. The results will now be discussed with Member States, consumer associations and businesses, and will feed into the preparation of forthcoming initiatives such as the Consumer Agenda 2025-2030 and the Digital Fairness Act.

According to preliminary figures on road fatalities for 2024 published by the Commission earlier this week, around 19,800 people were killed in road crashes in the EU last year, a slight 3% drop compared to 2023. This equates to 44 deaths per million of population, down from 46 in 2023. Road deaths in Ireland were down from 34 per million population in 2023 to 32 per million in 2024, putting us in 7th lowest position in the EU. The figures also show that most EU Member States, including Ireland, are not on track to meet the EU's goal of halving road deaths by 2030.

Daily agendas for this session of the European Parliament can be found at the link below.

Ten years after the historic climate agreement reached at COP21 in Paris, considerable progress has been made in areas ranging from energy efficiency and renewables deployment to electric vehicles and heat pumps. However, this progress is well below that required to deliver on the goals in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and investment in clean energy remains uneven. As political headwinds increase, Brian Motherway, Head of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Inclusive Transitions at the International Energy Agency, will consider what the past decade has taught us in terms of global engagement on climate and clean energy, and what we have learned in terms of engaging citizens and societies in the vital project of clean energy transitions. This hybrid event takes place at 1 pm.

On this link you will soon find all the information related to this meeting.

On this link you will soon find all the information related to this meeting.

The European Commission this week proposed to adopt an extension of the two 2021 adequacy decisions with the United Kingdom for a period of six months. With this extension, the free flow of data with the UK would be maintained until 27 December 2025. This will allow time for the legislative process to conclude in the UK. Commissioner Michael McGrath, said: “The adequacy decisions are key to our relationship with the UK. They ensure data can flow freely and safely, which is crucial for trade, justice, and law enforcement cooperation".

Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, Michael McGrath, is in Washington DC this Thursday and Friday where he is set to engage in a series of high-level meetings with members of Congress, US agencies, the EU-US business community and civil society organisations. He will exchange on the EU-US Data Privacy Framework, which facilitates safe and free data flows, and on the EU's efforts to boost competitiveness, simplify regulations, and drive innovation, including the upcoming proposal on the 28th regime. The Commissioner will also participate in a livestreamed event at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, focusing on EU-US relations on digital matters (see link below).

The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the European Commission’s Market Access team are organising “Market Access Day 2025” on Wednesday 9 April 2025. The agenda will include topics such as: implementation and enforcement of EU trade policy and its benefits for Irish businesses; available tools for business looking to export outside the EU Single Market; EU trade policy instruments (Access to Markets and Single-Entry Point); trade barriers and solutions; trade policy in the changing geopolitics; EU Free Trade Agreements and their concrete benefits to companies; and Trade Defence Instruments.

In this webinar Nina Jankowicz, co-founder and CEO of the American Sunlight Project, will discuss the evolution of disinformation in democracies, ranging from Russian-linked disinformation campaigns in Eastern Europe to the new U.S. Government’s hostile stance towards disinformation research. She will discuss how the new US administration’s relationship with technology companies may affect content moderation policies and practices. Ms Jankowicz will also assess the implications of readily accessible Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications for the generation of disinformation and will explore how democracies can best respond to the evolving threat of disinformation.