European Union member states approved the regulation to begin the phase-out of liquefied natural gas and pipeline gas imports from Russia in 2027.

The decision, approved by a qualified majority, with Hungary and Slovakia voting against and Bulgaria abstaining, is considered a “fundamental step towards the Union definitively ending its energy dependence on Russia.”

Existing contracts will undergo a transition period, which will help limit the impact of this decision on prices and markets. The 27 EU member states have also agreed to impose an obligation requiring them to verify the country of origin of any gas before authorizing its entry into the Union, thus preventing Russian gas from being introduced through sales to third countries.

Failure to comply with these new rules, which will come into force on February 2, could result in maximum fines of at least €2.5 million for individuals and at least €40 million for companies, as well as a minimum of 3.5 % of the company’s total worldwide annual turnover or 300 % of the estimated turnover of the transaction.

Furthermore, from March 1, EU member states will be required to draw up national plans to diversify their gas supplies and identify potential challenges to their replacement.

There is an exception to the regulation, allowing for a suspension of up to four weeks, and countries may reconnect to Russian gas in the event of a declared emergency or if security of supply is seriously threatened in one or more member states. EU.

M.Pino

Source: economiadigital

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International experts recognized China’s progress in hydrogen development during the recent European Hydrogen Week 2025 in Brussels.

They highlighted China’s strong presence in this field and its well-developed industrial ecosystem, with a particular focus on use in passenger vehicles, as emphasized by Erwin Penfornis, vice president of Air Liquide’s global hydrogen energy business line, at the B2B forum entitled “Hydrogen Markets in Action: Europe, the United States, China, India, and the Global Race for Expansion.”

The Chinese government has been testing new technologies and fostering competition to find “more effective solutions for the production and application of hydrogen energy in the country.”

Meanwhile, the Hydrogen Europe association has indicated that China “ranks first globally in committed investment in hydrogen by 2030 and accounts for the majority of hydrogen production both in Asia and globally.”

The association highlighted that the nation has world-class electrolyzers (the key component for hydrogen production), highly competitive with those manufactured in Europe, as emphasized by Khaled Nageib, director of Egypt Hydrogen.

China’s plan contemplates “a well-organized industrial design and promoting the widespread use of hydrogen production from renewable sources by 2030, which would provide robust support for achieving its carbon-minimum emissions targets.”

M.Pino

Source: xinhuanet

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Brussels announced a cut of at least 20 % in the allocation of resources to Spain for the 2028-2034 period. Therefore, the country will receive €79.9 billion for the regions, the Cohesion Policy, the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), and the fisheries sector.

The actual allocation amounts to €88.1 billion. However, the country must “reserve at least €16.3 billion of this amount for less developed regions, that is, those with a GDP per capita below 75 % of the EU average (currently Castilla-La Mancha, Andalusia, Extremadura, Ceuta, and Melilla).”

In addition, €3 billion will be allocated to migration and border management, and another €5.3 billion to the Social Climate Fund. The remaining sum is less than €80 billion.

The reduction in the budget from the European Commission to Spain represents 20 % less than the current amount in the 2021-2027 budget.

“Specifically, Spain is allocated approximately €35.56 billion from the current Cohesion budget (€23.4 billion from the ERDF, €11.3 billion from the European Social Fund, and €870 million from the Just Transition Fund), to which another €14 billion must be added from the React-EU instrument, with which the EU reinforced this policy through the recovery fund.”

It is important to highlight that the accounts proposed by the European Commission detail the obligation for the Twenty-Seven to allocate €218 billion to less developed regions.

M.Pino

Source: swissinfo

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La entrada Brussels cuts Spain’s budget by 20 % apareció primero en Bitfinance.

The European Commission is investigating the Chinese online retail platform Shein for alleged violations of consumer protection regulations, unfair commercial practices, and distorted promotions.

This decision results from “an investigation, led by the authorities of Belgium, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands, and carried out together with the Consumer Protection Cooperation Network (CPC)” that exposes “tactics that, according to Brussels, distort users’ purchasing decisions and violate key directives such as the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive and the Consumer Rights Directive.”

The accusations against Shein include false promotions, misleading information, pressure tactics (urgent messages and countdown clocks for sales), a lack of clear channels for consumer contact, confusing labeling, and “greenwashing”, as the company is not supported by verifiable data or certifications.

The EC has given Shein a one-month deadline to present its arguments and corrective commitments. If the Commission finds the arguments unsatisfactory, “national authorities could initiate enforcement actions that include fines proportional to the company’s turnover in each country affected.”

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Source: marketing4ecommerce

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EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen has indicated that savings of €2.5 trillion in fossil fuel imports could be achieved by 2040.

However, he emphasized that this would be possible if “the EU manages to deploy renewable energy more rapidly, a main objective of its action plan to guarantee affordable energy for European consumers.”

Jorgensen addressed the issue on Thursday, March 13, before the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, France. In his speech, he detailed the roadmap presented by the EU Executive on February 26th, with the aim of “lowering energy bills for both households and businesses.”

According to the proposal, tax reductions have proven effective in containing energy bills “during the energy crisis, when Member States implemented reductions in VAT and energy taxes.“

With Brussels’ strategy to lower energy costs for consumers and businesses, in addition to encouraging investment in clean energy through various initiatives, savings of €2.5 trillion can be achieved.

The Commissioner emphasized the need to deploy “our renewable energies, becoming more energy efficient, better controlling gas markets, enforcing existing legislation, and interconnecting our energy systems much better than today.”

M.Pino

Source: elperiodicodelaenergia

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For alleged non-compliance with the Antitrust Law, four companies in the technology sector have been under investigation by the European Union since Monday.

