Comuniq.Eu

CDEIU‘s Comuniq.eu is the only Malta-based platform offering a one-stop shop for EU-affairs, from research to in-depth analysis of developments and the dissemination of news related to the European institutions and their activities.

Through its research arm, it constantly looks for the latest developments from across the EU institutions through various channels, whether contacts within the institutions themselves, international media agencies and portals, and local representatives and offices of the said institutions.

The team at Comuniq.eu looks beyond the news which makes the media headlines, understanding the stakes at play, the positions being taken, the likely scenarios and the potential impact on the Maltese economy and businesses.

After identifying how developments, such as proposed legislation or regulation can affect your business, we also support you in makign your voice heard should it be in your business’ interest to support or challenge such proposals. We also look at the positions being taken by international organisations and other countries thereby allowing our clients to strengthen their position where possible.

Over the past months, Comuniq.eu has extensively looked into all facets of Brexit, and is supporting local business in understanding the impact of this important change on their operations and supporting them in identifying the right channels to get their concerns across. Similarly, Comuniq.eu raises advance note of legislative and regulatory processes which are still in the pipeline at EU level, which would have barely made news portals, to allow businesses to react at an advanced stage to such developments.

Comuniq.eu also disseminates EU-related news, both sourced through its exclusive arrangements with interntational news agencies as well through its own research and networks. It also produces exclusive content on matters related to EU affairs.

Pfizer and Moderna raise prices for COVID-19 vaccines in EU- FT

(Reuters) -Pfizer Inc and Moderna Inc have raised the prices of their COVID-19 vaccines in their latest European Union supply contracts, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The new price for the Pfizer shot was 19.50 euros ($23.15)against 15.50 euros previously, the newspaper said, citing portions of the contracts seen. The price of a Moderna vaccine was $25.50 a dose, the contracts sho...

EU adopts legal framework for Lebanon sanctions

The European Union said it has adopted a legal framework for a sanctions regime targeting Lebanese individuals and entities after a year of crisis that has left Lebanon facing financial collapse, hyperinflation and food and fuel shortages. In a statement, the EU said the framework provided for the possibility of imposing sanctions on those responsible for undermining democracy or the rule ...

EU says sanctions an option to tackle Belarus people smugglers

The European Union will consider sanctions against migrant smugglers and those involved in human trafficking to address a surge in "irregular" border crossings from Belarus, the bloc's top diplomat said. Lithuania, an EU member state, has reported an uptick in illegal border crossings from neighbouring Belarus and accused Minsk of flying in migrants from abroad and sending them over the bo...

Carige, Novo Banco and Piraeus among worst performers in ECB test

Italy’s Carige, Portugal’s Novo Banco and Greece’s Piraeus were among the worst performers in a health check of second-tier euro zone banks published by the European Central Bank on Friday. The three lenders were among a dozen banks that would be left with a Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) ratio of less than 8% of their assets in the adverse scenario of the ECB’s stress test. The ECB conduc...

18 arrested for smuggling more than 490 migrants across the Balkan route

Officers from the Romanian Police (Poliția Română) and Border Police (Poliția de Frontieră Română), supported by Europol, dismantled an organised crime group involved in migrant smuggling across the so-called Balkan route. The criminal network, active since October 2020, consisted of Egyptian, Iraqi, Syrian and Romanian citizens. The criminal group had cells in the countries across the Balkan ...

EU supports Member States with transport of essential Coronavirus supplies

The Commission continues to provide further financial support to six Member States through the Mobility Package of the Emergency Support Instrument amounting to over €14 million, for the transport of COVID-19 vaccination-related equipment and COVID-19 therapeutics. This comes on top of the €150 million already made available for the transport of essential medical items since last year. Shipme...

Euro zone rebounds strongly, inflation above ECB target

The euro zone economy grew faster than expected in the second quarter, pulling out of a recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic as curbs to stop the virus were eased, while inflation shot past the European Central Bank's 2% target in July. The European Union's statistics office Eurostat said on Friday that its initial estimate of gross domestic product in the 19 countries that use the eu...

