The European Commission today presented its plan to modernise EU lawmaking, ensuring that laws are clearer, simpler, more efficiently enforced, based on solid evidence and better aligned with the needs of citizens and businesses. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said: "Europe needs clear and coherent legislation that fully responds to the needs of our citizens and businesses. Today, we deliver our plan to make EU lawmaking more efficient, more effective, and more transparent. We will apply simplicity by...

Commodity prices forecast to rise by 16% this year, fueling inflation and slowing growth.  Energy prices are projected to surge by 24% this year to their highest level since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as the war in the Middle East sends a severe shock through global commodity markets, according to the World Bank Group's latest Commodity Markets Outlook. Overall commodity prices are forecast to rise 16% in 2026, driven by soaring energy and fertilizer prices and record-high prices for several key metals. The shock will have serious implications for job creation and development, the analysis indicates. Attacks...

European Card Payment Cooperation (ECPC), nexo standards and Berlin Group to work with ECB to implement digital euro Standards to allow European payment solutions to minimise costs, expand geographical reach and diversify use cases Adoption of the digital euro regulation by co-legislators to unlock potential and provide certainty for market actors’ future investments in payments The European Central Bank (ECB) has signed agreements with three European standard‑setting organisations – ECPC, nexo standards and the Berlin Group – to reuse...

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the GDPR’s adoption, the first comprehensive data protection framework spanning an entire continent, establishing clear rights for individuals and obligations for organisations across Europe. The moment that led to the creation of the EDPB The GDPR led to the establishment of the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) on 25 May 2018, replacing the Article 29 Working Party that was previously in charge of dealing with issues relating to the protection of personal data. The GDPR gave the Data...

The Presidents of the European Parliament, Council and Commission signed a Joint Declaration committing to achieve the “One Europe, One Market” roadmap. On the sidelines of the Informal meeting of Heads of State or Government in Cyprus, the President of the Republic of Cyprus as the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and the Presidents of the European Parliament and the European Commission, signed the “One Europe, One Market Roadmap”. This agreement demonstrates the resolve of the...

Why is the European Commission putting forward Accelerate EU?  The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is heavily impacting global energy markets, with a knock-on effect on the economy, industry and households.  Since the beginning of the conflict in the Middle East, the EU has spent an additional €24 billion on energy imports, mainly fossil fuels. Even if hostilities ceased immediately, disruptions to energy supplies from the Gulf will persist for the foreseeable future.  Member States using more renewable and/or...

Blog | Artificial intelligence (AI) can help track inflation risks in real time. A new ECB model based on machine learning informs experts how likely it is that inflation will be much higher or much lower than they expect. In times of growing economic and political uncertainty, prices can change more rapidly and more strongly. This is why monetary policy decisions rely not only on the most likely path for inflation, which economists like to call the “baseline”, but also...