Meta, Alphabet, Amazon and Apple apparently are not complying with the rules of the new Digital Services Law. For this reason, the European Union is investigating the actions of these platforms.

As you may remember, the Digital Markets Law came into effect on March 7. Regarding the case of the companies investigated, Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton noted that they have held “conversations with the gatekeepers for months to help them adapt, and we can already see changes in the market.” But he added that they are not convinced that these companies “meet their obligations to make a fairer and more open digital space possible for citizens and companies.”

If the investigations progress and responsibilities are determined within twelve months, large fines could be established, equivalent to 10 or 20 % of the turnover of Meta, Alphabet, Amazon and Apple.

M.Pino

Source: confilegal

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The European Commission has asked European Union (EU) countries to extend for a further year the voluntary 15 % reduction in gas consumption agreed two years ago at the onset of the energy crisis. According to the institution in a statement, this measure was scheduled to expire on March 31.

Brussels urges Member States to continue to take voluntary measures to maintain a collective reduction in gas demand of 15 %, compared to the average consumption recorded between April 2017 and March 2022. The recommendation, which must be approved by EU partners, will be discussed at the next meeting of EU 27 Energy Ministers, scheduled for Monday 4 March.

On gas demand, Brussels acknowledges that the energy situation in the EU has improved since the beginning of the crisis. Despite this, it believes that there is still a need to save energy due to the persistence of geopolitical tensions, the constraint of global gas markets and the decision to reduce Russia’s dependence on fossil fuels.

Continuous gas savings will help to maintain and improve market stability, as well as facilitate the filling of gas storage during spring and summer. It will also support the EU’s decarbonisation efforts, the EU executive argues.

Brussels estimates that the bloc has managed to reduce its gas demand by 18 % between August 2022 and December 2023, representing a saving of 101 billion cubic meters and exceeding the 15 % target agreed in the summer of 2022.

In addition to reducing gas demand, Member States committed to reach 90 % of gas storage capacity by 1 November 2023. The EU already achieved this target in August last year, and by November it was already at 99% capacity.

K. Tovar

Source: Euronews

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This Monday, it was learned that the European Commission opened an investigation into TikTok to verify that it complies with the rules for the protection of minors and transparency in content moderation.

In September 2023, the Community Executive asked the video platform for information on these aspects. However, it has now decided to open a formal investigation.

As background for the measure, it is important to remember that last year the EU approved the law that forces large Internet companies to guarantee that their algorithmic systems do not display content harmful to users.

In connection with this regulation, the authorities also seek to clarify to what extent the platform generates behavioral addictions through its algorithms.

“Brussels points out that it must be studied to counteract the potential risks for the exercise of the fundamental right to the physical and mental well-being of personnel, respect for the rights of minors, as well as its impact on radicalization processes.

The protection of children and adolescents is a priority for the EU Digital Services Directive (DSA).

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Source: elconfidencial

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The European Commission has proposed this Wednesday to digitize the majority of processes related to social security to improve information exchanges between national institutions and speed up cross-border recognition processes with the aim of reducing bureaucracy and ‘paperwork’ and reducing difficulties for Europeans who live, work or travel outside your country.

“All citizens of the European Union have the right to travel, work and live in another EU country,” said the Commission’s Economic Vice-President and Head of Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis. Although it has recognized that there are “interoperability problems between different social security systems that make it difficult for national authorities to access data and share it.”

Dombrovskis has highlighted that every year 3.6 million applications for proof of social security coverage are requested in cross-border situations, a process that “often takes time, since these procedures depend on physical presence and paper documents”.

For this reason, Brussels has proposed working together with the Member States to put an end to all this and move to digitization, which is “the key to making the EU’s national social security systems more automated, interoperable and integrated.”

As part of the process, the Commission proposes the creation of a Single Digital Portal, ensuring full online access to key administrative procedures by the end of this year.

In addition, to make the handling of cross-border social security cases between institutions more efficient, the Community Executive wants the Member States to speed up the implementation of the Electronic Exchange of Social Security Information System, which replaces paper exchanges between national institutions of social Security.

“It should be fully operational throughout Europe by the end of 2024,” stressed the commissioner, who wants to advance the introduction of the EU’s digital wallet to allow citizens to carry digital versions of their social security documents.

Source: dpa

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The European Commission will review the acquisition of the Israeli semiconductor manufacturer Autotalks by the US multinational Qualcomm following requests from Spain and 14 other Member States to re-evaluate the merger proposal, considering that it may affect competition in their territories since it eliminates a relevant competitor in a concentrated market.

The proposed acquisition does not meet the notification thresholds set out in the EU merger regulation, and could not be notified in any Member State, but Belgium, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden submitted initial referral requests based on the provision of the rule that allows them to request the Commission to examine a concentration that does not have a Community dimension but affects trade within the single market and threatens to significantly affect competition in the territory of the countries making the request.

Other countries from the European Economic Area had the opportunity to join the original referral requests and subsequently the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania and Slovakia joined the initial requests. This is the second time that the Commission has accepted referral requests.

Based on the information available to the Commission at this early stage, and without prejudice to the outcome of its full investigation, Brussels considers that the transaction meets the referral criteria in accordance with the regulation.

The Community Executive has asked Qualcomm to notify the transaction, which cannot be carried out without the authorization of the Commission, a merger that can combine two of the main suppliers of V2X semiconductors, a key technology to improve road safety, traffic management and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, as well as for the deployment of autonomous vehicles.

In this sense, Brussels considers it important to guarantee that customers such as original equipment manufacturers or infrastructure managers maintain access to V2X technology at competitive prices and conditions.

Source: dpa

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