Amazon hit with $886 million EU data privacy fine

Amazon.com Inc has been hit with an $886.55 million (746 million euro) European Union fine for processing personal data in violation of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the e-commerce giant said on Friday. The Luxembourg National Commission for Data Protection (CNPD) imposed the fine on Amazon Europe Core in a July 16 decision, the company disclosed in a regulatory filin...

Euro zone sentiment hits record high in July, peak may be near

Euro zone economic sentiment hit a record high in July, estimates from the European Commission showed on Thursday, but a drop in optimism among consumers and the slower rate of increase may signal the peak is fast approaching. The EU executive said its monthly survey that sentiment in the 19-country single-currency bloc rose to 119.0 points in July, a record since data began to be collecte...

EU health body warns against visiting popular Greek islands over COVID-19

Greece's south Aegean islands were marked 'dark red' on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control's COVID-19 map on Thursday after a rise in infections, meaning all but essential travel to and from the region is discouraged. The cluster of 13 islands includes Greece's most popular destinations for foreign tourists - Mykonos, Santorini and Rhodes - which, combined, draw million...

AstraZeneca hopes to settle EU legal dispute in coming weeks

AstraZeneca hopes to settle a legal dispute with the European Union over COVID-19 vaccine deliveries in the coming weeks, a senior executive said on Thursday, potentially ending a row that has dogged the drugmaker and Brussels this year. The company is in talks with the EU, Ruud Dobber, executive vice president of the BioPharmaceuticals business, said in a briefing. "We're hopeful in th...

ECB to overhaul payment system after crashes last year

The European Central Bank will overhaul its payment system as recommended in an independent review published on Wednesday to address deficiencies in its design and governance that led to a string of crashes last year. The Target system handles payments worth nearly 2 trillion euros ($2.36 billion) per day and is run by the ECB with the help of the central banks of Germany, France, Italy an...

EU signs deal with GSK for supply of potential COVID drug

The European Union has signed a contract with GlaxoSmithKline for the supply of up to 220,000 treatments of its investigational monoclonal antibody therapy sotrovimab against COVID-19, it said on Wednesday. The drug, which is developed together with U.S. firm Vir Biotechnology, can be used for the treatment of high-risk coronavirus patients with mild symptoms who do not require supplementa...

EU says it is on track for 70% vaccination target by end summer

The European Union is on course to hit a target of fully vaccinating at least 70% of the adult population by the end of summer given that percentage of those 18 and over have now received a first dose, the European Commission said. EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the bloc had reached an important milestone of 70% of adults having received a first dose and 57% fully vaccinated...

EU freezes legal steps against Britain after UK request for standstill

The European Commission said it would not move to the next step of its legal action against Britain for unilaterally changing trading arrangements for Northern Ireland, in response to Britain’s request for a “standstill”. The European Union in March began a so-called infringement procedure against Britain for making changes to the Northern Ireland trade arrangements that Brussels says bre...

EU calls for “return to normality” for institutions in Tunisia

The European Union said it was following developments in Tunisia closely and called for a return to normal in the functioning of democratic institutions on Tuesday (July 27) after the country's president ousted the government and froze parliament with help from the army. Spokesperson Nabila Massrali told a news briefing that "the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights" ha...

EU invests €122 million in innovative projects to decarbonise the economy

For the first time since the creation of the Innovation Fund, the European Union is investing €118 million into 32 small innovative projects located in 14 EU Member States, Iceland and Norway. The grants will support projects aiming to bring low-carbon technologies to the market in energy intensive industries, hydrogen, energy storage and renewable energy. In addition to these grants, 15 projects...

EU Commission opens infringement procedure against 12 states for failing to implement rules banning unfair trading

The European Commission has today opened infringement procedures against Malta 12 Member States for failing to transpose EU rules banning unfair trading practices in the agri-food sector. The Directive on unfair trading practices in the agricultural and food supply chain, adopted on 17 April 2019, ensures protection of all European farmers, as well as of small and mid-range suppliers, against 16 ...

Joint Research Centre report: loneliness has doubled across the EU since the pandemic

One in four EU citizens reported feeling lonely during the first months of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study from the Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC). The report contains the latest scientific evidence on loneliness and social isolation in the EU, and analyses the survey by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, showing that feeling...

Could the European Union kick out Hungary?

