'An international floor price for carbon could speed the world’s transition to green energy without compromising countries’ competitiveness.' Recent surges in food and fuel costs are hurting households everywhere. The global spike in energy prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine underscores the need to transition away from dependence on energy sources that are subject to recurrent disruptions. The war has also impacted food security, which is already under pressure from crop failures and extreme weather events due to higher temperatures....

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Speech by Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, at the 20th annual symposium on “Building the financial system of the 21st century: an agenda for Europe and the United States” organised by the Program on International Financial Systems and Harvard Law School (by videoconference) | It is with great pleasure that I am taking part in this symposium once again. It is hard to believe how much has happened since we last met two years ago. In my remarks back...

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The European Commission has today presented the REPowerEU Plan, its response to the hardships and global energy market disruption caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There is a double urgency to transform Europe's energy system: ending the EU's dependence on Russian fossil fuels, which are used as an economic and political weapon and cost European taxpayers nearly €100 billion per year, and tackling the climate crisis. By acting as a Union, Europe can phase out its dependency on Russian...

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With the REPowerEU package adopted today, we are helping to provide a common, supportive, and coordinated response to the energy implications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There are three main messages that I would like to share with you in my condition as EU Commissioner for internal market and industry. 1. The industrial dimension of unplugging Europe from Russian gas Industry consumes more than a quarter of gas demand, sometimes with limited substitution options. That is why accelerating our independence from Russian gas requires working with...

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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, is consulting stakeholders on the information and templates to be provided, and used by firms, when they inform regulators of their cross-border marketing and management activities under the UCITS Directive and the AIFMD. The purpose of the draft ITS and RTS is to facilitate the process for notifying cross-border marketing and management activities in relation to UCITS and AIFs. This will be achieved by defining harmonised information to be...

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The EU and the US have today reaffirmed their close cooperation to address global trade and technology challenges in line with their shared commitment to democracy, freedom and human rights. Meeting at the second Ministerial Meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) in Paris, both parties reiterated the central role of the TTC for the renewed transatlantic partnership, which has already served to coordinate joint measures being taken by the EU and the US in face of the...

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Keynote speech by Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB, at the National College of Ireland | Dublin, 16 May 2022 | It is a pleasure to be here with all of you today to talk about the digital euro. When we launched this project, we made it clear that this is a common European enterprise. Our collective effort is key to the preparation and eventual success of a digital euro. I would like to take this opportunity to...

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At our June 2021 US-EU Summit, we established the US-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) to shape the rules of the road for a 21st century economy, and for rapidly evolving digital and emerging technology. In less than a year, the TTC has become a pillar of transatlantic cooperation, particularly in growing our bilateral trade and investment relationship; resolving existing and avoiding new barriers to trade while countering non-market, trade distortive practices; and in our united response to Russia's...

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The Commission welcomes the political agreement reached today between the European Parliament and EU Member States on the Directive on measures for a high common level of cybersecurity across the Union (NIS 2 Directive) proposed by the Commission in December 2020. The existing rules on the security of network and information systems (NIS Directive), have been the first piece of EU-wide legislation on cybersecurity and paved the way for a significant change in mind-set, institutional and regulatory approach to cybersecurity in...

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The European Commission will phase out the State aid COVID Temporary Framework, adopted on 19 March 2020 and last amended on 18 November 2021, enabling Member States to remedy a serious disturbance in the economy in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. The State aid COVID Temporary Framework will not be extended beyond the current expiry date, which is 30 June 2022 for most of the tools provided. The existing phase-out and transition plan will not change, including the...

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