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Europe Daily Bulletin No. 13317

20 December 2023
Contents Publication in full By article 28 / 33
NEWS BRIEFS / Court of auditors
EU Council appoints two new auditors

19/12/2023 (Agence Europe) – The Council of the European Union appointed, on Tuesday 19 December, João Leão of Portugal and Hans Lindblad of Sweden as members of the European Court of Auditors. MEPs voted in favour of their candidacies at the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg on 12 December (see EUROPE B13312A32). With a doctorate in economics, João Leão was Secretary of State for the Budget in Portugal from 2015 to 2020, then Minister of Finance from 2020 to...

Contents

SECTORAL POLICIES
ENERGY: European energy ministers agree to extend emergency measures adopted to deal with last year’s surge in energy prices
ENERGY: financing energy efficiency – European Commission and European Energy Ministers sign joint political declaration
ENERGY: European Nuclear Alliance and Friends of Renewables set out their priorities in run-up to new European Commission
ENERGY: European Commission, France, Portugal and Spain strengthen their cooperation on cross-border energy infrastructure in south-west Europe
ENERGY/CLIMATE: European Commission presents its assessment of National Energy and Climate Plans, calling for greater efforts to achieve EU’s objectives 
CLIMATE: European certification framework for carbon removals – Teresa Ribera expects “positive conclusion” before end of European Parliament’s legislative term 
TRANSPORT: European Parliament and EU Council reach agreement on TEN-T network
MIGRATION: Spanish Presidency of EU Council and European Parliament in homestretch to try to finalise ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’ texts
JUSTICE: SIRIUS report on electronic evidence proposes a strategic roadmap to support EU authorities in face of new legislative package
DIGITAL: following France, Ireland, and Italy, Netherlands appoints its national services coordinator under DSA
ENVIRONMENT: future ‘forest monitoring’ directive, some ministerial guidelines before start of Belgian Presidency of EU Council
AGRICULTURE: Spanish Presidency of EU Council abandons idea of reaching an agreement this week at EU level on new genomic techniques
AGRICULTURE: 77 NGOs call on European Commission to maintain its proposal on pesticides
AGRICULTURE: study commissioned by European Parliament’s The Left group reveals food price speculation
RESEARCH: European Joint Undertaking EuroHPC is preparing to inaugurate its eighth supercomputer, MareNostrum5
MEDIA: Reporters Without Borders calls on Member States to “rise to challenge” of transposing ‘Anti-SLAPPs’ directive
SOCIAL AFFAIRS
SOCIAL: regulation on coordination of social security schemes, Spanish Presidency of EU Council throws in towel
EXTERNAL ACTION
UNITED STATES: EU and US agree to extend suspension of steel and aluminium tariffs
SERBIA: Josep Borrell and Olivér Várhelyi call on Belgrade to demonstrate transparency regarding potential irregularities in parliamentary elections
RWANDA: EU invests €40 million in BioNTech Africa manufacturing plant of RNA-messenger vaccines 
ECONOMY - FINANCE - BUSINESS
ECONOMY: annual inflation fell in November in euro area to 2.4% and to 3.1% in EU
STATE AID: European Commission approves Cypriot measure worth €70 million to support farmers affected by natural disasters
STATE AID: European Commission approves German aid worth €260 million to support hydrogen production and storage
NEWS BRIEFS
STATE AID: European Commission authorises German scheme worth €2.6 billion to support decarbonisation of SHS steel production
STATE AID: European Commission validates French measure to provide annual compensation of €120 million to Agence France-Presse
EESC: Isabelle Le Galo Flores appointed Secretary-General of European Economic and Social Committee
COMPETITION: following European Commission’s statement of objections, Adobe decides not to acquire Figma
COURT OF AUDITORS: EU Council appoints two new auditors
ECONOMY: European Commission receives second payment request from Lithuania and Estonia under Recovery and Resilience Facility
ECONOMY: Markus Ferber calls on European finance ministers to agree on Stability and Growth Pact reform
ENERGY: EU to invest over €65 million in 17 small-scale innovative clean tech projects
MIDDLE EAST: EU condemns attacks in Red Sea
DRC: on eve of general elections on 20 December, EU is concerned about hate speech and violence