Page 34 - European Union

EU chief Von der Leyen to unveil her new team after long and bumpy road

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen is expected to unveil the members of her new team for the next five-year tenure at the head of the bloc on Tuesday. But it has been a tumultuous ride to get it ready for office the search for the 26 members of her college was chaotic and scandal-ridden even before the parliament is to start hearings on whether to accept each proposed candidate. French heavyweight Thierry Breton resigned and openly criticised von der Leyen for allegedly questionable governance on Monday and accused her of backroom machinations to oust him. Many saw his shock resignation more as a removal by von der Leyen of one of her most open internal critics after exerting pressure on French authorities. Compounding such problems was the defiance of many of the 27 member states as von der Leyen struggled to get anywhere close to gender parity on her Commission team they staunchly refused to give her a choice between a male and a female candidate. After days of secret t

Foreign banks in regulatory standoff seek RBI relief on trading rules

In October 2022, Esma de-recognised the Clearing Corporation of India, creating significant obstacles for European banks conducting large-scale transactions

French EU commissioner resigns after attacking Ursula von der Leyen

An influential French member of the European Union's powerful executive branch resigned on Monday, calling into question the leadership of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen just as she tries to assemble a new team for the next five years. Thierry Breton, a French business executive and commissioner for the EU's vast internal market who recently clashed with tech billionaire Elon Musk, suggested that von der Leyen had gone behind his back to get another French official named in his place to the next commission. In a post on social media platform X containing his resignation letter to the EU's top official, Breton said that von der Leyen's move was further testimony to questionable governance - I have to conclude that I can no longer exercise my duties in the college. The commission proposes legislation for the 27 EU member countries and ensures that the rules governing the world's biggest trading bloc are respected. It's made up of a College of commissioners with a .

Italy supports EU's tariffs on Chinese exports of electric vehicles

Italy is aiming for a climate of positive cooperation, and real reciprocity to avoid dumping and obstacles from Beijing

EU antitrust order to Google's adtech business unlikely for now: Report

A break-up order could come at a later stage if Google continues its anti-competitive practices, they said, pointing to a precedent setting case involving Microsoft two decades ago

Unauthorised migration into EU countries declines despite heated politics

Unauthorised migration to European Union countries dropped significantly overall in the first eight months of this year, even as political rhetoric and violence against migrants increased and far-right parties espousing anti-immigration policies made gains at the polls. There was, however, a spike in migrant arrivals to the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that is increasingly used as an alternate stepping stone to continental Europe. Irregular migration dominated the European parliamentary elections in June and influenced recent state elections in eastern Germany, where a far-right party won for the first time since World War II. The German government this week announced it was expanding border controls around its territory following recent extremist attacks. What do the numbers show? Despite the heated debates, irregular crossings over the southern borders of the EU the region that sees the most unauthorised migration were down by 35% from Januar

Top EU privacy regulator opens investigation into Google's AI compliance

A spokesperson for Google said it takes its obligations under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) seriously and will work constructively with the DPC to answer their questions

European Commission rejects minimum price offers from Chinese EV exporters

The Commission declined to give details of the offers, but said it had thoroughly reviewed them to see if they met World Trade Organization and EU anti-subsidy rules

US and EU discuss value of engagement with India on global challenges

The US and the European Union as part of its dialogue on China have discussed the value of engagement with India in addressing global challenges, including in the maritime sphere, energy and connectivity in the Indo-Pacific. Discussion on India was part of the two-day 'US-EU Dialogue on China' and the sixth meeting of the 'US-EU High-Level Consultations on the Indo-Pacific', here on September 9 and 10. The dialogue was led by Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell from the US and European External Action Service (EEAS) Secretary General Stefano Sannino from the EU side. They discussed the value of the US and the EU's respective engagement with India on global challenges, on security, including in the maritime sphere, energy and connectivity in the Indo-Pacific. The United States and the European Union also discussed the latest developments in Bangladesh, said a joint statement issued on September 11. They discussed ongoing and increasing engagement in the Indian Ocean Region, ...

