City Brussels Financial News

The European Union says it’s adding the porn site XXNX to its list of online services facing the strictest level of scrutiny under the bloc’s digital regulations, including measures requiring users to verify their ages

The European Union says it’s accepting Apple’s pledge to open up its “tap to pay” iPhone payment system to rivals as a way to resolve an antitrust case and head off a potential hefty fine

BRUSSELS: European manufacturers of hydrogen equipment have urged the European Union to step in to help the industry compete with cheaper Chinese producers, in a letter seen by Reuters on Monday. The companies, among them Thyssenkrupp Nucera, Siemens Energy, and Nel Hydrogen, want Brussels to do more to ensure Europe-made equipment powers the EU's plan by 2030 to produce 10 million tonnes of renewable hydrogen using electrolysers, machines that use electricity to split water to produce the green fuel. China is rapidly expanding its production of hydrogen equipment and is now home to 40% of the world's electrolyser manufacturing capacity, up from 10% last year, the letter said, adding that state subsidies were giving Chinese firms an edge.

The Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC), held from July 8-11 in Brussels this year, became the epicenter of blockchain innovation, drawing crypto enthusiasts, developers, and industry leaders from around the world.

European Union leaders are poised to approve Ursula von der Leyen, António Costa and Kaja Kallas as the heads of the 27-nation bloc’s top institutions for the coming years

BRUSSELS : The European Union charged Microsoft with antitrust violations related to the company’s bundling of its Teams collaboration tool with Office 365 and Microsoft 365. The European Commission, the bloc’s antitrust enforcer, said Tuesday it has informed Microsoft of its preliminary view that the company broke antitrust rules by tying Teams to popular productivity offerings that include Microsoft Word and Excel.

Ukraine is set to officially launch membership talks with the European Union later on Tuesday

Apple is imposing unfair restrictions on developers of applications for its App Store in violation of a new European Union law meant to encourage competition in the tech industry, regulators in Brussels said Monday. Apple is the first company to be charged with violating the Digital Markets Act, a law passed in 2022 that gives European regulators wide authority to force the largest «online gatekeepers» to change their business practices.

Officials say that China and the European Union are open to holding talks on the EU's recent decision to sharply raise tariffs on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles

electric vehicles (EVs) being imported into the European market, senior officials of both sides said on Saturday. Germany's Economy Minister Robert Habeck said he had been informed by EU commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis that there would be concrete negotiations on tariffs with China.

America and Europe are heading down different roads in response to China’s emergence as an electric-vehicle juggernaut. The U.S. is closing its borders to Chinese EVs before they even launch.

Red Sea needs to more than double in size because of escalating attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the head of the operation said. Four EU vessels have been patrolling the waters off the coast of Yemen since February. In that time, they’ve provided “close assistance” to 164 ships, shot down more than a dozen unmanned aerial vehicles and destroyed four anti-ship ballistics missiles, Rear Admiral Vasileios Gryparis said in an interview on Wednesday. The Yemen-based Houthis began attacking vessels last year to pressure Israel and its allies over the war in the Gaza Strip. Their campaign has roiled global shipping, forcing many vessels to sail thousands of miles around southern Africa instead — despite the EU operation and US and UK bombing that began in January.

Indian firms had seized upon the opportunity thrown open by the Act to supply cheaper generics to American drug stores. Tapping chemistry skills abundantly available in the country, Indian pharma companies had become experts at reverse engineering off-patent drugs. In the past, Cipla had produced a less than a dollar anti-malaria drug, while Lupin had launched low-cost medication for tuberculosis.

The European Union’s executive arm is criticizing France for running up excessive debt, a stinging rebuke at the height of the election campaign where President Emmanuel Macron is fighting off challenges of the extreme right and the left

Many of us didn’t notice that the world’s biggest and second-biggest democratic exercises took place back to back, as our Lok Sabha election was followed by the just-concluded European Union (EU) elections during 6-9 June, with an electorate of nearly 400 million people. Indeed, 2024 is an electorally significant year, marked by the scheduled participation of about half of the world’s eligible voters across 60 different countries. Voters in the EU’s 27 member states cast their ballots to choose 720 representatives to the European Parliament in Brussels.

European Union countries have given final approval to a major and long-awaited plan to better protect nature in the 27-nation bloc

India is likely to ask for a three-year exemption for its micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) from a proposed mandatory tariff on carbon-intensive imports in talks on a free trade deal with European Union negotiators starting next week, two people aware of the matter said. India, which opposed the tax at the World Trade Organization's last ministerial meeting in February-March in Abu Dhabi, will make its stand clear again on the during upcoming talks on a free trade agreement (FTA) with the EU. The eighth round of FTA talks is slated to be held in Brussels on 24-28 June.

Russia sending its fleet including nuclear powered submarine has achieved desired results as far as it has been able to create panic in US media as well as the population at large. The Russian fleet docked at Havana port is around 350 kms from the popular Miami Beach (Florida). So much so that US Southern Command has to rush its submarine USS Helena to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to inspire confidence in the US public.

anti-dumping probe into pork imports from the European Union, the state-backed Global Times reported, escalating tensions after the bloc imposed anti-subsidy duties on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs). The move opens a new front in bilateral strains in one of the world's key trading relationships after Brussels slapped tariffs of up to 38.1% on EVs made in China to shield its auto industry from competition. China imported $6 billion of pork in 2023, including offal, with the EU accounting for over half, customs data showed.

India-UK bilateral trade pact such as the one about minimum import price (MIP) for Scotch whisky and those related to finalisation of a bilateral investment treaty will be discussed after the general elections in Britain, a top official said. The issues that need to be ironed out include duties in sectors like electric vehicles, alcoholic beverages and services. General elections in the UK will be held on July 4. «The outstanding issues to seal the deal will be resolved once the general elections in the UK are over,» said L Satya Srinivas, additional secretary, department of commerce.

Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair says his country looks on track to meet NATO’s military spending guideline by 2030