As Emelia asked in Act V of Comedy of Errors, do “mine eyes deceive me?” Sorry to get all Shakespearean, but our eyes (and face, fingerprints, etc.) can reveal a lot of information about us – data that can be misused in deceptive or unfair ways. The FTC just issued a Policy Statement on Biometric Information and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and it’s a must-read for businesses. The increasing use of consumers’ biometric information – and...

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The European economy continues to show resilience in a challenging global context. Lower energy prices, abating supply constraints and a strong labour market supported moderate growth in the first quarter of 2023, dispelling fears of a recession. This better-than-expected start to the year lifts the growth outlook for the EU economy to 1.0% in 2023 (0.8% in the Winter interim Forecast) and 1.7% in 2024 (1.6% in the winter). Upward revisions for the euro area are of a similar...

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Once approved, they will be the world’s first rules on Artificial Intelligence MEPs include bans on biometric surveillance, emotion recognition, predictive policing AI systems Tailor-made regimes for general-purpose AI and foundation models like GPT The right to make complaints about AI systems To ensure a human-centric and ethical development of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Europe, MEPs endorsed new transparency and risk-management rules for AI systems. On Thursday, the Internal Market Committee and the Civil Liberties Committee adopted a draft negotiating...

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A coordinated approach, including toward subsidies, is needed to tackle climate change successfully Governments across the world are using subsidies to support the green transition. Green subsidies can be helpful where there are market failures. When carbon emissions are underpriced in relation to their true cost to society or preferable policy solutions (such as carbon pricing) are not in place, subsidies can steer businesses and consumers towards clean technologies that are less polluting while also lowering the costs of those...

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You repeatedly mentioned at the last press conference that the inflation outlook continues to be “too high for too long”. How strong is the upside risk of inflation in the eurozone? There are factors that can induce significant upside risks to the inflation outlook. And we are still in a situation where uncertainty about the path of inflation is high, so we have to be extremely attentive to those potential risks, the exact list of which you will find...

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Diversity is a matter of sound governance for banks and leads to better decision-making. That is why Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, and Elizabeth McCaul, Member of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, are encouraging banks to improve the diversity of their boards. Banking is still a man’s world. Out of the 361 CEO appointments made between 2020 and 2022 at the significant institutions (SIs) directly...

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The EU Council today adopted an assistance measure worth €1 billion under the European Peace Facility (EPF) that will further contribute to strengthening the capabilities and resilience of Ukraine to defend its independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and protect the civilian population against the ongoing Russian military aggression. The assistance measure will finance the provision to the Ukrainian Armed Forces of 155-mm-calibre artillery rounds and, if requested, missiles which will be jointly procured by EU member states from the European...

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Speech by Frank Elderson, Member of the Executive Board of the ECB and Vice-Chair of the Supervisory Board of the ECB, State of the Union conference organised by the European University Institute | Florence, 5 May 2023 | Many thanks for inviting me to address this conference along with so many esteemed speakers. As the cradle of the Renaissance, Florence has a long history of attracting people from different disciplines across Europe. The most gifted individuals in the fields of...

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The EDPS has issued five Opinions on the European Commission’s Recommendations to open negotiations for International Agreements on the exchange of personal data between Europol, the EU Agency for Law Enforcement, and the competent authorities of five Latin American countries: Ecuador, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico to fight serious crime and terrorism. The EDPS Opinions aim to provide advice on further developing data protection safeguards in these future International Agreements so that individuals’ personal data is protected according to EU...

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