Chapter News

Chapter News

Autumn 2018 Economic Forecast: sustained but less dynamic growth amid high uncertainty

Growth in the euro area is forecast to ease from a 10-year high of 2.4% in 2017 to 2.1% in 2018 before moderating further to 1.9% in 2019 and 1.7% in 2020. The same pattern is expected for the EU27, with growth forecast at 2.2% in 2018, 2.0% in 2019 and 1.9% in 2020. Autumn 2018 Economic Forecast: sustained but less dynamic growth amid high uncertainty Brussels, 8 November 2018 Growth in the euro area is forecast to ease from a 10-year...

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Chapter News

Athens is the European Capital of Innovation 2018

The European Commission is awarding Athens the title of the European Capital of Innovation 2018 with a €1 million prize Athens is the winner of this year's European Capital of Innovation Awards, funded by the EU research and innovation programme Horizon 2020. The runner-up cities - Aarhus (Denmark), Hamburg (Germany), Leuven (Belgium), Toulouse (France), and Umeå (Sweden) - received €100,000 each. The prize money will be used to scale up local innovation activities and collaborate with other cities. The City of...

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Chapter News

LIFE Programme: Member States to benefit from quarter of a billion euros of investments in environment, nature and climate action

The European Commission has approved an investment package of €243 million from the EU budget for projects under the LIFE programme supporting nature, the environment and quality of life in Europe's transition to a more sustainable and low-carbon future. The EU funding under the LIFE programme for the Environment and Climate Action will mobilise additional investments leading to a total of €430.7 million going towards 142 new projects. With numerous trans-national projects funded, LIFE will have an impact in every EU Member State. Funds of...

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Chapter News, Financing for Development/UN SDG's

EIB AND ICO: EUR 800m to support micro-enterprises and the self-employed

The aim of this new agreement is to provide financing on favourable terms for small projects Ensuring that credit reaches entrepreneurs and young people wanting to turn their ideas into a business is the objective behind the agreement signed between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO). The EIB will provide EUR 400m to ICO, which will in turn contribute an additional EUR 400m of its own, meaning that the financing volume available to micro-enterprises (with...

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Chapter News

Commission Work Programme for 2019 and draft budgetary plan of Italy

Commission presents its work programme for 2019 and requests Italy to submit a revised draft budgetary plan within three weeks Commission Work Programme 2019 The European Commission presented today its Work Programme for 2019, setting out three main priorities for the year ahead: reaching swift agreement on the legislative proposals already presented to deliver on its ten political priorities; adopting a limited number of new initiatives to address outstanding challenges; and presenting several initiatives with a future perspective for a Union...

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Chapter News

Europe and Asia – Global Partners for Global Challenges

President Juncker at the Asia-Europe Meeting Summit and the European Union-Association of Southeast Asian Nations Leaders' Meeting The 12th Asia-Europe Meeting Summit took place on 18-19 October in Brussels, bringing together 51 countries, as well as EU and Asian institutions. Under the title "Global Partners for Global Challenges", leaders addressed some of the world's most pressing issues. Following the Asia-Europe Meeting Summit, a Leaders' Meeting between the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations took place. In the...

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Brexit News, Chapter News

Brexit Timelines & Important Dates

Brexit Timeline Recap: What happened so far: Timeline: What happens once Article 50 has been triggered? European Council guidelines and conclusions 29 April 2017 - guidelines from the European Council (Article 50) on Brexit negotiations 20 October 2017 - European Council (Article 50) conclusions 15 December 2017 - guidelines from the European Council (Article 50) on Brexit negotiations 23 March 2018 - guidelines from the European Council (Article 50) on the framework for the future EU-UK relationship   29 June 2018 - European Council (Article 50) conclusions   July...

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Brexit News, Chapter News

Remarks by President Donald Tusk after the European Council meetings on 17 and 18 October 2018

Good afternoon, let me start with Brexit. Yesterday, after listening to Prime Minister May's assessment of the state of the negotiations, the EU27 confirmed that we want to continue the talks in a positive spirit. Leaders expressed their full trust in Michel Barnier, and asked our negotiator to continue efforts to achieve an agreement. I stand ready to convene a European Council on Brexit, if and when the EU negotiator reports that decisive progress has been made. And we...

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Brexit News, Chapter News

EU Podcasts: EU Ambassador to the US David O’Sullivan Talks the Future of the Transatlantic Relationship and EU Now Recaps the latest EU developments

Episode Info: EU Ambassador to the US David O'Sullivan Talks the Future of the Transatlantic Relationship It's easy to spend all our time focusing on American domestic politics these days, but the rest of the world is not going away. Take the European Union, for example—our neighbors from across the pond, and one of the US's most valuable economic and security relationships. There's a lot going on over there, and some of it even involves us. How is that relationship faring...

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Brexit News, Chapter News

The Irish Backstop: How Difficult?

BY JOHN BRUTON ON OCTOBER 16, 2018: The harder the Brexit, the harder will be the resolution of the Irish border problem. In a Joint Report of 8 December 2017, the UK agreed to respect Ireland’s place in the EU and that there would be no hard border in Ireland. This was to apply “in all circumstances, irrespective of any future agreement between the EU and the UK”. The further the UK negotiating demand goes from continued membership of the EU, the...

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