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Europe Daily Bulletin No. 13542
Contents Publication in full By article 13 / 34
SECTORAL POLICIES / Digital

EU launches first “AI Factories” to accelerate innovation and development in Europe

On Tuesday 10 December, the European Commission announced that it had selected the first seven sites to host its first “AI Factories”, an initiative designed to boost Europe’s capacity to develop and train AI models.

These factories, hosted at research and technology centres in seven European countries (Spain, Italy, Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden, Germany and Greece), represent an investment of €1.5 billion, funded in equal parts by the EU and the participating countries.

These “AI...

Contents

ECONOMY - FINANCE - BUSINESS
TAXATION: disagreement between EU Member States on energy taxation persists
TAXATION: political agreement in EU Council on electronic value added tax exemption certificate
TAXATION: EU Council adopts new rules for withholding tax procedures
ECONOMY: Eurogroup recommends a “slightly contractionary” fiscal stance for 2025 in euro area
STATE AID: de minimis aid ceiling for agriculture raised from €25,000 to €50,000 over three years  
SECTORAL POLICIES
AGRICULTURE: European Commission proposes to strengthen farmers’ position in food supply chain
AGRICULTURE: several EU countries hope an agreement will soon be reached on rules governing use of new genomic techniques
PLANTS: proposal on plant reproductive material stumbles at EU Council over issue of controls 
ENVIRONMENT: at European Parliament, MEPs’ amendments to ‘one substance-one assessment’ package swing between simplification and protection 
ENVIRONMENT: green NGOs receiving LIFE grants should not lobby European institutions, says Piotr Serafin
ENERGY: at dawn of “age of electricity”, role of nuclear energy must be recognised in Europe, according to Fatih Birol
CLIMATE/ENERGY: at Committee of the Regions, Polish Presidency of EU Council wants to guarantee green transition, with emphasis on energy security
DIGITAL: EU launches first “AI Factories” to accelerate innovation and development in Europe
MIGRATION: Amnesty International calls on EU countries not to plunge Syrian refugees and asylum seekers into “further insecurity”
EXTERNAL ACTION
SYRIA: international community must send same message to new Syrian authorities, says Kaja Kallas
MOLDOVA: European Parliament expected to vote on €1.8 billion Facility in early 2025
GEORGIA : EU deplores crackdown on protesters
CHINA: EU delegation concerned about persistent human rights violations
HUMAN RIGHTS: Kajas Kallas reaffirms EU’s determination to be party to European Convention on Human Rights
MERCOSUR: European Commission publishes texts of EU/Mercosur agreement
Russian invasion of Ukraine
UKRAINE: “Russia must not prevail”, European Council expected to warn
INSTITUTIONAL
POLAND25EU: for first half of 2025, Polish Council Presidency unveils its programme and visual identity
SOCIAL AFFAIRS - EMPLOYMENT
EMPLOYMENT: literacy and numeracy skills of adults in Europe have stagnated or even declined over last decade, according to OECD 
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS - SOCIETAL ISSUES
WOMEN’S RIGHTS: “if civil society, progressive elected representatives and activists get organised, we can win against far right”, says Mélissa Camara
NEWS BRIEFS
PATENTS: strong growth in patents for use of artificial intelligence in electricity grids
EUROPEAN COMMISSION: European Commissioners will meet by political family before each weekly meeting of College
ECONOMY: imminent disbursement of €50 million tranche of macrofinancial assistance to Moldova
ECONOMY: EU Council adopts revised post-Covid-19 recovery plans for four Member States
ENVIRONMENT: new rules on classification, labelling and packaging of chemicals come into force
ENVIRONMENT: European waters are polluted by PFAS in excess of admissible thresholds, according to European Environment Agency 
DIGITAL: European regulation on cyber resilience officially comes into force
DRC: EU Council renews EU sanctions linked to support for armed conflict
SUDAN: two Sudanese paramilitary leaders added to EU sanctions list
Kiosk
KIOSK: No. 119