On 26 July 2016, the Council adopted a decision establishing a revised order in which the member states will hold the presidency of the Council of the EU until 2030. Following the UK decision to relinquish the Council presidency in the second half of 2017, the Council decided to bring forward by six months the order of presidencies, starting from 1 July 2017. It also decided to add Croatia, which was not yet a member state at the time of the...

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Today, President Juncker appointed Michel Barnier as Chief Negotiator in charge of leading the Commission Taskforce for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article 50 of the TEU. Today, the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, appointed Michel Barnier, former Vice-President of the European Commission and former French Minister, as Chief Negotiator in charge of leading the Commission Taskforce for the Preparation and Conduct of the Negotiations with the United Kingdom under Article...

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The European Parliament aims to become the first 100% carbon neutral EU institution, as decided at the end of last year by the Bureau (President, Vice-Presidents and Quaestors). In order to fulfil this commitment, a call for tender was opened on 16 July 2016. Parliament’s first carbon-offsetting scheme, in force since September 2011, included emissions only from official staff travel and official cars, as well as energy use in Parliament buildings. The new scheme encompasses all Parliaments' irreducible carbon emissions,...

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Economic, monetary and financial situation Outcome of the referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the EU On 24 June 2016 the Governing Council took note of the financial market developments following the outcome of the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the EU held on 23 June. In a press release published on 24 June 2016 on the ECB’s website, the Governing Council stressed that it would continue monitoring developments closely and that the ECB would continue to fulfil...

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The first report based on the new "EU International Cooperation and Development Results Framework" provides a selection of results achieved in about 100 partner countries across the globe with the support of EU-funded projects and programmes. The first report based on the new "EU International Cooperation and Development Results Framework" provides a selection of results achieved in about 100 partner countries across the globe with the support of EU-funded projects and programmes. This marks a significant step forward in terms...

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Friday July 29 is the Last Day to Sign Up! Prospective applicants have only 9 days left to apply to the IN2NYC program this summer. IN2NYC applicants span the globe, hailing from 38 countries across 5 continents! Prospective applicants can learn more about the program on the IN2NYC website,IN2NYC blog, and by viewing a recent webinar. The application portal will close at 11:59pm ET on Friday, July 29. Submit your application today!

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The Commission today presents a package of measures to accelerate the transition to low-carbon emissions in all sectors of the economy in Europe. The Commission is working to keep the EU competitive as the global social economic model changes following the impetus to move towards a modern and low-carbon economy set by the Paris Agreement on climate change. Today's proposals set clear and fair guiding principles to Member States to prepare for the future and keep Europe competitive. This is...

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The European Commission has adopted a decision that renders legally binding commitments to licence inputs for credit default swaps, offered separately by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association Inc. (ISDA) and information service provider Markit. The Commission had competition concerns relating to the licensing of intellectual property that is needed to offer trading services on the market for credit default swaps (CDS). These concerns related to the “final price”, which is used to value CDS if there is a default,...

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Today, the College held an orientation debate on reforming our trade defences to make sure we keep protecting Europe's industry from unfair trading practices. We focused on the overall challenges facing our trade defences: how do we make sure that Europe has the anti-dumping and anti-subsidy instruments necessary to deal with the current reality in the international trading environment, namely with important market distortions in certain countries, where the State continues to have a pervasive influence in the economy. Watch my press conference with Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen following the debatehere. The issue...

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