Jeremy Fleming Archives

SPECIAL REPORT / The EU executive is due today (16 April) to accuse corporate Europe of lacking innovation and diversity as a result of “group think”, as it unveils new proposals requiring larger companies to disclose information on a range of environmental and social impacts.

The EU’s chief scientific advisor has said that evidence allows the go-ahead for extracting shale gas, the energy source at the centre of a European policy tug-of-war.

EXCLUSIVE / Europe’s claim to be a union of values is looking “rather bleak," Russian ambassador Vladimir Chizhov has told EURACTIV in his first public interview since the Cyprus bailout. 

Proposed restrictions on auditing firms are likely to spark a fight between the European Parliament and Commission as legislators finalise a report on the issue next month.

A concerted push by France and Britain to lift the EU’s arms embargo on Syria to help rebels fight the regime of Bashar al-Assad is set to dominate the second day of an EU summit in Brussels today (15 March). Discussions will focus on the bloc's complicated relations with Russia, which opposes the resumption of weapons deliveries, saying it would be illegal.

European governments and businesses should investigate alternative communication channels to e-mail in the longer term after a string of alarming attacks, the EU’s cyber security agency warned today (13 March) in a special alert.

SPECIAL REPORT / The European Commission wants new cybersecurity rules to spur industrial growth by turning Europe into a showcase for lucrative security products, but the use of cybersecurity as a proxy for protectionism is also stymieing trade.

SPECIAL REPORT / EU attempts to introduce comprehensive new cybersecurity rules risk failure in the European Parliament, where senior administrators doubt the package will pass before the legislature's mandate expires, EURACTIV has learned.

SPECIAL REPORT / European computer emergency response teams, which are being beefed up as part of the EU’s cybersecurity strategy, need to set more ‘honeypot’ traps to snare cyber attackers, according to reports.

SPECIAL REPORT / Europe and the United States look set to implement different approaches to cybersecurity, with Washington adopting voluntary reporting mechanisms against Brussels' compulsory measures. The different approaches threaten to create problems for companies across the two major trade blocs.

EXCLUSIVE / The Commissioner for health and consumer affairs has signalled that European tobacco producers may include additives in Burley tobacco, offering East European tobacco producers a compromise that could enable them to continue production.

SPECIAL REPORT / The explosion in smartphone use is leaving businesses vulnerable to cyberattacks since almost half of their employees' mobile phones can become a target, according to new research.

SPECIAL REPORT / Europe's Commissioner for the digital agenda, Neelie Kroes, called yesterday (26 February) for a true single market in telecommunications to overcome sluggish spectrum sales by EU member states and to prevent governments pocketing the cash proceeds. EURACTIV reports from the GSMA conference in Barcelona.

SPECIAL REPORT / By 2018, mobile operators will take more revenue globally from pure data than from their traditional voice services as the world moves towards hyper-connected cities, industry analysts predict. But technological standards remain scarce, EURACTIV reports from the the GSMA conference in Barcelona.

SPECIAL REPORT / Up to 15,000 representatives of the world’s leading app makers who begin meeting in Barcelona today (25 February) face a “wake up call” when European policymakers come up with proposals to strengthen privacy rules in the sector later this week.

SPECIAL REPORT / With more than half of Spain's and Greece’s young people jobless, those with in-demand digital skills are increasingly seeking work in stabler Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.

SPECIAL REPORT / The European Commission in March is due to launch an initiative designed to close the gap between an unskilled workforce and the EU’s growing demand for information and communications technology (ICT).

The European Ombudsman will today (14 February) launch a formal investigation into allegations that the European Commission is failing to clamp down on conflicts of interest amongst staff who leave the EU executive to take up jobs as lobbyists and consultants.

The decision by European heads of state to slash the budget for EU-wide roll out of fast broadband internet will stifle Europe’s innovation agenda, the European Commission warned, leaving telecom firms and member states to stump up the cash.

SPECIAL REPORT / A move by Finnish company Rovio to produce Hollywood-style blockbuster children’s cartoons demonstrates how innovators in the European tech scene are looking to capitalise on the digital revolution.

SPECIAL REPORT / Interlocking policy initiatives covering education, seed funding and access to broadband are all part of the policy mix required to boost European technology start-ups, but the sector also fears that proposed data protection rules might have a chilling effect.

SPECIAL REPORT / Europe seeks to capitalise on clusters of internet-driven businesses – such as those in Dublin and Helsinki – whose success relies on a mixture of policy initiatives ranging from education through to taxation, but also word-of-mouth.

SPECIAL REPORT / An explosion in the data-driven economy offers crisis-stricken Europe hopes of recovery, but policymakers who lack the means to measure the phenomenon face challenges in a sector bracing for new regulation.

SPECIAL REPORT / European industries are unanimous in saying that future growth prospects lie in research and innovation. They have thrown their weight behind the European Commission and Parliament to secure the proposed €80 billion 'Horizon 2020' research programme which is under fire as cash-strapped national governments seek cutbacks to the EU budget.