Climate change and associated alternating periods of drought and floods were the main topics of the Ministerial Conference on Water and the informal EU Environment Council. The debate has clearly shown that each EU country is experiencing this phenomenon differently. Some states are suffering prolonged droughts, others more frequent floods, and still others are experiencing both types of extreme events. For example, the Mediterranean is experiencing longer-lasting water shortages, and according to some prognoses there is a risk that the...

Speech by Dr Andreas Dombret Member of the Executive Board of the Deutsche Bundesbank at the World Affairs Council and American Council on Germany, San Francisco Monday, 11 July 2016 Ladies and gentlemen It is a great pleasure for me to be here in San Francisco with you and with these two distinguished organizations. You know, when we agreed on the title and the date of this event, I was expecting to give a talk on the economic situation in the euro...

Shanghai -- G-20 Trade Ministers meeting in Shanghai, China reached agreement today on a package of outcomes covering WTO multilateral and plurilateral trade agreements and negotiations, investment, and cooperation on global value chains. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman hailed the results as a good example of G-20 leadership and shared goals in promoting global trade growth and public support for trade. In particular, the United States achieved strong results on plurilateral negotiations on the Environmental Goods Agreement and global excess...

Today the European Commission adopted the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield. This new framework protects the fundamental rights of anyone in the EU whose personal data is transferred to the United States as well as bringing legal clarity for businesses relying on transatlantic data transfers. Andrus Ansip, Commission Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, said: "We have approved the new EU-U.S. Privacy Shield today. It will protect the personal data of our people and provide clarity for businesses. We have worked hard with...

Members of Parliament’s Budgets and Economic and Monetary Affairs committees are set to debate the need for a euro area budget with finance ministers Jeroen Dijsselbloem (Netherlands, also Euro Group President), Michel Sapin (France), Pier Carlo Padoan (Italy), Pierre Gramegna (Luxembourg), Peter Kažimír (Slovakia), Edward Scicluna (Malta) and Euclid Tsakalotos (Greece) on Monday evening from 19:00 to 21:30. Parliament is working on a report putting forward proposals to build “a fiscal capacity for the euro zone”, drafted by Reimer Böge...

Today the European Commission adopted two new "off-the-shelf", i.e. "ready-to-use" financial instruments for ESI Funds investments, to ease access to funding for young businesses and urban development project promoters. In the 2014-2020 period, the Commission is encouraging Member States to double their European Structural and Investment (ESI) Fundsinvestments used through financial instruments, such as loans, equity and guarantees, in line with the objectives of the Investment Plan. Regional Policy Commissioner Corina Crețu said: "Financial instruments are an efficient way to invest in...

As holder of the EU-presidency the Netherlands sought to bring member states together on key issues such as migration, the internal market and safety. This e-zine, the last in a series of three digital English-language publications, highlights some of the outcomes and results that were achieved during the Netherlands EU-presidency in the first half of 2016. Taken together, the articles, graphics and videos provide an incomplete but representative overview across the various policy areas. Compliments of the Netherlands EU Presidency 2016

Good morning, I would like to express my sympathy to the President of the United States and to the people of this great nation for the tragic events which happened yesterday night in Dallas, Texas. These events like others are proving and showing that we are living in a world which is developing increasingly to more complexity and to more uncertainty. The threats to our security take many forms and they are not located in any one place. Therefore, our first duty is...