Relations between Hungarian president Viktor Orban and other European leaders seem to have reached a nadir. For years, Orban has pursued a right-wing agenda that has often contradicted the bloc’s core values. His latest move has been to introduce what he has framed a “child protection law”, which makes it illegal to share information with under-18s that might be seen as promoting homosexuality...

EU brings trade challenge against Russia to WTO

The European Union has requested the launch of a World Trade Organization case against Russia over measures it says restrict EU companies from selling goods to Russian state-owned enterprises. "The European Union has requested WTO dispute consultations with the Russian Federation regarding Russian measures which the EU alleges form part of an import substitution programme. The request was ...

Commission starts legal action against 23 EU countries over copyright rules

France, Spain, Italy and 20 other EU countries may be taken to court for their tardiness in enacting landmark EU copyright rules into national law, the European Commission said on Monday as it asked the group to explain the delays. The copyright rules, adopted two years ago, aim to ensure a level playing field between the European Union's trillion-euro creative industries and online platfo...

EU calls on all Tunisian actors to respect constitution, rule of law

The European Union urged all political actors in Tunisia on Monday to respect the country's constitution and avoid violence after Tunisia's president ousted the government and froze parliament with help from the army. "We are closely following the latest developments in Tunisia," a spokeswoman for the European Commission said. "We call on all Tunisian actors to respect the Constitution, its...

EU gives Google 2 months to improve hotel, flight search results

Alphabet unit Google has two months to improve the way it presents internet search results for flights and hotels and explain how it ranks these or face possible sanctions, the European Commission and EU consumer authorities said on Monday. The world's most popular internet search engine has long faced scrutiny from antitrust enforcers and consumer groups around the world over its business...

EU regulator backs AstraZeneca drug for rare blood disorder in children

AstraZeneca said on Monday the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommended approving a medicine from its U.S.-based Alexion unit for treating a rare, deadly blood disorder in children and adolescents aged up to 18 years. The drugmaker recently completed its $39-billion acquisition of Alexion, which it had agreed to buy as a bet on rare-disease immunology and to boost its business that incl...

China says EU’s planned carbon border tax violates trade principles

China said on Monday the European Union's plan to impose the world's first carbon border tax will expand climate issues into trade in violation of international principles and hurt prospects for economic growth. The European Commission this month outlined plans to impose a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), or CO2 tariff, on polluting goods from 2026, forcing some companies importi...

EU sends four fire-fighting planes to tame Sardinia fires

The European Union is sending four forest firefighting planes to Sardinia in response to a request from Italy to help tame fires that have swept across parts of the island, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of people. Two of the Canadair planes, amphibious planes used to pick up water to drop on fires, are provided by France from the European Civil Protection Pool and two by Greece from...

EU report shows positive developments in Member States

by Keith Zahra The European Commission has published the second EU-wide Report on the Rule of Law. The 2021 report looks at the new developments since last September, deepening the assessment of issues identified in the previous report and considering the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite notable improvements, concerns remain and in certain Member States these have increased, f...

Ewropej: We can overcome the challenges our country faces together

“There was a lot on my agenda during the past week as Parliament held the Plenary Session in Strasbourg,” MEP David Casa told this journal. Speaking ahead a meeting of the Bureau’s Working Party on Information and Communication Policy, the Maltese MEP said he was looking forward to discuss the way forward for a number of EP initiatives such as Ekoskola, post the Covid-19 pandemic just before ...

Commission seeks public feedback on websites and apps

by Keith Zahra The EU has launched a public consultation on the review of the Web Accessibility Directive. Since 23 June 2021, all public sector websites and mobile apps in the EU have the legal obligation to be accessible to people with disabilities. The consultation will gather feedback from citizens, especially those with disabilities, but also from businesses, online platforms, ac...

Ewropej: We must keep working to ensure the financing of Malta’s transport and energy projects

Member of the European Parliament Josianne Cutajar, in a plenary meeting in Strasbourg earlier this month, said that geographic seclusion from the European continent makes it important for Malta to secure European funding for its transport and energy projects. In a debate that ended with a vote on the Connecting Europe Facility 2021-2027 programme, which is a step closer to securing €30 ...

