EU Coronavirus - Vaccine: EU puts faith in Pfizer jab with plan for 1.8 billion doses - "Too little, too late" ??

The EU has announced plans to buy 1.8 billion doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine through 2023. The bloc is also bringing forward shorter-term Pfizer deliveries after suspending orders for the Johnson & Johnson.

On Wednesday, European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said the EU planned to order 1.8 billion doses of the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine by 2023.

Von der Leyen said Brussels had full confidence in the technology behind the Pfizer vaccine. The manufacturing process used for the Pfizer product — dependent on mRNA — is different then the one behind the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab, which uses a cold virus to transport a segment of the coronavirus to the recipients' cells.

Read more at: EU puts faith in Pfizer jab with plan for 1.8 billion doses | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 14.04.2021

Coronavirus - EU: Frustration at EU summit on slow vaccination - by Eszter Zalan

A sluggish start to the vaccine roll-out has cast a long shadow on the online meeting of EU leaders, who on Thursday (25 March) discussed the bloc's vaccine strategy.

There has been a muted backing for the EU Commission's plans to tighten export rules, as the bloc wants to make sure pharmaceutical companies, particularly AstraZeneca, deliver on their EU contracts before exporting.

Leaders also resisted Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz's efforts to redistribute vaccines at the summit, which Kurz argued had been unevenly spread among member states.

Read more at: Frustration at EU summit on slow vaccination

EU Commission: Sinkevicius: ‘There can be no return to business as usual’ after the pandemic – by Alexandra Brzozowsk

There can be no return to business as usual after the pandemic and no amount of economic pressure should force us to compromise on people’s health and the health of our planet, Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius said in an interview about the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and young people’s demands for a greener future.

He spoke to EURACTIV ahead of ViacomCBS and EU40’s ‘BEYOND 2020 – Global Youth: voices and futures!’’ virtual summit.

Read complete report at: Sinkevicius: ‘There can be no return to business as usual’ after the pandemic – EURACTIV.com

European Commission Report - Economy: Recovery plan for Europe - the largest ever

The EU’s long-term budget, coupled with the NextGenerationEU initiative, which is a temporary instrument designed to boost the recovery, will be the largest stimulus package ever financed through the EU budget. A total of €1.8 trillion will help rebuild a post-COVID-19 Europe. It will be a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe.

The new long-term budget will increase flexibility mechanisms to guarantee it has the capacity to address unforeseen needs. It is a budget fit not only for today's realities but also for tomorrow's uncertainties.

On 10 November 2020, an agreement was reached between the European Parliament and EU countries in the Council on the next long-term EU budget and NextGenerationEU. This agreement will reinforce specific programmes under the long-term budget for 2021-2027 by a total of €15 billion.

Read more at: Recovery plan for Europe | European Commission

EU - Opinion on Hungary and Poland: The E.U. Puts Its Foot Down on the Rule of Law - editorial board

After years of passively watching nationalist governments in Hungary and Poland undermine democratic rule, the European Union finally drew the line this year and declared that disbursements from the E.U. budget and a special coronavirus relief fund would be contingent on each member’s adherence to the rule of law. Hungary and Poland have shamelessly retaliated by threatening to veto the Union’s next seven-year budget, emergency funds and all, unless the condition is scrapped.

The governments in Budapest and Warsaw couched their defiance with their usual plaints that the bloc was behaving like their former Soviet overlords. “This is not why we created the European Union, so that there would be a second Soviet Union,” declared Viktor Orban, the proudly illiberal prime minister of Hungary. But such posturing has long been discredited, especially as both right-wing governments have happily reaped huge subsidies from the European Union.

The cynical reactions of Mr. Orban and the right-wing Law and Justice government in Warsaw demonstrated how far they have strayed from the fundamental principles they signed on to when they joined the European Union. They make no bones about it: Hungarian and Polish officials recently met to set up a joint institute to combat the “suppression of opinions by liberal ideology.”

Mr. Orban in particular has systematically worked to curtail the independence of the judiciary, bring the press to heel and curb civil society. With Fidesz, his nationalist party, in full control of Parliament, he took advantage of the coronavirus pandemic in March to assume broad and open-ended emergency powers that effectively allow him to rule by decree for as long as he wants.

Note EU-Digest: "Hungary and Poland want all the benefits of the EU, but do not want to comply with the rules - it's hight time for the EU Commission to give them an ultimatum- live up to the rules of the EU or lose your membership"

Read more at: Opinion | The E.U. Puts Its Foot Down on the Rule of Law - The New York Times

EU: Coronavirus -Remdesivir: Commission signs a joint procurement contract with Gilead for the supply of Remdesivir

 The Commission has signed a joint procurement framework contract with the pharmaceutical company Gilead for the supply of up to 500,000 treatment courses of Veklury, the brand name for Remdesivir, and the opportunity to increase supply beyond the 500,000 treatment courses. There are  36 signatories of the Joint Procurement Agreement participating in this joint procurement, including all EU countries, the EEA countries of Norway and Iceland*, the UK, as well as six candidate countries and potential candidates (Albania, the Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo** and Bosnia and Herzegovina). All participating countries can now place their orders to procure Veklury directly. Veklury is at this stage the only medicine with a conditional marketing authorisation in the EU for the treatment of COVID-19 patients needing oxygen supply.

