Latest news with #CompetitivenessFund
Yahoo
29 minutes ago
- Business
- Yahoo
EU Commission to propose dedicated defence and space investment in new fund
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission will propose dedicating part of a new European Competitiveness Fund to resilience, defence and space, the EU executive's leadership said on Wednesday. The Commission is expected to put forward a plan for a competitiveness fund to invest in strategic sectors and innovation as part of an upcoming proposal for the bloc's 2028-2034 budget. "The gap to fill, after years of underinvestment and under attention to defence, is large," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote in a letter to European leaders on Wednesday. "This is why the Commission's proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework will also address the need for substantial funding for defence in the years to come through a dedicated Resilience, Defence and Space window of the European Competitiveness Fund," they wrote. EU leaders are expected to discuss defence priorities during a summit in Brussels on Thursday. The discussion will take place a day after a NATO summit in The Hague, where alliance members committed to boosting defence spending to 5% of Gross Domestic Product.
The Star
9 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
EU Commission to propose dedicated defence and space investment in new fund
European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas walks, on the day of a meeting on the latest developments in Ukraine and security in Europe, at Villa Madama in Rome, Italy, June 12, 2025. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission will propose dedicating part of a new European Competitiveness Fund to resilience, defence and space, the EU executive's leadership said on Wednesday. The Commission is expected to put forward a plan for a competitiveness fund to invest in strategic sectors and innovation as part of an upcoming proposal for the bloc's 2028-2034 budget. "The gap to fill, after years of underinvestment and under attention to defence, is large," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote in a letter to European leaders on Wednesday. "This is why the Commission's proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework will also address the need for substantial funding for defence in the years to come through a dedicated Resilience, Defence and Space window of the European Competitiveness Fund," they wrote. EU leaders are expected to discuss defence priorities during a summit in Brussels on Thursday. The discussion will take place a day after a NATO summit in The Hague, where alliance members committed to boosting defence spending to 5% of Gross Domestic Product. (Reporting by Lili Bayer)
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
EU Commission to propose dedicated defence and space investment in new fund
BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Commission will propose dedicating part of a new European Competitiveness Fund to resilience, defence and space, the EU executive's leadership said on Wednesday. The Commission is expected to put forward a plan for a competitiveness fund to invest in strategic sectors and innovation as part of an upcoming proposal for the bloc's 2028-2034 budget. "The gap to fill, after years of underinvestment and under attention to defence, is large," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote in a letter to European leaders on Wednesday. "This is why the Commission's proposal for the next Multiannual Financial Framework will also address the need for substantial funding for defence in the years to come through a dedicated Resilience, Defence and Space window of the European Competitiveness Fund," they wrote. EU leaders are expected to discuss defence priorities during a summit in Brussels on Thursday. The discussion will take place a day after a NATO summit in The Hague, where alliance members committed to boosting defence spending to 5% of Gross Domestic Product.
Euronews
20-05-2025
- Business
- Euronews
Can the EU do enough to attract scientists to work in its countries?
The European Commission this month pledged a new package of €500 million for the period 2025-2027, part of which will be specifically earmarked for research projects with industrial applications. President Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc needs to "stand for science" in a speech at the Sorbonne University in Paris, adding that it's 'the fuel for growth and progress' but 'is being questioned in today's world". US government budget cuts are seen as an opportunity to attract such talent to Europe, as Ekaterina Zaharieva, European Commissioner for start-ups, research and innovation, acknowledged. "In Europe, we do things differently. We don't tell researchers how and what to research. We respect their freedom to research and they are welcome in Europe," Zaharieva told Euronews. A new European Research Area Act is intended to entrench freedom of scientific research into law. "In Germany, for example, academic and research freedom are considered fundamental rights and are already enshrined in the German constitution," explains Amandine Hess, who covered the announcement for Euronews. A new seven-year grant will provide researchers with long-term career prospects and researchers who move to Europe will receive a supplement on top of the grant (the amount will be doubled this year). But the bureaucracy that scientists face when applying for grants and the difficulties faced by institutions with limited budgets show that the EU is far from delivering on its promises. "We are really very focused on reducing bureaucracy, reducing reporting demands and focusing on how to make the program more accessible to smaller research organisations, to smaller companies, which will save applicants time and money," said the European Commissioner, referring to Horizon Europe, the EU's main funding programme for research and innovation. Horizon Europe has a budget of €93 billion within the EU's seven-year rolling budget. But member states are responsible for national investment, and there are significant disparities: Belgium spends 3.4% of its GDP, while Romania only 0.4%. In total, the EU spends 2.2% of its GDP on research and the Commission has set a target of 3% by 2030. But even that figure is well below that of other advanced regions, such as the United States at 3.5% and Japan at 3.3%. Scientists fear that the research will not be sufficiently funded within the next rolling budget. 