At the COP27 UN Climate Change Conference which ended on Sunday morning in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, the European Commission showed ambition and flexibility to keep the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees within reach. After a difficult week of negotiations, a strong and united European effort helped secure a hard-fought deal to keep the targets of the Paris Agreement alive. The EU's bridge-building also helped to put in place balanced new funding arrangements, with an expanded donor...

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The Commission calls upon the Council to take the necessary decisions without any further delay to allow Bulgaria, Romania and Croatia to fully participate in the Schengen area. In a Communication adopted today, the Commission takes stock of the three Member States' strong record of achievements in the application of the Schengen rules. For years, these Member States have significantly contributed to the well-functioning of the Schengen area, including during the time of the pandemic and more recently when faced...

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A shared understanding of how climate change affects the economy can be the basis for global action. To help inform and guide policy across the globe central bankers and supervisors have developed climate scenarios. This is the final post in a series on the occasion of COP27. Climate change is happening right now, and is already having an impact on us all, though not everywhere in the same way. But do we share a common understanding of how climate change...

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New data released today highlight continuing base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) risks and the need to implement the two-pillar solution to ensure that large multinational enterprises (MNEs) pay a fair share of tax wherever they operate and earn their profits. The OECD’s latest annual Corporate Tax Statistics, covering over 160 countries and jurisdictions, includes new aggregated Country-by-Country Report (CbCR) data on the activities of almost 7,000 MNEs, representing a major boost in tax transparency efforts. The new CbCR data show that the...

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"Check against delivery" Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the EU pavilion here at COP27, to open our energy day. We meet here after a difficult year. Climate change has left its mark on the world with wildfires and droughts, freak storms and floods. Russia has attacked a peaceful neighbour and made energy into a political weapon. And we are facing a truly global energy crisis, triggered by Russia's actions. For Europe in particular, the latter has meant drastically smaller...

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In February, in the same week that Russia invaded Ukraine, the IPCC issued a stark warning to the global community. Its message could not have been clearer: the climate is changing faster than our capacity to adapt. So the world must deliver better and faster. The global fossil fuel crisis must be a game changer. And my friends, let us not take the highway to hell; let us earn the clean ticket to heaven. That is our responsibility. For Europe,...

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Following the European Council meeting of 20-21 October 2022, the Commission has today proposed an unprecedented support package for Ukraine of up to €18 billion for 2023. This will come in the form of highly concessional loans, disbursed in regular installments as of 2023. This stable, regular and predictable financial assistance – averaging €1.5 billion per month – will help cover a significant part of Ukraine's short-term funding needs for 2023, which the Ukrainian authorities and the International Monetary Fund...

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Europe is punching below its weight in the climate-technology competition. The continent needs to facilitate risk capital markets and to invest more in research and development. This is the 4th post in a series of climate-related entries on the occasion of COP27. Virtually non-existent half a century ago, nowadays climate-friendly technologies and products like the electric car, the solar panel and the heat pump are all around us. This often creates the wrong impression that timely green transition is just...

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While there are multiple headwinds weighing on growth, further policy tightening is expected amid the need to bring down elevated inflation Global economic growth prospects are confronting a unique mix of headwinds, including from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, interest rate increases to contain inflation, and lingering pandemic effects such as China’s lockdowns and disruptions in supply chains. In turn, our latest World Economic Outlook, released last month, lowered our global growth forecast for next year to 2.7 percent, and we...

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Fertilisers play a significant role for food security. Their production and their cost largely depend on natural gas. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a global mineral fertiliser and energy crisis is now weighing on global food security and food prices. In this context, the European Commission presented today a Communication on ensuring availability and affordability of fertilisers. Today's Communication presents a wide range of actions and guidance on how to tackle the challenges that EU farmers and industry, as...

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