Today the Eurogroup in inclusive format adopted a statement on the competitiveness of the European economy. Significant shifts in the geopolitical landscape, fragmentation in global trade flows, rapid technological advancements, climate change and the energy crisis are converging to create a highly complex and dynamic global environment. The fallout from Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine has created further challenges. The European economy has been particularly hit by the resulting shockwaves that have dampened growth, increased inflation, tightened financial...

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The Commission welcomes today's general approach announced by the Council on  the Commission's proposals on VAT in the Digital Age. By embracing and promoting digitalisation, this package makes the EU's VAT system more business-friendly and more resilient to fraud. The new rules also mark the first step to address the challenges raised by the development of the platform economy and helps level the playing field between online and traditional short-term accommodation and transport services. This package introduces 3 measures: The new...

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The U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) reported last week that real gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the third quarter of 2024. Growth was in large part due to Americans making and spending more. Consumer spending increased 3.7%, the most since early 2023, thanks to rising incomes. The economy has grown 12.6% under the Biden-Harris Administration, with the lowest average unemployment of any Administration in 50 years, and 16 million jobs created. This demonstrates...

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Today, the Council approved conclusions on a European Court of Auditors’ (ECA) report aiming to strengthen EU’s AI ambitions, notably by enhancing governance and ensuring an increased, more focused investment when moving forward in this field. The Council agrees with the Court’s conclusion that the EU must scale up investments in AI and facilitate access to digital infrastructure to be a globally competitive actor with a global impact, assume leadership in the development and deployment of AI, foster talent and create an ecosystem of excellence and...

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By Piero Cipollone | As they juggle various cards, apps and devices, most Europeans find that digital payments have fallen short of their promise to provide a convenient euro area-wide solution. The ECB’s Piero Cipollone explains how a digital euro would blend the simplicity of cash with digital convenience. Twenty-five years ago, the introduction of the euro transformed Europe. For the first time, people in different countries were using the same banknotes and coins. Who would have thought that the...

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Executive Summary: Commodity prices are expected to decrease by 5 percent in 2025 and 2 percent in 2026, after softening 3 percent this year. This would lead aggregate commodity prices to their lowest levels since 2020. The projected declines are led by oil prices but tempered by price increases for natural gas and a stable outlook for metals and agricultural raw materials. The Brent crude oil price is projected to average $80/bbl in 2024, before slipping to $73/bbl in 2025...

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Prepared by Adrian Page | Published as part of the ECB Economic Bulletin, Issue 7/2024. In the post-pandemic period, Eurosystem/ECB staff projections for growth have performed well over short horizons, despite the large shocks that have occurred. While the performance of inflation projections since the start of the pandemic has been extensively documented in previous issues of the Economic Bulletin, this box looks at how the Eurosystem/ECB staff projections for real GDP growth have fared during this turbulent period. The growth fluctuations in...

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The European Innovation Council (EIC), part of the EU research and innovation programme Horizon Europe, will support European deep tech research and high-potential start-ups with €1.4 billion next year. The EIC Work Programme 2025, which the Commission adopted today, represents an increase of nearly €200 million in comparison with 2024. In addition to a bigger budget, the 2025 work programme brings several improvements, including better access to scale-up equity funding with the EIC Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) scale-up scheme,...

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