Category Archives: European commission

Intel wins lengthy EU legal battle over £880m competition fine

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Chipmaker disputed 2009 decision that it abused its market position in case dating back two decades

The US chipmaker Intel has won a long-running battle to quash a fine of more than €1bn imposed by the European Commission for allegedly abusing its market dominance in the sale of computer chips.

In a final ruling on Thursday, theEuropean court of justice upheld an earlier judgment that had quashed the €1.06bn (£880m) fine and partly dismissed the charges of anticompetitive behaviour.

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Why immigration is back on the European Union’s agenda

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The new mood to tighten laws is driven in large part by the success of far-right parties, in power in seven countries

EU leaders met in Brussels today with migration at the top of the agenda. Here we examine why that has happened – and what the European Commission, as well as national capitals, might do about it.

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Von der Leyen to ask EU leaders to explore using ‘return hubs’ for migrants

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European Commission president cites Italy-Albania deal as possible model for reducing irregular arrivals to Europe

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has called for an exploration of “return hubs” outside the EU in a letter to the bloc’s national leaders on irregular migration, citing a deal between Italy and Albania as a possible model.

EU leaders are to meet on Thursday and Friday for a summit on migration as the commission has said it will propose new measures.

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European audit of democracy standards too positive, says human rights watchdog

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European Commission report ‘completely ineffective as an enforcement tool’, according to civil liberties organisation

The European Commission’s exhaustive annual audit of democratic standards across the bloc is overly positive and ultimately ineffective because it is not tied to any kind of enforcement mechanism, a leading European civil liberties network has said.

The yearly rule of law reports were launched five years ago and are presented by the commission as a key weapon in its armoury against democratic backsliding, including corruption and attacks on independent media and judiciary, across the union.

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EU unable to retrieve €150m paid to Tunisia despite links to rights violations

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Concerns are growing that funds from the migration deal are connected to abuses by the repressive regime in Tunis

The EU will be unable to claw back any of the €150m (£125m) paid to Tunisia despite the money being increasingly linked to human rights violations, including allegations that sums went to security forces who raped migrant women.

The European Commission paid the amount to the Tunis government in a controversial migration and development deal, despite concerns that the north African state was increasingly authoritarian and its police largely operated with impunity.

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Former EU environment chief hits out at plans to delay anti-deforestation law

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Credibility ‘damaged’ by proposed 12-month delay, which followed lobbying from governments and firms around the world

A former top environment official has said the EU’s credibility on its climate commitments has been damaged by plans for a one-year delay to a law to combat deforestation that followed intense lobbying from companies and governments around the world.

Virginijus Sinkevičius, a Lithuanian MEP who was the environment commissioner until mid-July, said postponing the deforestation regulation would be “a step backward in the fight against climate change”.

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Equality ‘downgrade’ in European Commission dismays rights groups

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Ursula von der Leyen criticised for merging equality commissioner role into brief including crisis management

More than 50 rights organisations from across Europe have expressed their “shock and dismay” at Ursula von der Leyen’s decision to do away with the standalone EU position of equality commissioner, describing it as a “downgrading” of the fight against discrimination.

Von der Leyen presented her lineup for the new commission in Brussels earlier this month. Her 27 commissioner designates – senior EU officials who hold positions akin to government ministers – included Hadja Lahbib, currently Belgium’s foreign minister, who was tasked with a portfolio that spans preparedness and crisis management as well as equality.

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Von der Leyen tightens grip on EU but trouble looms | Jennifer Rankin

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Despite cementing control, the EU commission’s president faces a daunting second term amid the rise of the far right

Ursula von der Leyen was leaving nothing to chance. At a private meeting with members of the European parliament in Strasbourg last Tuesday, she chose not to reveal who would get what job in her incoming European Commission, due to take office at the end of the year.

Then immediately afterwards, during a brisk 21-minute press conference, she announced every single name, leaving MEPs fuming. “That’s not how it should be done,” said one.

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Ursula von der Leyen announces new European Commission lineup – Europe live

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European Commission president reveals team after extensive negotiations and balancing, including nominating women and representing centre-right parties

Valdis Dombrovskis, from Latvia, was nominated to be commissioner for economy and productivity.

Dan Jørgensen, from Denmark, was nominated as the new commissioner for energy and housing.

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Teacher ‘sick with nerves’ over battle to remain in his Spanish home post-Brexit

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Mark Saxby, 56, says he is in limbo because of Spanish authorities’ ‘petty’ concern about his medical insurance

A British teacher has told how he is “sick” with nerves about returning to his home in Spain amid a three-year battle to get post-Brexit residency after being denied it because he was missing one month’s medical insurance in the first year after the UK left the EU.

Mark Saxby, 56, said he felt “trapped” in a nightmarish limbo, unable to convince anyone that he had the right to live in Spain despite the EU-UK withdrawal agreement guaranteeing residency rights for those in the country before Brexit.

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Keir Starmer’s summit with European Commission chief delayed

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Sources fear meeting with Ursula von der Leyen postponed due to Labour’s doubts about reinstating EU student exchange schemes

Keir Starmer’s anticipated summit with the president of the European Commission has been postponed over what some see as the British government’s caution about reinstating programmes such as the youth mobility and Erasmus university exchange schemes.

