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Europe Daily Bulletin No. 12648

2 February 2021
Contents Publication in full By article 22 / 29
SECTORAL POLICIES / Environment
Brussels government convicted by General Court of breaching EU air pollution law
Brussels, 01/02/2021 (Agence Europe)

The Brussels regional government has breached European Union law by failing to properly monitor and protect the health of its citizens from harmful levels of air pollution; on 29 January, the Brussels General Court ruled that it must remedy this, and in doing so, closed a lawsuit brought in 2016 by ClientEarth and five Brussels residents (see EUROPE B12283A22). 

The General Court has confirmed that there are currently no official monitoring points along the main roads in the...

Contents

EU RESPONSE TO COVID-19
HEALTH: European Commission welcomes industry’s efforts to speed up delivery of Covid-19 vaccines
HOME AFFAIRS: EU27 agree to tougher EU entry conditions for non-Member State travellers
HOME AFFAIRS: Europol warns against appearance of fraudulent Covid-19 test certificates
EXTERNAL ACTION
MYANMAR: Europeans condemn coup
RUSSIA: Borrell deplores “disproportionate” use of force during peaceful demonstrations
AFGHANISTAN: international community denounces continuation of acts of violence against civilians
DEVELOPMENT: MEPs encourage UK to remain major player in aid to developing countries
JAPAN: Tokyo and EU agree on new trade preferences in free trade agreement
CANADA: outline of dispute settlement mechanism between investors and State party to CETA specified
UNITED KINGDOM: export of Covid-19 vaccines, European Commission admits a “mistake” on Northern Ireland issue 
ECONOMY - FINANCE - BUSINESS
FINANCE/TAXATION: European Parliament Economic Affairs Committee wants strong UK commitment against tax dumping
ECONOMY: João Leão calls for a package of national recovery plans to be adopted by EU Council 
ECONOMY: unemployment rate unchanged at 8.3% in eurozone at end of 2020
BANKS: launch of bank stress tests for 2021
SECTORAL POLICIES
REGIONS: EU Recovery Plan must not go against principles of cohesion policy, according to Frédéric Vallier
COHESION: Portuguese EU Council Presidency wants to move as quickly as possible on post-2020 cohesion policy
ANIMAL HEALTH: MEPs call for more controls and sanctions to compensate for poor animal transport conditions
TRANSPORT: European Parliament committee recommends ratification of agreement on future relationship between EU and United Kingdom
INTERNAL MARKET: SMET Task Force addresses issue of posted workers
ENERGY: European Commission study highlights need to improve data on woody biomass
ENVIRONMENT: NGOs call on Commission to make Industrial Emissions Directive live up to climate and European Green Deal
ENVIRONMENT: Brussels government convicted by General Court of breaching EU air pollution law
NEWS BRIEFS
BULGARIA: OLAF recommends recovery of €6 million due to alleged abuse of power within Bulgarian Ministry of Interior
ENERGY: Paris reiterates its call to abandon Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project
TAXATION: Commission consults on revision of rules for cross-border alcohol and tobacco purchases
TAXATION: Lyudmila Petkova reappointed head of Code of Conduct group in EU Council
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: after Council of Europe plenary session in Strasbourg, Collectivité européenne d'Alsace calls on European Parliament to “do likewise”
UNITED KINGDOM: London formally requests to join trans-Pacific partnership
Kiosk
Kiosk: No. 030