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.
The European Commission has published the transition pathway for the aerospace ecosystem. The pathway is a dynamic roadmap to support the green and digital transition of the aerospace ecosystem, as well as to improve its resilience and competitiveness. The aerospace ecosystem's stakeholders will be invited in the next weeks to propose commitments to turn the pathway into reality, with the Commission's support and cooperation.
The overall sustainability of EU fisheries continues to gradually improve and fewer stocks are overfished, according to a new Commission Communication ‘Sustainable fishing in the EU: state of play and orientations for 2025'. The Communication highlights that fish stocks in the North-East Atlantic, and particularly in EU waters, are on average within healthy ranges, proving that EU sustainable fisheries management decisions and fishers' efforts are paying off. However, several species essential for ecosystem balance and commercial purposes continue to underperform. The news for fish stocks in the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea is less positive.
The European Commission has launched a public consultation inviting all interested parties to comment on draft targeted amendments to the rules on small amounts of aid to the agricultural sector (‘Agricultural de minimis Regulation'). All interested parties can respond to the public consultation until 21 July 2024. The Agricultural de minimis Regulation exempts small amounts from State aid control since they are deemed to have no impact on competition and trade in the Single Market. Member States can currently grant support to the agricultural sector of up to €20,000 per beneficiary over a period of three fiscal years without prior notification for Commission approval.
On the agenda: the regulatory incentives set out in the revision of the EU’s pharmaceutical legislation; vaccine-preventable cancers; and, the future of the European Health Union.
On the agenda: VAT in the digital age; the state of play of the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF); the state of play of the economic and financial impact of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine; the 2024 European Semester Spring Package; tax issues; and, the state of play of legislative proposals in the field of financial services.
On the agenda: the European Works Council Directive; a proposed directive prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation in areas other than employment; the Spring Package of the European Semester, the EU’s framework for coordinating and monitoring economic and social policies; and, the social dimension of the internal market.
Information on this meeting will be available at the link below.
The Irish Centre for European Law (ICEL) is hosting its annual Privacy and Data Protection Conference in the Royal Irish Academy, 19 Dawson St, Dublin 2, on Wednesday 19 June. This hybrid event will feature leading practitioners and experts providing updates on important and topical issues including: Professor Christopher Kuner (remote), on the international data transfers; Professor Eleni Kosta on how the CJEU is shaping developments in data retention; and Dr David Fennelly BL on damage compensation for data protection claims.
On the agenda: maritime safety and inland waterways; greening freight transport; and EU efforts towards achieving its road safety objectives.
Following the European Parliament elections, EU leaders will discuss the next institutional cycle. The European Council is central in designating the next high-profile EU-level roles. Any decision by the European Council needs to reflect the diversity of the EU in terms of geography, country size, gender and political affiliation. All these procedures are laid out in the Treaty on European Union (TEU), one of the EU’s primary treaties.
On the agenda: the revision of the waste framework directive; the green claims directive; the soil monitoring directive; Europe's 2040 climate target and path to climate neutrality by 2050; and the mid-term review of the 8th environment action programme.
