Banca March: The European Union is about to confirm that it is raising its renewable energy consumption target from 22% to 42.5% by 2030, a commitment that is expected to boost investment in clean generation sources. The agreement, which updates the current legal target of 32%, is based on a political negotiation concluded in the spring and although it is not yet final, as it will also have to be…
Banca March : According to press reports, a provisional draft is circulating that suggests Brussels is backtracking on plans to ban asset managers and insurers from paying financial advisers for recommending their investment products. The aim of the ban was, according to Brussels, to eliminate any conflict of interest and to improve the outcome for the end-investor but it now appears that the measure will not be implemented, limiting the…
Banca March : The new tool called Aggregate EU started its work yesterday and will receive 12-month demand forecasts from June onwards from the different European gas suppliers that wish to participate. From 3 May, these will be aggregated and studied to provide a joint demand proposal that will be launched to the market in search of bids. Finally, on 17 May, the supply and demand matches will be published,…
Banca March : Negotiators from the European Parliament and the Council reached an agreement on Tuesday to approve the European Chip Act, which will aim to mobilise €43 billion of investment to double the weight of the European Union in the world production of this component. The agreement also broadens the type of facilities to be funded to include not only state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities but also those producing semiconductor manufacturing…
Banco Sabadell: According to press reports, the EU plans to respond to the US $369 billion (€340 billion) Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) by relaxing state aid rules on tax credits for green investments. A portion of the €800 billion NGEU fund could also be directed towards tax credits. By relaxing restrictions on tax credits, the EC seeks to emulate one of the advantages of the IRA, simplicity of access. The…
Santander | Calls are growing for a European fiscal programme. Financed by joint SURE-style emissions guaranteed by member states. In this case, to combat the energy and security crisis as proposed in their open letter by EC Commissioners for Economy and Home Affairs Gentiloni and Breton last Monday. Yesterday it was the turn of Von der Leyen, who called for the EU to seek other sources of funding to accelerate…
U.S. chip giant Intel has announced an initial investment of more than 33 billion euros, rising to 80 billion over the decade, to boost microprocessor production in the European Union, including setting up a mega-factory in Germany, as well as doubling the capacity of its facilities in Ireland, along with other projects in Italy, France, Poland and Spain. This first phase includes the construction of two semiconductor factories in the…
It’s usually China, Japan and the US that come to mind first when the issue of overfishing is brought up, but what’s often overlooked is the fact that the EU has to take a big part of the blame as well. Brussels may not be sending fishing fleets across the oceans, but many of the bloc’s environmental policies have serious unintended effects in the world’s far-flung regions.
European Views | A foreign policy instrument explicitly designed to counter the BRI, the GG diametrically opposed to China’s investment approach by seeking to “create links and not dependencies”, in the words of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. The GG’s launch comes at a time when the EU is feeling the adverse effects of BRI-induced encroachment within its own borders and wider neighbourhood. Several EU countries, such as Italy, Greece and Bulgaria, have controversially signed up to the project.
European Views | The way the EU appears on the world stage, where it all too often seems weak, uncoordinated and overly moralising in its approach to world affairs. Germany’s long-time chancellor Merkel has played a key role in this. Throughout 16 years, Berlin has helped transform the EU into an ineffective paper tiger that styles itself as a superpower, yet that is frequently proving unable to deal effectively with hard geopolitical questions – from securing its borders to dealing with China. What is really needed is a new approach to EU foreign policy, especially at a time when German voters’ interest in foreign policy and EU affairs is at its lowest in years.