Comunicare

Under the State Aid Temporary Framework, the Commission has most recently approved: a €2,3 million Czech scheme to support health SPA facilities affected by the coronavirus outbreak in the Karlovy Vary Region of Czechia; a €450 million Greek scheme to support companies active in certain sectors affected by the coronavirus outbreak, as well as an […]

As reported in the previous edition, the European Commission has confirmed the amendment of the State Aid Temporary Framework that will extend it to 30 June 2021 and broaden its scope to include State aid to help businesses cover their fixed costs up to a threshold of €3 million per undertaking. This is a major […]

The European Commission is consulting Member States on a draft proposal that would prolong the State Aid Temporary Framework adopted on 19 March to allow for relief measures in response to the COVID-19 crisis until 30 June 2021. The draft would also extend the scope of the framework by enabling Member States to contribute to […]

The European Commission has approved the repurposing of €1,2 billion in Cohesion policy funding in Spain which will be used to cushion the negative effects of the coronavirus crisis on the country’s economy. The funds will support SMEs contributing to boost the healthcare sector and develop the ITC sector. A similar modification of €550 million […]

On 22 September, EU Member States reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining a functioning Schengen zone and Internal Market. The previous week, Single Market Commissioner Thierry Breton had warned that “unilateral restrictions on the free movement of goods and services would not be acceptable and would seriously hamper our collective recovery.” Freight traffic should keep flowing […]

The Commission has begun testing a new interoperability service for national coronavirus tracking apps. Test runs were launched between the backend servers of the official apps from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Latvia, and the newly established gateway server that is to facilitate the data exchanges. The European Parliament has requested to […]

Three-quarters of consumers (71%) are confident about returning to stores. That is what comes out of a study conducted by the Censuswide Institute that surveyed more than 8.000 consumers in four major markets – the UK, US, China and France. The study also reveals that although nearly half (49%) of global consumers believe they could […]

On 19 August EU Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan participated in a golf event at a hotel in Galway, together with 80 people, including many politicians. This was in breach with the COVID measures imposed by the Irish Government. This resulted in a media storm, the so-called “Golfgate”, that lead Ireland’s Minister for Agriculture, Dara Calleary, to […]