The EU-US Task Force on Energy Security met for the 11th time on October 31, 2023, convened by co-chairs Amos Hochstein, Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security, and Björn Seibert, Head of Cabinet of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, with the participation of Sarah Ladislaw, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Climate and Energy at the US National Security Council, and Ditte Juul Jørgensen, European Commission Director-General for Energy. The discussion focused...

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The Commission welcomes today's agreement by G7 leaders on International Guiding Principles on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and a voluntary Code of Conduct for AI developers under the Hiroshima AI process. These principles and the voluntary Code of Conduct will complement, at international level, the legally binding rules that the EU co-legislators are currently finalising under the EU AI Act. President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, was among those who subscribed to the G7 leaders' statement issued...

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Remarks by the First Deputy Managing Director, Gita Gopinath at the Ninth IMF-WB-WTO Trade Research Conference Good morning. It is a pleasure to open the ninth IMF-World Bank-WTO Trade Research Conference. Let’s begin by taking stock of where we are. World trade growth is historically low, with no signs of improvement. In fact, it is projected to decline from 5.1 percent in 2022 to 0.9 percent in 2023. Meanwhile, the global trading system is facing several challenges: from geopolitical tensions and fragmentation, to...

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The United States and the European Union and its Member States, representing nearly 800 million citizens, united by our values and bound together by the most dynamic economic relationship on earth, reaffirm our commitment to a transatlantic partnership that delivers for all our Since the last U.S.-EU Summit in June 2021, the world has changed in unprecedented ways, and we have taken ambitious steps in response. Together, we are working to secure peace, stability, and prosperity regionally and...

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The Council has adopted a regulation to help the EU and its member states protect themselves from economic coercion by third countries. The new legislation, known as the Anti-Coercion Instrument (ACI), is meant to serve as a deterrent for third countries targeting the EU or its member states. The aim is to use this legislation to de-escalate and induce the discontinuation of coercive measures in trade and investment through dialogue. When this is not possible, and as a last resort, the...

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It was a presentation by Laura Papi, Deputy Director, European Department, IMF given at the Budapest Economic Forum on October 17th 2023.Good morning to all of you. Thank you for the introduction. It is a pleasure to be here today and for the first time at the Budapest Economic Forum. I am honored to have been invited to speak. Today, I will discuss the outlook for Europe and how we see the risks. Inflation, implications of the geoeconomic fragmentation, and...

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The European Commission analysed over 420 foreign direct investments (FDI) into the EU over the past year, according to the Annual Report on FDI Screening released today. In addition, EU Member States blocked 560 requests for exports of dual use goods over the same period. This level of activity demonstrates a clear commitment by the European Commission and Member States to safeguarding European security and public order in times of increased geopolitical tensions. The number of EU Member States with...

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The Governing Council of the European Central Bank (ECB) decided yesterday to move to the next phase of the digital euro project: the preparation phase. This decision follows the completion of the investigation phase launched by the Eurosystem in October 2021 to explore possible design and distribution models for a digital euro. Based on the findings from this phase, detailed in a report published today, the ECB has designed a digital euro that would be widely accessible to citizens and...

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The European Commission is carrying out unannounced antitrust inspections at the premises of companies active in the construction chemicals sector in several Member States. The Commission has concerns that the inspected companies may have violated EU antitrust rules that prohibit cartels and restrictive business practices (Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union). The construction chemicals concerned by the inspection are chemical additives for cement and chemical admixtures for concrete and mortar. These are ingredients that are...

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Once a year the ECB publishes a report presenting an overview of developments in the use of the euro by non-euro area residents. The international role of the euro is primarily supported by a deeper and more complete Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), including advancing the capital markets union, in the context of the pursuit of sound economic policies in the euro area. The Eurosystem supports these policies and emphasises the need for further efforts to complete EMU. Foreword by...

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