Finance & Trade

EU Leaders Agree on Russian Oil Embargo

June 01, 2022

EU leaders agreed on a political deal to impose sanctions on Russian oil imports, which European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced will cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year.
EU Moves to Criminalize Sanctions Evasion

May 25, 2022

Politico reports that the European Commission has made a move to criminalize sanctions evasion at the European Union (EU) level in order to provide legal grounds for the confiscation of Russian oligarchs’ assets seized by EU countries.
France Proposes Changes to EU AI regulation

May 11, 2022

Changes by the French Presidency of the European Union continue with proposal changes to the Artificial Intelligence Act that makes significant modifications to the text related to the European Artificial Intelligence Board, market surveillance, guidelines, and Codes of Conduct.
100 EU cities commit to going climate neutral by 2030

May 04, 2022

In a recently launched scheme, 100 EU cities and twelve non-EU cities have pledged to drastically reduce emissions by 2030, essentially going climate neutral and will receive EU financial support for their initiatives.
Britain Goes Forward with Mandatory Climate Plans for Companies

April 27, 2022

Britain is moving forward with mandatory climate plans for companies by unveiling a new task-force to write rules obliging financial firms and listed companies to publish plans from next year for transitioning to a net zero economy by 2050.
Brussels: Gas payments in Rubles May Breach Sanctions

April 20, 2022

A decree signed by President Vladimir Putin that allows foreign buyers of gas, including the EU to pay in rubles which may cause a breach in sanctions leaving EU countries in a predicament potentially having to choose between defying their sanctions or a sudden stop to their gas supply.
Orban Declares Hungary is Ready to Pay for Russian Gas in Roubles

April 08, 2022

Breaking ranks with the European Union, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has declared that Hungary is prepared to pay roubles for Russian gas following President Putin’s warning that he will cut gas supplies to Europe unless payments are made in the Russian currency.
European Commission and U.S. Agree on New Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework

March 29, 2022

The European Commission and the United States have announced that they have agreed in principle on a new Trans-Atlantic Data Privacy Framework addressing the concerns raised by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the Schrems II decision of July 2020 and will strengthen the privacy and civil liberties protections applicable to U.S. signals intelligence activities.
European Ministers Agree to Promote EU-Wide Social-Economy

February 22, 2022

In and effort to boost the social economy sector in Europe, 21 EU social economy ministers met in Paris and agreed to develop a common definition of social economy practices and legal frameworks that will be included in the Social Economy Action Plan (SEAP).
EU Aims to Increase Restrictions on Data Transfers to Non-EU Governments

February 07, 2022

According to the European Commission's Data Act to be published this month, the EU is aiming to reign in U.S. tech giants by demanding cloud services providers such as Amazon and Microsoft set up safeguards against illegal data transfers to non-EU governments.