EURACTIV.com Archives

Futuristic flight technologies like battery-power and hydrogen are on the radar but sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) are an already-available option that should be utilised more, MEP Elsi Katainen told EURACTIV.

As Europe's economy is shrinking due to the COVID-19 pandemic, youth unemployment has been on the rise. If policymakers do not use the current crisis to invest in young people and create a more just and sustainable society, Europe's youth will become a new lost generation, Carina Autengruber told EURACTIV.

The EU should focus on regulating illegal content as part of its upcoming Digital Services Act, which aims to present an ambitious new regulatory framework for online services, but platforms should also be allowed to take ‘voluntary measures’ to remove harmful content, MEP Dita Charanzová says.

Each euro invested in cancer treatment is a step closer to patients' health, so Europe should not cut corners and leave patients alone in their fight, centre-right MEP Bartosz Arłukowicz told EURACTIV in an interview.

Policymakers have the responsibility to shift the debate about alternatives to animal testing from the current contraposition between safety risks for humans and animal ethics, an MEP told EURACTIV.

Increasing digital skills, broadening the availability of the bloc's eGovernment services, and bridging Europe's connectivity divides are areas that should be at the forefront of policymakers' minds in the EU's resilience against the ongoing public health crisis, Hilary Mine told EURACTIV.

Transport is turning increasingly to digitalisation to cut costs, boost services and reduce emissions. But the potential of data sharing, seen as a major opportunity and challenge in equal measure, needs to be unlocked. MEP Josianne Cutajar explained how the EU aims to do just that.

As policy-makers in Brussels and Addis Ababa plough ahead with plans for what is billed as an ambitious ‘strategic partnership’ between the EU and Africa, civil society groups complain that they have been repeatedly shut out from having any influence over EU-African relations.

The first step to bring forestry under the EU’s emissions trading scheme is to ensure that every tonne of carbon dioxide in the forest is counted so that a certification system for carbon removals can be put in place, Artur Runge-Metzger told EURACTIV.

The reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the EU's massive farming subsidies programme, must look after the well-being of farmers as well, rather than focus mainly on environmental sustainability, centre-right MEP Herbert Dorfmann told EURACTIV.

The European Union “cannot achieve” climate neutrality without critical raw materials like lithium and rare earths, says Commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič. It now needs to be “much more strategic” in relations with supplier countries in order to ensure the bloc's “strategic autonomy,” he argues.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of strong EU-African relations, Iratxe García, the leader of the Socialist and Democrat group in the European Parliament, told EURACTIV as her political group launched its Africa week (13-15 October).

The EU's withdrawal of trade perks that have given Cambodia quota- and tariff-free access to the bloc's single market is seen as "eminently political" in the South-East Asian nation and is unlikely to bring about a change in the country, Raoul M. Jennar  told EURACTIV.

If there was any doubt about the importance of a strong relationship between Africa and the European Union they have been dispelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, says Samuel Outlule, Botswana’s ambassador to the EU and Belgium.

While impacting all parts of the economy, COVID-19 has hit young people particularly hard. Nicolas Schmit, the Commissioner for jobs and social rights, spoke with EURACTIV about the EU executive's efforts to address these challenges and avert the prospect of another 'lost generation.'

The European Parliament will vote Tuesday (6 October) on the EU’s proposed Climate Law, which seeks to put Europe on track to reduce emissions to net-zero by 2050. “I expect the vote to be very tight,” says lawmaker Pascal Canfin.

Paul Tang has been elected chair of the new permanent tax subcommittee the European Parliament has created. In an interview with EURACTIV, the Socialist MEP said one of his key goals is to "crack down on tax avoidance", and he therefore wants to strengthen ties with national parliaments and get them involved in the fight against fiscal dumping in the EU.

Setting ambitious health targets at the European level after the COVID crisis is not only necessary but also dutiful, particularly to combat those diseases that have a negative impact on the life expectancy of citizens, centre-right wing lawmaker Aldo Patriciello told EURACTIV in an interview.

Mario Rajn, the mayor of Križevci, a medieval city of 20,000 people northeast of Croatia's capital is pushing for his city to become energy independent by 2030. He explains what actions have been taken so far.

The Chinese business community in Europe would like to see less 'red tape' and regulatory barriers for its firms on the bloc, but is also open to the idea of offering further opportunities for EU business in China, says Zhou Lihong.

Social and territorial cohesion among the EU's region's, as well as their convergence, must remain at the centre of Europe's recovery plans lest efforts to support investment and growth should lead to more regional divides, MEP Younous Omarjee told EURACTIV.

Ambitions to lower the use of antibiotics in farming must take into account the “massive” amount of variation between member states and also between species, according to a leading livestock sustainability consultant who also highlighted the pressing need to digitalise the animal health sector.

Europe’s current health systems have been facing long-standing malfunctions which have led to almost 20% of health spending in Europe being “pure waste”, a senior official of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development told EURACTIV in an interview.

Valencia is one of the dozen finalists in the race to become the 2020 European Capital of Innovation. In an interview with EURACTIV, its mayor, Joan Ribó, defended their mission-oriented proposal to overcome the biggest challenges of our period, bringing on board political parties, the civil society and the scientific community.