New rules seek safe and compliant products on the EU market

by Keith Zahra The EU Market Surveillance and Compliance Regulation came into force in July 2021. The new rules aim to ensure that products placed on the EU market comply with relevant EU legislation and meet public health and safety requirements. The legislation is key to ensuring a well-functioning Single Market and helps to put into place a better structure for checks on products e...

ECB survey sees higher growth, inflation in next 2 years

Euro zone growth and inflation could be higher this year and next than earlier predicted, the European Central Bank's Survey of Professional Forecasters showed on Friday. Inflation, targeted at 2% by the ECB, could hit 1.9% this year, above the 1.6% predicted three months ago while 2022 inflation is now seen at 1.5% as against 1.3%. Although the increase in projections may be seen as a ...

Euro zone businesses boomed in July but confidence weakened

Euro zone business activity expanded at its fastest monthly pace in over two decades in July as the loosening of more COVID-19 restrictions gave a boost to services but fears of another wave of infections hit business confidence, a survey showed. With vaccination rates accelerating and the burden on health care easing governments have lifted some of the curbs they imposed to try and contai...

UPDATED: EU regulator endorses use of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in teens

Europe's medicines regulator on Friday recommended approving the use of Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine in 12- to 17-year olds, paving the way for it to become the second shot okayed for adolescent use in the bloc. The use of the vaccine, branded Spikevax, will be the same in adolescents as in people above 18 years, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said, adding the vaccine produced a comparable ...

EU slams Russia’s ‘continued crackdown’ on journalists

The European Union condemned Russian authorities' recent clampdown on independent media and civil society organizations. The Kremlin silencing dissent and opposition "is particularly worrisome ahead of the State Duma elections in September," an EU spokesperson said late Thursday. "The European Union stands in solidarity with Russian civil society, human rights defenders and independent ...

EU Socialists say rule of law report not enough, say clear direction, timelines are needed

The Socialist group in the European Parliament has welcomed the latest annual assessment on the rule of law in the EU but expressed concerns that the report will fail to improve the situation in the Member States without clear and specific recommendation to EU governments. Domènec Ruiz Devesa, S&D MEP who led the Parliament’s work on assessing the 2020 report, argued that “the annual repo...

EPP wants new EU AML Authority to have more power over its national counterparts

The EPP Group in the European Parliament wants the new European Anti-Money Laundering Authority to have more power over its national counterparts. "It will be key that the new Anti-Money Laundering Authority will actually be in charge of all relevant institutions and will be truly independent from its national counterparts. The biggest risk is that we are adding just one additional layer of co...

ECB sees some risks to outlook from fresh pandemic wave

A fresh wave of the coronavirus pandemic could pose a risk to the euro zone's economic recovery, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Thursday, after the bank hinted at an even longer period of monetary support. The Delta variant, a more contagious strand of the coronavirus, is becoming dominant in Europe, causing a resurgence of cases even in countries with rela...

EU lists rare nerve disorder as side-effect of J&J COVID-19 vaccine

Europe's medicines regulator said on Thursday it had added a rare nerve-degenerating disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome, as a possible rare side effect from Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine after it reviewed 108 cases reported worldwide. "After assessing the available data, PRAC considered that a causal relationship between COVID-19 vaccine Janssen and GBS is possible," the European...

Northern Ireland protocol: here’s what a compromise between EU and UK could look like

The EU has announced it will suspend its legal action against the UK for allegedly breaching the Northern Ireland protocol by unilaterally extending grace periods related to trade between Great Britain and the province. The intention is for both par...

Northern Ireland set to lose access to 2,000 medicines – FT

About 2,000 medicines currently offered to patients in Northern Ireland and made in Great Britain are set to be withdrawn as drugs manufacturers grapple with onerous post-Brexit red tape, the Financial Times reports. The threat of serious disrup...

France rejects UK Brexit renegotiation request

France's Europe minister Clement Beaune rejected Britain's request to renegotiate the Brexit deal governing trade with Northern Ireland, dismissing British accusations of European dogmatism as a "tall tale". Britain on Wednesday demanded a ne...

EU rejects UK demand for new post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Britain demanded on Wednesday that the European Union agree to rewrite a deal overseeing problematic post-Brexit trade involving Northern Ireland just a year after it was agreed with the bloc, a call immediately rejected ...