European Commission Competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, has opened another State aid investigation into the deals that EU tax authorities offer to certain companies – most notably to multinational corporations – that may go against EU state aid rules. This investigation will look into a system of tax exemptions offered by the Belgian tax administration through so-called […]
Paris Roadmap Gets Its Bearings With Cañete
The roadmap to the 21st UN climate conference, in Paris (France) in December, was debated by MEPs, the Latvian Presidency and Commissioner Arias Cañete on Wednesday. The conference of parties (COP21) to the UN Convention on Climate Change aims to deliver a worldwide climate agreement to replace the Kyoto Protocol. During the debate, MEPs emphasized […]
“EU At Constant Risk Of Energy Supply Disruption”
The EU is at constant risk of energy supply disruption. Too much energy is wasted and 10% of households in the Union cannot afford proper heating, the Commission vice-president for energy union told Parliament’s energy and environment committees this week. Maroš Šefčovič was presenting his vision for an energy union to tackle these and other […]
Buttarelli Says: “Make data protection rights more effective”
Speaking in a Q&A session, Giovanni Buttarelli, the new European Data Protection Supervisor said: “The EU has to make existing data protection rights more effective in practice, and to allow citizens to more easily exercise their rights at a time when we all run our entire lives with our smartphones” Over the coming five years […]
TTIP’s Cross-Atlantic Endeavour Facing High Seas
EU-US negotiations on the TTIP free trade agreement are continuing. The deal which is expected to create new jobs and boost economies on both sides of the Atlantic touches upon sensitive issues, not least rules for the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). On 27 January the international trade and legal affairs committees held a joint public […]
Mogherini Urged to ‘Show Leadership on Human Rights in Latin America’
European civil society networks have called on the European Union’s new foreign affairs chief to show leadership on human rights in Latin America. APRODEV, CIDSE, CIFCA, GRUPO SUR and OIDHACO sent a letter congratulating Federica Mogherini on her recent appointment as EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, they emphasised the importance of […]
Digital Gold. “Turn Data Into Knowledge,” says Rufus Pollock
Every day we face challenges – from the personal, such as the quickest way to get to work, or what we should eat, to global ones like climate change and how to sustainably feed and educate seven billion people on this planet, writes Rufus Pollock, Founder, Open Knowledge At Open Knowledge we believe that opening up […]
The Vision Thing. Europe Needs A Real Coalition For Digital Jobs.
What is at stake today is the safeguarding of our European social model through innovation, writes by Herman Van Rompuy, Presisdent of the European Council. Innovation, that is more than just R&D; innovation consisting of the ability of a system not only to produce new ideas but also to bring them to the market and translate […]
“Make awesome products, awesome services, for your awesome fans,” says Rovio’s Kaj Hed
In 2009, a small independent video game studio in Finland called Rovio is on the brink of bankruptcy. It employs a dozen young people, one of them is my own son; one my nephew; none of them have any previous corporate experience, writes Kaj Hed, Chairman of Rovio Entertainment Ltd. I believed in their dream, invested […]
Super-High-Speed Internet and the Smart-School Generation
A few years from now, half the world’s population will have access to super-high-speed Internet. In Belgium, and in other European countries, different operators are focusing ever more on making Internet faster, writes Saskia van Uffelen, Belgian Digital Champion, CEO at Ericsson Belux In our country, operator Telenet announced at the end of August that it […]