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Europe Daily Bulletin No. 12689

31 March 2021
Contents Publication in full By article 22 / 29
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS - SOCIETAL ISSUES / Media
European Commission starts work on proposal to protect journalists from “SLAPPs”
Brussels, 30/03/2021 (Agence Europe)

The Action Plan for Democracy, presented last December (see EUROPE B12615A1) by the European Commission’s Vice-President for Values and Transparency, Věra Jourová, demonstrated an awareness within the institution of the proliferation of SLAPPs in the EU.

‘Strategic lawsuits against public participation’ - or ‘SLAPPs’ - refer to legal actions taken against individuals, especially journalists, with the aim of silencing them.

Jourová confirmed on Friday 26 March that a Commission...

Contents

BEACONS
Beacons: A fairly disappointing start to the year
EU RESPONSE TO COVID-19
HOME AFFAIRS: EU Council to seek political agreement on Digital Green Certificates on 14 April
HEALTH: several EU leaders support international pandemic treaty 
HEALTH: European Commission confident that 80% of population at risk can be vaccinated
SOCIAL: European Commission proposes to increase SURE support to six Member States
STATE AID: green light given to €400 million Dutch loans for package tour companies
TRANSPARENCY: European Ombudsman calls on EU Council to improve transparency of its remote decision-making process
EXTERNAL ACTION
SYRIA: EU and international community pledge increased support for resilience of Syrian population and neighbouring countries
CHINA: European Commission imposes additional tariffs on Chinese aluminium 
MERCOSUR: European Commission publishes final report of sustainability impact assessment for agreement and its position paper 
SECURITY - DEFENCE
CSDP: Civcom supports extension of EUBAM Libya’s mandate, subject to conditions
INSTITUTIONAL
BUDGET: EU Council prepares to intervene to defend Rule of law Regulation in Court of Justice
SECTORAL POLICIES
CLIMATE: Portuguese Presidency of EU Council proposes first draft conclusions on adaptation to climate change
CLIMATE: five Member States call on EU to keep existing rules for setting national emission reduction targets
TRANSPORT: transfer of freight from road to rail is emerging as one of Member States’ priorities for coming years
CUSTOMS: customs controls still need to be harmonised, says European Court of Auditors
JUSTICE: towards adequacy decision between EU and South Korea on transfer of personal data
AGRICULTURE: short-term outlook for EU agricultural markets is rather good 
ENERGY: according to Ember, growth in renewables has been accompanied by record fall in coal in 2020
ENVIRONMENT: citizens are highly exposed to harmful pesticides authorised by EMA as veterinary products, according to PAN Europe
ECONOMY - FINANCE - BUSINESS
COMPETITION: European Commission to investigate possible anticompetitive behaviour of EPEX Spot power exchange
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS - SOCIETAL ISSUES
MEDIA: European Commission starts work on proposal to protect journalists from “SLAPPs”
COUNCIL OF EUROPE
MEDIA: Dunja Mijatović says Hungary must immediately restore media freedom and protect journalists
NEWS BRIEFS
FUTURE OF EU: Viktor Orbán, Matteo Salvini, and Mateusz Morawiecki to hold talks on creating a new European political alliance
CLIMATE: European Commission and IEA launch joint call to world’s major economies to become climate neutral
FINANCE: ESMA fines credit rating agency Moody’s €3.7 million
SOCIAL: number of high-quality jobs is not increasing sufficiently, according to ETUC
SOCIAL: EPSU launches campaign to include dangerous drugs in carcinogens and mutagens directive
ERRATUM
HEALTH: 88 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine delivered in EU