EU's von der Leyen says new budget fit for 'new era'
She added that the plan proposes a shift in how the EU organises key funds, while linking funding closely to the rule of law and keeping member state contributions steady.
The proposal aims to triple the budget for migration and border management and to double the Horizon research fund, while 35% of the budget would be spent on climate and biodiversity.
An agreement on the new EU budget requires backing from all 27 member countries and sign-off from the European Parliament.
($1 = 0.8645 euros)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
12 minutes ago
- Reuters
World Court is poised to mark the future course of climate litigation
THE HAGUE, July 23 (Reuters) - The United Nations' highest court will deliver an opinion on Wednesday that is likely to determine the course of future climate action across the world. Known as an advisory opinion, the deliberation of the 15 judges of the International Court of Justice in The Hague is legally non-binding. It nevertheless carries legal and political weight and future climate cases would be unable to ignore it, legal experts say. 'The advisory opinion is probably the most consequential in the history of the court because it clarifies international law obligations to avoid catastrophic harm that would imperil the survival of humankind," said Payam Akhavan, an international law professor. In two weeks of hearings last December at the ICJ, also known as the World Court, Akhavan represented low-lying, small island states that face an existential threat from rising sea levels. In all, over a hundred states and international organisations gave their views on the two questions the U.N. General Assembly had asked the judges to consider. They were: what are countries' obligations under international law to protect the climate from greenhouse gas emissions; and what are the legal consequences for countries that harm the climate system? Wealthy countries of the Global North told the judges that existing climate treaties, including the 2015 Paris Agreement, which are largely non-binding, should be the basis for deciding their responsibilities. Developing nations and small island states argued for stronger measures, in some cases legally binding, to curb emissions and for the biggest emitters of climate-warming greenhouse gases to provide financial aid. In 2015, at the conclusion of U.N. talks in Paris, more than 190 countries committed to pursue efforts to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). The agreement has failed to curb the growth of global greenhouse gas emissions. Late last year, in the most recent "Emissions Gap Report," which takes stock of countries' promises to tackle climate change compared with what is needed, the U.N said that current climate policies will result in global warming of more than 3 C (5.4 F) above pre-industrial levels by 2100. As campaigners seek to hold companies and governments to account, climate‑related litigation has intensified, with nearly 3,000 cases filed across almost 60 countries, according to June figures from London's Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. So far, the results have been mixed. A German court in May threw out a case between a Peruvian farmer and German energy giant RWE ( opens new tab, but his lawyers and environmentalists said the case, which dragged on for a decade, was a still victory for climate cases that could spur similar lawsuits. Earlier this month, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which holds jurisdiction over 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries, said in another advisory opinion its members must cooperate, opens new tab to tackle climate change. Campaigners say Wednesday's court opinion should be a turning point and that, even if the ruling itself is advisory, it should provide for the determination that U.N. member states have broken the international law they have signed up to uphold. "The court can affirm that climate inaction, especially by major emitters, is not merely a policy failure but a breach of international law," said Fijian Vishal Prasad, one of the law students that lobbied the government of Vanuatu in the South Pacific Ocean to bring the case to the ICJ. Although it is theoretically possible to ignore an ICJ ruling, lawyers say countries are typically reluctant to do so. "This opinion is applying binding international law, which countries have already committed to. National and regional courts will be looking to this opinion as a persuasive authority and this will inform judgments with binding consequences under their own legal systems," Joie Chowdhury, senior attorney at the Center for International Environmental Law, said. The court will start reading out its opinion at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT).
Telegraph
12 minutes ago
- Telegraph
French Mirage fighter jet crashes in Ukraine
No casualties were reported on the ground, and an investigation into the cause of the crash is underway. President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the incident on Wednesday morning. 'The pilot managed to escape and it was not shot down by the Russians,' he said. 'Unfortunately, we lost our combat aircraft. A French aircraft, very effective, one of our Mirage.' The loss is another setback for Ukraine's air defence capability, which has been under mounting pressure amid increasing Russian missile and drone attacks. Ukraine began receiving the Mirage 2000-5 aircraft this year as part of a French initiative to strengthen its air force. In June last year, President Emmanuel Macron announced that France would transfer the Mirage 2000-5s and train Ukrainian pilots in France for up to six months. The program was intended to bolster Ukraine's efforts to deploy U.S.-made F-16s later this year. The Mirage is a single-engine, multi-role fighter jet, which first entered into service in the 1970s, and shares many similarities with the American F-16.
Sky News
42 minutes ago
- Sky News
Goldman Sachs boss sounds warning to Reeves on tax and regulation
London and the UK's leading status in the global financial system is "fragile", the boss of Goldman Sachs has warned, as the government grapples with a tough economy. Speaking ahead of a meeting with the prime minister, David Solomon - chairman and chief executive of the huge US investment bank - told Sky News presenter Wilfred Frost's The Master Investor Podcast of several concerns related to tax and regulation. He urged the government not to push people and business away through poor policy that would damage its primary aim of securing improved economic growth, arguing that European rivals were currently proving more attractive. He said: "The financial industry is still driven by talent and capital formation. And those things are much more mobile than they were 25 years ago. "London continues to be an important financial centre. But because of Brexit, because of the way the world's evolving, the talent that was more centred here is more mobile. "We as a firm have many more people on the continent. Policy matters, incentives matter. "I'm encouraged by some of what the current government is talking about in terms of supporting business and trying to support a more growth oriented agenda. "But if you don't set a policy that keeps talent here, that encourages capital formation here, I think over time you risk that." He had a stark warning about the recent reversal of the "Non Dom" tax policy, which occurred across both the prior Conservative government and the current Labour government, which has played a part in some senior Goldman partners relocating away from London. 1:16 Richard Gnodde, one of the bank's vice-chairs, left for Milan earlier this year. "Incentives matter if you create tax policy or incentives that push people away, you harm your economy," Mr Solomon continued. "If you go back, you know, ten years ago, I think we probably had 80 people in Paris. You know, we have 400 people in Paris now... And so in Goldman Sachs today, if you're in Europe, you can live in London, you can live in Paris, you can live in Germany, in Frankfurt or Munich, you can live in Italy, you can live in Switzerland. "And we've got, you know, real offices. You just have to recognise talent is more mobile." Goldman is understood to have about 6,000 employees in the UK. Rachel Reeves is currently seeking ways to fill a black hole in the public finances and has refused to rule out wealth taxes at the next budget. Mr Solomon expressed sympathy for her as her tears in parliament earlier this month led to speculation about the pressure of the job. "I have sympathy, I have empathy not just for the chancellor, but for anyone who's serving in one of these governments," he said, referring to the turbulent political landscape globally. Commenting on the chancellor's Mansion House speech last week, he added: "The chancellor spoke here about regulation, she's talking about regulation not just for safety and soundness, but also for growth. 1:54 "And now we have to see the action steps that actually follow through and encourage that." One area he was particularly keen to see follow through from her Mansion House speech was ringfencing - the post financial crisis regulation that requires banks to separate their retail activities from their investment banking activities. "It's a place where the UK is an outlier, and by being an outlier, it prevents capital formation and growth. "What's the justification for being an outlier? Why is this so difficult to change? It's hard to make a substantive policy argument that this is like a great policy for the UK. So why is it so hard to change?"
