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Europe Daily Bulletin No. 12234

12 April 2019
Contents Publication in full By article 23 / 33
EXTERNAL ACTION / Development
EU's level of official aid decreased in 2018, but its aid to the least developed countries increased
Brussels, 11/04/2019 (Agence Europe)

With €74.4 billion in 2018, EU Official Development Assistance (ODA) fell by 1.9% compared to 2017, according to preliminary OECD data (see EUROPE B12233A17), but the European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Neven Mimica, chose on Thursday 11 April to look at the glass half full, while NGOs were alarmed by this decline. 

The fact that the EU maintains its position as the world's largest donor (56.5% of the total, or 0.47% of the combined GNI of Member...

Contents

INSTITUTIONAL
UNITED KINGDOM: for Commission, new extension granted in London will allow EU to mark a “pause” in Brexit
ROMANIA: controversy over Laura Codruţa Kövesi triggers new debate in European Parliament on rule of law in Romania
BUDGET: European Parliament's Committee on Budgets supports emergency measures for 2019 in case of no-deal Brexit
TRANSPARENCY: no decision yet on removal of ExxonMobil access badges to Parliament
COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EU
CONSUMERS: a passenger may bring an action before Court of a State in which a branch of an airline is established when that branch has intervened in legal relationship between airline and passenger
EMPLOYMENT: under certain conditions, a State may provide fixed reference periods for calculation of average weekly working time
POLAND: according to Advocate General, provisions of legislation lowering retirement age of Supreme Court judges are contrary to Union law
INDUSTRY: Prague's action for annulment against Firearms Directive should be dismissed, according to Advocate General
SECTORAL POLICIES
AGRICULTURE: EU ministers to discuss post-2020 CAP, rural Africa, markets and large carnivores on Monday 15 April
COHESION: ministers meet in Bucharest to discuss priority investments under post-2020 cohesion policy
HEALTH: access to medicines back on agenda of an informal meeting of EU ministers
CULTURE: informal ministerial meeting to unleash potential of creation
JUSTICE: Member States returning to issue of telecom data retention for law enforcement purposes
JUSTICE: discussions in Council of the EU to improve use of mutual recognition instruments for judicial decisions
TRANSPORT: Violeta Bulc hopes that inter-institutional negotiations on ‘mobility’ package I will start in July
FISHERIES: many fish stocks remain overexploited, says EU Scientific Committee
FISHERIES: call for an immediate halt to cod fishing in Eastern Baltic
CONSUMERS: Marc Tarabella asks Commission to investigate Facebook spying on users after they deleted their accounts
EXTERNAL ACTION
UNITED STATES: trade negotiation mandates validated by Member States despite opposition of France
TRADE: EU to take advantage of postponement of the Brexit to solve quota problem
TRADE: Far East, Mrs Malmström defends multilateral rules
LIBYA: France denies blocking an EU statement attacking Haftar
DEVELOPMENT: EU's level of official aid decreased in 2018, but its aid to the least developed countries increased
SOCIAL AFFAIRS
SOCIAL: outlook for revision of coordination of social security systems looking bleaker
COUNCIL OF EUROPE
COUNCIL OF EUROPE: Belgian Didier Reynders, favourite for succession of Thorbjorn Jagland, presented his vision of CoE's future
NEWS BRIEFS
AGRICULTURE: Commission approves two new protected designations of origin from Croatia and Spain
AGRICULTURE: new record in January 2019 for EU agri-food trade
COMPETITION: European citizens have a positive image of competition policy, according to a Eurobarometer survey
CYBER SECURITY: Huawei tries again to reassure Europeans
EDUCATION: new picture for vocational education and training systems in Europe
MIDDLE EAST: EU once again denounces Israel’s new settlement announcement
UNITED KINGDOM: for Committee of the Regions, extension of Brexit should not prevent an agreement on future EU budget
SUDAN: EU is closely monitoring situation and reiterates its call for a peaceful and credible political process