The 9th legislature of the European Parliament was officially constituted today, July 2nd, in Strasbourg at 10.00 by outgoing President Antonio Tajani. The President of the European Parliament will be elected tomorrow morning at 9am. Nominations must be submitted by political groups or by 1/20th of members by 22:00 this evening. Eight tellers, drawn by lot, have been appointed to oversee the vote. Following direct elections across 28 member states on 23 - 26 May, in which 51% of voters cast...

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European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk attended the 14th G20 Leaders' summit hosted by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in Osaka (Japan). President Juncker was accompanied by Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.  On the second day of the Summit, at the joint press conference with the President of Argentina, Mauricio Macri in the presence of EU and Mercosur leaders and following the political agreement for a trade pact between the EU and Mercosur, President Juncker said: "This deal sends a...

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European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, accompanied by Commissioner Pierre Moscovici, and European Council President Donald Tusk attend the 14th G20 Leaders' summit hosted by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe in Osaka (Japan). At the Summit, President Juncker made three points during his intervention at the Session on “Global Economy, Trade and Investment". President Juncker said that the EU is growing and continues to be open for fair business and underlined that "the European economy is forecast to grow by 1.4% this year – our...

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Seven months after new rules against unjustified geo-blocking began to apply, general consumer awareness of the new rules against restrictions for online shopping and cross-border sales is already high. A Eurobarometer survey published today shows that just a few months after the new rules on geo-blocking started to apply, 50% of EU citizens are generally aware of EU action to tackle unjustified discrimination by traders. However, more efforts are needed to ensure wider knowledge of the specific digital rights enshrined in EU...

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By John Bruton, former Irish Prime Minister and Ambassador of the European Union to the United States from 2004 to 2009 Boris Johnson said yesterday, June 25th, that there is an “abundance” of technical alternatives to the Irish Backstop. He seems to believe that, between now and the end of October, he can persuade the EU to have such confidence in these unspecified alternatives that they will not insist on keeping the backstop. This is unrealistic, to put it mildly. All sides...

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Annual Report of the independent European Fiscal Board The Commission took note of the independent European Fiscal Board's report on the appropriate fiscal stance for the euro area 2020. The European Fiscal Board is an independent body established in 2015 to advise on the overall direction of fiscal policy of the euro area.   Italy  The College was updated on the state of play on Italy and had a discussion on the topic. The College agreed to revert to this matter next week.   State of...

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By Antonio de Lecea US consumers and importers are already paying a price for trade tensions between the United States and China. They are bearing almost entirely the tariff revenue collected at the US border. Escalation is also likely to affect business sentiment and investment. Tariffs on European imports carry an important additional impact for the US economy, due to deep transatlantic economic integration. European companies in the United States are the largest source of on-shored jobs in the United States, directly employing 4.6 million...

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High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini concluded an official visit to Washington DC on Tuesday where she had bilateral discussions with the US Secretary of State, Michael R. Pompeo, as part of the regular high-level transatlantic political dialogue, as well as with Senior Adviser to the US President, Jared Kushner. In a positive and constructive conversation, the High Representative and Secretary Pompeo reaffirmed their commitment to a strong strategic transatlantic partnership and discussed key areas of bilateral cooperation and a number of...

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