The Constitutional Affairs Committee agreed on Thursday to recommend that the EP plenary should approve the UK withdrawal terms. After parliamentary ratification in the UK was concluded earlier today, with Royal Assent granted for the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill, Constitutional Affairs Committee MEPs voted in favour of a positive recommendation regarding the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, with […]

Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, Frankfurt am Main, 23 January 2020 Ladies and gentlemen, the Vice-President and I are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. We will now report on the outcome of today’s meeting of the Governing Council. Based on our regular economic […]

Today, the European Commission set out its ideas for shaping the Conference on the Future of Europe, which should be launched on Europe Day, 9 May 2020 and run for two years. The Communication adopted is the Commission’s contribution to the already lively debate around the Conference on the Future of Europe – a project announced by […]

Today in Davos, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, met with U.S. President Donald Trump. This friendly exchange of views between allies at the World Economic Forum was a first opportunity to meet in person and to compare notes and positions on a number of topical issues, notably on trade, technology […]

Digital taxation Finance ministers had an exchange of views on tax challenges arising from digitalisation. They took stock of the progress achieved in the context of the OECD, both on the reallocation of profits of digitalized businesses (“Pillar 1”) and on the general reform of international corporate taxation (“Pillar 2). The OECD has been working […]

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your warm welcome and happy new year! I am very pleased to be here with you this morning. This is the first of what I expect will be many visits to Washington as European Trade Commissioner. Of course as an Irishman I feel very much at home in America […]

During the first plenary session of 2020, Parliament called for more ambitious measures to tackle climate change and to put citizens at the centre of an initiative to reform the EU. Parliament supported the European Commission’s plan for the EU to become climate neutral by 2050 on Wednesday and called for a higher 2030 emissions reduction target […]

MEPs support the European Green Deal, but highlight challenges, including ensuring a just and inclusive transition and the need for high interim targets. Parliament adopted on Wednesday its position on the European Green Deal, unveiled by Commission President von der Leyen in a plenary debate in December. MEPs welcome the European Green Deal and support an […]

EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan is in Washington, DC (January 13-16) for meetings with the U.S. Administration, Congress, the IMF, and business leaders. This will include meetings with the United States Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, the Secretary of Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, and Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross. This is the first trip that Commissioner Hogan is taking […]

In a Joint Statement issued today, representatives of the European Union, the United States and Japan announced their agreement to strengthen existing rules on industrial subsidies and condemned forced technology transfers practices. In a meeting held in Washington, D.C., the EU, the U.S. and Japan agreed that the current list of subsidies prohibited under the World Trade […]