'Public funds will never be enough. So what the Commission is working on is how to get more private sector investment in research innovation,' Zaharieva argued. 'But what we are lagging behind is really in transferring this knowledge to the market, which is what the Competitiveness Fund is all about. The Research Framework is in our treaties, but the connection with competitiveness is really crucial for the implementation,"she claimed. Watch the video here! Journalist: Isabel Marques da Silva Content production: Pilar Montero López Video production: Zacharia Vigneron Graphism: Loredana Dumitru Editorial coordination: Ana Lázaro Bosch and Jeremy Fleming-Jones The European Union intends to forge ahead with a new package of sanctions against Russia to exert greater pressure on Vladimir Putin to accept a 30-day unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine, despite the United States not doing so at this stage. But the sanctions face an uphill struggle to be approved due to Hungary's steadfast opposition and lack of coordination with Washington. The course of action envisioned by Brussels includes tightening the price cap on Russian crude oil, which might be virtually impossible to achieve without the US joining in. "An 18th package is being prepared with further hard-hitting sanctions," Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said on Tuesday after holding a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "It's time to intensify the pressure on Russia to bring about the ceasefire," she added. High Representative Kaja Kallas admitted the unanimous agreement would be "difficult" to find among member states but said the challenge should not deter the bloc from moving forward. "I do not think we have a choice. We need to put more pressure," said Kallas, arriving at a meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Brussels. "We want to see those consequences also from the US side. We really haven't seen the pressure on Russia from these talks." Following a two-hour phone call between Trump and Putin on Monday, the American president announced that Russia and Ukraine would "immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire and, more importantly, an end to the war." The conditions for such a ceasefire, he said, would be "negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be". "Let the process begin!" he said on social media. Putin, for his part, said Russia would work with Ukraine on a "memorandum" about the terms of a "possible ceasefire for a certain period of time". The truce, though, would be contingent upon whether "appropriate agreements are reached", he noted. The Russian leader continues to drag his feet on accepting Trump's proposal for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, which Ukraine and European allies have firmly backed as a necessary prelude to in-depth negotiations. Despite the rebuff, Trump later told reporters he would not impose fresh sanctions against the Kremlin, hoping the latest phone call would lead to tangible progress. "I think there's a chance of getting something done, and if you do that, you could also make it much worse. But there could be a time where that's going to happen," he said. White House officials had previously been threatening to tighten the screws on the Russian economy to force the Kremlin into a temporary truce. "What I can tell you is the sanctions were very ineffective during the Biden administration because they kept them low because they were afraid of pushing up domestic oil prices," Scott Bessent, the US Secretary of the Treasury, said on Sunday. The gap in thinking between the US and the EU was laid bare after the phone call that Trump held with European leaders. "Europe will increase pressure on Moscow through sanctions. This is what we agreed on with POTUS after his conversation with Putin," said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. Zelenskyy, who was also part of the call, said that "if the Russians are not ready to stop the killings, there must be stronger sanctions". The European Commission is currently designing what is expected to be the 18th package of sanctions on Russia since February 2022, targeting the banking sector, the Nord Stream pipelines and more vessels from the so-called "shadow fleet". Von der Leyen has also suggested lowering the price cap on Russian crude oil, which the G7 established in late 2022 at $60 per barrel. The cap has remained untouched since then, even if Moscow has continued to trade well above the mark. Bringing down the $60 price tag to further squeeze the Kremlin's revenues will necessitate an agreement with the White House and other G7 partners. Trump's decision not to proceed with further sanctions at this stage risks derailing the review, which has been supported by Kyiv, the Nordics and the Baltics. "We'll see whether that can be really (done) in the form of a G7 joint measure or not," said Paula Pinho, the Commission's chief spokesperson. Another point that separates transatlantic allies is their vision for the day after the war. In his read-out, Trump expressed his desire to resume economic relations with Russia, something that could happen once sanctions are lifted. "There is a tremendous opportunity for Russia to create massive amounts of jobs and wealth," he said. By contrast, the EU has consistently said sanctions would be removed only after Russia withdraws its military forces from Ukrainian territory and a lasting peace has been achieved. Moreover, the majority of member states agree that Russia's frozen assets, worth €210 billion, should remain paralysed until Moscow pays for war reparations. Earlier this month, the Commission presented an ambitious roadmap to phase out all imports of Russian energy by the end of 2027 – a huge diminution of trade.
