The purchase of government bonds by emerging market central banks may be reminiscent for some of the days of monetary financing of the government, which was often followed by rising inflation and currency depreciations. However, the successful actions by several central banks in emerging Europe to buy government bonds during the COVID-19 pandemic countered this history. Amid the financial market turmoil at the start of the pandemic, central banks in Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey rolled out asset...

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As crypto assets take hold, regulators need to step up. Crypto assets offer a new world of opportunities: Quick and easy payments. Innovative financial services. Inclusive access to previously “unbanked” parts of the world. All are made possible by the crypto ecosystem. 'Consumer protection risks remain substantial given limited or inadequate disclosure and oversight.' But along with the opportunities come challenges and risks. The latest Global Financial Stability Report describes the risks posed by the crypto ecosystem and offers some policy options to help...

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The Commission launched today five new EU missions, a new and innovative way to work together and improve the lives of people in Europe and beyond. EU missions aim to tackle big challenges in health, climate and the environment, and to achieve ambitious and inspiring goals in these areas. A novelty of Horizon Europe and also an original concept in EU policy, bringing together several Commission services under the authority of nine College members, missions will support research to deliver on the Commission's...

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Speech by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, at ECB Forum on Central Banking "Beyond the pandemic: the future of monetary policy" | Frankfurt am Main, 28 September 2021 | The economy is back from the brink, but not completely out of the woods. After a highly unusual recession, the euro area is going through a highly atypical recovery. This atypical recovery is leading to rapid growth, but also to supply bottlenecks appearing unusually early in the economic cycle. It is...

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Today, as part of its work to create a future-proof and crisis-resilient regulatory framework for the pharmaceutical sector, the Commission has published a public consultation on the revision of the EU's pharmaceutical legislation. This is the latest step towards an ambitious reform as announced in the Pharmaceutical Strategy for Europe, adopted in November 2020. Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: "Today we take an important step for the reform of EU's pharmaceutical legislation by the end of next year. A...

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Vaccination is the most effective response to the COVID pandemic. The United States and the EU are technological leaders in advanced vaccine platforms, given decades of investments in research and development. It is vital that we aggressively pursue an agenda to vaccinate the world. Coordinated U.S. and EU leadership will help expand supply, deliver in a more coordinated and efficient manner, and manage constraints to supply chains. This will showcase the force of a Transatlantic partnership in facilitating global vaccination...

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From 26 September to 1 October, EU Executive Vice-Presidents Margrethe Vestager and Valdis Dombrovskis will be in the United States, where they will meet senior U.S. officials and participate in the first-ever meeting of the EU-U.S. Trade and Technology Council (TTC). Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis will first travel to Washington, D.C., where he is speaking at an event on transatlantic cooperation organised by the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies.(link is external) Executive Vice-President Vestager will first be in Los Angeles on Tuesday for a keynote at...

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Introductory statement by Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, at the Hearing of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament (by videoconference) | Frankfurt am Main, 27 September 2021 | Madam Chair, Honourable members of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, Ladies and gentlemen, It is a pleasure to be with you again today for the third regular hearing of the year. In my confirmatory hearing before this Committee back in September 2019, I set out a goal: to ensure...

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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s securities markets regulator, today launches a consultation on proposals for improvements to the MiFID II framework on best execution reports. These proposals aim at ensuring effective and consistent regulation and supervision and enhancing investor protection. ESMA’s proposals include technical changes to:  the reporting obligations for execution venues: aimed at simplifying the reporting requirements by reducing the granularity and volume of data to be reported; and moving to a set of seven indicators aimed...

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