Google's AI model faces EU scrutiny from watchdog over privacy rules

European Union regulators said Thursday they're looking into one of Google's artificial intelligence models over concerns about its compliance with the bloc's strict data privacy rules. Ireland's Data Protection Commission said it has opened an inquiry into Google's Pathways Language Model 2, also known as PaLM2. It's part of wider efforts, including by other national watchdogs across the 27-nation bloc, to scrutinize how AI systems handle personal data. Google's European headquarters are based in Dublin, so the Irish watchdog acts as the company's lead regulator for the bloc's privacy rulebook, known as the General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR. The commission said its inquiry is examining whether Google has assessed whether PaLM2's data processing would likely result in a high risk to the rights and freedoms of individuals" in the EU. Large language models like PaLM2 are vast troves of data that act as building blocks for artificial intelligence systems. Google uses PaLM2 t

EU's antitrust crackdown: Apple, Google face major setbacks in legal battle

The EU secures major legal wins against Apple and Google, upholding rulings on unfair tax benefits and market abuse, marking a significant step in its fight to regulate Big Tech dominance

China challenges dim European firms' investment appetite, says lobby group

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in the latest edition of its Position Paper

US airlines may soon face cash penalties for delayed, cancelled flights

This proposed compensation scheme would mean US airlines would have to pay a set cash payment amount to each passenger on a disrupted flight, in addition to compensation for meals and lodging

Germany's expansion of border controls testing European Union's unity

The German government says it is cracking down on irregular migration and crime following recent extremist attacks, and plans to extend temporary border controls to all nine of its frontiers next week. Last month, a deadly knife attack by a Syrian asylum-seeker in Soligen killed three people. The perpetrator claimed to be inspired by the Islamic State group. In June, a knife attack by an Afghan immigrant left a police officer dead and four other people wounded. The border closures are set to last six months and are threatening to test European unity. Most of Germany's neighbours are fellow members of the European Union, a 27-country bloc based on the principles of free trade and travel. And Germany the EU's economic motor in the heart of Europe shares more borders with other countries than any other member state. The Polish prime minister on Tuesday denounced the closures as unacceptable and Austria said it won't accept migrants rejected by Germany. Here's a look at some of the .

Apple loses European Union top court fight over $14.4 bn Irish tax bill

"It's important to show European taxpayers that once in a while, tax justice can be done," Vestager told reporters in Brussels in response to questions on her Apple win

Teva faces fine for disparaging rival multiple sclerosis medicine: Report

The EU competition enforcer's tough line underscores its concerns that such practices could stifle innovation in the pharmaceutical industry

Google loses EU court appeal against 2.4 bn euro fine in antitrust case

Google lost its final legal challenge on Tuesday against a European Union penalty for giving its own shopping recommendations an illegal advantage over rivals in search results, ending a long-running antitrust case that came with a whopping fine. The European Union's Court of Justice upheld a lower court's decision, dismissing the company's appeal against the 2.4 billion euro (USD 2.7 billion) penalty from the European Commission, the 27-nation bloc's top antitrust enforcer. The commission's original decision in 2017 accused the Silicon Valley giant of unfairly directing visitors to its own Google Shopping service to the detriment of competitors. It was one of three multibillion-euro fines that the commission imposed on Google in the previous decade as Brussels started ramping up its crackdown on the tech industry. Google made changes to comply with the commission's decision requiring it to treat competitors equally. The company started holding auctions for shopping search listings

Germany expands border controls to curb irregular migration, extremists

Germany's government ordered temporary controls at all land borders Monday, expanding checks it already has in place at some borders, saying that it was responding to irregular migration and to protect the country from extremist threats. We are strengthening our internal security through concrete action and we are continuing our tough stance against irregular migration, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said at a news conference. The ministry said that it notified the European Union on Monday of the order to set up border controls at the land borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark for a period of six months. They will begin next week on September 16. This adds to restrictions already in place on the land borders with Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland. Until we achieve strong protection of the EU's external borders with the new Common European Asylum System, we must increase controls at our national borders even more, Faeser said. She n

Mario Draghi urges policy reform, investment drive to revive lagging EU

EU countries had already responded to the new realities, Draghi's report said, but it added that their effectiveness was limited by a lack of coordination

EU buying too much defence equipment from abroad, especially US: Report

European Union countries are buying too much of their defence equipment abroad, almost two thirds of it in the US, and failing to invest enough in joint military projects, a landmark report on EU competitiveness warned on Monday. The 27 member states are also failing to make best use of Europe's research and development capacities to modernise their armed forces, with just a fraction the level of US investment, said the report by former Italian prime minister and European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi. The report comes as the EU continue to struggle to find enough weapons and ammunition to help Ukraine survive the full-scale Russian invasion, now in its third year, and to kickstart Europe's defence industry. Europe is wasting its common resources. We have large collective spending power, but we dilute it across multiple different national and EU instruments, said Draghi's report, which has been a year in the making and is likely to fuel an overhaul of the bloc's industrial ...