Read more at: Coronavirus: Remdesivir

Overcoming the lockdown: EU looks to apps as way of easing virus lockdown

As the EU's economy reels from virus lockdowns, Brussels unveiled a proposed roadmap Wednesday to ease restrictions on life and businesses, relying in large part on smartphone tracking apps.

That technology aims to spot localized COVID-19 outbreaks in real-time. Already many individual European governments are on the verge of rolling out their own tracking apps.

But the European Commission is concerned those go-it-alone initiatives will provide incompatible data sets, useless for compiling a whole picture across the single market where people and goods are meant to move freely.

It is also worried these apps could fall foul of strong EU data privacy rules and Europeans' deep-seated wariness of technological prying.

"The aim is to get the single market back on track so that it can work properly," Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen told a videolink news conference as she unveiled the 16-page roadmap to phasing out lockdowns that have brought life to a standstill in many countries.

The document puts data collection and contact tracing at the top of its recommended measures, above expanding testing, reinforcing healthcare systems and providing more protective gear.

But it said the use of any apps should be "voluntary" and comply with personal data protection rules.

"Tracing close proximity between mobile devices should be allowed only on an anonymous and aggregated basis, without any tracking of citizens, and names of possibly infected persons should not be disclosed to other users," it said.

An EU official giving more details to journalists later called such apps "very useful to prevent localized flare-ups" of the virus.
 
But, he warned, "they will only work if citizens have full trust in those apps -- this is very important to stress"

Note EU-Digest: It is a good idea - and don't worry about your privacy on the internet, that has already been gone several year ago re: GPS, Bank Cards, Credit Cards, Phone cards etc., which carry just about all your private information.

Read more at: EU looks to apps as way of easing virus lockdown | News , World | THE DAILY STAR

EU Commission: A new team to defend Europe’s economic sovereignty – by Jorge Valero

Achieving a “more assertive” Europe that can improve its competitiveness and sovereignty in an increasingly hostile world.

These are the main guidelines of President-elect Ursula von der Leyen to the new College of Commissioners, unveiled on Tuesday (10 September).

Europe is losing ground in the digital race that is reshaping the economy and society at large. China is now considered a “systemic rival”, while the US is no longer a reliable partner since the election of Donald Trump, with preparations underway in Washington to step up the trade war against Europe. 

According to Ursula von der Leyen, this is why the protection of Europe’s sovereignty – and its economic might – has to be top of the agenda for her new team of commissioners.

 Read more: A new team to defend Europe’s economic sovereignty – EURACTIV.com

Support EU-Digest, which has reported the news without any political affiliation since 2004, and opposes those who seek to discredit and even destroy news organizations who believe in the right of a free Press. You can do that by investing in an advertisement in EU-Digest, or by giving a donation to keep our efforts going : to donate or advertise and pay by credit card, click on: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/hermes?token=8BP18304C1657151J&useraction=commit&mfid=1567106786154_8591ae1288ebf  

EU-US Hormone Free Beef Deal: Trump: "US will sell more ′great American beef′ to EU"

Flanked by farmers, Trump announced a trade "breakthrough" with the EU on boosting beef exports.

With many in Europe concerned about the quality of US meat products, EU officials emphasized the beef is "hormone free." 

Note Insure Digest: Let's hope so......

Read more: Trump: US will sell more ′great American beef′ to EU | News | DW | 02.08.2019

The Digest Group
Almere-Digest
EU-Digest
Insure-Digest 
Turkish-Digest 

For additional information, including advertising rates - e-mail:Freeplanet@protonmail.com 

The new EU Leadership Team: Who are the EU's new leaders? - by Koert Debeuf

 The new EU Leadership team is starting to come in place.

For the complete report click here: Who are the EU's new leaders?

The Digest Group                   
Almere-Digest
EU-Digst
Insure-Digest 
Turkish-Digest 

For additional information, including advertising rates - e-mail: Freeplanet@protonmail.com

EU Budget for 2020: Climate becomes top priority in EU’s 2020 budget – by Antoine Germain

The European Commission proposed on Wednesday (5 June) a budget worth €168.3 billion for the bloc in 2020, aimed at promoting a more competitive European economy and solidarity and security in the EU.

