This newsletter provides a selection of opinions and analysis from our EU legal experts on interesting policy developments, recent case law and new regulatory directions of major industry practices. It is released biweekly and covers areas such as: Competition Law, Sanctions, Trade, Energy, Finance, EU funds, Data IP and Privacy, Life Sciences, Transport and Court of Justice of the European Union news.
The aim is to provide an up–to–date tool for quick and easy consultation on the most current and important topics at EU level.
- Competition Law and State Aid
- Sanctions
- Trade
- Energy and Green Deal
- Banking & Finance
- EU Funds
- Life Sciences
- Transport and Electric Vehicles
- Data, IP and Privacy
- Consultions and Calls
First Net-Zero Academy to train 100.000 workers in the EU solar photovoltaic value chain (20.06.2024) – The European Commission has launched the European Solar Academy, the first in a series of EU Academies to be set up under the Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA) to have in place the necessary skills along the net-zero technologies value chains. The role of NZIA academies is to develop learning content and programmes together with the industry, to ensure that sufficient skills and workforce in the value chain. It is estimated that in the solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing sector alone, some 66,000 skilled workers will be needed by 2030 for the EU to meets its ambitious renewable energy targets while ensuring industrial competitiveness. The Solar Academy aims to train 100,000 workers in the solar photovoltaic value chain over the next three years to address the current labour and skills gap in the sector.
Pan-European exercise to foster preparedness in case of large-scale cyber-attacks in energy sector (20.06.2024) – The European Commission took part in an exercise called ‘Cyber Europe’, designed to test the preparedness in case of a large-scale cyber-attack on Europe’s energy sector. The exercise tested coordination, cooperation capabilities and crisis management skills in order to assess the resilience of the sector. This year’s Cyber Europe exercise focused on a scenario involving cyber threats to the EU’s energy infrastructure. The pan-European exercise brought together 30 national cyber security agencies, a number of EU agencies, bodies and networks, and over 1,000 experts covering a range of areas from incident response to decision-making.
Italy: European Investment Bank lends 200 million euro to Iren Group to boost electricity infrastructure (19.06.2024) – The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Iren Group have signed a 200 million euro financing agreement to support the development and modernisation of electricity infrastructure in the municipalities of Parma, Turin and Vercelli. The project aims to increase the resilience of the grid, digitise services and offer more precise and personalised management of electricity consumption. The operations will be carried out in the municipalities of Parma, Turin and Vercelli. Green financing supports the objectives of REPowerEU, for which the EIB has earmarked additional financing of 45 billion euro by 2027.
Further step towards establishing the European Network of Network Operators of Hydrogen (18.06.2024) – The intention of establishing a European Network of Network Operators of Hydrogen (ENNOH) in the course of 2025 has moved closer today, following agreement among future Hydrogen Transmission Network Operators (HTNOs) on draft rules required in order to establish this new network. Addressing today’s meeting, EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson took the opportunity to underline the crucial importance that the Commission places in ENNOH in terms of developing a European hydrogen infrastructure. She recalled that this association would have the task to plan and manage the hydrogen infrastructure and to develop market rules for its efficient operation. While it will now be up to the Commission and the Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) to evaluate these drafts – which cover the Articles of Association, Rules of Procedures, and List of Members – the fact that the future HTNOs have been able to reach agreement on these elements bodes well for the remaining steps in the process and for future cooperation once ENNOH has been established.
The European Commission seeks feedback on State aid to the agricultural sector (17.06.2024) – The Agricultural de minimis Regulation exempts small amounts from State aid control since they are deemed to have no impact on competition and trade in the Single Market. Following its last revision in 2019, Member States can currently grant support to the agricultural sector of up to 20.000 euro per beneficiary over a period of three fiscal years without prior notification for Commission approval. If a Member State has a central register at national level to register de minimis aid, a higher ceiling applies, of 25.000 euro over a period of three fiscal years. Besides these ceilings per beneficiary, each EU Member State has a maximum national amount for such support (a so-called ‘national cap’), in order to avoid any potential distortion of competition. The Agricultural de minimis Regulation is set to expire on 31st December 2027. A review of the Regulation was planned ahead of this expiry.
COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION (COUNCIL)
The Council releases statement on Energy for Growth in Africa (14.06.2024) – The Council at the G7 meeting that took place between the 13th and the 15th of June, the Council undersigned the leaders’ statement on Africa’s significant but largely untapped clean energy potential. To meet the internationally agreed clean energy objectives and the global efforts decided upon at the 5th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Paris Agreement (CMA5), the leaders established the launch of the G7’s ‘Energy for Growth in Africa‘ initiative. The initiative will help develop bankable clean energy projects, attract private capital through the catalytic use of public finance and technical assistance, encourage the flow of concessional finance, and overcome barriers to investments in clean energy across Africa.
The Council publishes proposal for a Regulation on circularity requirements for vehicle design (12.06.2024) – On 13th July 2023, the European Commission published a Proposal for a Regulation on circularity requirements for vehicle design and on management of end-of-life vehicles, amending Regulations (EU) 2018/858 and 2019/1020 and repealing Directives 2000/53/EC and 2005/64/EC (the ‘Proposal’). The review of the legislation on end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) stems from the broader context of the European Green Deal, with the aim of promoting more circular business models by linking design issues to end-of-life treatment. This appears necessary with respect to the significant environmental footprint of vehicle production, which is primarily due to the greenhouse gas emissions of the energy required to extract and process primary materials (coal and iron ore for steel, bauxite for aluminium and copper and oil for plastics). In addition, the increasing use of sophisticated and composite materials poses particular challenges for dismantling, reusing and recycling end-of-life vehicles, which undermine the overall treatment quality of the end-of-life vehicles.
