Blog post by Era Dabla-Norris, Ruud de Mooij | New generative-AI technologies hold immense potential for boosting productivity and improving the delivery of public services, but the sheer speed and scale of the transformation also raise concerns about job losses and greater inequality. Given uncertainty over the future of AI, governments should take an agile approach that prepares them for highly disruptive scenarios. A new IMF paper argues that fiscal policy has a major role to play in supporting a more equal distribution of...

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Blog post by Maarten G.A. Daman | Many people appreciate privacy when paying, and want their data protected. Current electronic means of payment are not optimal in this regard. We are designing the digital euro to be the most private electronic payment option. The ECB Blog explains. Paying is a private affair for many people. The idea that tech companies, banks, governments or employers might track payments is not particularly appealing. Cash provides a solution to avoid such tracing, but...

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Today the Council adopted a revised regulation regarding EU guidelines for the development of the trans-European transport network (TEN-T). The new law aims to build a reliable, seamless, and high-quality transport network that ensures sustainable connectivity across Europe without physical interruptions, bottlenecks, and missing links. The TEN-T network is a key instrument of the EU’s transport policy with a huge contribution to our sustainable mobility objectives, as well as to economic, social, and territorial cohesion. The adoption of the revised...

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Blog post by Piero Cipollone | For the last quarter of a century, the euro has been a key global currency, second only to the dollar. It has demonstrated its resilience despite the coronavirus pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine and the tragic conflict in the Middle East. The euro’s estimated share of international currency use stands at over 19 per cent, a level that has remained broadly stable over the past five years. Nevertheless, the currency’s place on the global...

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The US dollar continues to cede ground to nontraditional currencies in global foreign exchange reserves, but it remains the preeminent reserve currency Blog post by Serkan Arslanalp, Barry Eichengreen , Chima Simpson-Bell | Dollar dominance—the outsized role of the US dollar in the world economy—has been brought into focus recently as the robustness of the US economy, tighter monetary policy and heightened geopolitical risk have contributed to a higher greenback valuation. At the same time, economic fragmentation and the potential reorganization of global economic...

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Updated projection for the composition of the new Parliament based on final and provisional results in 26 countries and pre-electoral data for one (as of 11.38).     2024 provisional results as of 10 June at 11:38 The above projection is based on: final results from 12 EU member states: Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Slovakia; provisional results from 14 countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden; and pre-electoral...

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The EU institutions are playing their part to defend the European elections on 6-9 June against disinformation and information manipulation targeting European democracy. The European elections are a flagship of European democracy. As documented by e.g. the European Digital Media Observatory, disinformation actors from inside and outside the EU seek to undermine the integrity of the electoral process, trust in democratic processes at large and sow division and polarisation in our societies. According to the Eurobarometer, 81% of the EU citizens...

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Today and tomorrow, the European civil protection community will discuss lessons learned and ways forward in civil protection during the 8th edition of the European Civil Protection Forum. The European Commission is organising this conference under the theme of shaping a disaster-resilient Union: charting a path for the future of European civil protection. The event will be a timely opportunity to look back at what has been achieved by the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, and to generate ideas for development, innovation...

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Today the Commission has unveiled the AI Office, established within the Commission. The AI Office aims at enabling the future development, deployment and use of AI in a way that fosters societal and economic benefits and innovation, while mitigating risks. The Office will play a key role in the implementation of the AI Act, especially in relation to general-purpose AI models. It will also work to foster research and innovation in trustworthy AI and position the EU as a leader in...

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Acceptance Speech by Kristalina Georgieva, IMF Managing Director, Venice, Italy President Mattarella, Governor Visco, Mayor Brugnaro; Professors Lippiello and La Malfa; Commissioner Gentiloni; all of you who have come here today: I am deeply grateful for your presence and for the honor of being the first recipient of the Ugo la Malfa Prize for International Cooperation from the Università Ca Foscari Venezia, the Enciclopedia Treccani, and the Fondazione Ugo La Malfa. I will cherish it and will work hard to serve our family of...

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