login
login

Europe Daily Bulletin No. 13486

20 September 2024
Contents Publication in full By article 7 / 34
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PLENARY / State aid
Widespread approval in European Parliament for EU Court of Justice judgment condemning Ireland for granting illegal aid to Apple
Brussels, 19/09/2024 (Agence Europe)

On Thursday 19 September, in Strasbourg, MEPs of all political stripes – from left and right groups, pro-European and Europhobic – welcomed the recent judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union upholding the European Commission’s decision to require Ireland to recover €13 billion from Apple, to which it had granted illegal state aid (see EUROPE B13479A1).

Gabriele Bischoff (S&D, German), for example, described the ruling as “historic”, as it will strengthen public...

Contents

Russian invasion of Ukraine
ENERGY: European Commission releases €160 million to support Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as winter approaches
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT PLENARY
UKRAINE: MEPs support lifting of restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Western weapons on Russian territory
CIVIL PROTECTION: European Parliament adopts resolution aimed at improving responses to extreme disasters in Europe and anticipating proliferation
AGRICULTURE: EU farmers are largely powerless to cope with effects of natural disasters, say MEPs
JUSTICE: Paul Watson case, Stella Kyriakides notes EU’s responsibility to protect environmentalists and acknowledges shortcomings
BUDGET: disagreeing with EU Council’s position on 2025 budget, European Parliament considers it impossible to ignore ‘Draghi’ report
STATE AID: widespread approval in European Parliament for EU Court of Justice judgment condemning Ireland for granting illegal aid to Apple
VENEZUELA: European Parliament recognises Edmundo González as Venezuela’s rightful president
CUBA: European Parliament calls for suspension of EU/Cuba agreement due to persistent human rights violations on Caribbean island
AFGHANISTAN: European Parliament denounces deteriorating situation of women and girls in Afghanistan
BELARUS: European Parliament once again calls for release of all political prisoners
SPACE: launch of Galileo satellites, Parliament gives go-ahead to EU-US security agreement
PRESENTATION OF THE ‘VON DER LEYEN II’ COMMISSION
AGRICULTURE/FISHERIES: Christophe Hansen for Agriculture and Costas Kadis for Fisheries, two Commissioners with requisite qualities
BUDGET: European Commissioner-designate for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Public Administration, Piotr Serafin to focus on investment
SECTORAL POLICIES
COHESION: European Commission takes exceptional measures to help EU countries affected by storm Boris
ENVIRONMENT: use of persistent pollutant PFHxA soon to be banned in EU in certain everyday applications
DIGITAL: European Commission publishes guidelines on competition in field of generative AI
ENERGY: global share of “clean” hydrogen projects in Europe has fallen from 55% to 40% in four years, according to Hydrogen Council
FISHERIES: EU and Guinea-Bissau sign new sustainable fisheries agreement
EXTERNAL ACTION
MIDDLE EAST: Josep Borrell stresses “great significance” of UNGA’s adoption of a Resolution on ending Israeli occupation of Palestine
WESTERN BALKANS: leaders of all six countries review progress on growth plan with President of European Commission
UNITED KINGDOM: Gibraltar – discussions continue in Brussels to reach an agreement satisfactory to all parties
ACP: European Commission awaiting recovery of funds by the Brussels Secretariat of OACPS
CHINA: still no agreement between EU and Beijing to avoid tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles
ECONOMY - FINANCE - BUSINESS
COMPETITION: interoperability obligations and ‘DMA’, European Commission launches two ‘specification procedures’ for Apple
STATE AID: green light for €2.7 billion in Austrian aid to support decarbonisation of industrial production processes
COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EU
INSURANCE: Court of Justice of European Union rules that insurance company cannot refuse to compensate victim, even in event of false declaration
COMPETITION: Court of Justice of EU interprets price parity clauses applied by accommodation reservation platforms
NEWS BRIEFS
HUMAN RIGHTS: PfE group nominates Elon Musk for 2024 Sakharov Prize
FINANCE: “pensions bomb”, a priority for new European Commissioner for Financial Services, Maria Luís Albuquerque, according to Better Finance
INDUSTRY: ACEA maintains pressure on emergency measures to support CO2 emissions reduction target
MIGRATION: following Netherlands, Hungary announces it, too, will withdraw from European asylum and migration policies during revision of treaties
DIGITAL: conservatives in European Parliament concerned about EU’s “censorship” of certain social networks
FISHERIES: Spain challenges proposed level of anchovy quotas in Iberian waters