Keynote speech by President Charles Michel at the Centre for European Policy Studies Thank you for the warm welcome. It’s a special pleasure to be here with you this afternoon and I am delighted that it has been possible for this event to go ahead. I have full confidence in the Belgian authorities in this kind of situation. CEPS is doing great work, work which is above all very helpful in the efforts to regularly let fresh air into the world...

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On 25-27 February 2020, EU Ambassador to the U.S. Stavros Lambrinidis visited northern California. Upon his arrival to San Francisco, Ambassador Lambrinidis was greeted by European Consuls General at the German Residence -- German Consul General Hans-Ulrich Südbeck currently serves as EU Local Chair. There are now twelve European Consulates in San Francisco since the opening of an Estonian Consulate a few weeks ago.  Ambassador Lambrinidis was then received by Governor Gavin Newsom in Sacramento. During their meeting, they discussed the close...

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On the occasion of the World Wildlife Day, the European Commission launched today in Monaco a new global coalition for biodiversity. With this communication campaign, the Commission is calling for stronger mobilisation in raising awareness about the need to protect biodiversity. Ahead of the crucial CoP 15 meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity in October 2020, the Commission is turning to all national parks, aquariums, botanic gardens, zoos, science and natural history museums to join forces and boost public awareness about the...

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The Council today adopted a decision authorising the opening of negotiations for a new partnership with the UK, and formally nominating the Commission as EU negotiator. The Council also adopted negotiating directives which constitute a mandate to the Commission for the negotiations. The Council has adopted a clear and strong mandate for our negotiator, Michel Barnier. This confirms our readiness to offer an ambitious, wide-ranging and balanced partnership to the UK for the benefit of both sides. The EU is...

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From 24 to 28 February 2020, the first European Cooperation week of the year gets underway at EUIPO. This important forum brings together IP experts from all over the EU with the common goal of implementing the European Cooperation Programmes within the current Strategic Plan 2020 at EUIPO. Experts from the European Union Intellectual Property Network (EUIPN) will meet for the 8th European Cooperation Projects (ECP) working group meetings, the EUIPN Point of Contacts (PoCs) meeting and the Classification working group meeting on trade marks and designs. The meetings are...

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Today, the Commission unveils its ideas and actions for a digital transformation that works for all, reflecting the best of Europe: open, fair, diverse, democratic and confident. It presents a European society powered by digital solutions that put people first, opens up new opportunities for businesses, and boosts the development of trustworthy technology to foster an open and democratic society and a vibrant and sustainable economy. Digital is a key enabler to fighting climate change and achieving the green transition. The European data strategy and...

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MEPs underlined that Parliament will only give its consent to a budget that meets the European Union’s ambitions, in a debate on EU funding for 2021-2027. Talking about the budget means talking about the EU’s future, MEPs said in a key plenary debate with Nikolina Brnjac, Croatian State Secretary for Foreign and European Affairs, representing the Council, and Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The debate on Wednesday came ahead of a special EU summit starting on 20 February, where member...

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The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has published seven opinions on position limits  regarding commodity derivatives under the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and Regulation (MiFID II/MIFIR) today. ESMA’s opinions agree with the proposed position limits regarding: ICE Endex Dutch TTF Gas contracts EEX Phelix DE Base Power contracts EEX Capesize TC5 Freight contracts EEX Spanish Power Base contracts MEFFPOWER  Baseload contracts ESMA found that the proposed position limits are consistent with the objectives established in MiFID II and with the methodology...

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