EURACTIV.com Archives

The use of combination vaccines can bring about better vaccine coverage and this will improve protection of the public against vaccine-preventable diseases, reduce costs for treatment of these diseases and help prevent outbreaks that would otherwise occur, Mel Kohn told EURACTIV.com.

In a wide-ranging interview, Victor Negrescu, the Romanian Minister Delegate for European Affairs, presents the priorities of the upcoming Romanian Presidency (1 January-30 June 2019), during which the European elections will be held, as well as the first post-Brexit EU summit.

As Romania prepares to hold the rotating EU presidency at the start of 2019, EURACTIV met with Dacian Cioloș. The former prime minister and agriculture Commissioner has just set up a party in Romania similar to Emmanuel Macron's En Marche, with one eye on the European elections.

OECD Secretary-General Ángel Gurría has blamed governments for the rise of populism and political fragmentation across Europe, claiming they also did not deliver benefits that were promised to citizens, he told EURACTIV in an interview.

Any country resisting an EU-wide objective to reduce emissions to net-zero by mid-century is essentially “in the same camp as Mr. Trump” when it comes to climate change, says Claude Turmes, the lead European Parliament negotiator on the Energy Union governance proposal.

“Mother Nature” is changing quickly and this requires the adoption of technology-driven solutions that will help both growers and consumers, Jim Collins, the chief operating officer of Corteva Agriscience, the Agriculture Division of DowDuPont, told EURACTIV.

Following a difficult year that brought a new CEO at the helm, Uber is serious about listening to its drivers and policymakers, Pierre Dimitri Gore-Coty told EURACTIV. Now the company aims at becoming a multimodal mobility platform, integrating bike sharing services or public transports.

With Europe’s relative weight diminishing on the world stage, it becomes easier and easier for outside parties to play divide and rule and take advantage of European disunity, says Alexander Mattelaer.

Can Viktor Orban be beaten? András Fekete-Győr, founder of the Momentum movement in Hungary,  explains why he thinks it is possible.

Populist forces in Italy are “playing with fire” and exposing the country to market pressure, vice-president of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament Maria João Rodrigues warned in an interview.

Azerbaijan's Ambassador to Belgium, Fuad Isgandarov, talks about the current geopolitical tensions with Iran, recent political changes in Armenia, attacks against his country in  the international media, the human rights situation and future EU relations.

An innovation-driven approach – ranging from vaccination to other health management solutions and appropriate biosecurity measures – will ensure more sustainable future livestock farming and protection of public health, as animal diseases do not recognise borders, Roxane Feller told EURACTIV.com.

Europe is ahead in the digital game, says Tata's Consultancy Services COO. But businesses and governments will need to utilise Big Data and Artificial Intelligence to improve services and the quality of life of customers.

The number of oil refineries in Europe is likely to decrease but those that remain will be truly competitive, highly technological and highly efficient, Ilshat Sharafutdinov told EURACTIV in an interview.

French President Emmanuel Macron has to make his political identity clear and clarify whether he is a “real progressive” who wants to contribute to a social Europe, S&D President Udo Bullmann told EURACTIV in an interview.

Electric vehicles have come on in leaps and bounds since Commission Vive-President Maroš Šefčovič launched the Energy Union back in 2015. Now, he's expecting the integration of renewables and the redesign of the electricity market to boost the EV revolution even further.

There is a strong possibility that Poland will build a floating Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal in Gdańsk, according to Fred H. Hutchison, who says “a lot of gas” can come to Central European markets this way.

An EU-Azerbaijan trade and political agreement will be ready for ratification next year, says Javanshir Feyziyev, co-chair of the EU-Azerbaijan Parliamentary Cooperation Committee (PCC).

Back from the Kazakhstan-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee held in Astana on 14 May, Latvian MEP Iveta Grigule-Pēterse debriefed of the event, with some telling messages about the work of certain NGOs.

The Western Balkans' very strategic location and entrepreneurial labour force are some of the assets that could help the region take advantage of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and take its destiny in its own hands, Martina Larkin of the World Economic Forum told EURACTIV.com in an interview.

The integration of European gas markets has made strides over the last fifteen years, bolstering energy security in Eastern EU countries as a result, says Jonathan Stern. But the collapse of Dutch production means Russia will probably remain at the centre of the game for years to come, he cautions.

With €375 billion in the new budget, cohesion remains a cornerstone of EU policies and the proposed cuts will be compensated with increased national co-financing, said Dutch MEP Lambert Van Nistelrooij (EPP). He also said he was in favour of keeping the decentralised approach of ESF and the current categorisation of the regions.

A new pilot facility under construction in northern Sweden will produce steel using hydrogen from renewable electricity. The only emissions will be water vapour, explains the CEO of Hybrit, the company behind the process, which seeks to revolutionise steelmaking.

Greece will continue striving for the release of the two Greek officers, who have been detained in Turkey for more than a month, and hopes Ankara will act as an ally and abide by the international law and practice, Greek Ambassador to the EU, Andreas Papastavrou, told EURACTIV.com in an interview.