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Europe Daily Bulletin No. 12658

16 February 2021
Contents Publication in full By article 18 / 28
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS - SOCIETAL ISSUES / Media
Voices are raised in European Parliament to condemn “attacks on media pluralism” in Poland and Hungary
Brussels, 15/02/2021 (Agence Europe)

More than 80 MEPs, mainly from the Renew Europe group, sent a letter to the European Commission on Friday 12 February denouncing both the Polish government’s proposed tax on media advertising revenue and the suspension in Hungary of the broadcasting licence of the independent radio station Klubrádió (see EUROPE B12655A26).

These decisions “are nothing more than attacks on media pluralism, which we strongly condemn”, write the MEPs, stressing the “disastrous” state of the media...

Contents

ECONOMY - FINANCE - BUSINESS
TAXATION: Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council relaunches EU-27 discussions on design of FTT
ECONOMY: Eurogroup launches debate on evolution of support for economy
SECTORAL POLICIES
INDUSTRY/SPACE: European Commission to launch project on space traffic management
INDUSTRY: Paris and Berlin set to make new proposals on the industrial strategy
SPACE: Bruno Le Maire announces presentation in June of a roadmap on launchers with Italy and Germany
ENERGY: after France and Luxembourg, Spain tackles Energy Charter Treaty
JUSTICE: processing of health data remains highly fragmented in EU27, despite GDPR regulation
SECURITY - DEFENCE
NATO: future of Alliance, missions in Afghanistan and Iraq and spending are on agenda of Defence Ministers’ meeting
EXTERNAL ACTION
WTO: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala officially appointed Director General
KOSOVO: EU looks forward to formation of new executive and legislative bodies
MYANMAR: international community calls on Myanmar security forces to exercise restraint
EU RESPONSE TO COVID-19
HOME AFFAIRS: Commission to remind Member States of its opposition to EU internal border control measures
HEALTH: ECDC supports use of medical and non-medical masks against Covid-19, but stresses lack of data
HEALTH: Covid-19, ECDC insists that virus variants call for utmost caution
HEALTH: OLAF investigates smuggling of Covid-19 vaccines
DEVELOPMENT: ‘G7 Finance’ aims to define support to vulnerable countries for post-Covid-19 recovery in 2021
FINANCE: EU Council adopts two of four capital market stimulus measures
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS - SOCIETAL ISSUES
MEDIA: voices are raised in European Parliament to condemn “attacks on media pluralism” in Poland and Hungary
NEWS BRIEFS
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: Borrell welcomes appointment of Karim Khan as head of International Criminal Court
TRADE: China became EU’s biggest trading partner in 2020
ENERGY: Russian gas exports to Europe fell by 12% in 2020, according to Gazprom
TAXATION: uncertainty about European ‘black’ list of tax havens on eve of Ecofin Council meeting
INDUSTRY: European Commission consults on type-approval of motor vehicles
JUSTICE: European Public Prosecutor’s Office and Eurojust sign working agreement
SOCIAL: Coordination of social security systems, Portuguese Presidency of EU Council is expected to survey Member States on Wednesday 24 February
TRANSPORT: EU Council formally adopts emergency measures on airport slots as well as certificates and authorisations
TRANSPORT: airports have suffered more from health crisis in EU than in non-Member States, analysis from ACI
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