The European Commission has launched a public consultation inviting Member States and other stakeholders to provide their views and comments on the existing EU State aid rules on public support for the deployment of broadband networks. The public consultation is part of an overall evaluation by the Commission of the relevant rules with a view to assess whether they are still fit purpose or whether they will need to be updated in light of recent technological and market developments. All interested...

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September 07, the Commission, trade unions, chambers of commerce and employers' organisations are renewing their cooperation to enhance the integration of migrants and refugees into the labour market. In a joint statement released today, they highlight areas for future focus, and express interest in cooperating further in the area of labour migration under the European Partnership on Integration launched in 2017. The signatories reaffirm the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach for early integration into the labour market benefitting both refugees and the...

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The European Commission has today launched a public consultation on its future Action Plan on Organic Farming. This sector will play an important role in achieving the European Green Deal ambition, and reaching the objectives set out in the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies. It is a priority for the Commission to ensure that the organic farming sector has the right tools in place as well as a well-functioning and consensual legal framework which is key to achieving the objective...

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The Commission has today adopted a proposal for a Council Recommendation to ensure that any measures taken by Member States that restrict free movement due to the coronavirus pandemic are coordinated and clearly communicated at the EU level. The Commission's proposal sets out four key areas where Member States should work closer together: Common criteria and thresholds for Member States when deciding whether to introduce travel restrictions; Mapping of common criteria using an agreed colour code; A common framework for measures applied to travellers...

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Today, the Commission presents an Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials, the 2020 List of Critical Raw Materials and a foresight study on critical raw materials for strategic technologies and sectors from the 2030 and 2050 perspectives. The Action Plan looks at the current and future challenges and proposes actions to reduce Europe's dependency on third countries, diversifying supply from both primary and secondary sources and improving resource efficiency and circularity while promoting responsible sourcing worldwide. The actions will foster our transition towards a...

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The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly lengthened the list of developing and emerging market economies in debt distress. For some, a crisis is imminent. For many more, only exceptionally low global interest rates may be delaying a reckoning. Default rates are rising, and the need for debt restructuring is growing. Yet new challenges may hamper debt workouts unless governments and multilateral lenders provide better tools to navigate a wave of restructuring. The IMF, the World Bank, and other multilaterals acted quickly...

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The American economist Frank Knight theorized about the difference between risk and uncertainty in his classic book Risk, Uncertainty and Profit. Risk is “a quantity susceptible of measurement.” A precise outcome may not be known, but the probability of a few that are most likely can be calculated. Uncertainty means there is not enough information to even narrow down the possibilities. When a situation is “not susceptible to measurement” economists call it Knightian uncertainty. If this sounds familiar, it is because we...

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