The prime minister was expected to meet Ursula von der Leyen in the first or second week of September, but sources have said a meeting may now not happen until the end of October at the earliest.

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UK music industry presses government to solve post-Brexit limits on touring

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As documents reveal EU ‘not prepared’ to change, Keir Starmer is reminded of Labour’s manifesto pledge

Industry insiders have urged the UK government to find a solution to post-Brexit restrictions on live music touring, after EU documents suggested Brussels was “not prepared” to change regulations.

In Labour’s manifesto, Keir Starmer pledged to improve trade and investment relations with the EU to “help our touring artists” . Since Brexit, musicians touring the EU have faced barriers introduced in the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). They can work up to 90 out of every 180 days, which causes problems for longer tours, musicians who work in multiple bands or orchestras, and crew required on site before and after performances.

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European Commission to examine Ticketmaster’s ‘dynamic pricing’

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Review follows UK competition watchdog’s announcement of ‘urgent review’ into Oasis concert tickets fiasco

Ticketmaster’s ability to raise the price of concert tickets based on demand is being scrutinised by the European Commission, the Guardian has learned, as the UK’s competition watchdog launches an “urgent review” into the Oasis concerts fiasco.

The US-owned ticketing giant has been told it may have breached laws in the UK and Europe for inflating the price of some Oasis tickets from £135 to £350, leaving many fans devastated.

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EU states working on fresh proposal for youth mobility scheme with UK

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Giving young people chance to work, learn and train across Europe is ‘glue’ between countries, says German ambassador

EU member states are working on an updated proposal for a youth mobility scheme with the UK after an earlier paper by the European Commission was rejected out of hand by Labour in April, it has emerged.

EU sources say the 27 countries hope to come up with viable negotiating points for Brussels in coming weeks to feed into the expected negotiations on a reset of EU-UK relations being sought by the British prime minister, Keir Starmer.

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Revealed: US airlines lobbied EU over its plan to monitor plane emissions

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Lobbyists from Airlines for America argued against European Commission draft rules to report cocktail of pollutants, freedom of information requests show

US airlines lobbied against plans to monitor the damage wrought by planet-heating pollutants pumped out of planes in a previously undisclosed meeting with the European Commission, the Guardian can reveal.

Lobbyists from Airlines for America and some of its member companies met representatives of the European Commission’s climate team in May in a meeting that is not logged on the participants’ pages in the EU transparency register. The commission said the meeting took place at a technical level and that it is under no obligation to publish details of meetings at lower levels of its hierarchy.

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Labour hopes to deepen economic ties with Europe outside EU’s structures

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Finding new trade arrangements to boost growth will be hard given party has ruled out rejoining single market and customs union

Before a whistlestop European tour to Berlin and Paris, Keir Starmer promised to mend “the broken relationships left behind by the previous government” and drive forward UK economic growth.

Changing the tone with European leaders is the easy bit. Changing the substance – especially finding new arrangements to boost growth – is a much taller order.

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China begins anti-subsidy investigation into European dairy imports

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Inquiry into eight EU countries is latest chapter in hostility between Beijing and EU over trade

Chinese authorities have launched an anti-subsidy investigation into European dairy imports, in the latest sign of escalating trade tensions between Brussels and Beijing.

The announcement from China’s commerce ministry on Wednesday came a day after the European Commission revealed revised duties on Chinese electric vehicles as part of its examination into what it viewed as artificially cheap cars that posed a threat to jobs in Europe’s motor industry.

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Freedom safeguards for Italy’s public service media ‘urgently needed’

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EU officials ask Giorgia Meloni to guarantee independence and funding of public broadcaster amid growing worries

The European Commission has raised the alarm about the independence of Italy’s public service media and Rome’s failure to reform the country’s strict defamation law, which is widely seen as silencing government critics.

In a report issued on Wednesday EU officials identified “persisting challenges related to the effectiveness of [the] governance and funding” of Italy’s public service media, urging Giorgia Meloni’s government to guarantee both its independence and its funding.

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No more ‘basket-case Britain’: Europe welcomes Starmer reset in UK-EU ties

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PM’s promise to draw line under years of fractious relations greeted with plaudits and relief by European media

Keir Starmer’s promised “reset” of the UK’s ties with the rest of Europe has drawn a positive response in European media, with one longtime journalist rejoicing that she will never again have to cover “Britain as a basket case”.

The prime minister told leaders at a meeting of the European Political Community at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on Thursday that he wanted to draw a line under years of fractious relations with the rest of Europe. The relaunch was greeted with a sense of relief that after years of chaotic leadership in London a new age of cooperation was beginning.

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Von der Leyen in anti-extremist pitch for second term as MEPs prepare to vote

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Knife-edge vote set to result in another five-year mandate for commission’s first female leader or a crisis for EU

Ursula von der Leyen has spoken out against “the extreme polarisation of our societies” as she appealed to the European parliament to give her a second term as European Commission president.

MEPs will hold a knife-edge vote later on Thursday that will either result in another five-year mandate for the EU executive’s first female leader or tip the bloc into a summer crisis.

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