The Constitutional Affairs Committee agreed on Thursday to recommend that the EP plenary should approve the UK withdrawal terms. After parliamentary ratification in the UK was concluded earlier today, with Royal Assent granted for the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill, Constitutional Affairs Committee MEPs voted in favour of a positive recommendation regarding the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, with 23 votes for, three against and no abstentions. The vote took place after a statement by Committee Chair Antonio Tajani (EPP, IT) and a discussion between the Parliament’s...

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Christine Lagarde, President of the ECB, Luis de Guindos, Vice-President of the ECB, Frankfurt am Main, 23 January 2020 Ladies and gentlemen, the Vice-President and I are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. We will now report on the outcome of today’s meeting of the Governing Council. Based on our regular economic and monetary analyses, we decided to keep the key ECB interest rates unchanged. We expect them to remain at their present or lower levels until we have seen the inflation...

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Today, the European Commission set out its ideas for shaping the Conference on the Future of Europe, which should be launched on Europe Day, 9 May 2020 and run for two years. The Communication adopted is the Commission's contribution to the already lively debate around the Conference on the Future of Europe – a project announced by President Ursula von der Leyen in her Political Guidelines, to give Europeans a greater say on what the European Union does and how it works for them....

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Today in Davos, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, met with U.S. President Donald Trump. This friendly exchange of views between allies at the World Economic Forum was a first opportunity to meet in person and to compare notes and positions on a number of topical issues, notably on trade, technology and energy. This was a first get-to-know-each-other meeting. Both sides agreed to meet soon in Washington to move the common transatlantic agenda forward. Ursula von...

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Digital taxation Finance ministers had an exchange of views on tax challenges arising from digitalisation. They took stock of the progress achieved in the context of the OECD, both on the reallocation of profits of digitalized businesses ("Pillar 1") and on the general reform of international corporate taxation ("Pillar 2). The OECD has been working intensively in the past months with a view to agreeing on the architecture of a global solution at its meeting on 29-30 January 2020. The debate confirmed...

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Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your warm welcome and happy new year! I am very pleased to be here with you this morning. This is the first of what I expect will be many visits to Washington as European Trade Commissioner. Of course as an Irishman I feel very much at home in America so this is certainly one of the perks of the job. I had a very busy day yesterday and Tuesday, meeting members of the Administration, senators...

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During the first plenary session of 2020, Parliament called for more ambitious measures to tackle climate change and to put citizens at the centre of an initiative to reform the EU. Parliament supported the European Commission's plan for the EU to become climate neutral by 2050 on Wednesday and called for a higher 2030 emissions reduction target of 55%. The previous day, they discussed a proposal on how to finance this green transition, including support for regions affected by it. Citizens have to be...

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MEPs support the European Green Deal, but highlight challenges, including ensuring a just and inclusive transition and the need for high interim targets. Parliament adopted on Wednesday its position on the European Green Deal, unveiled by Commission President von der Leyen in a plenary debate in December. MEPs welcome the European Green Deal and support an ambitious sustainable investment plan to help close the investment gap. They also call for an adequately funded just transition mechanism. Speed up reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions Parliament...

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EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan is in Washington, DC (January 13-16) for meetings with the U.S. Administration, Congress, the IMF, and business leaders. This will include meetings with the United States Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer, the Secretary of Treasury, Steve Mnuchin, and Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross. This is the first trip that Commissioner Hogan is taking outside the European Union in his capacity of Commissioner in charge of trade.  On Tuesday 14, Commissioner Hogan participated in a Trilateral Meeting with Hiroshi...

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In a Joint Statement issued today, representatives of the European Union, the United States and Japan announced their agreement to strengthen existing rules on industrial subsidies and condemned forced technology transfers practices. In a meeting held in Washington, D.C., the EU, the U.S. and Japan agreed that the current list of subsidies prohibited under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) rules is insufficient to tackle market and trade distorting subsidisation existing in certain jurisdictions. They concluded therefore that new types of unconditionally prohibited...

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