Canada is joining the growing group of non-EU countries who have associated to the EU's research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe, and will work jointly on large-scale projects tackling our biggest challenges. Today, Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, and Francois-Philippe Champagne, Canadian Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, are signing the agreement that gives Canadian researchers and organisations the opportunity to participate in the programme on equal terms with their EU counterparts. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian...

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The innovation performance of the European Union continues to improve at a steady pace, reaching a 10% increase since 2017 and a growth of 0.5% between 2023 and 2024. According to the 2024 edition of the European Innovation Scoreboard (EIS) published today, most EU Member States have boosted their innovation performance, but the increase varies strongly from one to another. Key findings Between 2023 and 2024, the national innovation performance has increased for 15 Member States, while it has declined for another group of 11. Croatia remained stable. Compared to the...

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Keynote speech by Piero Cipollone, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, at the National Conference of Statistics on official statistics at the time of artificial intelligence It is a pleasure to be here today to discuss the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) from a central bank’s perspective. The world is witnessing extraordinary advances in the field of AI. We are moving from analytical AI models designed to perform specific tasks to generative AI models capable of creating human-like content. The...

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Today, the European Commission announced the sixth investment package under the EU's Economic and Investment Plan for the Western Balkans that is expected to mobilise €1.2 billion in investments. This package will support eight new flagship investments in water supply and sanitation, wastewater treatment and rail transport, as well as innovation and green transformation in small and medium enterprises. The investments will be rolled out in close cooperation with the Western Balkan partners and international financial institutions. President of the...

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The complex structuring and multi-step distribution chains involved in certain securitisation structures in the run-up to the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC) generated misaligned incentives between the originator of a securitisation and its investors. This led to weakened lending standards, while amplifying a rapid and largely undetected build-up of leverage and maturity mismatches. A number of regulatory reforms have since been introduced to improve transparency, address conflicts of interest, strengthen the regulatory capital treatment for banks’ securitisation exposures by...

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Dear Charles, dear Alexander, I want to start by thanking you, dear Alexander, for an exceptionally successful Presidency of the Council. You have managed to reach political agreement on over 45 files spanning all of our major political priorities. It goes from the European Green Deal to digitalisation, from industry and the economy to enlargement. I think two proposals were exemplary, that is the Net-Zero Industry Act and the new Economic Governance Framework. But you also steered the first ever agreement on...

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The Council today decided to impose restrictive measures against two individuals and four entities responsible for actions undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. The Council is listing Dmitry Beloglazov, and his company LLC Titul. Dimitry Beloglazov is responsible for setting up a complex circumvention scheme together with Oleg Deripaska, who is already subject to EU restrictive measures. His company LLC Titul created a subsidiary called Joint Stock Company Iliadis to acquire Oleg Deripaska’s share in the International LLC Rasperia...

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The Commission is setting up a new Climate City Capital Hub, an international finance resource to further support cities participating in the EU Mission on Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities. Thanks to the new hub, cities that have already received the EU Cities Mission Label will be able to: Access financial advice in cooperation with advisory services of the European Investment Bank (EIB); Structure their financial needs so they understand various ways of funding projects, including pooling of projects; and Introduce projects to a range...

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Biennial report assesses progress towards euro adoption in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Sweden Inflation above reference value seen as key economic obstacle in central and eastern European countries under review Legislation in five of six countries under review not fully compatible with legal requirements for euro adoption Economic activity expected to strengthen in 2024, but outlook clouded by geopolitical uncertainty Limited progress has been made by non-euro area Member States of the European Union (EU) on...

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