Economy & Jobs Archives

In today's edition of the Capitals, find out about Portugal's historic approval of a budget with a surplus, corruption in France, Greece's stance on 5G, Viktor Orban's worship of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, and so much more.

A scathing article critising the generous grants allocated by the European Research Council (ERC) appeared in the Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Sunday (5 January), reviving a long-running debate in Italy over the poor state of the country's research.

The creation of a Just Transition Fund to help poorer EU regions move towards a climate-neutral economy cannot come at the expense of the bloc's Cohesion Policy, the EU's regional policy Commissioner has said.

Cash from the EU's research funds must be spread beyond the "old men's club" of prestigious institutions in richer member states to curb the brain drain exacerbating inequalities across the bloc, a Croatian minister said on Thursday (9 January).

Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković made it clear that Croatia, the latest EU newcomer, wants to join as soon as possible the Union’s inner circles – the borderless Schengen space and the Eurozone.

‘We’ve run out of money’ is the message influential central bankers are passing on to government leaders.

The concentration of the French dairy industry, which is at the origin of the impoverishment of milk producers, paradoxically ranks the sector above its global competitors, according to a study by France Agrimer. EURACTIV France reports.

US consumers, companies and workers will pay the biggest price for proposed 100% tariffs on French Champagne and other sparkling wines, cheese, porcelain, enamel cookware and handbags, witnesses told the US government on Tuesday (7 January).

As EU policymakers worry about global tensions threatening raw material imports, one option could be getting more from their own backyard.

France and the US will try to settle their dispute over the French digital tax in 15 days to avoid further tariffs, French Finance minister Bruno Le Maire said on Tuesday (7 January).

Finland's recently-elected Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, has announced that she wants to reduce the number of working hours per week in her country. EURACTIV's partner Ouest-France provides an overview of similar schemes tried across the globe.

While the eurozone's private sector stagnated until December 2019, the manufacturing sector saw a prolonged slump. It is the services sector that continues to drive the Eurozone's growth. EURACTIV's partner La Tribune reports.

The US administration has urged European lawmakers to avoid heavy regulation frameworks in the future rollout of Artificial Intelligence technologies on the continent. The call comes ahead of the European Commission's planned presentation of its AI strategy, set to be announced early this year.

The French government continues to defend its pension reform proposal initially recommended by the European executive. Although it has since been watered down, its divisiveness has led to the paralysis of the transport system for almost a month. EURACTIV France reports.

Departing from a tumultuous 2019, in which several tech behemoths faced the ire of European regulators, the forthcoming twelve months in the digital arena will prove to be lively in terms of EU policy.

After seven years of growth, the eurozone's outlook is deteriorating. There is a risk of a recession if the trade war with Washington worsens, while member states continue to disagree over the completion of the economic and monetary union that would help them cope with a downturn.

The European Central Bank should not favour so-called "green" assets in its multi-trillion-euro bond-buying programme or its work as bank supervisor, incoming ECB board member Isabel Schnabel said in an interview published on Monday (30 December).

At the heart of recent protest movements in Europe and elsewhere is a sense that economic growth has left many people worse off, even if, in most countries, the headline GDP figures suggest that countries are much wealthier.

Italy will delay to early 2020 the presentation of a plan to sell its stake in Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the Treasury said on Sunday (29 December), as the bank struggles to shed bad loans.

More frequent extreme weather events, increasing political nationalism and growing economic inequality are making sustainable development goals harder to achieve. EURACTIV looked at the work of four frontier researchers to explore how a more sustainable future could look like.

Italian Education Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti told Reuters on Wednesday he had resigned after failing to obtain from the government billions of euros he said were needed to improve the country’s schools and universities.

The growing decline of Greece’s population, due to low birth rates and emigration, has resulted in closures of schools and kindergartens across the country, Greek media reported.

EU will keep engaging with the UK through the WTO and the UN as both sides work out a deal on their future ties once Britain leaves the bloc, according to the top Brexit negotiator in Brussels, Michel Barnier.