This is the last budget under the 2014-2020 fiscal period and put climate change at the top of the agenda.

As much as 21% of the proposed budget will be devoted to climate change issues.

Read more at: Climate becomes top priority in EU’s 2020 budget – EURACTIV.com

EU - Google gets fined €1.49 billion in search advertising investigation

Read more at:

https://www.irishtimes.com/business/technology/eu-fines-google-1-49bn-in-search-advertising-investigation-1.3832380?mode=amp

Britain - Brexit: British MPs reject Brexit deal by 391 to 242 despite May securing changes to backstop - by Alice Tidey & Rachael Kennedy

British lawmakers on Tuesday rejected May's Brexit deal for a second time with 391 votes against, 242 in favour.

MPs first rejected the deal on January 14 by a margin of 230, handing May the worst defeat of any sitting government in British parliamentary history.

The prime minister said immediately after the vote that MPs now face "an unenviable choice" and said she still believes that her deal is the best and only deal available.

May said if lawmakers backed a no-deal Brexit on Wednesday, it would become government policy.

A division list released by the Commons website shows that 75 Conservative MPs rebelled against May.

They were joined by 232 Labour MPs, 17 independent MPs, and every single MPs from Scotland's National party (35), the Liberal Democrats (11) and Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party (10)

Bottom ine: the Brexit  deal is clearly dead - and to make any sense of what the British really want, specially now the British Public has become more familiar with what breaking away from the EU and the Common Market would eventually mean to the economy and them, and the danger of becoming totally subservient to the US, is to have a second referendum.

This is the only way to stop this chaos, after the political establishment totally failed the people.  It is high time to put the control of the future of Britain back in the hands of the British people, before the country implodes.  

Read more: British MPs reject Brexit deal by 391 to 242 despite May securing changes to backstop | Euronews

EUROPEAN Central Bank: Rates to remain unchanged despite weakening economy

ECB to keep rates unchanged amid weakening economy European Central Bank policymakers on Thursday responded boldly to fears of a eurozone slowdown by announcing that interest rates would stay unchanged for the rest of the year and launching a fresh round of super-cheap loans to banks.

 

Read more at: 

http://www.france24.com/en/20190307-european-central-bank-ecb-interest-rates-growth

EU - US RELATIONS: Becoming more strained than ever over US tariffs on car exports

Transatlantic ties become strained over European car import Tariffs discussions

Read more at:

https://www.euronews.com/2019/02/19/transatlantic-ties-become-strained-over-european-car-import-discussion

Britain - Brexit: Britain admits it will fail to roll over EU trade deals – by Benjamin Fox

The UK government has admitted that it will fail to roll over all trade treaties involving the European Union and third countries by 29 March, with international trade secretary Liam Fox confirming that negotiations with some countries have now been prioritised over others.

Fox’s department made the admission in the minutes of a meeting with senior business figures from companies including Burberry, Mulberry and Hornby, which were released on Monday (11 February).

The UK is seeking to roll over around 40 trade agreements between the EU and third countries which account for around 12% of its total international trade.

Government ministers have consistently stated that all countries had agreed in principle to roll over their deals with the EU to the UK after it leaves the bloc.

Read more at: Britain  admits it will fail to roll over EU trade deals – EURACTIV.com

EU Alternative Clean Energy - Windpower: Europe adds 2.6 GW of offshore wind in 2018

Irish Windpark

The European offshore wind industry added 2,649 MW of net capacity in 2018, the bulk of which in the UK and Germany, but saw installations drop 15.8% from the record 2017, show statistics by WindEurope, released today.

The capacity additions bring Europe’s total offshore wind capacity to 18,499 MW, coming from 105 plants in 11 countries. A total of 409 wind turbines across 18 wind farms started generating power in 2018. Most of the machines were installed in the UK and Germany -- 1,312 MW and 969 MW, respectively. The two countries accounted for 85% of Europe’s fresh offshore wind capacity and were followed by Belgium with 309 MW and Denmark with 61 MW.

“The technology keeps developing. The turbines keep getting bigger. And the costs keep falling. It’s now no more expensive to build offshore wind than it is to build coal or gas plants,” WindEurope’s CEO Giles Dickson said.

In the past year, EUR 10.3 billion (USD 11.7bn) of projects, representing 4.2 GW of capacity, reached final investment decisions (FIDs). The investment amount is 37% higher in annual terms compared to 2017, while the capacity covered rose by 91% due to the quickly falling costs. This amount has supported the 4.2 GW of projects, that are expected to come online in the next couple of years.

A Danish offshore Windpark

WindEurope highlighted in the statistics that turbines and wind farms are getting larger, with the average turbine size reaching 6.8 MW last year, or 15% greater than it was in 2017. The biggest offshore wind turbine, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind's machine with a capacity of 8.8 MW, was switched on at the 657-MW Walney 3 Extension offshore wind farm in the UK. In terms of manufacturers, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (BME:SGRE) and MHI Vestas were responsible for 95% of all connected turbines in 2018, with shares of 62% and 33% respectively.

