Due to negative pandemic effect on trade and growth, corporate activities in the EU member states lack adequate financial support. Here comes the EU’s assistance through the European Innovation Council, EIC is a one-stop-shop for innovators. Launched this March 2021 and a budget of over €10 billion for 2021-27, it provides support from the early-stage scientific […]
Recovery assistance to the EU states: first beneficiaries
The REACT-EU (Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe) package is one of the largest programs under new Next Generation EU financial instrument in the amount of € 47.5 billion. The package is additional to the EU’s cohesion allocations for 2021-27, making the EU Structural and Investment Funds the highest single-policy grant instrument […]
Universities for SDGs implementation: first global forum’s ideas
Sustainable growth has become an important part of the modern political economy: a vital component in policy’s transformation is education and teaching sustainability. To make this teaching meaningful and in line with the socio-economic needs, new forms of teaching and learning are necessary to deal with SDGs complexities, ambiguities and often uncertainties. Old patterns of […]
Food quality: the European priority
In 2019, following a European Citizens’ Initiative, the Commission adopted a proposal for a regulation on the transparency and sustainability of the EU risk assessment in the food quality and safety; at the end of March 2021, the regulation became applicable. The regulation marks an important step towards further modernisation of the EU food safety […]
Energy labels and ecodesigns in the EU: new rules
To help EU consumers cut their energy bills and carbon footprint, a new version of the widely-recognised EU energy label will be applicable in all shops and online retailers from March 2021. The new labels will initially apply to four product categories – fridges and freezers, dishwashers, washing machines, and television sets (as well as […]
Trade unions in modern political economy and European future
Contacts and dialogues between the European Trade Union Confederation as a social partner and the European Commission as the EU”s executive institution have formed an essential part of the Union’s social market economy. The EU’s and the member states’ trade unions represent an important part of the EU’s successful integration process: it is through labour […]
Research and innovation: vital issue in shaping European future
European Commission adopted the first strategic plan in mid-March 2021 for the EU science, research and innovation program “Horizon Europe”. The strategic plan sets perspective for targeted investments during next four years supported by the EU’s budget of €95.5 billion. The plan ensures that European and the member states’ research and innovation (R&I) actions would […]
First steps towards “Future of Europe”: a joint declaration is signed
Representatives of the European Parliament, Presidency of the Council (in rotating presidency, Prime Minister of Portugal) and the Commission President have signed (10 March, 2021) the Joint Declaration on the Conference on the Future of Europe. This paves the way to launching a series of debates and discussions that will enable people from all the […]
Reminder for the Baltic States’ recovery plans
In September 2020, the European Commission published the Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy-2021 (ASGS-21), together with the strategic guidance for the implementation in the states of the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The ASGS-21 is a follow-up of the previous year’s strategy with four main guiding principles: sustainability, productivity, fairness and macroeconomic stability; these dimensions will underpin […]
Simplified and efficient policies and laws for perspective European integration
New Commission’s “fit for Future platform” is aimed at gathering practical expertise in various policy areas from national, regional, local authorities, as well as from the Committee of the Regions, the European Economic and Social Committee and other stakeholders. Collected data will be used for the Commission’s work on simplification of existing EU laws, reducing […]