Category: _European Commission News

The Commission has published its assessment of Belgium’s final updated National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP). Outlining the Belgian plan for achieving its 2030 energy and climate targets, the final updated plan provides revised projections that mark some improvements compared to the draft updated plan. Belgium has raised its ambition relative to the previous version, but additional efforts […]

Across Europe, a growing share of farmland is managed by farmers over 55, while fewer than one in ten are under 40. Many older farmers wish to retire but face uncertainty about how to, or to whom, pass on their farm. For younger generations, meanwhile, unclear succession rules and limited opportunities delay their entry into […]

At the North Sea Summit in Hamburg today, Germany and Denmark reached an agreement on the Bornholm Energy Island project to develop offshore wind energy.  This marks a first key delivery of the Energy Highways initiative set out as part of the European Grids Package published in December 2025. A first-of-its kind project, the wind farm […]

Today, the 25th meeting of the Accession Conference with Montenegro provisionally closed accession negotiations on chapter 32 (financial control). I am pleased to see Montenegro closing another negotiating chapter today.With this achievement, a total of 13 chapters have now been provisionally closed, marking significant and tangible progress on the country’s path toward European integration. Enlargement […]

Following, the approval of the first wave of defence funding, the European Commission has cleared a second group of national defence plans under the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative, marking another major step in making the Union safer. The Commission submitted a proposal to the Council to approve financial assistance for Estonia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia […]

Europe’s global competitiveness depends on its ability to innovate and grow, but persistent skills shortages in key sectors are creating a bottleneck. To tackle this challenge, the European Commission is preparing a new European Strategy for Vocational Education and Training (VET), aiming to turn vocational training into a strategic lever for economic resilience. While over […]

The use of renewable energy sources in heating and cooling continues to increase in the EU, with the share reaching 26.7% in 2024, the highest value since the time series started in 2004 (11.7%). The share increased by 0.5 percentage points (pp) compared with 2023 (26.2%), but was below the average annual increase from 2004 […]

The European Union and the Council of Europe have signed an agreement on the financing of an advance team to establish the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, within the framework of the Council of Europe. The aim of the joint project is to create a team to prepare the institutional, logistical […]

On Monday, 26 January, Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, will host the European Tourism Day in Brussels, bringing together policymakers, industry leaders and experts to explore how Europe can shape the tourism of tomorrow. The event will address a broad range of topics, including sustainability, accessibility, the use of Artificial Intelligence and data, and private investment in the sector. Discussions will […]

The EU, its Member States and the private sector should invest about €70 billion per year until 2050 in climate adaptation, to reduce exposure to increasing climate hazards and improve resilience, according to a new study commissioned by the Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA) and funded under Horizon Europe. Assessment of EU and Member […]