According to WindEurope’s data, six offshore wind parks are currently being built in Europe, among which is the 1,218-MW Hornsea 1 in the North Sea, the first offshore complex globally with a capacity exceeding 1 GW.

WindEurope’s CEO pointed out that more governments are “recognising the merits of offshore wind,” giving Poland as an example and its plans to add 10 GW by 2040, while there are still some that are not taking advantage of offshore wind’s potential, including Sweden and France.

Read more: Europe adds 2.6 GW of offshore wind in 2018

The Netherlands and US Big Pharma Clash: US "Big Pharma" lashes out at Dutch Government for wanting to control pricing

Note EU-Digest: It looks like the US Pharmaceutical Industry is also trying to use the same heavy handed political tactics and arguments in the Netherlands like they are used to doing in America. In the Netherlands they are doing their lobbying through their membership in the local chapter of the American Chamber of Commerce, which even has a specific Pharmaceutical Committee within that organization. US Big Pharma and Chemical Industry Lobbyists are also swarming all over the EU parliament to promote their products and influence the European decision makers.Hopefully the Dutch Government and the EU Commission will continue to resist these devious attempts to influence the government decision makers

Read more at: 
https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2019/02/06/netherlands-novartis-vertex-drug-prices/

EU-US Relations: Europeans fear Trump may threaten not just the transatlantic bond, but the state of their union - by Dan Balz and Griff Witte

As President Trump prepares to deliver his second State of the Union address, the leaders of the United States’ closest allies in Europe are filled with anxiety
.

They are unsure of whom to talk to in Washington. They can’t tell whether Trump considers them friends or foes. They dig through his Twitter feed for indications of whether the president intends to wreck the European Union and NATO or merely hobble the continent’s core institutions.

Officials say Trump, by design or indifference, has already badly weakened the foundation of the transatlantic relationship that American presidents have nurtured for seven decades. As Sigmar Gabriel, a former German foreign minister, put it: “He has done damage that the Soviets would have dreamt of.” 

European leaders worry that the next two years could bring even more instability, as Trump feels emboldened, and they are filled with fear at the prospect that Trump could be reelected. The situation has left the continent facing a strategic paradox no one has managed to crack.

“We can’t live with Trump,” Gabriel said. “And we can’t live without the United States.”

In more than two dozen interviews in London, Paris and Berlin — the three European capitals at the heart of the Western alliance — government officials, former officials and independent analysts described a partnership with Washington that, while still working smoothly at some levels, has become deeply dysfunctional at others.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron have tried different strategies, but all have struggled to develop consistent and reliable relationships with Trump. Lacking a better alternative, the dominant European approach has been to wait him out and hope the damage can be contained.

In all three capitals, there is talk about somehow trying to go it alone, if necessary — to chart Europe’s course. Merkel stated it as bluntly as anyone when she said in a Munich beer hall that Europe must “take our destiny into our own hands.”

That was two years ago this spring, and since then, Europe has taken only cautious steps in that direction — proposals for a European army being one example. Despite modest increases in European defense spending, the United States continues to account for over two-thirds of military spending among NATO members. Europe struggles to keep big, multilateral initiatives alive without American support. 

European officials continue to work as hard as ever to preserve relationships with the president and the administration, despite fears and frustrations.

“We manage,” said a senior European politician, who like others in government spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss a sensitive relationship. “Governing by tweets is not the same as governing by diplomatic engagement. It’s a different process. But it’s something we accept and adapt to. I don’t think that our surprise on a daily basis is any greater than that of his own administration.” 

Others, often those who are no longer in government, express a less sanguine view. They see a president ticking through his campaign promises and notice uncomfortably that Europe is on the wrong end of many of them. 

Littered among the wreckage, as seen by the Europeans: an all-but-ruined Iran nuclear deal, tit-for-tat tariffs, a global climate accord that is missing the world’s largest economy, a possible arms race triggered by the cancellation of a key nuclear treaty, and a unilateral retreat from Syria without even a courtesy call to allies that work alongside U.S. forces. 

More than any one issue, however, there is the sense that Trump and Europe are fundamentally at odds.

Note EU-Digest: Hopefully the EU will be able to defend itself over the coming two years or less against this loud-mouth, uncouth ego-maniac, spoiled bully, before he is either locked-up, or impeached. 

Read more: Europeans fear Trump may threaten not just the transatlantic bond, but the state of their union - The Washington Post

Britain - Brexit: What happens next? Britain wants the cake and eat it too

Brexit: What happens now?  British want their cake and eat it too.

Read more at: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46393399