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On 14 July 2021, the European Commission adopted the 'fit for 55' package with a view to adapting existing EU climate and energy legislation to meet the EU objective of a minimum 55 % reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030, as required under the European Climate Law. The 'fit for 55' package includes a recast of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), aligning its provisions to the -55 % GHG target. The current EED is designed to meet the existing goal of 32.5 % energy efficiency improvements ...

Hours before the Beijing Winter Olympics officially opened on 4 February 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping had a long meeting with Russian President Putin. In the joint statement issued after the meeting – which referred to the bilateral relationship as a 'no-limits friendship' – the Chinese leader for the first time voiced his country's outright opposition to NATO enlargement and support for Russia's 'proposals to create long-term legally binding security guarantees' in Europe. It remains, however ...

EU support for the implementation of Slovenia's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) amounts to €2 482.3 million, and includes €1 776.9 million in grants and €705.4 million in loans. This amount should be committed by the end of 2023, and paid out to Slovenia by the end of 2026. While the overall allocation represents only 0.3 % of the total Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF), it stood at 5.1 % of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 (the RRF being 5.2 % of EU-27 GDP in ...

In July 2021, the European Commission put forward the 'fit for 55' package of legislative proposals, aimed at ensuring the success of the European Green Deal. The FuelEU Maritime regulation is one of these proposals and, together with four other proposals, it seeks to steer the EU maritime sector towards decarbonisation. To support the uptake of sustainable maritime fuels, the Commission proposes to limit the carbon intensity of the energy used on board ships. Accordingly, the proposal sets a fuel ...

On 14 July 2021, the European Commission presented the 'fit for 55' package of proposals to help reduce net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 % by 2030, compared with 1990 levels. The package includes a proposal to revise the 2014 Directive on alternative fuels infrastructure and turn it into a regulation. In the draft regulation, the Commission proposed binding targets for electric vehicle charging points and hydrogen refuelling points, electric charging for stationary aircraft at airports ...

Between 2018 and 2020, over 18 000 migrant and refugee children were reported as missing in Europe. It is feared that many may have been exploited and abused for sexual or labour purposes. The European Parliament has repeatedly stressed the need to address the disappearance of migrant children in the EU. The conflict in Ukraine and the subsequent mass displacement of people have only made the situation worse, creating fertile ground for criminal networks to take advantage of vulnerable people, especially ...

On 19 July 2022, the Commission put forward a proposal for a regulation establishing the European defence industry reinforcement through common procurement act (EDIRPA). The key goals are to create a short-term joint defence procurement instrument addressing the EU's most urgent and critical defence capability gaps and to incentivise the EU Member States to procure defence products jointly. The Council adopted its general approach on the proposal on 1 December 2022. The AFET and ITRE joint committee ...

To align regulations and policies with the legally binding goals – delivering, by 2030, a 55 % net greenhouse gas emissions reduction compared with 1990, and reaching climate neutrality in Europe by 2050 – on 14 July 2021,the European Commission presented its first proposals under the 'fit for 55' package. The package included amendments to Regulation (EU) 2018/841 on emissions and removals from land use, land-use change and forestry (the LULUCF Regulation). Industry stakeholders fear too rigid frameworks ...

The 2014 Regulation on electronic identification and trust services for electronic transactions in the internal market (eIDAS Regulation or eIDAS) was the first digital identity legislation to provide the basis for cross-border electronic identification, authentication and website certification throughout the EU. Application of eIDAS has been mixed. However, the pandemic increased the need for such solutions to be put in place to access public and private services. On 3 June 2021, the Commission ...

The European Parliament (EP) has traditionally pushed for the deepening of the European Union (EU) and its democratic reform. First established as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951-1952, a large majority of its delegated Members enthusiastically supported the organisation’s evolution in a federal direction, including a government dependent on parliamentary support and a parliament with fully fledged legislative and budgetary powers. More recently, the EP ...