In a meeting in Luxembourg on 28 October, environment ministers adopted conclusions on 'greening' the European Semester and the Europe 2020 strategy. The conclusions recognise that a greener economy contributes to long term prosperity, and highlight the need for a transition towards a resource efficient circular economy. In particular, they underline the need for: better integrating resource efficiency in the Europe 2020 strategy, through the introduction of a non-binding aspirational target taking into consideration circular economy principles and the potential for green...

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Meet Poppy, the first completely open-source, 3D printed, humanoid robot (@poppy_project). Poppy is a robot that anybody can build and program. That means it's not just a tool for scientists and engineers: the team of developers aims to make it part of vocational training in schools, giving students the opportunity to experiment. Poppy was developed in France by Inria's Flowers team, which creates computer and robotic models as tools for understanding developmental processes in humans. Dr Pierre-Yves Oudeyer, who...

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Safer banks serving the economy: the European Commission welcomes the publication of the results of the EU-wide stress test by the European Banking Authority and the comprehensive assessment by the European Central Bank. Since the onset of the financial crisis, major improvements in the EU regulatory framework, the level and quality of banks’ capital and supervision have considerably strengthened the resilience of European banks. Today’s results of the EU-wide stress test and the comprehensive assessment, which represent the most intense...

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Wyden, Hatch, Rockefeller, Thune: Trans-Pacific Partnership Must Protect Cross-Border Data Flows to Grow Digital Economy WASHINGTON October 24, 2014 – To ensure the 21st-century digital economy is not stifled by harmful trade barriers, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, with Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., and John Thune, R-S.D., chairman and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, called on U.S. trade negotiators to ensure cross-border data flows are adequately addressed in the Trans-Pacific...

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European Union leaders gathering in Brussels yesterday and today agreed on an ambitious framework and targets for the EU's climate and energy policy. They endorsed: a binding EU target of at least 40 percent less greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, compared to 1990; a binding target of at least 27 percent of renewable energy used at EU level; an energy efficiency increase of at least 27 percent; the completion of the internal energy market by reaching an electricity interconnection...

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Credit card fraud and identity theft hit millions of Americans each year. But under the President's new BuySecure initiative, the government and the private sector are taking steps to protect American consumers. One of these steps is expanding the use of Chip and PIN technology. Find out what Chip and PIN is all about -- and see who's joining in this effort to make our transactions safer. Kicking off the BuySecure initiative last week, the President signed a new Executive Order that...

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Jean-Claude Juncker | President-elect of the European Commission | Statement in the European Parliament plenary session ahead of the vote on the College | Strasbourg, 22 October 2014 Time for Action "From Ukraine to Syria, to the Middle East and North Africa, our neighbourhood remains shaky and unstable. Scores of immigrants arriving at Europe's external frontiers in search of a better future remind us of the need to reconcile the quest of solidarity with the demand for safe borders. And cross-border...

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Today, the European Parliament gave its strong support to the new European Commission with 423 votes in favour, 209 against and 67 abstentions. The Juncker Commission can thus start its term of office on 1 November 2014. President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker said: "After a long democratic journey, today my team crossed the finishing line. I feel honoured that my Commission has received the democratic backing of the European Parliament. Now it is time to roll up our sleeves and get down to...

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The average share of women on the boards of the largest publicly listed companies in the EU rose to 18.6 percent in April 2014, up from 17.8 percent just six months earlier, according to statistics released by the European Commission. Proposed EU legislation targets a 40 percent share of female non-executive members on the boards of listed companies. The proposal received strong support from the European Parliament in November 2013 and is currently under discussion by the Council of the...

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In a joint letter to Heads of State and Government of the European Union ahead of this week's European Council meeting, European Commission President Barroso and European Council President Van Rompuy inform about the key issues coming up for discussion at the G20 summit in Brisbane (Australia) on 15-16 November 2014: "Dear Colleagues, We would like to inform you about the key issues coming up for discussion at the G20 summit in Brisbane on 15-16 November. The Brisbane Summit will be the...

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