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Europe Daily Bulletin No. 13494

2 October 2024
Contents Publication in full By article 25 / 36
COUNCIL OF EUROPE / Justice
At Council of Europe hearing, Julian Assange denounces “chilled climate for freedom of expression that exists now”
Strasbourg, 01/10/2024 (Agence Europe)

Freed last June under a “plea deal” with the US Department of Justice, Julian Assange made his first public appearance at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where he was heard by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on the morning of Tuesday 1 October.

Clearly very tired, the WikiLeaks founder was accompanied by his wife, Stella, and one of his oldest travelling companions, Icelandic investigative journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson, now editor-in-chief of...

Contents

EXTERNAL ACTION
Interview DEVELOPMENT: “There’s a concept that we need to bring into the EU’s development policy”, says Barry Andrews
TRADE: regulation against foreign subsidies—MEPs question effectiveness of thresholds
SECURITY - DEFENCE - SPACE
NATO: Mark Rutte takes helm of Atlantic Alliance
SECTORAL POLICIES
MIGRATION: Hungarian Presidency of EU Council will test with Member States feasibility of ‘hubs for returns’ in third countries
HOME AFFAIRS: new European Union Drugs Agency must be able to serve Member States even better, says its director
TRANSPORT: passenger rights, Hungarian Presidency of EU Council proposes three solutions for concept of ‘carrier’
ENERGY: Energy Ministers to discuss high electricity prices in south-east Europe this summer
ENERGY: EU wants to contribute to Uruguay’s efforts to become “leading” green hydrogen producer
FISHERIES: European Commission gains results at NAFO meeting
FISHERIES: European Commission praises merits of ‘North Sea and Western Waters’ management plans
SEA: 138 NGOs call on EU to protect health of oceans and ban destructive fishing activities
DIGITAL: TikTok goes to Court of Justice of EU to have decision designating it as ‘gatekeeper’ under DMA annulled
COMPETITIVENESS: for CEA-PME, portfolios of European Commissioners are not sufficiently focused on competitiveness
INSTITUTIONAL
EUROPEAN COMMISSION: European Parliament’s main political body invited to hold hearings with European Commissioners-designate in early November
FUTURE OF EU: “Let’s take care of Europe; it’s necessary”, says Michel Barnier
BUDGET: MEPs want to reject discharge for management of EU budget by European Council and EU Council for financial year 2022
ECONOMY - FINANCE - BUSINESS
ECONOMY: InvestEU programme is victim of its own success
FINANCE: ESMA commits to using all tools at its disposal “to further harmonise supervisory approaches and practices” in 2025
SOCIAL AFFAIRS - EMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT: 1,000 essential workers keep up pressure on Ursula von der Leyen to get EU to revise public procurement directive
SOCIAL/EMPLOYMENT: thirteen European employers’ organisations create European Employers’ Institute to inform future employment and social policies
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS - SOCIETAL ISSUES
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS: transparency of third country lobbying, MEPs call for vigilance and insist on protection for civil society organisations
GENDER EQUALITY: according to Edit Bauer and Niall Crowley, education and data collection are two essential tools in fight against violence within EU
WOMEN’S RIGHTS: European Women’s Lobby calls for coordinated political response in EU to growing number of forms of cyber-violence
EDUCATION - YOUTH - CULTURE - SPORT
EYCS/RESEARCH: Iliana Ivanova met representatives of Western Balkans to deepen their cooperation with EU
COUNCIL OF EUROPE
JUSTICE: at Council of Europe hearing, Julian Assange denounces “chilled climate for freedom of expression that exists now”
NEWS BRIEFS
FOREIGN AFFAIRS: MEPS elect 13 of 45 parliamentary delegation chairs
SAUDI ARABIA: EU concerned by sharp rise in executions
CUSTOMS: Croatia adopts centralised import customs clearance system
ECONOMY: euro area inflation estimated at 1.8% in September
COMPETITION: European Commission authorises Exyte’s acquisition of Kinetics
ENERGY: Eurostat records five-year improvement in energy efficiency in EU homes
ENVIRONMENT: France is not complying with European law by authorising trawling in Mediterranean Sea, according to NGOs Bloom and ClientEarth
SPACE: EU wants to improve use of space data
COMPANIES: EFRAG and TISFD sign cooperation agreement to advance social-related financial disclosures
CIVIL PROTECTION: EU activates its civil protection mechanism in Greece, where forest fires rage
CSDP: Prokopios Charitos, new commander of EunavforMed Irini force